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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1700ca3 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #53174 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/53174) diff --git a/old/53174-0.txt b/old/53174-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 3f1fd5d..0000000 --- a/old/53174-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,18255 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Æschylos Tragedies and Fragments, by Æschylos - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: Æschylos Tragedies and Fragments - -Author: Æschylos - -Translator: E. H. Plumptre - -Release Date: September 30, 2016 [EBook #53174] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ÆSCHYLOS TRAGEDIES AND FRAGMENTS *** - - - - -Produced by Richard Tonsing, Eric Eldred and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - ÆSCHYLOS - TRAGEDIES - AND - FRAGMENTS - - - _Translated by the late_ - - E. H. PLUMPTRE D.D. - - _Dean of Wells_ - -WITH NOTES AND RHYMED CHORAL ODES - - IN TWO PARTS - - BOSTON U.S.A. - - D. C. HEATH & CO. PUBLISHERS - - 1901 - - - - - PUBLISHER'S NOTE - - -_The reception accorded to the pocket edition of Dean Plumptre's “Dante” -has encouraged the publishers to issue in the same_ format _the Dean's -masterly translation of the Tragedies of Æschylos._ - -_In preparing the present issue they have followed the carefully revised -text of the second edition, and have included the scholarly and -suggestive annotations with which the Dean invariably delighted to -enrich his work as a translator._ - -_The seven Plays, which are all that remain of the seventy or eighty -with which Æschylos is credited, are presented in their chronological -order. Passages in which the reading or the rendering is more or less -conjectural, and in which, accordingly, the aid of the commentator is -advisable, are marked by an asterisk; and passages which are regarded as -spurious by editors of authority have been placed in brackets._ - -_In translating the Choral Odes the Dean used such unrhymed -metres—observing the strophic and antistrophic arrangement—as seemed to -him most analogous in their general rhythmical effect to those of the -original. He added in an appendix, however, for the sake of those who -preferred the rhymed form with which they were familiar, a rhymed -version of the chief Odes of the Oresteian trilogy. Those in the other -dramas did not appear to him to be of equal interest, or to lend -themselves with equal facility to a like attempt. The Greek text on -which the translation is based is, for the most part, that of Mr. -Paley's edition of 1861._ - -_A translation was also given of the Fragments which have survived the -wreck of the lost plays, so that the work contains all that has been -left to us associated with the name of Æschylos._ - -_In the present edition a chronological outline has been substituted for -the biographical sketch of the poet, who from his daring enlargement of -the scope of the drama, the magnificence of his spectacular effects and -the splendour of his genius, was rightly honoured as “the Father of -Tragedy.”_ - - - - - PART I - - - _Page_ - - CHRONOLOGICAL OUTLINE OF THE LIFE OF ÆSCHYLOS 11 - - THE PERSIANS 17 - - THE SEVEN WHO FOUGHT AGAINST THEBES 65 - - PROMETHEUS BOUND 113 - - THE SUPPLIANTS 161 - - - - - PART II - - - _Page_ - - AGAMEMNON 9 - - THE LIBATION-POURERS 87 - - EUMENIDES 137 - - FRAGMENTS 185 - - - RHYMED CHORUSES - - _From_ Agamemnon 191 - - _From_ The Libation-Pourers 210 - - _From_ Eumenides 219 - - - - - CHRONOLOGICAL OUTLINE OF THE LIFE OF ÆSCHYLOS - - - B.C. - - 527 Peisistratos died. - - 525 Birth at Eleusis, in Attica, of Æschylos, son of Euphorion. - - 510 Expulsion of the Peisistratidæ. Democratic constitution of - Cleisthenes. - - Approximate date of incident in the legend that Æschylos was set - to watch grapes as they were ripening for the vintage, and fell - asleep; and lo! as he slept Dionysos appeared to him and bade - him give himself to write tragedies for the great festival of - the god. And when he awoke, he found himself invested with new - powers of thought and utterance, and the work was as easy to him - as if he had been trained to it for many years (Pausan, _Att._ - i. 21, § 3).[1] - - 500 Birth of Anaxagoras. - - 499 Æschylos exhibited his first tragedy, in unsuccessful - competition with Pratinas and Chœrilos. - - The wooden scaffolding broke beneath the crowd of spectators, - and the accident led the Athenians to build their first stone - theatre for the Dionysiac festivals. - - Partly out of annoyance at his defeat, it is said, and partly in - a spirit of adventure, Æschylos sailed for Sicily. - - 497 Death of Pythagoras (?). - - 495 Birth of Sophocles at Colonos. - - 491 Æschylos at Athens. - - 490 The Battle of Marathon. Æschylos and his brothers, Kynægeiros - and Ameinias, so distinguished themselves, that the Athenians - ordered their heroic deeds to be commemorated in a picture. - - Death of Theognis (?). - - 488 Prize awarded to Simonides for an elegy on Marathon. Æschylos, - piqued, it is said, at his failure in the competition, again - departed to Sicily. - - 485 Xerxes succeeded Dareios. - - 484 Æschylos won, in a dramatic contest with Pratinas, Chœrilos, and - Phrynichos, the first of a series of thirteen successes. - - Birth of Herodotos. - - 480 Athens burnt by Xerxes. - - Æschylos fought at Artemisium and Salamis. At Salamis his - brother Ameinias lost his hand, and was awarded the prize of - valour. - - Sophocles led the Chorus of Victory. - - Birth of Euripides. - - 479 Æschylos at the Battle of Platæa. - - 477 Commencement of Athenian supremacy. - - 473 Æschylos carried off the first prize with _The Persians_ (the - first of the extant plays), which belonged to a tetralogy that - included two tragedies, _Phineus_ and _Glaucos_, and a satyric - drama, _Prometheus the Fire-stealer_. - - _The Persians_ has the interest of being a contemporary record - of the great sea-fight at Salamis by an eye-witness. - - 471 Æschylos appears to have produced this year his next tetralogy, - of which _The Seven against Thebes_ survives. - - The play was directed against the policy of aiming at the - supremacy of Athens by attacking other Greek States, and, in - brief, maintained the policy of Aristeides as against that of - Themistocles. - - Birth of Thucydides. - - 468 Sophocles gained his first victory in tragedy with his - _Triptolemos_; Æschylos defeated. - - Æschylos charged with impiety, on the ground that he had - profaned the Mysteries by introducing on the stage rites known - only to the initiated; tried and acquitted; departure for - Syracuse. - - 467 Æschylos at the court of Hieron at Syracuse, where he is said to - have composed dramas on local legends, such as _The Women of - Ætna_. - - Death of Simonides. - - 461 Ostracism of Kimon; ascendency of Pericles. - - 460-59 Probable date of _The Suppliants_, if the play be connected with - the alliance between Argos and Athens (B.C. 461), and the war - with the Persian forces in Egypt, upon which the Athenians had - entered as allies of the Libyan Prince Inaros. (B.C. 460.) - - The date of _Prometheus Bound_ has been referred to B.C. 470 on - the strength of a description of Ætna (vv. 370-380), which is - supposed to be a reference to the eruption of B.C. 477. Internal - evidence, however, seems to warrant the view that _The - Suppliants_ and the _Prometheus Bound_ were separated by only a - brief interval of time. - - 458 Æschylos in Athens. He found new men and new methods; - institutions, held most sacred as the safeguard of Athenian - religion, were being criticised and attacked; the Court of - Areiopagos was threatened with abolition under pretence of - reform. - - Production of the Oresteian Trilogy (or, rather, tetralogy, as - in addition to the _Agamemnon_, the _Libation-pourers_, and the - _Eumenides_, there was a satyric drama, _Proteus_). - - This trilogy was a conservative protest, religious, social, and - political, which culminated in the assertion of the divine - authority of the Areiopagos. - - Popular feeling was once more excited against the poet, who left - Athens never to return, and settled at Gela, in Sicily, under - the patronage of Hieron. - - 456 Death of Æschylos, aged 69. - - An oracle foretold that he was to die by a blow from heaven, and - according to the legend, an eagle, mistaking the poet's head for - a stone as he sat writing, dropped a tortoise on it to break the - shell. - - He was buried at Gela, and his epitaph, ascribed to himself, - ran: “Beneath this stone lies Æschylos, son of Euphorion. At - fertile Gela he died. Marathon can tell of his tested manhood, - and the Persians who there felt his mettle.” - - He is said to have produced between seventy and eighty plays, of - which only seven survive. - ------ - -Footnote 1: - - _Cf._, the legend of Caedmon, “the Father of English Song.” - - - - - THE PERSIANS[2] - - - DRAMATIS PERSONÆ - - ATOSSA - - _Ghost of_ DAREIOS - - _Messenger_ - - XERXES - - _Chorus of Persian Elders_ - - -_ARGUMENT.—When Xerxes came to the throne of Persia, remembering how his -father Dareios had sought to subdue the land of the Hellenes, and -seeking to avenge the defeat of Datis and Artaphernes on the field of -Marathon, he gathered together a mighty host of all nations under his -dominion, and led them against Hellas. And at first he prospered and -prevailed, crossed the Hellespont, and defeated the Spartans at -Thermopylæ, and took the city of Athens, from which the greater part of -its citizens had fled. But at last he and his armament met with utter -overthrow at Salamis. Meanwhile Atossa, the mother of Xerxes, with her -handmaids and the elders of the Persians, waited anxiously at Susa, -where was the palace of the great king, for tidings of her son._ - ------ - -Footnote 2: - - _Note._—Within two years after the battle of Salamis, the feeling of - natural exultation was met by Phrynichos in a tragedy bearing the - title of _The Phœnikians_, and having for its subject the defeat of - Xerxes. As he had come under the displeasure of the Athenian _demos_ - for having brought on the stage the sufferings of their Ionian kinsmen - in his _Capture of Miletos_, he was apparently anxious to regain his - popularity by a “sensation” drama of another kind; and his success - seems to have prompted Æschylos to a like attempt five years later, - B.C. 473. The Tetralogy to which the play belonged, and which gained - the first prize on its representation, included the two tragedies - (unconnected in subject) of _Phineus_ and _Glaucos_, and the satyric - drama of _Prometheus the Fire-stealer_. - - The play has, therefore, the interest of being strictly a contemporary - narrative of the battle of Salamis and its immediate consequences, by - one who may himself have been present at it, and whose brother - Ameinias (Herod, viii. 93) distinguished himself in it by a special - act of heroism. As such, making all allowance for the influence of - dramatic exigencies, and the tendency to colour history so as to meet - the tastes of patriotic Athenians, it may claim, where it differs from - the story told by Herodotos, to be a more trustworthy record. And it - has, we must remember, the interest of being the only extant drama of - its class, the only tragedy the subject of which is not taken from the - cycle of heroic myths, but from the national history of the time. Far - below the Oresteian Trilogy as it may seem to us as a work of art, - having more the character of a spectacle than a poem, it was, we may - well believe, unusually successful at the time, and it is said to have - been chosen by Hiero for reproduction in Syracuse after Æschylos had - settled there under his patronage. - - - - - THE PERSIANS - - - SCENE.—SUSA, _in front of the palace of_ XERXES, _the tomb - of_ DAREIOS _occupying the position of the thymele_ - - _Enter Chorus of_ Persian Elders. - - We the title bear of Faithful,[3] - Friends of Persians gone to Hellas, - Watchers left of treasure city,[4] - Gold-abounding, whom, as oldest, - Xerxes hath himself appointed, - He, the offspring of Dareios, - As the warders of his country. - And about our king's returning, - And our army's, gold-abounding, - Over-much, and boding evil, 10 - Does my mind within me shudder - (For our whole force, Asia's offspring, - Now is gone), and for our young chief - Sorely frets: nor courier cometh, - Nor any horseman, bringing tidings - To the city of the Persians. - From Ecbatana departing, - Susa, or the Kissian fortress,[5] - Forth they sped upon their journey, - Some in ships, and some on horses, - Some on foot, still onward marching, - In their close array presenting - Squadrons duly armed for battle: 20 - Then Armistres, Artaphernes, - Megabazes, and Astaspes, - Mighty leaders of the Persians, - Kings, and of the great King servants,[6] - March, the chiefs of mighty army. - Archers they and mounted horsemen. - Dread to look on, fierce in battle, - Artembares proud, on horseback, - And Masistres, and Imæos, 30 - Archer famed, and Pharandakes, - And the charioteer Sosthanes. - Neilos mighty and prolific - Sent forth others, Susikanes, - Pegastagon, Egypt's offspring, - And the chief of sacred Memphis; - Great Arsames, Ariomardos, - Ruler of primeval Thebæ, - And the marsh-men,[7] and the rowers, - Dread, and in their number countless. 40 - And there follow crowds of Lydians, - Very delicate and stately,[8] - Who the people of the mainland - Rule throughout—whom Mitragathes - And brave Arkteus, kingly chieftains, - Led, from Sardis, gold-abounding, - Riding on their many chariots, - Three or four a-breast their horses, - Sight to look upon all dreadful. - And the men of sacred Tmôlos[9] - Rush to place the yoke of bondage - On the neck of conquered Hellas. 50 - Mardon, Tharabis, spear-anvils,[10] - And the Mysians, javelin-darting;[11] - Babylôn too, gold-abounding, - Sends a mingled cloud, swept onward, - Both the troops who man the vessels, - And the skilled and trustful bowmen; - And the race the sword that beareth, - Follows from each clime of Asia, - At the great King's dread commandment. - These, the bloom of Persia's greatness, - Now are gone forth to the battle; 60 - And for these, their mother country, - Asia, mourns with mighty yearning; - Wives and mothers faint with trembling - Through the hours that slowly linger, - Counting each day as it passes. - - - STROPHE I - - The king's great host, destroying cities mighty, - Hath to the land beyond the sea passed over, - Crossing the straits of Athamantid Helle,[12] 70 - On raft by ropes secured, - And thrown his path, compact of many a vessel, - As yoke upon the neck of mighty ocean. - - - ANTISTROPHE I - - Of populous Asia thus the mighty ruler - 'Gainst all the land his God-sent host directeth - In two divisions, both by land and water, - Trusting the chieftains stern, - The men who drive the host to fight, relentless— - He, sprung from gold-born race, a hero godlike.[13] 80 - - - STROPHE II - - Glancing with darkling look, and eyes as of ravening dragon, - With many a hand, and many a ship, and Syrian chariot driving,[14] - He upon spearmen renowned brings battle of conquering arrows.[15] - - - ANTISTROPHE II - - Yea, there is none so tried as, withstanding the flood of the mighty,90 - To keep within steadfast bounds that wave of ocean resistless; - Hard to fight is the host of the Persians, the people stout-hearted. - - - MESODE - - Yet ah! what mortal can ward the craft of the God all-deceiving? - *Who, with a nimble foot, of one leap is easily sovereign? - For Atè, fawning and kind, at first a mortal betraying, 100 - Then in snares and meshes decoys him, - Whence one who is but man in vain doth struggle to 'scape from. - - - STROPHE III - - For Fate of old, by the high Gods' decree, - Prevailed, and on the Persians laid this task, - Wars with the crash of towers, - And set the surge of horsemen in array, - And the fierce sack that lays a city low. 110 - - - ANTISTROPHE III - - But now they learnt to look on ocean plains,[16] - The wide sea hoary with the violent blast, - Waxing o'er confident - In cables formed of many a slender strand, - And rare device of transport for the host. - - - STROPHE IV - - So now my soul is torn, - As clad in mourning, in its sore affright, - Ah me! ah me! for all the Persian host! 120 - Lest soon our country learn - That Susa's mighty fort is void of men. - - - ANTISTROPHE IV - - And through the Kissians' town - Shall echo heavy thud of hands on breast. - Woe! woe! when all the crowd of women speak - This utterance of great grief, - And byssine robes are rent in agony. - - - STROPHE V - - For all the horses strong, - And host that march on foot, - Like swarm of bees, have gone with him who led 130 - The vanguard of the host. - Crossing the sea-washed, bridge-built promontory - That joins the shores of either continent.[17] - - - ANTISTROPHE V - - And beds with tears are wet - In grief for husbands gone, - And Persian wives are delicate in grief, - Each yearning for her lord; - And each who sent her warrior-spouse to battle 140 - Now mourns at home in dreary solitude. - But come, ye Persians now, - And sitting in this ancient hall of ours, - Let us take thought deep-counselling and wise, - (Sore need is there of that,) - How fareth now the great king Xerxes, he - Who calls Dareios sire, - Bearing the name our father bore of old? - Is it the archers' bow that wins the day? - Or does the strength prevail 150 - Of iron point that heads the spear's strong shaft? - But lo! in glory like the face of gods, - The mother of my king, my queen, appears: - Let us do reverent homage at her feet; - Yea, it is meet that all - Should speak to her with words of greeting kind. - - _Enter_ ATOSSA _in a chariot of state_ - - _Chor._ O sovereign queen of Persian wives deep-zoned, - Mother of Xerxes, reverend in thine age, - Wife of Dareios! hail! - 'Twas thine to join in wedlock with a spouse - Whom Persians owned as God,[18] - And of a God thou art the mother too, - Unless its ancient Fortune fails our host. 160 - - _Atoss._ Yes, thus I come, our gold-decked palace leaving, - The bridal bower Dareios with me slept in. - Care gnaws my heart, but now I tell you plainly - A tale, my friends, which may not leave me fearless, - Lest boastful wealth should stumble at the threshold, - And with his foot o'erturn the prosperous fortune - That great Dareios raised with Heaven's high blessing. - And twofold care untold my bosom haunteth: - We may not honour wealth that has no warriors, - Nor on the poor shines light to strength proportioned; - Wealth without stint we have, yet for our eye we tremble; 170 - For as the eye of home I deem a master's presence. - Wherefore, ye Persians, aid me now in counsel; - Trusty and old, in you lies hope of wisdom. - - _Chor._ Queen of our land! be sure thou need'st not utter - Or thing or word twice o'er, which power may point to; - Thou bid'st us counsel give who fain would serve thee. - - _Atoss._ Ever with many visions of the night[19] - Am I encompassed, since my son went forth, - Leading a mighty host, with aim to sack - The land of the Ionians. But ne'er yet 180 - Have I beheld a dream so manifest - As in the night just past. And this I'll tell thee: - There stood by me two women in fair robes; - And this in Persian garments was arrayed, - And that in Dorian came before mine eyes; - In stature both of tallest, comeliest size; - And both of faultless beauty, sisters twain - Of the same stock.[20] And they twain had their homes, - One in the Hellenic, one in alien land. - And these two, as I dreamt I saw, were set 190 - At variance with each other. And my son - Learnt it, and checked and mollified their wrath, - And yokes them to his chariot, and his collar - He places on their necks. And one was proud - Of that equipment,[21] and in harness gave - Her mouth obedient; but the other kicked, - And tears the chariot's trappings with her hands, - And rushes off uncurbed, and breaks its yoke - Asunder. And my son falls low, and then - His father comes, Dareios, pitying him. - And lo! when Xerxes sees him, he his clothes 200 - Rends round his limbs. These things I say I saw - In visions of the night; and when I rose, - And dipped my hands in fountain flowing clear,[22] - I at the altar stood with hand that bore - Sweet incense, wishing holy chrism to pour - To the averting Gods whom thus men worship. - And I beheld an eagle in full flight - To Phœbos' altar-hearth; and then, my friends, 210 - I stood, struck dumb with fear; and next I saw - A kite pursuing, in her wingèd course, - And with his claws tearing the eagle's head, - Which did nought else but crouch and yield itself. - Such terrors it has been my lot to see, - And yours to hear: For be ye sure, my son, - If he succeed, will wonder-worthy prove; - But if he fail, still irresponsible - He to the people, and in either case, - He, should he but return, is sovereign still.[23] - - _Chor._ We neither wish, O Lady, thee to frighten - O'ermuch with what we say, nor yet encourage: - But thou, the Gods adoring with entreaties, - If thou hast seen aught ill, bid them avert it, - And that all good things may receive fulfilment - For thee, thy children, and thy friends and country. 220 - And next 'tis meet libations due to offer - To Earth and to the dead. And ask thy husband, - Dareios, whom thou say'st by night thou sawest, - With kindly mood from 'neath the Earth to send thee - Good things to light for thee and for thine offspring, - While adverse things shall fade away in darkness. - Such things do I, a self-taught seer, advise thee - In kindly mood, and any way we reckon - That good will come to thee from out these omens. - - _Atoss._ Well, with kind heart, hast thou, as first expounder, - Out of my dreams brought out a welcome meaning - For me, and for my sons; and thy good wishes, - May they receive fulfilment! And this also, - As thou dost bid, we to the Gods will offer 230 - And to our friends below, when we go homeward. - But first, my friends, I wish to hear of Athens, - Where in the world do men report it standeth?[24] - - _Chor._ Far to the West, where sets our king the Sun-God. - - _Atoss._ Was it this city my son wished to capture? - - _Chor._ Aye, then would Hellas to our king be subject. - - _Atoss._ And have they any multitude of soldiers? - - _Chor._ A mighty host, that wrought the Medes much mischief. - - _Atoss._ And what besides? Have they too wealth sufficing? - - _Chor._ A fount of silver have they, their land's treasure.[25]240 - - _Atoss._ Have they a host in archers' skill excelling? - - _Chor._ Not so, they wield the spear and shield and bucklers.[26] - - _Atoss._ What shepherd rules and lords it o'er their people? - - _Chor._ Of no man are they called the slaves or subjects. - - _Atoss._ How then can they sustain a foe invading? - - _Chor._ So that they spoiled Dareios' goodly army. - - _Atoss._ Dread news is thine for sires of those who're marching. - - _Chor._ Nay, but I think thou soon wilt know the whole truth; - This running one may know is that of Persian:[27] - For good or evil some clear news he bringeth. 250 - - _Enter_ Messenger - - _Mess._ O cities of the whole wide land of Asia! - O soil of Persia, haven of great wealth! - How at one stroke is brought to nothingness - Our great prosperity, and all the flower - Of Persia's strength is fallen! Woe is me! - 'Tis ill to be the first to bring ill news; - Yet needs must I the whole woe tell, ye Persians: - All our barbaric mighty host is lost.[28] - - - STROPHE I - - _Chor._ O piteous, piteous woe! 260 - O strange and dread event! - Weep, O ye Persians, hearing this great grief! - - _Mess._ Yea, all things there are ruined utterly; - And I myself beyond all hopes behold - The light of day at home. - - - ANTISTROPHE I - - _Chor._ O'er-long doth life appear - To me, bowed down with years, - On hearing this unlooked-for misery. - - _Mess._ And I, indeed, being present and not hearing - The tales of others, can report, ye Persians, - What ills were brought to pass. - - - STROPHE II - - _Chor._ Alas, alas! in vain - The many-weaponed and commingled host 270 - Went from the land of Asia to invade - The soil divine of Hellas. - - _Mess._ Full of the dead, slain foully, are the coasts - Of Salamis, and all the neighbouring shore. - - - ANTISTROPHE II - - _Chor._ Alas, alas! sea-tossed - The bodies of our friends, and much disstained: - Thou say'st that they are drifted to and fro - *In far out-floating garments.[29] - - _Mess._ E'en so; our bows availed not, but the host - Has perished, conquered by the clash of ships. - - - STROPHE III - - _Chor._ Wail, raise a bitter cry 280 - And full of woe, for those who died in fight. - How every way the Gods have wrought out ill, - Ah me! ah me, our army all destroyed. - - _Mess._ O name of Salamis that most I loathe! - Ah, how I groan, remembering Athens too! - - - ANTISTROPHE III - - _Chor._ Yea, to her enemies - Athens may well be hateful, and our minds - Remember how full many a Persian wife 290 - She, for no cause, made widows and bereaved. - - _Atoss._ Long time I have been silent in my woe, - Crushed down with grief; for this calamity - Exceeds all power to tell the woe, or ask. - Yet still we mortals needs must bear the griefs - The Gods send on us. Clearly tell thy tale, - Unfolding the whole mischief, even though - Thou groan'st at evils, who there is not dead, - And which of our chief captains we must mourn, - And who, being set in office o'er the host, - Left by their death their office desolate. 300 - - _Mess._ Xerxes still lives and sees the light of day. - - _Atoss._ To my house, then, great light thy words have brought, - Bright dawn of morning after murky night. - - _Mess._ Artembares, the lord of myriad horse, - On the hard flinty coasts of the Sileni - Is now being dashed; and valiant Dadakes, - Captain of thousands, smitten with the spear, - Leapt wildly from his ship. And Tenagon, - Best of the true old Bactrians, haunts the soil - Of Aias' isle; Lilaios, Arsames, 310 - And with them too Argestes, there defeated, - Hard by the island where the doves abound,[30] - Beat here and there upon the rocky shore. - [And from the springs of Neilos, Ægypt's stream, - Arkteus, Adeues, Pheresseues too, - These with Pharnuchos in one ship were lost;] - Matallos, Chrysa-born, the captain bold - Of myriads, leader he of swarthy horse - Some thrice ten thousand strong, has fallen low, - His red beard, hanging all its shaggy length, - Deep dyed with blood, and purpled all his skin. - Arabian Magos, Bactrian Artames, 320 - They perished, settlers in a land full rough. - [Amistris and Amphistreus, guiding well - The spear of many a conflict, and the noble - Ariomardos, leaving bitter grief - For Sardis; and the Mysian Seisames.] - With twelve score ships and ten came Tharybis; - Lyrnæan he in birth, once fair in form, - He lies, poor wretch, a death inglorious dying: - And, first in valour proved, Syennesis, - Kilikian satrap, who, for one man, gave - Most trouble to his foes, and nobly died. 330 - Of leaders such as these I mention make, - And out of many evils tell but few. - - _Atoss._ Woe, woe! I hear the very worst of ills, - Shame to the Persians, cause of bitter wail; - But tell me, going o'er the ground again, - How great the number of the Hellenes' navy, - That they presumed with Persia's armament - To wage their warfare in the clash of ships. - - _Mess._ As far as numbers went, be sure the ships - Of Persia had the better, for the Hellenes 340 - Had, as their total, ships but fifteen score, - And other ten selected as reserve.[31] - And Xerxes (well I know it) had a thousand - Which he commanded—those that most excelled[32] - In speed were twice five score and seven in number; - So stands the account. Deem'st thou our forces less - In that encounter? Nay, some Power above - Destroyed our host, and pressed the balance down - With most unequal fortune, and the Gods - Preserve the city of the Goddess Pallas. - - _Atoss._ Is the Athenians' city then unsacked? 350 - - _Mess._ Their men are left, and that is bulwark strong.[33] - - _Atoss._ Next tell me how the fight of ships began. - Who led the attack? Were those Hellenes the first, - Or was't my son, exulting in his strength? - - _Mess._ The author of the mischief, O my mistress, - Was some foul fiend or Power on evil bent; - For lo! a Hellene from the Athenian host[34] - Came to thy son, to Xerxes, and spake thus, - That should the shadow of the dark night come, - The Hellenes would not wait him, but would leap 360 - Into their rowers' benches, here and there, - And save their lives in secret, hasty flight. - And he forthwith, this hearing, knowing not - The Hellene's guile, nor yet the Gods' great wrath, - Gives this command to all his admirals, - Soon as the sun should cease to burn the earth - With his bright rays, and darkness thick invade - The firmament of heaven, to set their ships - In threefold lines, to hinder all escape, - And guard the billowy straits, and others place 370 - In circuit round about the isle of Aias: - For if the Hellenes 'scaped an evil doom, - And found a way of secret, hasty flight, - It was ordained that all should lose their heads.[35] - Such things he spake from soul o'erwrought with pride, - For he knew not what fate the Gods would send; - And they, not mutinous, but prompt to serve, - Then made their supper ready, and each sailor - Fastened his oar around true-fitting thole; - And when the sunlight vanished, and the night - Had come, then each man, master of an oar, 380 - Went to his ship, and all men bearing arms, - And through the long ships rank cheered loud to rank; - And so they sail, as 'twas appointed each, - And all night long the captains of the fleet - Kept their men working, rowing to and fro; - Night then came on, and the Hellenic host - In no wise sought to take to secret flight. - And when day, bright to look on with white steeds, - O'erspread the earth, then rose from the Hellenes 390 - Loud chant of cry of battle, and forthwith - Echo gave answer from each island rock; - And terror then on all the Persians fell, - Of fond hopes disappointed. Not in flight - The Hellenes then their solemn pæans sang: - But with brave spirit hasting on to battle. - With martial sound the trumpet fired those ranks; - And straight with sweep of oars that flew through foam, - They smote the loud waves at the boatswain's call; - And swiftly all were manifest to sight. 400 - Then first their right wing moved in order meet;[36] - Next the whole line its forward course began, - And all at once we heard a mighty shout,— - “O sons of Hellenes, forward, free your country; - Free too your wives, your children, and the shrines - Built to your fathers' Gods, and holy tombs - Your ancestors now rest in. Now the fight - Is for our all.” And on our side indeed - Arose in answer din of Persian speech, - And time to wait was over; ship on ship 410 - Dashed its bronze-pointed beak, and first a barque - Of Hellas did the encounter fierce begin,[37] - And from Phœnikian vessel crashes off - Her carved prow. And each against his neighbour - Steers his own ship: and first the mighty flood - Of Persian host held out. But when the ships - Were crowded in the straits,[38] nor could they give - Help to each other, they with mutual shocks, - With beaks of bronze went crushing each the other, - Shivering their rowers' benches. And the ships - Of Hellas, with manœuvring not unskilful, - Charged circling round them. And the hulls of ships 420 - Floated capsized, nor could the sea be seen, - Strown, as it was, with wrecks and carcases; - And all the shores and rocks were full of corpses. - And every ship was wildly rowed in fight, - All that composed the Persian armament. - And they, as men spear tunnies,[39] or a haul - Of other fishes, with the shafts of oars, - Or spars of wrecks went smiting, cleaving down; - And bitter groans and wailings overspread - The wide sea-waves, till eye of swarthy night 430 - Bade it all cease: and for the mass of ills, - Not, though my tale should run for ten full days, - Could I in full recount them. Be assured - That never yet so great a multitude - Died in a single day as died in this. - - _Atoss._ Ah, me! Great then the sea of ills that breaks - On Persia and the whole barbaric host. - - _Mess._ Be sure our evil fate is but half o'er: - On this has supervened such bulk of woe, - As more than twice to outweigh what I've told. 440 - - _Atoss._ And yet what fortune could be worse than this? - Say, what is this disaster which thou tell'st, - That turns the scale to greater evils still? - - _Mess._ Those Persians that were in the bloom of life, - Bravest in heart and noblest in their blood, - And by the king himself deemed worthiest trust, - Basely and by most shameful death have died. - - _Atoss._ Ah! woe is me, my friends, for our ill fate! - What was the death by which thou say'st they perished? - - _Mess._ There is an isle that lies off Salamis,[40] - Small, with bad anchorage for ships, where Pan, 450 - Pan the dance-loving, haunts the sea-washed coast. - There Xerxes sends these men, that when their foes, - Being wrecked, should to the islands safely swim, - They might with ease destroy th' Hellenic host, - And save their friends from out the deep sea's paths; - But ill the future guessing: for when God - Gave the Hellenes the glory of the battle, - In that same hour, with arms well wrought in bronze - Shielding their bodies, from their ships they leapt, - And the whole isle encircled, so that we 460 - Were sore distressed,[41] and knew not where to turn; - For here men's hands hurled many a stone at them; - And there the arrows from the archer's bow - Smote and destroyed them; and with one great rush, - At last advancing, they upon them dash - And smite, and hew the limbs of these poor wretches, - Till they each foe had utterly destroyed. - [And Xerxes when he saw how deep the ill,[42] - Groaned out aloud, for he had ta'en his seat, - With clear, wide view of all the army round, - On a high cliff hard by the open sea; - And tearing then his robes with bitter cry, 470 - And giving orders to his troops on shore, - He sends them off in foul retreat. This grief - 'Tis thine to mourn besides the former ills.] - - _Atoss._ O hateful Power, how thou of all their hopes - Hast robbed the Persians! Bitter doom my son - Devised for glorious Athens, nor did they, - The invading host who fell at Marathon, - Suffice; but my son, counting it his task - To exact requital for it, brought on him - So great a crowd of sorrows. But I pray, - As to those ships that have this fate escaped, 480 - Where did'st thou leave them? Can'st thou clearly tell? - - _Mess._ The captains of the vessels that were left, - With a fair wind, but not in meet array, - Took flight: and all the remnant of the army - Fell in Bœotia—some for stress of thirst - About the fountain clear, and some of us, - Panting for breath, cross to the Phokians' land, - The soil of Doris, and the Melian gulf, - Where fair Spercheios waters all the plains - With kindly flood, and then the Achæan fields 490 - And city of the Thessali received us, - Famished for lack of food;[43] and many died - Of thirst and hunger, for both ills we bore; - And then to the Magnetian land we came, - And that of Macedonians, to the stream - Of Axios, and Bolbe's reed-grown marsh, - And Mount Pangaios and the Edonian land. - And on that night God sent a mighty frost, - Unwonted at that season, sealing up - The whole course of the Strymon's pure, clear flood;[44] - And they who erst had deemed the Gods as nought, 500 - Then prayed with hot entreaties, worshipping - Both earth and heaven. And after that the host - Ceased from its instant calling on the Gods, - It crosses o'er the glassy, frozen stream; - And whosoe'er set forth before the rays - Of the bright God were shed abroad, was saved; - For soon the glorious sun with burning blaze - Reached the mid-stream and warmed it with its flame, - And they, confused, each on the other fell. - Blest then was he whose soul most speedily - Breathed out its life. And those who yet survived - And gained deliverance, crossing with great toil 510 - And many a pang through Thrakè, now are come, - Escaped from perils, no great number they, - To this our sacred land, and so it groans, - This city of the Persians, missing much - Our country's dear-loved youth. Too true my tale, - And many things I from my speech omit, - Ills which the Persians suffer at God's hand. - - _Chor._ O Power resistless, with what weight of woe - On all the Persian race have thy feet leapt! - - _Atoss._ Ah! woe is me for that our army lost! - O vision of the night that cam'st in dreams, 520 - Too clearly did'st thou show me of these ills! - But ye (_to Chorus_) did judge them far too carelessly; - Yet since your counsel pointed to that course, - I to the Gods will first my prayer address. - And then with gifts to Earth and to the Dead, - Bringing the chrism from my store, I'll come. - For our past ills, I know, 'tis all too late, - But for the future, I may hope, will dawn - A better fortune! But 'tis now your part - In these our present ills, in counsel faithful - To commune with the Faithful; and my son, 530 - Should he come here before me, comfort him, - And home escort him, lest he add fresh ill - To all these evils that we suffer now. [_Exit_ - - _Chor._ Zeus our king, who now to nothing - Bring'st the army of the Persians, - Multitudinous, much boasting; - And with gloomy woe hast shrouded - Both Ecbatana and Susa; - Many maidens now are tearing - With their tender hands their mantles, 540 - And with tear-floods wet their bosoms, - In the common grief partaking; - And the brides of Persian warriors, - Dainty even in their wailing, - Longing for their new-wed husbands, - Reft of bridal couch luxurious, - With its coverlet so dainty, - Losing joy of wanton youth-time, - Mourn in never-sated wailings. - And I too in fullest measure - Raise again meet cry of sorrow, - Weeping for the loved and lost ones. - - - STROPHE I - - For now the land of Asia mourneth sore, 550 - Left desolate of men, - 'Twas Xerxes led them forth, woe! woe! - 'Twas Xerxes lost them all, woe! woe! - 'Twas Xerxes who with evil counsels sped - Their course in sea-borne barques. - Why was Dareios erst so free from harm, - First bowman of the state, - The leader whom the men of Susa loved, - - - ANTISTROPHE I - - While those who fought as soldiers or at sea, 560 - These ships, dark-hulled, well-rowed, - Their own ships bore them on, woe! woe! - Their own ships lost them all, woe! woe! - Their own ships, in the crash of ruin urged, - And by Ionian hands?[45] - The king himself, we hear, but hardly 'scapes, - Through Thrakè's widespread steppes, - And paths o'er which the tempests wildly sweep. - - - STROPHE II - - And they who perished first, ah me! 570 - Perforce unburied left, alas! - Are scattered round Kychreia's shore,[46] woe! woe! - Lament, mourn sore, and raise a bitter cry, - Grievous, the sky to pierce, woe! woe! - And let thy mourning voice uplift its strain - Of loud and full lament. - - - ANTISTROPHE II - - Torn by the whirling flood, ah me! - Their carcases are gnawed, alas! - By the dumb brood of stainless sea, woe! woe! 580 - And each house mourneth for its vanished lord; - And childless sires, woe! woe! - Mourning in age o'er griefs the Gods have sent, - Now hear their utter loss. - - - STROPHE III - - And throughout all Asia's borders - None now own the sway of Persia, - Nor bring any more their tribute, - Owning sway of sovereign master. - Low upon the Earth, laid prostrate, 590 - Is the strength of our great monarch - - - ANTISTROPHE III - - No more need men keep in silence - Tongues fast bound: for now the people - May with freedom speak at pleasure; - For the yoke of power is broken; - And blood-stained in all its meadows - Holds the sea-washed isle of Aias - What was once the host of Persia. - - _Re-enter_ ATOSSA - - _Atoss._ Whoe'er, my friends, is vexed in troublous times, 600 - Knows that when once a tide of woe sets in, - A man is wont to fear in everything; - But when Fate flows on smoothly, then to trust - That the same Fate will ever send fair gales. - So now all these disasters from the Gods - Seem in mine eyes filled full of fear and dread, - And in mine ears rings cry unpæanlike, - So great a dread of all has seized my soul: - And therefore now, without or chariot's state - Or wonted pomp, have I thus issued forth 610 - From out my palace, to my son's sire bringing - Libations loving, gifts propitiatory, - Meet for the dead; milk pure and white from cow - Unblemished, and bright honey that distils - From the flower-working bee, and water drawn - From virgin fountain, and the draught unmarred - From mother wild, bright child of ancient vine; - And here too of the tree that evermore - Keeps its fresh life in foliage, the pale olive, - Is the sweet-smelling fruit, and twinèd wreaths - Of flowers, the children of all-bearing earth.[47] 620 - But ye, my friends, o'er these libations poured - In honour of the dead, chant forth your hymns, - And call upon Dareios as a God: - While I will send unto the Gods below - These votive offerings which the earth shall drink. - - [_Goes to the tomb of_ DAREIOS _in the centre - of the stage_ - - _Chor._ O royal lady, honoured of the Persians, - Do thou libations pour - To the dark chambers of the dead below; - And we with hymns will pray - The Powers that act as escorts of the dead - To give us kindly help beneath the earth. - But oh, ye holy Ones in darkness dwelling, 630 - Hermes and Earth, and thou, the Lord of Hell, - Send from beneath a soul - Up to the light of earth; - For should he know a cure for these our ills, - He, he alone of men, their end may tell. - - - STROPHE I - - Doth he, the blest one hear, - The king, like Gods in power, - Hear me, as I send forth - My cries in barbarous speech, - Yet very clear to him,— - Sad, varied, broken cries - So as to tell aloud - Our troubles terrible? 640 - Ah, doth he hear below? - - - ANTISTROPHE I - - But thou, O Earth, and ye, - The other Lords of those - Beneath the grave that dwell; - Grant that the godlike one - May come from out your home, - The Persians' mighty God, - In Susa's palace born; - Send him, I pray you, up, - The like of whom the soil - Of Persia never hid. - - - STROPHE II - - Dear was our chief, and dear to us his tomb, - For dear the life it hides; 650 - Aidoneus, O Aidoneus, send him forth, - Thou who dost lead the dead to Earth again, - *Yea, send Dareios.... What a king was he! - - - ANTISTROPHE II - - For never did he in war's bloody woe - Lose all his warrior-host, - But Heaven-taught Counsellor the Persians called him, - And Heaven-taught Counsellor in truth he proved, - Since he still ruled his hosts of subjects well. - - - STROPHE III - - Monarch, O ancient monarch, come, oh, come, - Come to the summit of sepulchral mound, 660 - Lifting thy foot encased - In slipper saffron-dyed, - And giving to our view - Thy royal tiara's crest:[48] - Speak, O Dareios, faultless father, speak. - - - ANTISTROPHE III - - Yea, come, that thou, O Lord, may'st hear the woes, - Woes new and strange, our lord has now endured; - For on us now has fallen - A dark and Stygian mist, - Since all the armed youth - Has perished utterly; - Speak, O Dareios, faultless father, speak. - - - EPODE - - O thou, whose death thy friends - Bewail with many tears, 670 - *Why thus, O Lord of lords, - *In double error of wild frenzy born, - Have all our triremes good - Been lost to this our land, - Ships that are ships no more, yea, ships no more? - - _The_ Ghost _of_ DAREIOS _appears on the summit of the - mound_ - - - _Dar._ O faithful of the Faithful, ye who were - Companions of my youth, ye Persian elders, - - What troubles is't my country toils beneath? - The whole plain groans, cut up and furrowed o'er,[49] - And I, beholding now my queen beloved - Standing hard by my sepulchre, feared much, 680 - And her libations graciously received; - But ye wail loud near this my sepulchre, - And shouting shrill with cries that raise the dead, - Ye call me with your plaints. No easy task - Is it to come, for this cause above all, - That the great Gods who reign below are apter - To seize men than release: yet natheless I, - Being great in power among them, now am come. - Be quick then, that none blame me as too late;[50] - What new dire evils on the Persians weigh? - - _Chor._ I fear to look on thee, 690 - Fear before thee to speak, - With all the awe of thee I felt of old. - - _Dar._ But since I came by thy complaints persuaded, - From below rising, spin no lengthened tale; - But shortly, clearly speak, and tell thy story, - And leave awhile thine awe and fear of me. - - _Chor._ I dread thy wish to grant, - *I dread to say thee nay,[51] - Saying things that it is hard for friends to speak. - - _Dar._ Nay, then, since that old dread of thine prevents thee, - Do thou [_to_ ATOSSA], the ancient partner of my bed,700 - My noble queen, from these thy plaints and moanings - Cease, and say something clearly. Human sorrows - May well on mortals fall; for many evils, - Some on the sea, and some on dry land also, - Happen to men if life be far prolongèd. - - _Atoss._ O thou, who in the fate of fair good fortune - Excelled'st all men, who, while yet thou sawest - The sun's bright rays, did'st lead a life all blessed, - Admired, yea, worshipped as a God by Persians, - Now, too, I count thee blest in that thou died'st - Before thou saw'st the depth of these our evils. - For now, Dareios, thou shalt hear a story - Full, yet in briefest moment. Utter ruin, - To sum up all, is come upon the Persians. 710 - - _Dar._ How so? Hath plague or discord seized my country? - - _Atoss._ Not so, but all the host is lost near Athens. - - _Dar._ What son of mine led that host hither, tell me?[52] - - _Atoss._ Xerxes o'er-hasty, emptying all the mainland. - - _Dar._ Made he this mad attempt by land or water? - - _Atoss._ By both; two lines there were of two great armies. - - _Dar._ How did so great a host effect its passage? - - _Atoss._ He bridged the straits of Helle, and found transit. - - _Dar._ Did he prevail to close the mighty Bosporos? - - _Atoss._ So was it; yet some God, it may be, helped him. 720 - - _Dar._ Alas! some great God came and stole his wisdom. - - _Atoss._ Yea, the end shows what evil he accomplished. - - _Dar._ And how have they fared, that ye thus bewail them? - - _Atoss._ The naval host, o'ercome, wrecked all the land-force. - - _Dar._ What! Is the whole host by the spear laid prostrate? - - _Atoss._ For this doth Susa's city mourn her losses. - - _Dar._ Alas, for that brave force and mighty army! - - _Atoss._ The Bactrians all are lost, not old men merely. - - _Dar._ Poor fool! how he hath lost his host's fresh vigour! - - _Atoss._ Xerxes, they say, alone, with but few others.... 730 - - _Dar._ What is his end, and where? Is there no safety? - - _Atoss._ Was glad to gain the bridge that joins two mainlands. - - _Dar._ And has he reached this mainland? Is that certain? - - _Atoss._ Yea, the report holds good. Here is no discord.[53] - - _Dar._ Ah me! Full swift the oracles' fulfilment! - And on my son hath Zeus their end directed. - I hoped the Gods would work them out more slowly; - But when man hastens, God too with him worketh. - And now for all my friends a fount of evils - Seems to be found. And this my son, not knowing, 740 - In youth's rash mood, hath wrought; for he did purpose - To curb the sacred Hellespont with fetters, - As though it were his slave, and sought to alter - The stream of God, the Bosporos, full-flowing, - And his well-hammered chains around it casting, - Prevailed to make his mighty host a highway; - And though a mortal, thought, with no good counsel, - To master all the Gods, yea, e'en Poseidon. - Nay, was not my poor son oppressed with madness? - And much I fear lest all my heaped-up treasure - Become the spoil and prey of the first comer. - - _Atoss._ Such things the o'er-hasty Xerxes learns from others,750 - By intercourse with men of evil counsel;[54] - Who say that thou great wealth for thy son gained'st - By thy spear's might, while he with coward spirit - Does his spear-work indoors, and nothing addeth - Unto his father's glory. Such reproaches - Hearing full oft from men of evil counsel, - He planned this expedition against Hellas. - - _Dar._ Thus then a deed portentous hath been wrought, - Ever to be remembered, such as ne'er - Falling on Susa made it desolate, - Since Zeus our king ordained this dignity, - That one man should be lord of Asia's plains. - Where feed her thousand flocks, and hold the rod 760 - Of sovran guidance: for the Median first[55] - Ruled o'er the host, and then his son in turn - Finished the work, for reason steered his soul; - And Kyros came as third, full richly blest, - And ruled, and gained great peace for all his friends; - And he won o'er the Lydians and the Phrygians, - And conquered all the wide Ionian land;[56] - For such his wisdom, he provoked not God. - And Kyros' son came fourth, and ruled the host; - And Mardos fifth held sway, his country's shame,[57] 770 - Shame to the ancient throne; and him with guile - Artaphrenes[58] the brave smote down, close leagued - With men, his friends, to whom the work was given. - [Sixth, Maraphis and seventh Artaphrenes,] - And I obtained this post that I desired, - And with a mighty host great victories won. - Yet no such evil brought I on the state; - But my son Xerxes, young, thinks like a youth, - And all my solemn charge remembers not; - For know this well, my old companions true, 780 - That none of us who swayed the realm of old, - Did e'er appear as working ills like these. - - _Chor._ What then, O King Dareios? To what end - Lead'st thou thy speech? And how, in this our plight, - Could we, the Persian people, prosper best? - - _Dar._ If ye no more attack the Hellenes' land, - E'en though the Median host outnumbers theirs. - To them the very land is true ally. - - _Chor._ What meanest thou? How fights the land for them? - - _Dar._ *It slays with famine those vast multitudes.790 - - _Chor._ We then a host, select, compact, will raise. - - _Dar._ Nay, e'en the host which now in Hellas stays[59] - Will ne'er return in peace and safety home. - - _Chor._ How say'st thou? Does not all the barbarous host - Cross from Europa o'er the straits of Hellè? - - _Dar._ But few of many; if 'tis meet for one - Who looks upon the things already done - To trust the oracles of Gods; for they, - Not these or those, but all, are brought to pass: - If this be so, then, resting on vain hopes,[60] 800 - He leaves a chosen portion of his host: - And they abide where, watering all the plain, - Asôpos pours his fertilising stream - Dear to Bœotian land; and there of ills - The topmost crown awaits them, penalty - Of wanton outrage and of godless thoughts; - For they to Hellas coming, held not back - In awe from plundering sculptured forms of Gods[61] - And burning down their temples; and laid low - Are altars, and the shrines of Gods o'erthrown, - E'en from their base. They therefore having wrought - Deeds evil, now are suffering, and will suffer - Evil not less, and not as yet is seen 810 - *E'en the bare groundwork of the ills, but still - They grow up to completeness. Such a stream - Of blood and slaughter soon shall flow from them - By Dorian spear upon Platæan ground,[62] - And heaps of corpses shall to children's children, - Though speechless, witness to the eyes of men - That mortal man should not wax overproud; - For wanton pride from blossom grows to fruit, - The full corn in the ear, of utter woe, - And reaps a tear-fraught harvest. Seeing then, - Such recompense of these things, cherish well - The memory of Athens and of Hellas; 820 - Let no man in his scorn of present fortune, - And thirst for other, mar his good estate; - Zeus is the avenger of o'er-lofty thoughts, - A terrible controller. Therefore now, - Since voice of God bids him be wise of heart, - Admonish him with counsel true and good - To cease his daring sacrilegious pride; - And thou, O Xerxes' mother, old and dear, - Go to thy home, and taking what apparel - Is fitting, go to meet thy son; for all 830 - The costly robes around his limbs are torn - To rags and shreds in grief's wild agony. - But do thou gently soothe his soul with words; - For he to thee alone will deign to hearken; - But I must leave the earth for darkness deep: - And ye, old men, farewell, although in woe, - And give your soul its daily bread of joy; - For to the dead no profit bringeth wealth. - - [_Exit, disappearing in the earth._ - - - _Chor._ I shudder as I hear the many woes - Both past and present that on Persians fall. 840 - - _Atoss._ [O God, how many evils fall on me![63] - And yet this one woe biteth more than all, - Hearing my son's shame in the rags of robes - That clothe his limbs. But I will go and take - A fit adornment from my house, and try - To meet my son. We will not in his troubles - Basely abandon him whom most we love.] - - - STROPHE I - - _Chor._ Ah me! a glorious and a blessed life - Had we as subjects once, - When our old king, Dareios, ruled the land, 850 - Meeting all wants, dispassionate, supreme, - A monarch like a God. - - - ANTISTROPHE I - - For first we showed the world our noble hosts; - And laws of tower-like strength - Directed all things; and our backward march - After our wars unhurt, unsuffering led - Our prospering armies home. - - - STROPHE II - - How many towns he took, - Not crossing Halys' stream[64] 860 - Nor issuing from his home, - There where in Strymon's sea, - The Acheloian Isles[65] - Lie near the coasts of Thrakian colonies. - - - ANTISTROPHE II - - And those that lie outside the Ægæan main, - The cities girt with towers, - They hearkened to our king; - And those who boast their site - By Hellè's full, wide stream, - Propontis with its bays, and mouth of Pontos broad. 870 - - - STROPHE III - - And all the isles that lie - Facing the headland jutting in the sea,[66] - Close bound to this our coast; - Lesbos, and Samos with its olive groves; - Chios and Paros too; - Naxos and Myconos, and Andros too - On Tenos bordering. - - - ANTISTROPHE III - - And so he ruled the isles - That lie midway between the continents, - Lemnos, and Icaros, - Rhodes and Cnidos and the Kyprian towns, 880 - Paphos and Soli famed, - And with them Salamis, - Whose parent city now our groans doth cause;[67] - - - EPODE - - And many a wealthy town and populous, - Of Hellenes in the Ionian region dwelling, - He by his counsel ruled; - His was the unconquered strength of warrior host, - Allies of mingled race. - And now, beyond all doubt, - In strife of war defeated utterly, - We find this high estate - Through wrath of God o'erturned, 890 - And we are smitten low, - By bitter loss at sea. - - _Enter_ XERXES _in kingly apparel, but with his robes rent, - with_ Attendants. - - _Xer._ Oh, miserable me! - Who this dark hateful doom - That I expected least - Have met with as my lot, - With what stern mood and fierce - Towards the Persian race - Is God's hand laid on us! - What woe will come on me? - Gone is my strength of limb, - As I these elders see. - Ah, would to Heaven, O Zeus, - That with the men who fell - Death's doom had covered me! 900 - - _Chor._ Ah, woe, O King, woe! woe! - For the army brave in fight, - And our goodly Persian name, - And the fair array of men, - Whom God hath now cut off! - And the land bewails its youth - Who for our Xerxes fell, - For him whose deeds have filled - *Hades with Persian souls; - For many heroes now - *Are Hades-travellers, - Our country's chosen flower, - Mighty with darts and bow; - *For lo! the myriad mass 910 - Of men has perished quite. - Woe, woe for our fair fame! - And Asia's land, O King, - Is terribly, most terribly, o'erthrown. - - _Xer._ I then, oh misery! - Have to my curse been proved - Sore evil to my country and my race. - - _Chor._ Yea, and on thy return - I will lift up my voice in wailing loud, - Cry of sore-troubled thought, - As of a mourner born - In Mariandynian land,[68] 920 - Lament of many tears. - - - ANTISTROPHE I - - _Xer._ Yea, utter ye a wail - Dreary and full of grief; - For lo! the face of Fate - Against me now is turned. - - _Chor._ Yea, I will raise a cry - Dreary and full of grief, - Giving this tribute due - To all the people's woes, - And all our loss at sea, - Troubles of this our State - That mourneth for her sons; - Yea, I will wail full sore, - With flood of bitter tears. - - - STROPHE II - - _Xer._ For Ares, he whose might - Was in our ships' array, - Giving victory to our foes, - Has in Ionians, yea, - Ionians, found his match, - And from the dark sea's plain, - And that ill-omened shore, - Has a fell harvest reaped. - - _Chor._ Yea, wail, search out the whole; - Where are our other friends? - Where thy companions true, - Such as Pharandakes, - Susas, Pelagon, Psammis, Dotamas, - Agdabatas, Susiskanes, - From Ecbatana who started? - - - ANTISTROPHE II - - _Xer._ I left them low in death, - Falling from Tyrian ship, - On Salaminian shores, - Beating now here, now there, - On the hard rock-girt coast. - - _Chor._ Ah, where Pharnuchos then, - And Ariomardos brave? - And where Sevalkes king, - Lilæos proud of race, - Memphis and Tharybis, - Masistras, and Artembares, 950 - Hystæchmas? This I ask. - - - STROPHE III - - _Xer._ Woe! woe is me! - They have looked on at Athens' ancient towers, - Her hated towers, ah me! - All, as by one fell stroke, - Unhappy in their fate - Lie gasping on the shore. - - _Chor._ And he, thy faithful Eye,[69] 960 - Who told the Persian host, - Myriads on myriads o'er,[70] - Alpistos, son and heir - Of Batanôchos old - · · · · · - And the son of brave Sesames, - Son himself of Megabates? - Parthos, and the great Œbares, - Did'st thou leave them, did'st thou leave them? - Ah, woe! ah, woe is me, - For those unhappy ones! - Thou to the Persians brave - Tellest of ills on ills. - - - ANTISTROPHE III - - _Xer._ Ah, thou dost wake in me - The memory of the spell of yearning love - For comrades brave and true, - Telling of cursed ills, - Yea, cursed, hateful doom; 970 - And lo, within my frame - My heart cries out, cries out. - - _Chor._ Yea, another too we long for, - Xanthes, captain of ten thousand - Mardian warriors, and Anchares - Arian born, and great Arsakes - And Diæxis, lords of horsemen, - Kigdagatas and Lythimnas, - Tolmos, longing for the battle: 980 - *Much I marvel, much I marvel,[71] - For they come not, as the rear-guard - Of thy tent on chariot mounted.[72] - - - STROPHE IV - - _Xer._ Gone those rulers of the army. - - _Chor._ Gone are they in death inglorious. - - _Xer._ Ah woe! ah woe! Alas! alas! - - _Chor._ Ah! the Gods have sent upon us - Ill we never thought to look on, - Eminent above all others; - Ne'er hath Atè seen its equal. - - - ANTISTROPHE IV - - Smitten we by many sorrows, 990 - Such as come on men but seldom. - - _Chor._ Smitten we, 'tis all too certain.... - - _Xer._ Fresh woes! fresh woes! ah me! - - _Chor._ Now with adverse turn of fortune, - With Ionian seamen meeting, - Fails in war the race of Persians. - - - STROPHE V - - _Xer._ Too true. Yea I and that vast host of mine - Are smitten down. - - _Chor._ Too true—the Persians' majesty and might - Have perished utterly. - - _Xer._ See'st thou this remnant of my armament? - - _Chor._ I see it, yea, I see. 1000 - - _Xer._ (_pointing to his quiver._) Dost see thou that - which arrows wont to hold?... - - _Chor._ What speak'st thou of as saved? - - _Xer._ This treasure-store for darts. - - _Chor._ Few, few of many left! - - _Xer._ Thus we all helpers lack. - - _Chor._ Ionian soldiers flee not from the spear. - - - ANTISTROPHE V - - _Xer._ Yea, very brave are they, and I have seen - Unlooked-for woe. - - _Chor._ Wilt tell of squadron of our sea-borne ships - Defeated utterly? - - _Xer._ I tore my robes at this calamity. - - _Chor._ Ah me, ah me, ah me. 1010 - - _Xer._ Ay, more than all 'ah me's'! - - _Chor._ Twofold and threefold ills! - - _Xer._ Grievous to us—but joy, - Great joy, to all our foes! - - _Chor._ Lopped off is all our strength. - - _Xer._ Stripped bare of escort I! - - _Chor._ Yea, by sore loss at sea - Disastrous to thy friends. - - - STROPHE VI - - _Xer._ Weep for our sorrow, weep, - Yea, go ye to the house. - - _Chor._ Woe for our griefs, woe, woe! - - _Xer._ Cry out an echoing cry. - - _Chor._ Ill gift of ills on ills. 1020 - - _Xer._ Weep on in wailing chant. - - _Chor._ Oh! ah! Oh! ah! - - _Xer._ Grievous our bitter woes. - - _Chor._ Ah me, I mourn them sore. - - - ANTISTROPHE VI - - _Xer._ Ply, ply your hands and groan; - Yea, for my sake bewail. - - _Chor._ I weep in bitter grief. - - _Xer._ Cry out an echoing cry. - - _Chor._ Yea, we may raise our voice, - O Lord and King, in wail. - - _Xer._ Raise now shrill cry of woe. - - _Chor._ Ah me! Ah! Woe is me! 1030 - - _Xer._ Yea, with it mingle dark.... - - _Chor._ And bitter, grievous blows. - - - STROPHE VII - - _Xer._ Yea, beat thy breast, and cry - After the Mysian type. - - _Chor._ Oh, misery! oh, misery! - - _Xer._ Yea, tear the white hair off thy flowing beard. - - _Chor._ Yea; with clenched hands, with clenchèd hands, I say, - In very piteous guise. - - _Xer._ Cry out, cry out aloud. - - _Chor._ That also will I do. - - - ANTISTROPHE VII - - _Xer._ And with thy fingers tear - Thy bosom's folded robe. - - _Chor._ Oh, misery! oh, misery! 1040 - - _Xer._ Yea, tear thy hair in wailing for our host. - - _Chor._ Yea, with clenched hands, I say, with clenchèd hands, - In very piteous guise. - - _Xer._ Be thine eyes wet with tears. - - _Chor._ Behold the tears stream down. - - - EPODE - - _Xer._ Raise a re-echoing cry. - - _Chor._ Ah woe! ah woe! - - _Xer._ Go to thy home with wailing loud and long. - - _Chor._ O land of Persia, full of lamentations! - - _Xer._ Through the town raise your cries. - - _Chor._ We raise them, yea, we raise. 1050 - - _Xer._ Wail, wail, ye men that walked so daintily. - - _Chor._ O land of Persia, full of lamentations! - Woe; woe! - - _Xer._ Alas for those who in the triremes perished! - - _Chor._ With broken cries of woe will I escort thee. - - [_Exeunt in procession, wailing, and - rending their robes._ - ------ - -Footnote 3: - - “The Faithful,” or “trusty,” seems to have been a special title of - honour given to the veteran councillors of the king (Xenoph. _Anab._ - i. 15), just as that of the “Immortals” was chosen for his body-guard - (Herod, vii. 83). - -Footnote 4: - - Susa was pre-eminently the treasury of the Persian kings (Herod, v. - 49; Strabo, xv. p. 731), their favourite residence in spring, as - Ecbatana in Media was in summer and Babylon in winter. - -Footnote 5: - - Kissia was properly the name of the district in which Susa stood; but - here, and in v. 123, it is treated as if it belonged to a separate - city. Throughout the play there is, indeed, a lavish use of Persian - barbaric names of persons and places, without a very minute regard to - historical accuracy. - -Footnote 6: - - Here, as in Herodotos and Greek writers generally, the title, “the - King,” or “the great King,” was enough. It could be understood only of - the Persian. The latter name had been borne by the kings of Assyria (2 - Kings xviii. 28). A little later it passed into the fuller, more - boastful form of “The King of kings.” - -Footnote 7: - - The inhabitants of the Delta of the Nile, especially those of the - marshy districts near the Heracleotic mouth, were famed as supplying - the best and bravest soldiers of any part of Egypt.—Comp. Thucyd. i. - 110. - -Footnote 8: - - The epithet was applied probably by Æschylos to the Lydians properly - so called, the barbaric race with whom the Hellenes had little or - nothing in common. They, in dress, diet, mode of life, their distaste - for the contests of the arena, seemed to the Greeks the very type of - effeminacy. The Ionian Greeks, however, were brought under the same - influence, and gradually acquired the same character. The suppression - of the name of the Ionians in the list of the Persian forces may be - noticed as characteristic. The Athenian poet would not bring before an - Athenian audience the shame of their Asiatic kinsmen. - -Footnote 9: - - Tmôlos, sacred as being the mythical birth-place of Dionysos. - -Footnote 10: - - “Spear-anvils,” _sc._, meeting the spear of their foes as the anvils - would meet it, turning its point, themselves steadfast and immovable. - -Footnote 11: - - So Herodotos (vii. 74) in his account of the army of Xerxes describes - the Mysians as using for their weapons those darts or “javelins” made - by hardening the ends in the fire. - -Footnote 12: - - Helle the daughter of Athamas, from whom the Hellespont took its name. - For the description of the pontoons formed by boats, which were moored - together with cables and finally covered with faggots, comp. Herod, - vii. 36. - -Footnote 13: - - “Gold-born,” _sc._, descended from Perseus, the child of Danaë. - -Footnote 14: - - Syrian, either in the vague sense in which it became almost synonymous - with Assyrian, or else showing that Syria, properly so called, - retained the fame for chariots which it had had at a period as early - as the time of the Hebrew Judges (Judg. v. 3). Herodotos (vii. 140) - gives an Oracle of Delphi in which the same epithet appears. - -Footnote 15: - - The description, though put into the mouth of Persians, is meant to - flatter Hellenic pride. The Persians and their army were for the most - part light-armed troops only, barbarians equipped with javelins or - bows. In the sculptures of Persepolis, as in those of Nineveh and - Khorsabad, this mode of warfare is throughout the most conspicuous. - They, the Hellenes, were the _hoplites_, warriors of the spear and the - shield, the cuirass and the greaves. - -Footnote 16: - - A touch of Athenian exultation in their life as seamen. To them the - sea was almost a home. They were familiar with it from childhood. To - the Persians it was new and untried. They had a new lesson to learn, - late in the history of the nation, late in the lives of individual - soldiers. - -Footnote 17: - - The bridge of boats, with the embankment raised upon it, is thought of - as a new headland putting out from the one shore and reaching to the - other. - -Footnote 18: - - Stress is laid by the Hellenic poet, as in the _Agamemnon_ (v. 895), - and in v. 707 of this play, on the tendency of the East to give to its - kings the names and the signs of homage which were due only to the - Gods. The Hellenes might deify a dead hero, but not a living - sovereign. On different grounds the Jews shrank, as in the stories of - Nebuchadnezzar and Dareios (Dan. iii. 6), from all such acts. - -Footnote 19: - - In the Greek, as in the translation, there is a change of metre, - intended apparently to represent the transition from the tone of eager - excitement to the ordinary level of discourse. - -Footnote 20: - - With reference either to the _mythos_ that Asia and Europa were both - daughters of Okeanos, or to the historical fact that the Asiatic - Ionians and the Dorians of Europe were both of the same Hellenic - stock. The contrast between the long flowing robes of the Asiatic - women, and the short, scanty kilt-like dress of those of Sparta must - be borne in mind if we would see the picture in its completeness. - -Footnote 21: - - Athenian pride is flattered with the thought that they had resisted - while the Ionian Greeks had submitted all too willingly to the yoke of - the Barbarian. - -Footnote 22: - - Lustrations of this kind, besides their general significance in - cleansing from defilement, had a special force as charms to turn aside - dangers threatened by foreboding dreams. Comp. Aristoph. _Frogs_, v. - 1264; Persius, _Sat._ ii. 16. - -Footnote 23: - - The political bearing of the passage as contrasting this - characteristic of the despotism of Persia with the strict account to - which all Athenian generals were subject, is, of course, unmistakable. - -Footnote 24: - - The question, which seems to have rankled in the minds of the - Athenians, is recorded as an historical fact, and put into the mouth - of Dareios by Herodotos (v. 101). He had asked it on hearing that - Sardis had been attacked and burnt by them. - -Footnote 25: - - The words point to the silver mines of Laureion, which had been worked - under Peisistratos, and of which this is the first mention in Greek - literature. - -Footnote 26: - - Once more the contrast between the Greek _hoplite_ and the light-armed - archers of the invaders is dwelt upon. The next answer of the Chorus - dwells upon the deeper contrast, then prominent in the minds of all - Athenians, between their democratic freedom and the despotism of - Persia. Comp. Herod. v. 78. - -Footnote 27: - - The system of postal communications by means of couriers which Dareios - had organised had made their speed in running proverbial (Herod. vii. - 97). - -Footnote 28: - - With the characteristic contempt of a Greek for other races, Æschylos - makes the Persians speak of themselves throughout as 'barbarians,' - 'barbaric.' - -Footnote 29: - - Perhaps— “On planks that floated onward,” - or— “On land and sea far spreading.” - -Footnote 30: - - Possibly Salamis itself, as famed for the doves which were reared - there as sacred to Aphrodite, but possibly also one of the smaller - islands in the Saronic gulf, which the epithet would be enough to - designate for an Athenian audience. The “coasts of the Sileni” in v. - 305 are identified by scholiasts with Salamis. - -Footnote 31: - - Perhaps—“And ten of these selected as reserve.” - -Footnote 32: - - As regards the number of the Persian ships, 1000 of average, and 207 - of special swiftness. Æschylos agrees with Herodotos, who gives the - total of 1207. The latter, however, reckons the Greek ships not at - 310, but 378 (vii. 89, viii. 48). - -Footnote 33: - - The fact that Athens had actually been taken, and its chief buildings - plundered and laid waste, was, of course, not a pleasant one for the - poet to dwell on. It could hardly, however, be entirely passed over, - and this is the one allusion to it. In the truest sense it was still - “unsacked:” it had not lost its most effective defence, its most - precious treasure. - -Footnote 34: - - As the story is told by Herodotos (vii. 75), this was Sikinnos, the - slave of Themistocles, and the stratagem was the device of that - commander to save the Greeks from the disgrace and ruin of a _sauve - qui peut_ flight in all directions. - -Footnote 35: - - The Greeks never beheaded their criminals, and the punishment is - mentioned as being specially characteristic of the barbaric Persians. - -Footnote 36: - - The Æginetans and Megarians, according to the account preserved by - Diodoros (xi. 18), or the Lacedæmonians, according to Herodotos (viii. - 65). - -Footnote 37: - - This may be meant to refer to the achievements of Ameinias of Pallene, - who appears in the traditional life of Œschylos as his youngest - brother. - -Footnote 38: - - _Sc._, in Herod. viii. 60, the strait between Salamis and the - mainland. - -Footnote 39: - - Tunny-fishing has always been prominent in the occupations on the - Mediterranean coasts, and the sailors who formed so large a part of - every Athenian audience would be familiar with the process here - described, of striking or harpooning them. Aristophanes (_Wasps_, - 1087) coins (or uses) the word “to tunny” (θυννάζω) to express the - act. Comp. Herod. i. 62. - -Footnote 40: - - _Sc._, Psyttaleia, lying between Salamis and the mainland. Pausanias - (i. 36-82) describes it in his time as having no artistic shrine or - statue, but full everywhere of roughly carved images of Pan, to whom - the island was sacred. It lay just opposite the entrance to the - Peiræos. The connexion of Pan with Salamis and its adjacent islands - seems implied in Sophocles, _Aias_, 695. - -Footnote 41: - - The manœuvre was, we learn from Herodotos (viii. 95), the work of - Aristeides, the personal friend of Æschylos, and the statesman with - whose policy he had most sympathy. - -Footnote 42: - - The lines are noted as probably a spurious addition, by a weaker hand, - to the text, as introducing surplusage, as inconsistent with - Herodotos, and as faulty in their metrical structure. - -Footnote 43: - - So Herodotos (viii. 115) describes them as driven by hunger to eat - even grass and leaves. - -Footnote 44: - - No trace of this passage over the frozen Strymon appears in Herodotos, - who leaves the reader to imagine that it was crossed, as before, by a - bridge. It is hardly, indeed, consistent with dramatic probability - that the courier should have remained to watch the whole retreat of - the defeated army; and on this and other grounds, the latter part of - the speech has been rejected by some critics as a later addition. - -Footnote 45: - - The Ionians, not of the Asiatic Ionia, but of Attica. - -Footnote 46: - - Kychreia, the archaic name of Salamis. - -Footnote 47: - - The ritual described is Hellenic rather than Persian, and takes its - place (Soph. _Electr._ 836; Eurip. _Iphig. Taur._ 583; Homer, _Il._ - xxiii. 219) as showing what offerings were employed to soothe or call - up the spirits of the dead. Comp. Pliny, _Hist. Nat._ xxx. - -Footnote 48: - - The description obviously gives the state dress of the Persian kings. - They alone wore the tiara erect. Xen. _Kyrop._ viii. 3, 13. - -Footnote 49: - - Either that he has felt the measured tread of the mourners round his - tomb, as they went wailing round and round, or that he has heard the - rush of armies, and seen the plain tracked by chariot-wheels, and - comes, not knowing all these things, to learn what it means. - -Footnote 50: - - The words point to the widespread belief that when the souls of the - dead were permitted to return to the earth, it was with strict - limitations as to the time of their leave of absence. - -Footnote 51: - - Perhaps—“I dread to speak the truth.” - -Footnote 52: - - According to Herodotos (vii. 225) two brothers of Xerxes fell at - Thermopylæ. - -Footnote 53: - - As Herodotos (viii. 117) tells the story, the bridge had been broken - by the tempest before Xerxes reached it. - -Footnote 54: - - Probably Mardonios and Onomacritos the Athenian soothsayer are - referred to, who, according to Herodotos (vii. 6, viii. 99) were the - chief instigators of the expedition. - -Footnote 55: - - Astyages, the father-in-law of Kyaxares and grandfather of Kyros. In - this case Æschylos must be supposed to accept Xenophon's statement - that Kyaxares succeeded to Astyages. Possibly, however, the Median may - be Kyaxares I., the father of Astyages, and so the succession here - would harmonise with that of Herodotos. The whole succession must be - looked on as embodying the loose, floating notions of the Athenians as - to the history of their great enemy, rather than as the result of - inquiry. - -Footnote 56: - - Stress is laid on the violence to which the Asiatic Ionians had - succumbed, and their resistance to which distinguished them from the - Lydians or Phrygians, whose submission had been voluntary. - -Footnote 57: - - Mardos. Under this name we recognise the Pseudo-Smerdis of Herodotos - (iii. 67), who, by restoring the dominion of the Median Magi, the - caste to which he himself belonged, brought shame upon the Persians. - -Footnote 58: - - Possibly another form of Intaphernes, who appears in Herodotos (iii. - 70) as one of the seven conspirators against the Magian - Pseudo-Smerdis. - -Footnote 59: - - The force of 300,000 men left in Greece under Mardonios (Herod. viii. - 113), afterwards defeated at Platæa. - -Footnote 60: - - Comp. the speech of Mardonios urging his plan on Xerxes (Herod. viii. - 100). - -Footnote 61: - - This was of course a popular topic with the Athenians, whose own - temples had been outraged. But other sanctuaries also, the temples at - Delphi and Abæ, had shared the same fate, and these sins against the - Gods of Hellas were naturally connected in the thoughts of the Greeks - with the subsequent disasters of the Persians. In Egypt these outrages - had an iconoclastic character. In Athens they were a retaliation for - the destruction of the temple at Sardis (Herod. v. 102). - -Footnote 62: - - The reference to the prominent part taken by the Peloponnesian forces - in the battle of Platæa is probably due to the political sympathies of - the dramatist. - -Footnote 63: - - The speech of Atossa is rejected by Paley, on internal grounds, as - spurious. - -Footnote 64: - - Apparently an allusion to the oracle given to Crœsos, that he, if he - crossed the Halys, should destroy a great kingdom. - -Footnote 65: - - The name originally given to the Echinades, a group of islands at the - mouth of the Acheloös, was applied generically to all islands lying - near the mouth of all great rivers, and here, probably, includes - Imbros, Thasos, and Samothrakè. - -Footnote 66: - - The geography is somewhat obscure, but the words seem to refer to the - portion of the islands that are named as opposite (in a southerly - direction) to the promontory of the Troad. - -Footnote 67: - - Salamis in Kypros had been colonised by Teukros, the son of Aias, and - had received its name in remembrance of the island in the Saronic - Gulf. - -Footnote 68: - - The Mariandynoi, a Paphlagonian tribe, conspicuous for their orgiastic - worship of Adonis, had become proverbial for the wildness of their - plaintive dirges. - -Footnote 69: - - The name seems to have been an official title for some - Inspector-General of the Army. Comp. Aristoph. _Acharn._ v. 92. - -Footnote 70: - - As in the account which Herodotos gives (vii. 60) of the way in which - the army of Xerxes was numbered, _sc._, by enclosing 10,000 men in a - given space, and then filling it again and again till the whole army - had passed through. - -Footnote 71: - - Another reading gives— - - “They are buried, they are buried.” - -Footnote 72: - - Perhaps referring to the waggon-chariots in which the rider reclines - at ease, either protected by a canopy, or, as in the Assyrian - sculptures and perhaps in the East generally, overshadowed by a large - umbrella which an eunuch holds over him. - - - - - THE SEVEN WHO FOUGHT AGAINST THEBES - - - DRAMATIS PERSONÆ - - ETEOCLES - _Scout_ - _Herald_ - ISMENE - ANTIGONE - _Chorus of Theban Maidens_ - - -ARGUMENT.—_When Œdipus king of Thebes discovered that he had unknowingly -been the murderer of his father, and had lived in incest with his -mother, he blinded himself. And his two sons, Eteocles and Polyneikes, -wishing to banish the remembrance of these horrors from the eyes of men, -at first kept him in confinement. And he, being wroth with them, prayed -that they might divide their inheritance with the sword. And they, in -fear lest the prayer should be accomplished, agreed to reign in turn, -each for a year, and Eteocles, as the elder of the two, took the first -turn. But when at the end of the year Polyneikes came to ask for the -kingdom, Eteocles refused to give way, and sent him away empty. So -Polyneikes went to Argos and married the daughter of Adrastos the king -of that country, and gathered together a great army under six great -captains, himself going as the seventh, and led it against Thebes. And -so they compassed it about, and at each of the seven gates of the city -was stationed one of the divisions of the army._ - -_Note._—_The Seven against Thebes_ appears to have been produced B.C. -472, the year after _The Persians_. - - - - - THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES - - - SCENE.—THEBES _in front of the Acropolis_ - - _Enter_ ETEOCLES, _and crowd of_ Theban Citizens. - - _Eteoc._ Ye citizens of Cadmos, it behoves - That one who standeth at the stern of State - Guiding the helm, with eyes unclosed in sleep, - Should speak the things that meet occasion's need. - For should we prosper, God gets all the praise: - But if (which God forbid!) disaster falls, - Eteocles, much blame on one head falling, - Would find his name the by-word of the State,[73] - Sung in the slanderous ballads of the town; - Yes, and with groanings, which may Zeus the Averter, - True to his name, from us Cadmeians turn! - But now 'tis meet for all, both him who fails 10 - Of full-grown age, and him advanced in years, - Yet boasting still a stalwart strength of frame, - And each in life's full prime, as it is fit, - The State to succour and the altars here - Of these our country's Gods, that never more - Their votive honours cease,—to help our sons, - And Earth, our dearest mother and kind nurse; - For she, when young ye crept her kindly plain, - Bearing the whole charge of your nourishment, - Reared you as denizens that bear the shield, - That ye should trusty prove in this her need. 20 - And now thus far God turns the scale for us; - For unto us, beleaguered these long days, - War doth in most things with God's help speed well, - But now, as saith the seer, the augur skilled,[74] - Watching with ear and mind, apart from fire, - The birds oracular with mind unerring, - He, lord and master of these prophet-arts, - Says that the great attack of the Achæans - This very night is talked of, and their plots - Devised against the town. But ye, haste all - Unto the walls and gateways of the forts; 30 - Rush ye full-armed, and fill the outer space, - And stand upon the platforms of the towers, - And at the entrance of the gates abiding - Be of good cheer, nor fear ye overmuch - The host of aliens. Well will God work all. - And I have sent my scouts and watchers forth, - And trust their errand is no fruitless one. - I shall not, hearing them, be caught with guile. - - [_Exeunt_ Citizens. - - _Enter one of the_ Scouts. - - _Mess._ King of Cadmeians, great Eteocles, - I from the army come with tidings clear, 40 - And am myself eye-witness of its acts; - For seven brave warriors, leading armèd bands, - Cutting a bull's throat o'er a black-rimmed shield, - And dipping in the bull's blood with their hands, - Swore before Ares, Enyo,[75] murderous Fear, - That they would bring destruction on our town, - And trample under foot the tower of Cadmos, - Or dying, with their own blood stain our soil; - And they memorials for their sires at home - Placed with their hands upon Adrastos' car,[76] 50 - Weeping, but no wail uttering with their lips, - For courage iron-hearted breathed out fire - In manliness unconquered, as when lions - Flash battle from their eyeballs. And report - Of these things does not linger on the way. - I left them casting lots, that each might take, - As the lot fell, his station at the gate. - Wherefore do thou our city's chosen ones - Array with speed at entrance of the gates; - For near already is the Argive host, - Marching through clouds of dust, and whitening foam 60 - Spots all the plain with drops from horses' mouths. - And thou, as prudent helmsman of the ship, - Guard thou our fortress ere the blasts of Ares - Swoop on it wildly; for there comes the roar - Of the land-wave of armies. And do thou - Seize for these things the swiftest tide and time; - And I, in all that comes, will keep my eye - As faithful sentry; so through speech full clear, - Thou, knowing all things yonder, shalt be safe. - - [_Exit._ - - _Eteoc._ O Zeus and Earth, and all ye guardian Gods! - Thou Curse and strong Erinnys of my sire! 70 - Destroy ye not my city root and branch, - With sore destruction smitten, one whose voice - Is that of Hellas, nor our hearths and homes;[77] - Grant that they never hold in yoke of bondage - Our country free, and town of Cadmos named; - But be ye our defence. I deem I speak - Of what concerns us both; for still 'tis true, - A prosperous city honours well the Gods. [_Exit._ - - _Enter Chorus of_ Theban Maidens _in solemn procession - as suppliants_ - - _Chor._ I in wild terror utter cries of woe; - An army leaves its camp and is let loose: - Hither the vanguard of the horsemen flows, 80 - And the thick cloud of dust, - That suddenly is seen, - Dumb herald, yet full clear, - Constrains me to believe; - And smitten with the horses' hoofs, the plain - Of this my country rings with noise of war; - It floats and echoes round, - Like voice of mountain torrent dashing down - Resistless in its might. - Ah Gods! Ah Goddesses! - Ward off the coming woe. - With battle-shout that rises o'er the walls, - The host whose shields are white[78] 90 - Marches in full array against our city. - Who then, of all the Gods - Or Goddesses, will come to help and save? - Say, shall I fall before the shrines of Gods? - O blessed Ones firm fixed! - 'Tis time to clasp your sacred images. - Why linger we in wailing overmuch? - Hear ye, or hear ye not, the din of shields? - When, if not now, shall we - Engage in prayer with peplos and with boughs?[79] - I hear a mighty sound; it is the din 100 - Not of a single spear. - O Ares! ancient guardian of our land! - What wilt thou do? Wilt thou betray thy land? - O God of golden casque, - Look on our city, yea, with favour look, - The city thou did'st love. - And ye, ye Gods who o'er the city rule, - Come all of you, come all. - Behold the band of maidens suppliant, - In fear of bondage foul; - For now around the town - The wave of warriors bearing slopèd crests, - With blasts of Ares rushing, hoarsely sounds: 110 - But thou, O Zeus! true father of us all, - Ward off, ward off our capture by the foe. - - - STROPHE I - - For Argives now surround the town of Cadmos, - And dread of Ares' weapons falls on us; - And, bound to horses' mouths, - The bits and curbs ring music as of death; - And seven chief rulers of the mighty host, - With warriors' arms, at each of seven tall gates, - Spear-armed and harnessed all, - Stand, having cast their lots. - · · · · · - - - MESODE - - And thou, O Zeus-born power in war delighting, 120 - O Pallas! be our city's saviour now; - And Thou who curb'st the steed, - Great King of Ocean's waves, - Poseidon, with thy trident fish-spear armed,[80] - Give respite from our troubles, respite give! - And Thou, O Ares, guard the town that takes - Its name from Cadmos old,[81] - Watch o'er it visibly. - - - ANTISTROPHE I - - And thou, O Kypris, of our race the mother, - Ward off these ills, for we are thine by blood: - To thee in many a prayer, 130 - With voice that calls upon the Gods we cry, - And unto thee draw near as suppliants: - And Thou, Lykeian king, Lykeian be,[82] - Foe of our hated foes, - For this our wailing cry; - And Thou, O child of Leto, Artemis, - Make ready now thy bow. - - - STROPHE II - - Ah! ah! I hear a din of chariot wheels - Around the city walls; - O Hera great and dread! - The heavy axles of the chariots groan, 140 - O Artemis beloved! - And the air maddens with the clash of spears; - What must our city bear? - What now shall come on us? - When will God give the end? - - - ANTISTROPHE II - - Ah! ah! a voice of stones is falling fast - On battlements attacked;[83] - O Lord, Apollo loved, - A din of bronze-bound shields is in the gates; - And oh! that Zeus may give 150 - A faultless issue of this war we wage! - And Thou, O blessed queen, - As Guardian Onca known,[84] - Save thy seven-gated seat. - - - STROPHE III - - And ye, all-working Gods, - Of either sex divine, - Protectors of our towers, - Give not our city, captured by the spear, - To host of alien speech.[85] - Hear ye our maidens; hear, 160 - As is most meet, our prayers with outstretched hands. - - - ANTISTROPHE III - - O all ye loving Powers, - Compass our State to save; - Show how that State ye love; - Think on our public votive offerings, - And as ye think, oh, help: - Be mindful ye, I pray, - Of all our city's rites of sacrifice. - - _Re-enter_ ETEOCLES - - _Eteoc._ (_to the Chorus_) I ask you, O ye brood intolerable, - Is this course best and safest for our city? 170 - Will it give heart to our beleaguered host, - That ye before the forms of guardian Gods - Should wail and howl, ye loathèd of the wise;[86] - Ne'er be it mine, in ill estate or good, - To dwell together with the race of women; - For when they rule, their daring bars approach, - And when they fear, alike to house and State - Comes greater ill; and now with these your rushings - Hither and thither, ye have troubled sore - Our subjects with a coward want of heart; - And do your best for those our foes without; 180 - And we are harassed by ourselves within. - This comes to one who dwells with womankind. - And if there be that will not own my sway, - Or man or woman in their prime, or those - Who can be classed with neither, they shall take - Their trial for their life, nor shall they 'scape - The fate of stoning. Things outdoors are still - The man's to look to: let not woman counsel. - Stay thou within, and do no mischief more. - Hear'st thou, or no? or speak I to the deaf? - - - STROPHE I - - _Chor._ Dear son of Œdipus, 190 - I shuddered as I heard the din, the din - Of many a chariot's noise, - When on the axles creaked the whirling wheels, - *And when I heard the sound - *Of fire-wrought curbs within the horses' mouths. - - _Eteoc._ What then? Did ever yet the sailor flee - From stern to stem, and find deliverance so, - While his ship laboured in the ocean's wave?[87] - - - ANTISTROPHE I - - _Chor._ Nay, to the ancient forms - Of mighty Powers I rushed, as trusting Gods; - And when behind the gates - Was heard the crash of fierce and pelting storm, 200 - Then was it, in my fear, - I prayed the Blessed Ones to guard our city. - - _Eteoc._ Pray that our towns hold out 'gainst spear of foes.[88] - - _Chor._ Do not the Gods grant these things? - - _Eteoc._ Nay the Gods, - So say they, leave the captured city's walls.[89] - - - STROPHE II - - _Chor._ Ah! never in my life - May all this goodly company of Gods - Depart; nor may I see - This city scene of rushings to and fro, 210 - *And hostile army burning it with fire! - - _Eteoc._ Nay, call not on the Gods with counsel base; - Obedience is the mother of success, - Child strong to save. 'Tis thus the saying runs. - - - ANTISTROPHE II - - _Chor._ True is it; but the Gods - Have yet a mightier power, and oftentimes, - In pressure of sore ill, - It raises one perplexed from direst woe, - When dark clouds gather thickly o'er his eyes. - - _Eteoc._ 'Tis work of men to offer sacrifice - And victims to the Gods, when foes press hard; 220 - Thine to be dumb and keep within the house. - - - STROPHE III - - _Chor._ 'Tis through the Gods we live - In city unsubdued, and that our towers - Ward off the multitude of jealous foes. - What Power will grudge us this? - - _Eteoc._ I grudge not your devotion to the Gods; - But lest you make my citizens faint-hearted - Be tranquil, nor to fear's excess give way. - - - ANTISTROPHE III - - _Chor._ Hearing but now a din - Strange, wildly mingled, I with shrinking fear - Here to our city's high Acropolis, - Time-hallowed spot, have come. 230 - - _Eteoc._ Nay, if ye hear of wounded men or dying, - Bear them not swiftly off with wailing loud; - *For blood of men is Ares' chosen food.[90] - - _Chor._ Hark! now I hear the panting of the steeds. - - _Eteoc._ Clear though thou hear, yet hear not overmuch. - - _Chor._ Lo! from its depths the fortress groans, beleaguered. - - _Eteoc._ It is enough that I provide for this. - - _Chor._ I fear: the din increases at the gates. - - _Eteoc._ Be still, say nought of these things in the city. - - _Chor._ O holy Band![91] desert ye not our towers. 240 - - _Eteoc._ A curse fall on thee! wilt thou not be still? - - _Chor._ Gods of my city, from the slave's lot save me! - - _Eteoc._ 'Tis thou enslav'st thyself and all thy city. - - _Chor._ Oh, turn thy darts, great Zeus, against our foes! - - _Eteoc._ Oh, Zeus, what race of women thou hast given us! - - _Chor._ A sorry race, like men whose city falls. - - _Eteoc._ What? Cling to these statues, yet speak words of ill? - - _Chor._ Fear hurries on my tongue in want of courage. - - _Eteoc._ Could'st thou but grant one small boon at my prayer!250 - - _Chor._ Speak it out quickly, and I soon shall know. - - _Eteoc._ Be still, poor fool, and frighten not thy friends. - - _Chor._ Still am I, and with others bear our fate. - - _Eteoc._ These words of thine I much prefer to those: - And further, though no longer at the shrines, - Pray thou for victory, that the Gods fight with us. - And when my prayers thou hearest, then do thou - Raise a loud, welcome, holy pæan-shout, - The Hellenes' wonted cry at sacrifice; - So cheer thy friends, and check their fear of foes; - And I unto our country's guardian Gods, 260 - Who hold the plain or watch the agora, - The springs of Dirkè, and Ismenos' stream;— - If things go well, and this our city's saved,— - I vow that staining with the blood of sheep - The altar-hearths of Gods, or slaying bulls, - We'll fix our trophies, and our foemen's robes - On the spear's point on consecrated walls, - Before the shrines I'll hang.[92] Pray thou this prayer, - Not weakly wailing, nor with vain wild sobs, - For no whit more thou'lt 'scape thy destined lot: 270 - And I six warriors, with myself as seventh, - Against our foes in full state like their own, - Will station at the seven gates' entrances, - Ere hurrying heralds and swift-rushing words - Come and inflame them in the stress of need. [_Exit_ - - - STROPHE I - - _Chor._ My heart is full of care and knows not sleep, - By panic fear o'ercome; - And troubles throng my soul, - And set a-glow my dread - Of the great host encamped around our walls, - As when a trembling dove - Fears, for her callow brood, 280 - The snakes that come, ill mates for her soft nest; - For some upon our towers - March in full strength of mingled multitude; - And what will me befall? - And others on our men on either hand - Hurl rugged blocks of stone. - In every way, ye Zeus-born Gods, defend 290 - The city and the host - That Cadmos claim as sire. - - - ANTISTROPHE I - - What better land will ye receive for this, - If ye to foes resign - This rich and fertile clime, - And that Dirkæan stream, - Goodliest of founts by great Poseidon sent, - Who circleth earth, or those - Who Tethys parent call?[93] 300 - And therefore, O ye Gods that guard our city, - Sending on those without - Our towers a woe that robs men of their life, - And makes them lose their shield, - Gain glory for these countrymen of mine; - And take your standing-ground, - As saviours of the city, firm and true, - In answer to our cry - Of wailing and of prayer. - - - STROPHE II - - For sad it were to hurl to Hades dark - A city of old fame, 310 - The spoil and prey of war, - With foulest shame in dust and ashes laid, - By an Achæan foe at God's decree; - And that our women, old and young alike, - Be dragged away, ah me! - Like horses, by their hair - Their robes torn off from them. - And lo, the city wails, made desolate, - While with confusèd cry 320 - The wretched prisoners meet doom worse than death. - Ah, at this grievous fate - I shudder ere it comes. - - - ANTISTROPHE II - - And piteous 'tis for those whose youth is fresh - Before the rites that cull - Their fair and first-ripe fruit, - To take a hateful journey from their homes. - Nay, but I say the dead far better fare - Than these, for when a city is subdued - It bears full many an ill. - This man takes prisoner that, 330 - Or slays, or burns with fire; - And all the city is defiled with smoke, - And Ares fans the flame - In wildest rage, and laying many low, - Tramples with foot unclean - On all men sacred hold. - - - STROPHE III - - And hollow din is heard throughout the town, - Hemmed in by net of towers; - And man by man is slaughtered with the spear, - And cries of bleeding babes, - Of children at the breast, 340 - Are heard in piteous wail, - And rapine, sister of the plunderer's rush, - Spoiler with spoiler meets, - And empty-handed empty-handed calls, - Wishing for share of gain, - Both eager for a portion no whit less, - For more than equal lot - With what they deem the others' hands have found. - - - ANTISTROPHE III - - And all earth's fruits cast wildly on the ground, 350 - Meeting the cheerless eye - Of frugal housewives, give them pain of heart; - And many a gift of earth - In formless heaps is whirled - In waves of nothingness; - And the young maidens know a sorrow new; - For now the foe prevails, - And gains rich prize of wretched captive's bed; 360 - And now their only hope - Is that the night of death will come at last, - Their truest, best ally, - To rescue them from sorrow fraught with tears. - - _Enter_ ETEOCLES, _followed by his_ Chief Captains, - _and by the_ Scout - - _Semi-Chor. A._ The army scout, so deem I, brings to us, - Dear friends, some tidings new, with quickest speed - Plying the nimble axles of his feet. - - _Semi-Chor. B._ Yea, the king's self, the son of Œdipus, - Is nigh to hear the scout's exact report; - And haste denies him too an even step. - - _Mess._ I knowing well, will our foes' state report, 370 - How each his lot hath stationed at the gates. - At those of Prœtos, Tydeus thunders loud, - And him the prophet suffers not to cross - Ismenos' fords, the victims boding ill.[94] - And Tydeus, raging eager for the fight, - Shouts like a serpent in its noontide scream, - And on the prophet, Œcleus' son, heaps shame, - That he, in coward fear, doth crouch and fawn - Before the doom and peril of the fight. - And with such speech he shakes his triple crest, - O'ershadowing all his helm, and 'neath his shield 380 - Bells wrought in bronze ring out their chimes of fear; - And on his shield he bears this proud device,— - A firmament enchased, all bright with stars;[95] - And in the midst the full moon's glittering orb, - Sovran of stars and eye of Night, shines forth. - And thus exulting in o'er boastful arms, - By the stream's bank he shouts in lust of war, - [E'en as a war-horse panting in his strength - Against the curb that galls him, who at sound - Of trumpet's clang chafes hotly.] Whom wilt thou - Set against him? Who is there strong enough - When the bolts yield, to guard the Prœtan gates? 390 - - _Eteoc._ No fear have I of any man's array; - Devices have no power to pierce or wound, - And crest and bells bite not without a spear; - And for this picture of the heavens at night, - Of which thou tellest, glittering on his shield, - *Perchance his madness may a prophet prove; - For if night fall upon his dying eyes, - Then for the man who bears that boastful sign - It may right well be all too truly named, 400 - And his own pride shall prophet be of ill. - And against Tydeus, to defend the gates, - I'll set this valiant son of Astacos; - Noble is he, and honouring well the throne - Of Reverence, and hating vaunting speech, - Slow to all baseness, unattuned to ill: - And of the dragon-race that Ares spared[96] - He as a scion grows, a native true, - E'en Melanippos; Ares soon will test - His valour in the hazard of the die: - And kindred Justice sends him forth to war, - For her that bore him foeman's spear to check. 410 - - - STROPHE I - - _Chor._ May the Gods grant my champion good success! - For justly he goes forth - For this our State to fight; - But yet I quake with fear - To see the deaths of those who die for friends. - - _Mess._ Yea, may the Gods give good success to him! - The Electran gates have fallen to Capaneus, - A second giant, taller far than he - Just named, with boast above a mortal's bounds; - And dread his threats against our towers (O Fortune, 420 - Turn them aside!)—for whether God doth will, - Or willeth not, he says that he will sack[97] - The city, nor shall e'en the wrath of Zeus, - On the plain swooping, turn him from his will; - And the dread lightnings and hot thunderbolts - He likens to the heat of noon-day sun. - And his device, the naked form of one - Who bears a torch; and bright the blaze shines forth - And in gold characters he speaks the words, - “THE CITY I WILL BURN.” Against this man - Send forth ... but who will meet him in the fight? 430 - Who, without fear, await this warrior proud? - - _Eteoc._ Herein, too, profit upon profit comes; - And 'gainst the vain and boastful thoughts of men, - Their tongue itself is found accuser true. - Threatening, equipped for work is Capaneus, - Scorning the Gods: and giving speech full play, - And in wild joy, though mortal, vents at Zeus, - High in the heavens, loud-spoken foaming words. - And well I trust on him shall rightly come - Fire-bearing thunder, nothing likened then - To heat of noon-day sun. And so 'gainst him, 440 - Though very bold of speech, a man is set - Of fiery temper, Polyphontes strong, - A trusty bulwark, by the loving grace - Of guardian Artemis[98] and other Gods. - Describe another, placed at other gates. - - - ANTISTROPHE I - - _Chor._ A curse on him who 'gainst our city boasts! - May thunder smite him down 450 - Before he force his way - Into my home, and drive - Me from my maiden bower with haughty spear? - - _Mess._ And now I'll tell of him who by the gates - Stands next; for to Eteocles, as third, - To march his cohort to Neïstian gates, - Leaped the third lot from upturned brazen helm: - And he his mares, in head-gear snorting, whirls, - Full eager at the gates to fall and die; - Their whistling nozzles of barbaric mode, - Are filled with loud blast of the panting nostrils.[99] - In no poor fashion is his shield devised; 460 - A full-armed warrior climbs a ladder's rungs, - And mounts his foeman's towers as bent to sack; - And he too cries, in words of written speech, - That “NOT E'EN ARES FROM THE TOWERS SHALL DRIVE HIM.” - Send thou against him some defender true, - To ward the yoke of bondage from our State. - - _Eteoc._ Such would I send now; by good luck indeed - He has been sent, his vaunting in his deeds, - Megareus, Creon's son, who claims descent - From those as Sparti known, and not by noise - Of neighings loud of warlike steeds dismayed, 470 - Will he the gates abandon, but in death - Will pay our land his nurture's debt in full,[100] - Or taking two men, and a town to boot, - (That on the shield,) will deck his father's house - With those his trophies. Of another tell - The bragging tale, nor grudge thy words to me. - - - STROPHE II - - _Chor._ Him I wish good success, - O guardian of my home, and for his foes - All ill success I pray; - And since against our land their haughty words - With maddened soul they speak, - May Zeus, the sovran judge, - With fiery, hot displeasure look on them! 480 - - _Mess._ Another stands as fourth at gates hard by, - Onca-Athenà's, with a shout of war, - Hippomedon's great form and massive limbs; - And as he whirled his orb, his vast shield's disk, - I shuddered; yea, no idle words I speak. - No cheap and common draughtsman sure was he - Who wrought this cunning ensign on his shield: - Typhon emitting from his lips hot blast - Of darkling smoke, the flickering twin of fire: - And round the belly of the hollow shield - A rim was made with wreaths of twisted snakes. 490 - And he too shouts his war-cry, and in frenzy, - As man possessed by Ares, hastes to battle, - Like Thyiad, darting terror from his eyes.[101] - 'Gainst such a hero's might we well may guard; - Already at the gates men brag of rout. - - _Eteoc._ First, the great Onca-Pallas, dwelling nigh - Our city's gates, and hating man's bold pride, - Shall ward him from her nestlings like a snake - Of venom dread; and next Hyperbios, - The stalwart son of Œnops, has been chosen, 500 - A hero 'gainst this hero, willing found - To try his destiny at Fortune's hest. - No fault has he in form, or heart, or arms; - And Hermes with good reason pairs them off; - For man with man will fight as enemy, - And on their shields they'll bring opposing Gods; - For this man beareth Typhon, breathing fire, - And on Hyperbios' shield sits father Zeus, - Full firm, with burning thunderbolt in hand; - And never yet has man seen Zeus, I trow, - O'ercome. Such then the favour of the Gods, 510 - We with the winners, they with losers are:[102] - Good reason then the rivals so should fare, - If Zeus than Typhon stronger be in fight, - And to Hyperbios Zeus will saviour prove, - As that device upon his shield presents him. - - - ANTISTROPHE II - - _Chor._ Now do I trust that he - Who bears upon his shield the hated form - Of Power whom Earth doth shroud, - Antagonist to Zeus, unloved by men - And by the ageless Gods, - Before those gates of ours - To his own hurt may dash his haughty head. 520 - - _Mess._ So may it be! And now the fifth I tell, - Who the fifth gates, the Northern, occupies, - Hard by Amphion's tomb, the son of Zeus; - And by his spear he swears, (which he is bold - To honour more than God or his own eyes,) - That he will sack the fort of the Cadmeians - With that spear's might. So speaks the offspring fair - Of mother mountain-bred, a stripling hero; - And the soft down is creeping o'er his cheeks, 530 - Youth's growth, and hair that floweth full and thick; - And he with soul, not maiden's like his name,[103] - But stern, with flashing eye, is standing there. - Nor stands he at the gate without a vaunt; - For on his brass-wrought buckler, strong defence, - Full-orbed, his body guarding, he the shame - Of this our city bears, the ravenous Sphinx, - With rivets fixed, all burnished and embossed;[104] - And under her she holdeth a Cadmeian, - That so on him most arrows might be shot. - No chance that he will fight a peddling fight, 540 - Nor shame the long, long journey he hath come, - Parthenopæos, in Arcadia born: - This man did Argos welcome as a guest, - And now he pays her for her goodly rearing, - And threatens these our towers with ... God avert it! - - _Eteoc._ Should the Gods give them what they plan 'gainst us, - Then they, with those their godless boastings high, - Would perish shamefully and utterly. - And for this man of Arcady thou tell'st of, - We have a man who boasts not, but his hand - Sees the right thing to do;—Actôr, of him 550 - I named but now the brother,—who no tongue - Divorced from deeds will ever let within - Our gates, to spread and multiply our ills, - Nor him who bears upon his foeman's shield - The image of the hateful venomed beast; - But she without shall blame him as he tries - To take her in, when she beneath our walls - Gets sorely bruised and battered.[105] And herein, - If the Gods will, I prophet true shall prove. - - - STROPHE III - - _Chor._ Thy words thrill through my breast; - My hair stands all on end, - To hear the boastings great - Of those who speak great things 560 - Unholy. May the Gods - Destroy them in our land! - - _Mess._ A sixth I tell of, one of noblest mood, - Amphiaraos, seer and warrior famed; - He, stationed at the Homolôian gates, - Reproves the mighty Tydeus with sharp words - As 'murderer,' and 'troubler of the State,'[106] - 'To Argos teacher of all direst ills, - Erinnys' sumpnour,'[107] 'murder's minister,' 570 - Whose counsels led Adrastos to these ills. - *And at thy brother Polyneikes glancing - With eyes uplifted for his father's fate, - And ending, twice he syllabled his name,[108] - And called him, and thus speaketh with his lips:— - “A goodly deed, and pleasant to the Gods, - Noble for after age to hear and tell, - Thy father's city and thy country's Gods - To waste through might of mercenary host! - And how shall Justice stay thy mother's tears?[109] 580 - And how, when conquered, shall thy fatherland, - Laid waste, become a true ally to thee? - As for myself, I shall that land make rich,[110] - A prophet buried in a foeman's soil: - To arms! I look for no inglorious death.” - So spake the prophet, bearing full-orbed shield - Wrought all of bronze, no ensign on that orb. - He wishes to be just, and not to seem,[111] - Reaping full harvest from his soul's deep furrows, - Whence ever new and noble counsels spring. 590 - I bid thee send defenders wise and brave - Against him. Dread is he who fears the Gods. - - _Eteoc._ Fie on the chance that brings the righteous man - Close-mated with the ungodly! In all deeds - Nought is there worse than evil fellowship, - A crop men should not reap. Death still is found - The harvest of the field of frenzied pride; - For either hath the godly man embarked - With sailors hot in insolence and guile,[112] - And perished with the race the Gods did loathe; 600 - Or just himself, with citizens who wrong - The stranger and are heedless of the Gods, - Falling most justly in the self-same snare, - By God's scourge smitten, shares the common doom. - And thus this seer I speak of, Œcleus' son, - Righteous, and wise, and good, and reverent, - A mighty prophet, mingling with the godless - *And men full bold of speech in reason's spite, - Who take long march to reach a far-off city,[113] - If Zeus so will, shall be hurled down with them. 610 - And he, I trow, shall not draw nigh the gates, - Not through faint-heart or any vice of mood, - But well he knows this war shall bring his death, - If any fruit is found in Loxias' words; - And He or holds his speech or speaks in season. - Yet against him the hero Lasthenes, - A foe of strangers, at the gates we'll set; - Old in his mind, his body in its prime, - His eye swift-footed, and his hand not slow - To grasp the spear from 'neath the shield laid bare:[114] 620 - Yet 'tis by God's gift men must win success. - - - ANTISTROPHE III - - _Chor._ Hear, O ye Gods! our prayers, - Our just entreaties grant, - That so our State be blest. - Turn ye the toils of war - Upon the invading host. - Outside the walls may Zeus - With thunder smite them low! - - _Mess._ The seventh chief then who at the seventh gate stands, - Thine own, own brother, I will speak of now, - What curses on our State he pours, and prays 630 - That he the towers ascending, and proclaimed - By herald's voice to all the territory, - And shouting out the captor's pæan-cry, - May so fight with thee, slay, and with thee die; - Or driving thee alive, who did'st him wrong, - May on thee a vengeance wreak like in kind. - So clamours he, and bids his father's Gods, - His country's guardians, look upon his prayers, - [And grant them all. So Polyneikes prays.] - And he a new and well-wrought shield doth bear, - And twofold sign upon it riveted; 640 - For there a woman with a stately tread - Leads one who seems a warrior wrought in gold: - Justice she calls herself, and thus she speaks: - “I WILL BRING BACK THIS MAN, AND HE SHALL HAVE - THE CITY AND HIS FATHER'S DWELLING-PLACE.” - Such are the signs and mottoes of those men; - And thou, know well whom thou dost mean to send: - So thou shalt never blame my heraldings; - And thou thyself know how to steer the State. - - _Eteoc._ O frenzy-stricken, hated sore of Gods! 650 - O woe-fraught race (my race!) of Œdipus! - Ah me! my father's curse is now fulfilled; - But neither is it meet to weep or wail, - Lest cry more grievous on the issue come. - Of Polyneikes, name and omen true, - We soon shall know what way his badge shall end, - Whether his gold-wrought letters shall restore him, - His shield's great swelling words with frenzied soul. - An if great Justice, Zeus's virgin child, - Ruled o'er his words and acts, this might have been; 660 - But neither when he left his mother's womb, - Nor in his youth, nor yet in ripening age, - Nor when his beard was gathered on his chin, - Did Justice count him meet for fellowship; - Nor do I think that she befriends him now - In this great outrage on his father's land. - Yea, justly Justice would as falsely named - Be known, if she with one all-daring joined. - In this I trust, and I myself will face him: - Who else could claim a greater right than I? 670 - Brother with brother fighting, king with king, - And foe with foe, I'll stand. Come, quickly fetch - My greaves that guard against the spear and stones. - - _Chor._ Nay, dearest friend, thou son of Œdipus, - Be ye not like to him with that ill name. - It is enough Cadmeian men should fight - Against the Argives. That blood may be cleansed; - But death so murderous of two brothers born, - This is pollution that will ne'er wax old. - - _Eteoc._ If a man must bear evil, let him still 680 - Be without shame—sole profit that in death. - [No glory comes of base and evil deeds]. - - _Chor._ What dost thou crave, my son? Let no ill fate, - Frenzied and hot for war, - Carry thee headlong on; - Check the first onset of an evil lust. - - _Eteoc._ Since God so hotly urges on the matter, - Let all of Laios' race whom Phœbos hates, - Drift with the breeze upon Cokytos' wave. - - _Chor._ An over-fierce and passionate desire - Stirs thee and pricks thee on - To work an evil deed - Of guilt of blood thy hand should never shed. 690 - - _Eteoc._ Nay, my dear father's curse, in full-grown hate, - Dwells on dry eyes that cannot shed a tear, - And speaks of gain before the after-doom. - - _Chor._ But be not thou urged on. The coward's name - Shall not be thine, for thou - Hast ordered well thy life. - Dark-robed Erinnys enters not the house, - When at men's hands the Gods - Accept their sacrifice. - - _Eteoc._ As for the Gods, they scorned us long ago, - And smile but on the offering of our deaths; 700 - What boots it then on death's doom still to fawn? - - _Chor._ Nay do it now, while yet 'tis in thy power;[115] - Perchance may fortune shift - With tardy change of mood, - And come with spirit less implacable: - At present fierce and hot - She waxeth in her rage. - - _Eteoc._ Yea, fierce and hot the Curse of Œdipus; - And all too true the visions of the night, - My father's treasured store distributing. - - _Chor._ Yield to us women, though thou lov'st us not. - - _Eteoc._ Speak then what may be done, and be not long. 710 - - _Chor._ Tread not the path that to the seventh gate leads. - - _Eteoc._ Thou shall not blunt my sharpened edge with words. - - _Chor._ And yet God loves the victory that submits.[116] - - _Eteoc._ That word a warrior must not tolerate. - - _Chor._ Dost thou then haste thy brother's blood to shed? - - _Eteoc._ If the Gods grant it, he shall not 'scape harm. - - [_Exeunt_ ETEOCLES, Scout, _and_ Captains - - - STROPHE I - - _Chor._ I fear her might who doth this whole house wreck, - The Goddess unlike Gods, - The prophetess of evil all too true, - The Erinnys of thy father's imprecations, 720 - Lest she fulfil the curse, - O'er-wrathful, frenzy-fraught, - The curse of Œdipus, - Laying his children low. - This Strife doth urge them on. - - - ANTISTROPHE I - - And now a stranger doth divide the lots, - The Chalyb,[117] from the Skythians emigrant, - The stern distributor of heaped-up wealth, - The iron that hath assigned them just so much - Of land as theirs, no more, - As may suffice for them - As grave when they shall fall, - Without or part or lot - In the broad-spreading plains. 730 - - - STROPHE II - - And when the hands of each - The other's blood have shed, - And the earth's dust shall drink - The black and clotted gore, - Who then can purify? - Who cleanse thee from the guilt? - Ah me! O sorrows new, - That mingle with the old woes of our house! - - - ANTISTROPHE II - - I tell the ancient tale - Of sin that brought swift doom; 740 - Till the third age it waits, - Since Laios, heeding not - Apollo's oracle, - (Though spoken thrice to him - In Pythia's central shrine,) - That dying childless, he should save the State. - - - STROPHE III - - But he by those he loved full rashly swayed, - Doom for himself begat, - His murderer Œdipus, 750 - Who dared to sow in field - Unholy, whence he sprang, - A root of blood-flecked woe. - Madness together brought - Bridegroom and bride accursed. - - - ANTISTROPHE III - - And now the sea of evil pours its flood: - This falling, others rise, - As with a triple crest, - Which round the State's stern roars: - And but a bulwark slight, - A tower's poor breadth, defends: 760 - And lest the city fall - With its two kings I fear. - - - STROPHE IV - - *And that atonement of the ancient curse - Receives fulfilment now;[118] - *And when they come, the evils pass not by. - E'en so the wealth of sea-adventurers, - When heaped up in excess, - Leads but to cargo from the stern thrown out.[119] - - - ANTISTROPHE IV - - For whom of mortals did the Gods so praise, - And fellow-worshippers, 770 - *And race of those who feed their flocks and herds[120] - As much as then they honoured Œdipus, - Who from our country's bounds - Had driven the monster, murderess of men? - - - STROPHE V - - And when too late he knew, - Ah, miserable man! his wedlock dire, - Vexed sore with that dread shame, - With heart to madness driven, - He wrought a twofold ill, - And with the hand that smote his father's life 780 - *Blinded the eyes that might his sons have seen. - - - ANTISTROPHE V - - And with a mind provoked - By nurture scant, he at his sons did hurl[121] - His curses dire and dark, - (Ah, bitter curses those!) - That they with spear in hand - Should one day share their father's wealth; and I - Fear now lest swift Erinnys should fulfil them. - - _Enter_ Messenger - - _Mess._ Be of good cheer, ye maidens, mother-reared; - Our city has escaped the yoke of bondage, 790 - The boasts of mighty men are fallen low, - And this our city in calm waters floats, - And, though by waves lashed, springs not any leak. - Our fortress still holds out, and we did guard - The gates with champions who redeemed their pledge. - In the six gateways almost all goes well; - But the seventh gate did King Apollo choose,[122] - Seventh mighty chief, avenging Laios' want - Of counsel on the sons of Œdipus. - - _Chor._ What new disaster happens to our city?[123] 800 - - _Mess._ The city's saved, but both the royal brothers,... - - _Chor._ Who? and what of them? I'm distraught with fear. - - _Mess._ Be calm, and hear: the sons of Œdipus,... - - _Chor._ Oh wretched me! a prophet I of ill! - - _Mess._ Slain by each other, earth has drunk their blood. - - _Chor._ Came they to that? 'Tis dire; yet tell it me. - - _Mess._ Too true, by brother's hand our chiefs are slain. - - _Chor._ What, did the brother's hands the brother lay? - - _Mess._ No doubt is there that they are laid in dust. - - _Chor._ Thus was there then a common fate for both? - - _Mess._ *Yea, it lays low the whole ill-fated race. - - _Chor._ These things give cause for gladness and for tears, 810 - Seeing that our city prospers, and our lords, - The generals twain, with well-wrought Skythian steel, - Have shared between them all their store of goods, - And now shall have their portion in a grave, - Borne on, as spake their father's grievous curse.[124] - - _Mess._ [The city's saved, but of the brother-kings - The earth has drunk the blood, each slain by each.] - - _Chor._ Great Zeus! and ye, O Gods! - Guardians of this our town, - Who save in very deed - The towers of Cadmos old, 820 - Shall I rejoice and shout - Over the happy chance - That frees our State from harm; - Or weep that ill-starred pair, - The war-chiefs, childless and most miserable, - Who, true to that ill name - Of Polyneikes, died in impious mood, - Contending overmuch? - - - STROPHE - - Oh dark, and all too true - That curse of Œdipus and all his race,[125] - An evil chill is falling on my heart, 830 - And, like a Thyiad wild, - Over his grave I sing a dirge of grief, - Hearing the dead have died by evil fate, - Each in foul bloodshed steeped; - Ah me! Ill-omened is the spear's accord.[126] - - - ANTISTROPHE - - It hath wrought out its end, - And hath not failed, that prayer the father poured; - And Laios' reckless counsels work till now: - I fear me for the State; - The oracles have not yet lost their edge; 840 - O men of many sorrows, ye have wrought - This deed incredible; - Not now in word come woes most lamentable. - - [_As the Chorus are speaking, the bodies of_ ETEOCLES - _and_ POLYNEIKES _are brought in solemn procession - by_ Theban Citizens - - - EPODE - - Yea, it is all too clear, - The herald's tale of woe comes full in sight; - Twofold our cares, twin evils born of pride, - Murderous, with double doom, - Wrought unto full completeness all these ills. - What shall I say? What else - Are they than woes that make this house their home? - But oh! my friends, ply, ply with swift, strong gale, - That even stroke of hands upon your head,[127] 850 - In funeral order, such as evermore - O'er Acheron sends on - *That bark of State, dark-rigged, accursed its voyage, - Which nor Apollo visits nor the sun,[128] - On to the shore unseen, - The resting-place of all. - - [ISMENE _and_ ANTIGONE _are seen approaching in - mourning garments, followed by a procession of - women wailing and lamenting_ - - For see, they come to bitter deed called forth, - Ismene and the maid Antigone, - To wail their brothers' fall; - With little doubt I deem, - That they will pour from fond, deep-bosomed breasts - A worthy strain of grief: - But it is meet that we, - Before we hear their cry, 860 - Should utter the harsh hymn Erinnys loves, - And sing to Hades dark - The Pæan of distress. - O ye, most evil-fated in your kin, - Of all who guard their robes with maiden's band, - I weep and wail, and feigning know I none, - That I should fail to speak - My sorrow from my heart. - - - STROPHE I - - _Semi-Chor. A._ Alas! alas! - Men of stern mood, who would not list to friends, - Unwearied in all ills, 870 - Seizing your father's house, O wretched ones - With the spear's murderous point. - - _Semi-Chor. B._ Yea, wretched they who found a wretched doom, - With havoc of the house. - - - ANTISTROPHE I - - _Semi-Chor. A._ Alas! alas! - Ye who laid low the ancient walls of home, - On sovereignty, ill won, - Your eyes have looked, and ye at last are brought - To concord by the sword. - - _Semi-Chor. B._ Yea, of a truth, the curse of Œdipus 880 - Erinnys dread fulfils. - - - STROPHE II - - _Semi-Chor. A._ Yea, smitten through the heart, - Smitten through sides where flowed the blood of brothers. - Ah me! ye doomed of God! - Ah me! the curses dire - Of deaths ye met with each at other's hands! - - _Semi-Chor. B._ Thou tell'st of men death-smitten through and through, - Both in their homes and lives, - With wrath beyond all speech, 890 - And doom of discord fell, - That sprang from out the curse their father spake. - - - ANTISTROPHE II - - _Semi-Chor. A._ Yea, through the city runs - A wailing cry. The high towers wail aloud; - Wails all the plain that loves her heroes well; - And to their children's sons - The wealth will go for which - The strife of those ill-starred ones brought forth death. - - _Semi-Chor. B._ Quick to resent, they shared their fortune so, - That each like portion won; - *Nor can their friends regard - Their umpire without blame; 900 - Nor is our voice in thanks to Ares raised. - - - STROPHE III - - _Semi-Chor. A._ By the sword smitten low, - Thus are they now; - By the sword smitten low, - There wait them ... Nay, - Doth one perchance ask what? - Shares in their old ancestral sepulchres. - - _Semi-Chor. B._ *The sorrow of the house is borne to them - By my heart-rending wail. - Mine own the cries I pour; - Mine own the woes I weep, - Bitter and joyless, shedding truest tears 910 - From heart that faileth, even as they fall, - For these two kingly chiefs. - - - ANTISTROPHE III - - _Semi-Chor. A._ Yes; one may say of them, - That wretched pair, - That they much ill have wrought - To their own host; - Yea, and to alien ranks - Of many nations fallen in the fray. - - _Semi-Chor._ B. Ah! miserable she who bare those twain, - 'Bove all of women born - Who boast a mother's name! 920 - Taking her son, her own, - As spouse, she bare these children, and they both, - By mutual slaughter and by brothers' hands, - Have found their end in death. - - - STROPHE IV - - _Semi-Chor. A._ Yes; of the same womb born, and doomèd both, - *Not as friends part, they fell, - In strife to madness pushed - In this their quarrel's end. - - _Semi-Chor. B._ The quarrel now is hushed, - And in the ensanguined earth their lives are blent; 930 - Full near in blood are they. - Stern umpire of their strifes - Has been the stranger from beyond the sea,[129] - Fresh from the furnace, keen and sharpened steel. - Stern, too, is Ares found, - Distributing their goods, - Making their father's curses all too true. - - - ANTISTROPHE IV - - _Semi-Chor. A._ At last they have their share, ah, wretched ones! - Of burdens sent from God. 940 - And now beneath them lies - A boundless wealth of——earth. - - _Semi-Chor. B._ O ye who your own race - Have made to burgeon out with many woes! - Over the end at last - The brood of Curses raise - Their shrill, sharp cry of lamentation loud, - The race being put to flight of utmost rout, - And Atè's trophy stands, - Where in the gates they fell; - And Fate, now both are conquered, rests at last. 950 - - _Enter_ ANTIGONE _and_ ISMENE, _followed by mourning - maidens_[130] - - _Ant._ Thou wast smitten, and thou smotest. - - _Ism._ Thou did'st slaughter, and wast slaughtered. - - _Ant._ Thou with spear to death did'st smite him. - - _Ism._ Thou with spear to death wast smitten. - - _Ant._ Oh, the woe of all your labours! - - _Ism._ Oh, the woe of all ye suffered! - - _Ant._ Pour the cry of lamentation. - - _Ism._ Pour the tears of bitter weeping. - - _Ant._ There in death thou liest prostrate. - - _Ism._ Having wrought a great destruction. - - - STROPHE - - _Ant._ Ah! my mind is crazed with wailing. 960 - - _Ism._ Yea, my heart within me groaneth. - - _Ant._ Thou for whom the city weepeth! - - _Ism._ Thou too, doomed to all ill-fortune! - - _Ant._ By a loved hand thou hast perished. - - _Ism._ And a loved form thou hast slaughtered. - - _Ant._ Double woes are ours to tell of. - - _Ism._ Double woes too ours to look on. - - _Ant._ *Twofold sorrows from near kindred. - - _Ism._ *Sisters we by brothers standing. - - _Ant._ Terrible are they to tell of. 970 - - _Ism._ Terrible are they to look on. - - _Chor._ Ah me, thou Destiny, - Giver of evil gifts, and working woe, - And thou dread spectral form of Œdipus, - And swarth Erinnys too, - A mighty one art thou. - - - ANTISTROPHE - - _Ant._ Ah me! ah me! woes dread to look on.... - - _Ism._ Ye showed to me, returned from exile. - - _Ant._ Not, when he had slain, returned he. - - _Ism._ Nay, he, saved from exile, perished. 980 - - _Ant._ Yea, I trow too well, he perished. - - _Ism._ And his brother, too, he murdered. - - _Ant._ Woeful, piteous, are those brothers! - - _Ism._ Woeful, piteous, all they suffered! - - _Ant._ Woes of kindred wrath enkindling! - - _Ism._ Saturate with threefold horrors! - - _Ant._ Terrible are they to tell of. - - _Ism._ Terrible are they to look on. - - _Chor._ Ah me, thou Destiny, - Giver of evil gifts, and stern of soul, - And thou dread spectral form of Œdipus, 990 - And swarth Erinnys too, - A mighty one art thou. - - - EPODE - - _Ant._ Thou, then, by full trial knowest.... - - _Ism._ Thou, too, no whit later learning.... - - _Ant._ When thou cam'st back to this city[131].... - - _Ism._ Rival to our chief in warfare. - - _Ant._ Woe, alas! for all our troubles! - - _Ism._ Woe, alas! for all our evils! - - _Ant._ Evils fallen on our houses! - - _Ism._ Evils fallen on our country! - - _Ant._ And on me before all others.... - - _Ism._ And to me the future waiting.... 1000 - - _Ant._ Woe for those two brothers luckless! - - _Ism._ King Eteocles, our leader! - - _Ant._ Oh, before all others wretched! - - _Ism._ . . . . . - - _Ant._ Ah, by Atè frenzy-stricken! - - _Ism._ Ah, where now shall they be buried? - - _Ant._ There where grave is highest honour. - - _Ism._ Ah, the woe my father wedded! - - _Enter a_ Herald - - _Her._ 'Tis mine the judgment and decrees to publish - Of this Cadmeian city's counsellors: - It is decreed Eteocles to honour, - For his good-will towards this land of ours, 1010 - With seemly burial, such as friend may claim; - For warding off our foes he courted death; - Pure as regards his country's holy things, - Blameless he died where death the young beseems; - This then I'm ordered to proclaim of him. - But for his brother's, Polyneikes' corpse, - To cast it out unburied, prey for dogs, - As working havoc on Cadmeian land, - Unless some God had hindered by the spear - Of this our prince;[132] and he, though, dead, shall gain 1020 - The curse of all his father's Gods, whom he - - [_Pointing to_ POLYNEIKES - - With alien host dishonouring, sought to take - Our city. Him by ravenous birds interred - Ingloriously, they sentence to receive - His full deserts; and none may take in hand - To heap up there a tomb, nor honour him - With shrill-voiced wailings; but he still must lie, - Without the meed of burial by his friends. - So do the high Cadmeian powers decree. - - _Ant._ And I those rulers of Cadmeians tell,[133] 1030 - That if no other care to bury him, - I will inter him, facing all the risk, - Burying my brother: nor am I ashamed - To thwart the State in rank disloyalty; - Strange power there is in ties of blood, that we, - Born of woe-laden mother, sire ill-starred, - Are bound by: therefore of thy full free-will, - Share thou, my soul, in woes he did not will, - Thou living, he being dead, with sister's heart. - And this I say, no wolves with ravening maw, - Shall tear his flesh—No! no! let none think that! - For tomb and burial I will scheme for him, 1040 - Though I be but weak woman, bringing earth - Within my byssine raiment's fold, and so - Myself will bury him; let no man think - (I say't again) aught else. Take heart, my soul! - There shall not fail the means effectual. - - _Her._ I bid thee not defy the State in this. - - _Ant._ I bid thee not proclaim vain words to me. - - _Her._ Stern is the people now, with victory flushed. - - _Ant._ Stern let them be, he shall not tombless lie. - - _Her._ And wilt thou honour whom the State doth loathe? - - _Ant._ *Yea, from the Gods he gets an honour due.[134]1050 - - _Her._ It was not so till he this land attacked. - - _Ant._ He, suffering evil, evil would repay. - - _Her._ Not against one his arms were turned, but all. - - _Ant._ Strife is the last of Gods to end disputes: - Him I will bury; talk no more of it. - - _Her._ Choose for thyself then, I forbid the deed. - - _Chor._ Alas! alas! alas! - Ye haughty boasters, race-destroying, - Now Fates and now Erinnyes, smiting - The sons of Œdipus, ye slew them, - With a root-and-branch destruction. 1060 - What shall I then do, what suffer? - What shall I devise in counsel? - How should I dare nor to weep thee, - Nor escort thee to the burial? - But I tremble and I shrink from - All the terrors which they threatened, - They who are my fellow-townsmen. - Many mourners thou (_looking to the bier of_ ETEOCLES) shalt - meet with; - But he, lost one, unlamented, - With his sister's wailing only - Passeth. Who with this complieth? - - _Semi-Chor. A_. Let the city doom or not doom - Those who weep for Polyneikes; - We will go, and we will bury, 1070 - Maidens we in sad procession; - For the woe to all is common, - And our State with voice uncertain, - Of the claims of Right and Justice; - Hither, thither, shifts its praises. - - _Semi-Chor. B._ We will thus, our chief attending, - Speak, as speaks the State, our praises: - Of the claims of Right and Justice;[135] - For next those the Blessed Rulers, - And the strength of Zeus, he chiefly - Saved the city of Cadmeians - From the doom of fell destruction, - From the doom of whelming utter, - In the flood of alien warriors. - - [_Exeunt_ ANTIGONE _and Semi-Chorus A., following - the corpse of_ POLYNEIKES; ISMENE - _and Semi-Chorus B. that of_ ETEOCLES. - ------ - -Footnote 73: - - Probably directed against the tendency of the Athenians, as shown in - their treatment of Miltiades, and later in that of Thukydides, to - punish their unsuccessful generals, “_pour encourager les autres_.” - -Footnote 74: - - Teiresias, as in Sophocles (_Antig._ v. 1005), sitting, though blind, - and listening, as the birds flit by him, and the flames burn steadily - or fitfully; a various reading gives “apart from sight.” - -Footnote 75: - - Enyo, the goddess of war, and companion of Ares. - -Footnote 76: - - Amphiaraos the seer had prophesied that Adrastos alone should return - home in safety. On his car, therefore, the other chieftains hung the - clasps, or locks of hair, or other memorials which in the event of - their death were to be taken to their parents. - -Footnote 77: - - The Hellenic feeling, such as the Platæans appealed to in the - Peloponnesian war (Thuc. iii. 58, 59), that it was noble and right for - Hellenes to destroy a city of the barbarians, but that they should - spare one belonging to a people of their own stock. - -Footnote 78: - - The characteristic feature of the Argive soldiers was, that they bore - a shield painted white (comp. Sophocles, _Antig._ v. 114). The leaders - alone appear to have embellished this with devices and mottoes. - -Footnote 79: - - In solemn supplications, the litanies of the ancient world, especially - in those to Pallas, the suppliants carried with them in procession the - shawl or _peplos_ of the Goddess, and with it enwrapt her statue. To - carry boughs of trees in the hands was one of the uniform, probably - indispensable, accompaniments of such processions. - -Footnote 80: - - The words recall our thoughts to the original use of the trident, - which became afterwards a symbol of Poseidon, as employed by the - sailors of Hellas to spear or harpoon the larger fish of the - Archipelago. Comp. _Pers._ v. 426, where the slaughter of a defeated - army is compared to tunny-fishing. - -Footnote 81: - - Cadmos, probably “the man from the East,” the Phœnikian who had - founded Thebes, and sown the dragon's seed, and taught men a Semitic - alphabet for the non-Semitic speech of Hellas. - -Footnote 82: - - Worthy of his name as the Wolf-destroyer, mighty to destroy his foes. - -Footnote 83: - - Possibly “_from_ battlements attacked.” In the primitive sieges of - Greek warfare stones were used as missiles alike by besieged and - besiegers. - -Footnote 84: - - The name of Onca belonged especially to the Theban worship of Pallas, - and was said to have been of Phœnikian origin, introduced by Cadmos. - There seems, however, to have been a town Onkæ in Bœotia, with which - the name was doubtless connected. - -Footnote 85: - - “Alien,” on account of the difference of dialect between the speech of - Argos and that of Bœotia, though both were Hellenic. - -Footnote 86: - - The vehemence with which Eteocles reproves the wild frenzied wailing - of the Chorus may be taken as an element of the higher culture showing - itself in Athenian life, which led Solon to restrain such lamentations - by special laws (Plutarch, _Solon_, c. 20). Here, too, we note in - Æschylos an echo of the teaching of Epimenides. - -Footnote 87: - - As now the sailor of the Mediterranean turns to the image of his - patron saint, so of old he ran in his distress to the figure of his - God upon the prow of his ship (often, as in Acts xxviii. II, that of - the _Dioscuri_), and called to it for deliverance (comp. Jonah i. 8). - -Footnote 88: - - Eteocles seems to wish for a short, plain prayer for deliverance, - instead of the cries and supplications and vain repetitions of the - Chorus. - -Footnote 89: - - The thought thus expressed was, that the Gods, yielding to the - mightier law of destiny, or in their wrath at the guilt of men, left - the city before its capture. The feeling was all but universal. Its - two representative instances are found in Virgil, _Æn._ 351— - - “Excessere omnes adytis arisque relictis - Di quibus imperium hoc steterat;” - - and the narrative given alike by Tacitus (_Hist._ v. 13), and Josephus - (_Bell. Jud._ vi. 5, 3), that the cry “Let us depart hence,” was heard - at midnight through the courts of the Temple, before the destruction - of Jerusalem. - -Footnote 90: - - _Sc._ Blood must be shed in war. Ares would not be Ares without it. It - is better to take it as it comes. - -Footnote 91: - - _Sc._, the company of Gods, Pallas, Hera and the others whom the - Chorus had invoked. - -Footnote 92: - - Reference to this custom, which has passed from Pagan temples into - Christian churches, is found in the _Agamemnon_, v. 562. It was - connected, of course, with the general practice of offering as _ex - votos_ any personal ornaments or clothing as a token of thanksgiving - for special mercies. - -Footnote 93: - - Rivers and streams as the children of Tethys and Okeanos. - -Footnote 94: - - Here, as in v. 571, Tydeus appears as the real leader of the - expedition, who had persuaded Adrastos and the other chiefs to join in - it, and Amphiaraos, the prophet, the son of Œcleus, as having all - along foreseen its disastrous issue. The account of the expedition in - the _Œdipus at Colonos_ (1300-1330) may be compared with this. - -Footnote 95: - - The legend of the Medusa's head on the shield of Athena shows the - practice of thus decorating shields to have been of remote date. In - Homer it does not appear as common, and the account given of the - shield of Achilles lays stress upon the work of the artist (Hephæstos) - who wrought the shield in relief, not, as here, upon painted insignia. - They were obviously common in the time of Æschylos. - -Footnote 96: - - The older families of Thebes boasted that they sprang from the - survivors of the Sparti, who, sprung from the Dragon's teeth, waged - deadly war against each other, till all but five were slain. The later - settlers, who were said to have come with Cadmos, stood to these as - the “greater” to the “lesser _gentes_” at Rome. - -Footnote 97: - - So in the _Antigone_ of Sophocles (v. 134), Capaneus appears as the - special representative of boastful, reckless impiety. - -Footnote 98: - - Artemis, as one of the special Deities to whom Thebes was consecrated. - -Footnote 99: - - Apparently an Asiatic invention, to increase the terror of an attack - of war-chariots. - -Footnote 100: - - The phrase and thought were almost proverbial in Athens. Men, as - citizens, were thought of as fed at a common table, bound to - contribute their gifts to the common stock. When they offered up their - lives in battle, they were giving, as Pericles says (Thucyd. ii. 43), - their noblest “contribution,” paying in full their subscription to the - society of which they were members. - -Footnote 101: - - Thyiad, another name for the Mænads, the frenzied attendants on - Dionysos. - -Footnote 102: - - _Sc._, in the legends of Typhon, not he, but Zeus, had proved the - conqueror. The warrior, therefore, who chose Typhon for his badge was - identifying himself with the losing, not the winning side. - -Footnote 103: - - The name, as we are told in v. 542, is Parthenopæos, the maiden-faced. - -Footnote 104: - - The Sphinx, besides its general character as an emblem of terror, had, - of course, a special meaning as directed to the Thebans. The warrior - who bore it threatened to renew the old days when the monster whom - Œdipus had overcome had laid waste their city. - -Footnote 105: - - _Sc._, the Sphinx on his shield will not be allowed to enter the city. - It will only serve as a mark, attracting men to attack both it and the - warrior who bears it. - -Footnote 106: - - The quarrel between Tydeus and the seer Amphiaraos had been already - touched upon. - -Footnote 107: - - I have used the old English word to express a term of like technical - use in Athenian law processes. As the “sumpnour” called witnesses or - parties to a suit into court, so Tydeus had summoned the Erinnys to do - her work of destruction. - -Footnote 108: - - _Sc._, so pronounced his name as to emphasise the significance of its - two component parts, as indicating that he who bore it was a man of - much contention. - -Footnote 109: - - The words are obscure, but seem to refer to the badge of Polyneikes, - the figure of Justice described in v. 643 as on his shield. How shall - that Justice, the seer asks, console Jocasta for her son's death? - Another rendering gives, - - “And how shall Justice quench a mother's life?” - - the “mother” being the country against which Polyneikes wars. - -Footnote 110: - - The words had a twofold fulfilment (1) in the burial of Amphiaraos, in - the Theban soil; and (2) in the honour which accrued to Thebes after - his death, through the fame of the oracle at his shrine. - -Footnote 111: - - The passage cannot be passed over without noticing the old tradition - (Plutarch, _Aristeid._ c. 3), that when the actor uttered these words, - he and the whole audience looked to Aristeides, surnamed the Just, as - recognising that the words were true of him as they were of no one - else. “Best,” instead of “just,” is, however, a very old various - reading. - -Footnote 112: - - If the former reference to Aristeides be admitted, we can scarcely - avoid seeing in this passage an allusion to Themistocles, as one with - whose reckless and democratic policy it was dangerous for the more - conservative leader to associate himself. - -Footnote 113: - - The far-off city, not of Thebes, but of Hades. In the legend of - Thebes, the earth opened and swallowed up Amphiaraos, as in 583. - -Footnote 114: - - The short spear was usually carried under the shelter of the shield; - when brought into action it was, of course, laid bare. - -Footnote 115: - - Perhaps “since death is at nigh hand.” - -Footnote 116: - - The Chorus means that if Eteocles would allow himself to be overcome - in this contest of his wishes with their prayers the Gods would honour - that defeat as if it were indeed a victory. He makes answer that the - very thought of being overcome implied in the word “defeat” in - anything is one which the true warrior cannot bear. - -Footnote 117: - - The “Chalyb stranger” is the sword, thought of as taking its name from - the Skythian tribe of the Chalybes, between Colchis and Armenia, and - passing through the Thrakians into Greece. - -Footnote 118: - - The two brothers, _i.e._, are set at one again, but it is not in the - bonds of friendship, but in those of death. - -Footnote 119: - - The image meets us again in _Agam._ 980. Here the thought is, that a - man too prosperous is like a ship too heavily freighted. He must part - with a portion of his possession in order to save the rest. Not to - part with them leads, when the storm rages, to an enforced abandonment - and utter loss. - -Footnote 120: - - Another reading gives— - - “And race of those who crowd the Agora.” - -Footnote 121: - - This seems to have been one form of the legends as to the cause of the - curse which Œdipus had launched upon his sons, An alternative - rendering is— - - And with a mind enraged - At thought of what they were whom he had reared, - He at his sons did hurl - His curses dire and dark. - -Footnote 122: - - _Sc._, when Eteocles fell, Apollo took his place at the seventh gate, - and turned the tide of war in favour of the Thebans. - -Footnote 123: - - I follow in this dialogue the arrangement which Paley adopts from - Hermann. - -Footnote 124: - - There seems an intentional ambiguity. They are “borne on,” but it is - as the corpses of the dead are borne to the sepulchre. - -Footnote 125: - - Not here the curse uttered by Œdipus, but that which rested on him and - all his kin. There is possibly an allusion to the curse which Pelops - is said to have uttered against Laios when he stole his son - Chrysippos. Comp. v. 837. - -Footnote 126: - - As in v. 763 we read of the brothers as made one in death, so now of - the concord which is wrought out by conflict, the concord, _i.e._, of - the grave. - -Footnote 127: - - The Chorus are called on to change their character, and to pass from - the attitude of suppliants, with outstretched arms, to that of - mourners at a funeral, beating on their breasts. But, perhaps, the - call is addressed to the mourners who are seen approaching with Ismene - and Antigone. - -Footnote 128: - - The thought is drawn from the _theoris_ or pilgrim-ship, which went - with snow-white sails, and accompanied by joyful pæans, on a solemn - mission from Athens to Delos. In contrast with this type of joy, - Æschylos draws the picture of the boat of Charon, which passes over - the gloomy pool accompanied by the sighs and gestures of bitter - lamentation. So, in the old Attic legend, the ship that annually - carried seven youths and maidens to the Minotaur of Crete was - conspicuous for its black sails. - -Footnote 129: - - The “Chalyb,” or iron sword, which the Hellenes had imported from the - Skythians. Comp. vv. 70. 86. - -Footnote 130: - - The lyrical, operative character of Greek tragedies has to be borne in - mind as we read passages like that which follows. They were not meant - to be _read_. Uttered in a passionate recitative, accompanied by - expressive action, they probably formed a very effective element in - the actual representation of the tragedy. We may look on it as the - only extant specimen of the kind of wailing which was characteristic - of Eastern burials, and which was slowly passing away in Greece under - the influence of a higher culture. The early fondness of Æschylos for - a _finale_ of this nature is seen also in _The Persians_, and in a - more solemn and subdued form, in the _Eumenides_. The feeling that - there was something barbaric in these untoward displays of grief, - showed itself alike in the legislation of Solon, and the eloquence of - Pericles. - -Footnote 131: - - Here, and perhaps throughout, we must think of Antigone as addressing - and looking on the corpse of Polyneikes, Ismene on that of Eteocles. - -Footnote 132: - - Perhaps - - “Unless some God had stood against the spear - This chief did wield.” - -Footnote 133: - - The speech of the Antigone becomes the starting-point, in the hands of - Sophocles, of the noblest of his tragedies. The denial of burial, it - will be remembered, was looked on as not merely an indignity and - outrage against the feelings of the living, but as depriving the souls - of the dead of all rest and peace. As such it was the punishment of - parricides and traitors. - -Footnote 134: - - The words are obscure enough, the point lying, it may be, in their - ambiguity. Antigone here, as in the tragedy of Sophocles, pleads that - the Gods have pardoned; they still command and love the reverence for - the dead, which she is about to show. The herald catches up her words - and takes them in another sense, as though all the honour he had met - with from the Gods had been defeat, and death, and shame, as the - reward of his sacrilege. Another rendering, however, gives— - - “Yes, so the Gods have done with honouring him.” - -Footnote 135: - - The words are probably a protest against the changeableness of the - Athenian _demos_, as seen especially in their treatment of Aristeides. - - - - - PROMETHEUS BOUND - - - DRAMATIS PERSONÆ - - PROMETHEUS - HERMES - OKEANOS - STRENGTH - HEPHÆSTOS - FORCE - _Chorus of Ocean Nymphs_ - - -_ARGUMENT.—In the old time, when Cronos was sovereign of the Gods, Zeus, -whom he had begotten, rose up against him, and the Gods were divided in -their counsels, some, the Titans chiefly, siding with the father, and -some with the son. And Prometheus, the son of Earth or Themis, though -one of the Titans, supported Zeus, as did also Okeanos, and by his -counsels Zeus obtained the victory, and Cronos was chained in Tartaros, -and the Titans buried under mountains, or kept in bonds in Hades. And -then Prometheus, seeing the miseries of the race of men, of whom Zeus -took little heed, stole the fire which till then had belonged to none -but Hephæstos and was used only for the Gods, and gave it to mankind, -and taught them many arts whereby their wretchedness was lessened. But -Zeus being wroth with Prometheus for this deed, sent Hephæstos, with his -two helpers, Strength and Force, to fetter him to a rock on Caucasos._ - -_And in yet another story was the cruelty of the Gods made known. For -Zeus loved Io, the daughter of Inachos, king of Argos, and she was -haunted by visions of the night, telling her of his passion, and she -told her father thereof. And Inachos, sending to the God at Delphi, was -told to drive Io forth from her home. And Zeus gave her the horns of a -cow, and Hera, who hated her because she was dear to Zeus, sent with her -a gadfly that stung her, and gave her no rest, and drove her over many -lands._ - -_Note._—The play is believed to have been the second of a Trilogy, of -which the first was _Prometheus the Fire-giver_, and the third -_Prometheus Unbound_. - - - - - PROMETHEUS BOUND - - - SCENE.—SKYTHIA, _on the heights of Caucasos. The Euxine - seen in the distance_ - - _Enter_ HEPHÆSTOS, STRENGTH, _and_ FORCE, _leading_ - PROMETHEUS _in chains_[136] - - _Strength._ Lo! to a plain, earth's boundary remote, - We now are come,—the tract as Skythian known, - A desert inaccessible: and now, - Hephæstos, it is thine to do the hests - The Father gave thee, to these lofty crags - To bind this crafty trickster fast in chains - Of adamantine bonds that none can break; - For he thy choice flower stealing, the bright glory - Of fire that all arts spring from, hath bestowed it - On mortal men. And so for fault like this - He now must pay the Gods due penalty, - That he may learn to bear the sovereign rule 10 - Of Zeus, and cease from his philanthropy. - - _Heph._ O Strength, and thou, O Force, the hest of Zeus, - As far as touches you, attains its end, - And nothing hinders. Yet my courage fails - To bind a God of mine own kin by force - To this bare rock where tempests wildly sweep; - And yet I needs must muster courage for it: - 'Tis no slight thing the Father's words to scorn. - O thou of Themis [_to_ PROMETHEUS] wise in counsel son, - Full deep of purpose, lo! against my will,[137] - I fetter thee against thy will with bonds - Of bronze that none can loose, to this lone height, 20 - Where thou shalt know nor voice nor face of man, - But scorching in the hot blaze of the sun, - Shalt lose thy skin's fair beauty. Thou shalt long - For starry-mantled night to hide day's sheen, - For sun to melt the rime of early dawn; - And evermore the weight of present ill - Shall wear thee down. Unborn as yet is he - Who shall release thee: this the fate thou gain'st - As due reward for thy philanthropy. - For thou, a God not fearing wrath of Gods, - In thy transgression gav'st their power to men; 30 - And therefore on this rock of little ease - Thou still shalt keep thy watch, nor lying down, - Nor knowing sleep, nor ever bending knee; - And many groans and wailings profitless - Thy lips shall utter; for the mind of Zeus - Remains inexorable. Who holds a power - But newly gained[138] is ever stern of mood. - - _Strength._ Let be! Why linger in this idle pity? - Why dost not hate a God to Gods a foe, - Who gave thy choicest prize to mortal men? - - _Heph._ Strange is the power of kin and intercourse.[139] - - _Strength._ I own it; yet to slight the Father's words, 40 - How may that be? Is not that fear the worse? - - _Heph._ Still art thou ruthless, full of savagery. - - _Strength._ There is no help in weeping over him: - Spend not thy toil on things that profit not. - - _Heph._ O handicraft to me intolerable! - - _Strength._ Why loath'st thou it? Of these thy present griefs - That craft of thine is not one whit the cause. - - _Heph._ And yet I would some other had that skill. - - _Strength._ *All things bring toil except for Gods to reign;[140] - For none but Zeus can boast of freedom true. 50 - - _Heph._ Too well I see the proof, and gainsay not. - - _Strength._ Wilt thou not speed to fix the chains on him, - Lest He, the Father, see thee loitering here? - - _Heph._ Well, here the handcuffs thou may'st see prepared. - - _Strength._ In thine hands take him. Then with all thy might - Strike with thine hammer; nail him to the rocks. - - _Heph._ The work goes on, I ween, and not in vain. - - _Strength._ Strike harder, rivet, give no whit of ease: - A wondrous knack has he to find resource, - Even where all might seem to baffle him. - - _Heph._ Lo! this his arm is fixed inextricably. 60 - - _Strength._ Now rivet thou this other fast, that he - May learn, though sharp, that he than Zeus is duller. - - _Heph._ No one but he could justly blame my work. - - _Strength._ Now drive the stern jaw of the adamant wedge - Right through his chest with all the strength thou hast. - - _Heph._ Ah me! Prometheus, for thy woes I groan. - - _Strength._ Again, thou'rt loth, and for the foes of Zeus - Thou groanest: take good heed to it lest thou - Ere long with cause thyself commiserate. - - _Heph._ Thou see'st a sight unsightly to our eyes. - - _Strength._ I see this man obtaining his deserts: 70 - Nay, cast thy breast-chains round about his ribs. - - _Heph._ I must needs do it. Spare thine o'er much bidding; - Go thou below and rivet both his legs.[141] - - _Strength._ Nay, I will bid thee, urge thee to thy work. - - _Heph._ There, it is done, and that with no long toil. - - _Strength._ Now with thy full power fix the galling fetters: - Thou hast a stern o'erlooker of thy work. - - _Heph._ Thy tongue but utters words that match thy form.[142] - - _Strength._ Choose thou the melting mood; but chide not me - For my self-will and wrath and ruthlessness. 80 - - _Heph._ Now let us go, his limbs are bound in chains. - - _Strength._ Here then wax proud, and stealing what belongs - To the Gods, to mortals give it. What can they - Avail to rescue thee from these thy woes? - Falsely the Gods have given thee thy name, - Prometheus, Forethought; forethought thou dost need - To free thyself from this rare handiwork. - - [_Exeunt_ HEPHÆSTOS, STRENGTH, _and_ FORCE, - _leaving_ PROMETHEUS _on the rock_ - - _Prom._[143] Thou firmament of God, and swift-winged winds, - Ye springs of rivers, and of ocean waves - That smile innumerous! Mother of us all, 90 - O Earth, and Sun's all-seeing eye, behold, - I pray, what I a God from Gods endure. - Behold in what foul case - I for ten thousand years - Shall struggle in my woe, - In these unseemly chains. - Such doom the new-made Monarch of the Blest - Hath now devised for me. - Woe, woe! The present and the oncoming pang - I wail, as I search out - The place and hour when end of all these ills - Shall dawn on me at last. 100 - What say I? All too clearly I foresee - The things that come, and nought of pain shall be - By me unlooked-for; but I needs must bear - My destiny as best I may, knowing well - The might resistless of Necessity. - And neither may I speak of this my fate, - Nor hold my peace. For I, poor I, through giving - Great gifts to mortal men, am prisoner made - In these fast fetters; yea, in fennel stalk[144] - I snatched the hidden spring of stolen fire, - Which is to men a teacher of all arts, 110 - Their chief resource. And now this penalty - Of that offence I pay, fast riveted - In chains beneath the open firmament. - Ha! ha! What now? - What sound, what odour floats invisibly?[145] - Is it of God or man, or blending both? - And has one come to the remotest rock - To look upon my woes? Or what wills he? - Behold me bound, a God to evil doomed, - The foe of Zeus, and held - In hatred by all Gods 120 - Who tread the courts of Zeus: - And this for my great love, - Too great, for mortal men. - Ah me! what rustling sounds - Hear I of birds not far? - With the light whirr of wings - The air re-echoeth: - All that draws nigh to me is cause of fear.[146] - - _Enter Chorus of_ Ocean Nymphs, _with wings, - floating in the air_[147] - - _Chor._ Nay, fear thou nought: in love - All our array of wings - In eager race hath come 130 - To this high peak, full hardly gaining o'er - Our Father's mind and will; - And the swift-rushing breezes bore me on: - For lo! the echoing sound of blows on iron - Pierced to our cave's recess, and put to flight - My shamefast modesty, - And I in unshod haste, on winged car, - To thee rushed hitherward. - - _Prom._ Ah me! ah me! - Offspring of Tethys blest with many a child, 140 - Daughters of Old Okeanos that rolls - Round all the earth with never-sleeping stream, - Behold ye me, and see - With what chains fettered fast, - I on the topmost crags of this ravine - Shall keep my sentry-post unenviable. - - _Chor._ I see it, O Prometheus, and a mist - Of fear and full of tears comes o'er mine eyes, - Thy frame beholding thus, - Writhing on these high rocks 150 - In adamantine ills. - New pilots now o'er high Olympos rule, - And with new-fashioned laws - Zeus reigns, down-trampling right, - And all the ancient powers He sweeps away. - - _Prom._ Ah! would that 'neath the Earth, 'neath Hades too, - Home of the dead, far down to Tartaros 160 - Unfathomable He in fetters fast - In wrath had hurled me down: - So neither had a God - Nor any other mocked at these my woes; - But now, the wretched plaything of the winds, - I suffer ills at which my foes rejoice. - - _Chor._ Nay, which of all the Gods - Is so hard-hearted as to joy in this? - Who, Zeus excepted, doth not pity thee - In these thine ills? But He, - Ruthless, with soul unbent, - Subdues the heavenly host, nor will He cease[148] 170 - Until his heart be satiate with power, - Or some one seize with subtle stratagem - The sovran might that so resistless seemed. - - _Prom._ Nay, of a truth, though put to evil shame, - In massive fetters bound, - The Ruler of the Gods - Shall yet have need of me, yes, e'en of me, - To tell the counsel new - That seeks to strip from him - His sceptre and his might of sovereignty. - In vain will He with words - Or suasion's honeyed charms 180 - Soothe me, nor will I tell - Through fear of his stern threats, - Ere He shall set me free - From these my bonds, and make, - Of his own choice, amends - For all these outrages. - - _Chor._ Full rash art thou, and yield'st - In not a jot to bitterest form of woe; - Thou art o'er-free and reckless in thy speech: - But piercing fear hath stirred - My inmost soul to strife; - For I fear greatly touching thy distress, - As to what haven of these woes of thine 190 - Thou now must steer: the son of Cronos hath - A stubborn mood and heart inexorable. - - _Prom._ I know that Zeus is hard, - And keeps the Right supremely to himself; - But then, I trow, He'll be - Full pliant in his will, - When He is thus crushed down. - Then, calming down his mood - Of hard and bitter wrath, - He'll hasten unto me, - As I to him shall haste, 200 - For friendship and for peace. - - _Chor._ Hide it not from us, tell us all the tale: - For what offence Zeus, having seized thee thus, - So wantonly and bitterly insults thee: - If the tale hurt thee not, inform thou us. - - _Prom._ Painful are these things to me e'en to speak: - Painful is silence; everywhere is woe. - For when the high Gods fell on mood of wrath, - And hot debate of mutual strife was stirred, - Some wishing to hurl Cronos from his throne, - That Zeus, forsooth, might reign; while others strove, - Eager that Zeus might never rule the Gods: 210 - Then I, full strongly seeking to persuade - The Titans, yea, the sons of Heaven and Earth, - Failed of my purpose. Scorning subtle arts, - With counsels violent, they thought that they - By force would gain full easy mastery. - But then not once or twice my mother Themis - And Earth, one form though bearing many names,[149] - Had prophesied the future, how 'twould run, - That not by strength nor yet by violence, 220 - But guile, should those who prospered gain the day. - And when in my words I this counsel gave, - They deigned not e'en to glance at it at all. - And then of all that offered, it seemed best - To join my mother, and of mine own will, - Not against his will, take my side with Zeus, - And by my counsels, mine, the dark deep pit - Of Tartaros the ancient Cronos holds, - Himself and his allies. Thus profiting - By me, the mighty ruler of the Gods 230 - Repays me with these evil penalties: - For somehow this disease in sovereignty - Inheres, of never trusting to one's friends.[150] - And since ye ask me under what pretence - He thus maltreats me, I will show it you: - For soon as He upon his father's throne - Had sat secure, forthwith to divers Gods - He divers gifts distributed, and his realm - Began to order. But of mortal men - He took no heed, but purposed utterly 240 - To crush their race and plant another new; - And, I excepted, none dared cross his will; - But I did dare, and mortal men I freed - From passing on to Hades thunder-stricken; - And therefore am I bound beneath these woes, - Dreadful to suffer, pitiable to see: - And I, who in my pity thought of men - More than myself, have not been worthy deemed - To gain like favour, but all ruthlessly - I thus am chained, foul shame this sight to Zeus. - - _Chor._ Iron-hearted must he be and made of rock 250 - Who is not moved, Prometheus, by thy woes: - Fain could I wish I ne'er had seen such things, - And, seeing them, am wounded to the heart. - - _Prom._ Yea, I am piteous for my friends to see. - - _Chor._ Did'st thou not go to farther lengths than this? - - _Prom._ I made men cease from contemplating death.[151] - - _Chor._ What medicine did'st thou find for that disease? - - _Prom._ Blind hopes I gave to live and dwell with them. - - _Chor._ Great service that thou did'st for mortal men! - - _Prom._ And more than that, I gave them fire, yes I. 260 - - _Chor._ Do short-lived men the flaming fire possess? - - _Prom._ Yea, and full many an art they'll learn from it. - - _Chor._ And is it then on charges such as these - That Zeus maltreats thee, and no respite gives - Of many woes? And has thy pain no end? - - _Prom._ End there is none, except as pleases Him. - - _Chor._ How shall it please? What hope hast thou? See'st not - That thou hast sinned? Yet to say how thou sinned'st - Gives me no pleasure, and is pain to thee. - Well! let us leave these things, and, if we may, - Seek out some means to 'scape from this thy woe. 270 - - _Prom._ 'Tis a light thing for one who has his foot - Beyond the reach of evil to exhort - And counsel him who suffers. This to me - Was all well known. Yea, willing, willingly - I sinned, nor will deny it. Helping men, - I for myself found trouble: yet I thought not - That I with such dread penalties as these - Should wither here on these high-towering crags, - Lighting on this lone hill and neighbourless. - Wherefore wail not for these my present woes, - But, drawing nigh, my coming fortunes hear, 280 - That ye may learn the whole tale to the end. - Nay, hearken, hearken; show your sympathy - With him who suffers now. 'Tis thus that woe, - Wandering, now falls on this one, now on that. - - _Chor._ Not to unwilling hearers hast thou uttered, - Prometheus, thy request, - And now with nimble foot abounding - My swiftly rushing car, - And the pure æther, path of birds of heaven, 290 - I will draw near this rough and rocky land, - For much do I desire - To hear this tale, full measure, of thy woes. - - _Enter_ OKEANOS, _on a car drawn by a winged gryphon_ - - _Okean._ Lo, I come to thee, Prometheus, - Reaching goal of distant journey,[152] - Guiding this my winged courser - By my will, without a bridle; - And thy sorrows move my pity. - Force, in part, I deem, of kindred - Leads me on, nor know I any, - Whom, apart from kin, I honour 300 - More than thee, in fuller measure. - This thou shall own true and earnest: - I deal not in glozing speeches. - Come then, tell me how to help thee; - Ne'er shalt thou say that one more friendly - Is found than unto thee is Okean. - - _Prom._ Let be. What boots it? Thou then too art come - To gaze upon my sufferings. How did'st dare - Leaving the stream that bears thy name, and caves - Hewn in the living rock, this land to visit, - Mother of iron? What then, art thou come - To gaze upon my fall and offer pity? 310 - Behold this sight: see here the friend of Zeus, - Who helped to seat him in his sovereignty, - With what foul outrage I am crushed by him! - - _Okean._ I see, Prometheus, and I wish to give thee - My best advice, all subtle though thou be. - Know thou thyself,[153] and fit thy soul to moods - To thee full new. New king the Gods have now; - But if thou utter words thus rough and sharp, - Perchance, though sitting far away on high, 320 - Zeus yet may hear thee, and his present wrath - Seem to thee but as child's play of distress. - Nay, thou poor sufferer, quit the rage thou hast, - And seek a remedy for these thine ills. - A tale thrice-told, perchance I seem to speak: - Lo! this, Prometheus, is the punishment - Of thine o'er lofty speech, nor art thou yet - Humbled, nor yieldest to thy miseries, - And fain would'st add fresh evils unto these. - But thou, if thou wilt take me as thy teacher, 330 - Wilt not kick out against the pricks;[154] seeing well - A monarch reigns who gives account to none. - And now I go, and will an effort make, - If I, perchance, may free thee from thy woes; - Be still then, hush thy petulance of speech, - Or knowest thou not, o'er-clever as thou art, - That idle tongues must still their forfeit pay? - - _Prom._ I envy thee, seeing thou art free from blame - Though thou shared'st all, and in my cause wast bold;[155] - Nay, let me be, nor trouble thou thyself; 340 - Thou wilt not, canst not soothe Him; very hard - Is He of soothing. Look to it thyself, - Lest thou some mischief meet with in the way. - - _Okean._ It is thy wont thy neighbours' minds to school - Far better than thine own. From deeds, not words, - I draw my proof. But do not draw me back - When I am hasting on, for lo, I deem, - I deem that Zeus will grant this boon to me, - That I should free thee from these woes of thine. - - _Prom._ I thank thee much, yea, ne'er will cease to thank; - For thou no whit of zeal dost lack; yet take, - I pray, no trouble for me; all in vain - Thy trouble, nothing helping, e'en if thou 350 - Should'st care to take the trouble. Nay, be still; - Keep out of harm's way; sufferer though I be, - I would not therefore wish to give my woes - A wider range o'er others. No, not so: - For lo! my mind is wearied with the grief - Of that my kinsman Atlas,[156] who doth stand - In the far West, supporting on his shoulders - The pillars of the earth and heaven, a burden - His arms can ill but hold: I pity too - The giant dweller of Kilikian caves, 360 - Dread portent, with his hundred hands, subdued - By force, the mighty Typhon,[157] who arose - 'Gainst all the Gods, with sharp and dreadful jaws - Hissing out slaughter, and from out his eyes - There flashed the terrible brightness as of one - Who would lay low the sovereignty of Zeus. - But the unsleeping dart of Zeus came on him, - Down-swooping thunderbolt that breathes out flame, - Which from his lofty boastings startled him, - For he i' the heart was struck, to ashes burnt, 370 - His strength all thunder-shattered; and he lies - A helpless, powerless carcase, near the strait - Of the great sea, fast pressed beneath the roots - Of ancient Ætna, where on highest peak - Hephæstos sits and smites his iron red-hot, - From whence hereafter streams of fire shall burst,[158] - Devouring with fierce jaws the golden plains - Of fruitful, fair Sikelia. Such the wrath - That Typhon shall belch forth with bursts of storm, - Hot, breathing fire, and unapproachable, - Though burnt and charred by thunderbolts of Zeus. 380 - Not inexperienced art thou, nor dost need - My teaching: save thyself, as thou know'st how; - And I will drink my fortune to the dregs, - Till from his wrath the mind of Zeus shall rest.[159] - - _Okean._ Know'st thou not this, Prometheus, even this, - Of wrath's disease wise words the healers are? - - _Prom._ Yea, could one soothe the troubled heart in time, - Nor seek by force to tame the soul's proud flesh. - - _Okean._ But in due forethought with bold daring blent, - What mischief see'st thou lurking? Tell me this. 390 - - _Prom._ Toil bootless, and simplicity full fond. - - _Okean._ Let me, I pray, that sickness suffer, since - 'Tis best being wise to have not wisdom's show. - - _Prom._ Nay, but this error shall be deemed as mine. - - _Okean._ Thy word then clearly sends me home at once. - - _Prom._ Yea, lest thy pity for me make a foe.... - - _Okean._ What! of that new king on his mighty throne? - - _Prom._ Look to it, lest his heart be vexed with thee. - - _Okean._ Thy fate, Prometheus, teaches me that lesson. - - _Prom._ Away, withdraw! keep thou the mind thou hast. 400 - - _Okean._ Thou urgest me who am in act to haste; - For this my bird four-footed flaps with wings - The clear path of the æther; and full fain - Would he bend knee in his own stall at home. [_Exit_. - - - STROPHE I - - _Chor._ I grieve, Prometheus, for thy dreary fate, - Shedding from tender eyes - The dew of plenteous tears; - With streams, as when the watery south wind blows, - My cheek is wet; 410 - For lo! these things are all unenviable, - And Zeus, by his own laws his sway maintaining, - Shows to the elder Gods - A mood of haughtiness. - - - ANTISTROPHE I - - And all the country echoeth with the moan, - And poureth many a tear - For that magnific power - Of ancient days far-seen that thou did'st share - With those of one blood sprung; - And all the mortal men who hold the plain 420 - Of holy Asia as their land of sojourn, - They grieve in sympathy - For thy woes lamentable. - - - STROPHE II - - And they, the maiden band who find their home - On distant Colchian coasts, - Fearless of fight,[160] - Or Skythian horde in earth's remotest clime, - By far Mæotic lake;[161] - - - ANTISTROPHE II - - *And warlike glory of Arabia's tribes,[162] - Who nigh to Caucasos 430 - In rock-fort dwell, - An army fearful, with sharp-pointed spear - Raging in war's array. - - - STROPHE III - - One other Titan only have I seen, - One other of the Gods, - Thus bound in woes of adamantine strength— - Atlas, who ever groans - Beneath the burden of a crushing might, - The out-spread vault of heaven. - - - ANTISTROPHE III - - And lo! the ocean billows murmur loud 440 - In one accord with him;[163] - The sea-depths groan, and Hades' swarthy pit - Re-echoeth the sound, - And fountains of clear rivers, as they flow, - Bewail his bitter griefs. - - _Prom._ Think not it is through pride or stiff self-will - That I am silent. But my heart is worn, - Self-contemplating, as I see myself - Thus outraged. Yet what other hand than mine - Gave these young Gods in fulness all their gifts? - But these I speak not of; for I should tell - To you that know them. But those woes of men,[164] 450 - List ye to them,—how they, before as babes, - By me were roused to reason, taught to think; - And this I say, not finding fault with men, - But showing my good-will in all I gave. - For first, though seeing, all in vain they saw, - And hearing, heard not rightly. But, like forms - Of phantom-dreams, throughout their life's whole length - They muddled all at random; did not know - Houses of brick that catch the sunlight's warmth, - Nor yet the work of carpentry. They dwelt - In hollowed holes, like swarms of tiny ants, 460 - In sunless depths of caverns; and they had - No certain signs of winter, nor of spring - Flower-laden, nor of summer with her fruits; - But without counsel fared their whole life long, - Until I showed the risings of the stars, - And settings hard to recognise.[165] And I - Found Number for them, chief device of all, - *Groupings of letters, Memory's handmaid that, - And mother of the Muses.[166] And I first - Bound in the yoke wild steeds, submissive made 470 - Or to the collar or men's limbs, that so - They might in man's place bear his greatest toils; - And horses trained to love the rein I yoked - To chariots, glory of wealth's pride of state;[167] - Nor was it any one but I that found - Sea-crossing, canvas-wingèd cars of ships: - Such rare designs inventing (wretched me!) - For mortal men, I yet have no device - By which to free myself from this my woe.[168] - - _Chor._ Foul shame thou sufferest: of thy sense bereaved, 480 - Thou errest greatly: and, like leech unskilled, - Thou losest heart when smitten with disease, - And know'st not how to find the remedies - Wherewith to heal thine own soul's sicknesses. - - _Prom._ Hearing what yet remains thou'lt wonder more, - What arts and what resources I devised: - And this the chief: if any one fell ill, - There was no help for him, nor healing food, - Nor unguent, nor yet potion; but for want - Of drugs they wasted, till I showed to them - The blendings of all mild medicaments,[169] 490 - Wherewith they ward the attacks of sickness sore. - I gave them many modes of prophecy;[170] - And I first taught them what dreams needs must prove - True visions, and made known the ominous sounds - Full hard to know; and tokens by the way, - And flights of taloned birds I clearly marked,— - Those on the right propitious to mankind, - And those sinister,—and what form of life - They each maintain, and what their enmities - Each with the other, and their loves and friendships; 500 - And of the inward parts the plumpness smooth. - And with what colour they the Gods would please, - And the streaked comeliness of gall and liver: - And with burnt limbs enwrapt in fat, and chine, - I led men on to art full difficult: - And I gave eyes to omens drawn from fire, - Till then dim-visioned. So far then for this. - And 'neath the earth the hidden boons for men, - Bronze, iron, silver, gold, who else could say 510 - That he, ere I did, found them? None, I know, - Unless he fain would babble idle words. - In one short word, then, learn the truth condensed,— - Allarts of mortals from Prometheus spring. - - _Chor._ Nay, be not thou to men so over-kind, - While thou thyself art in sore evil case; - For I am sanguine that thou too, released - From bonds, shall be as strong as Zeus himself. - - _Prom._ It is not thus that Fate's decree is fixed; - But I, long crushed with twice ten thousand woes 520 - And bitter pains, shall then escape my bonds; - Art is far weaker than Necessity. - - _Chor._ Who guides the helm, then, of Necessity? - - _Prom._ Fates triple-formed, Errinyes unforgetting. - - _Chor._ Is Zeus, then, weaker in his might than these? - - _Prom._ Not even He can 'scape the thing decreed. - - _Chor._ What is decreed for Zeus but still to reign? - - _Prom._ Thou may'st no further learn, ask thou no more. - - _Chor._ 'Tis doubtless some dread secret which thou hidest. - - _Prom._ Of other theme make mention, for the time 530 - Is not yet come to utter this, but still - It must be hidden to the uttermost; - For by thus keeping it it is that I - Escape my bondage foul, and these my pains. - - - STROPHE I - - _Chor._ Ah! ne'er may Zeus the Lord, - Whose sovran sway rules all, - His strength in conflict set - Against my feeble will! - Nor may I fail to serve - The Gods with holy feast - Of whole burnt-offerings, - Where the stream ever flows - That bears my father's name, - The great Okeanos! - Nor may I sin in speech! 540 - May this grace more and more - Sink deep into my soul - And never fade away! - - - ANTISTROPHE I - - Sweet is it in strong hope - To spend long years of life, - With bright and cheering joy - Our heart's thoughts nourishing. - I shudder, seeing thee - Thus vexed and harassed sore. - By twice ten thousand woes; - For thou in pride of heart, - Having no fear of Zeus, 550 - In thine own obstinacy, - Dost show for mortal men, - Prometheus, love o'ermuch. - - - STROPHE II - - See how that boon, dear friends, - For thee is bootless found. - Say, where is any help? - What aid from mortals comes? - Hast thou not seen this brief and powerless life, - Fleeting as dreams, with which man's purblind race - Is fast in fetters bound? 560 - Never shall counsels vain - Of mortal men break through - The harmony of Zeus. - - - ANTISTROPHE II - - This lesson have I learnt - Beholding thy sad fate, - Prometheus! Other strains - Come back upon my mind, - When I sang wedding hymns around thy bath, - And at thy bridal bed, when thou did'st take - In wedlock's holy bands - One of the same sire born, - Our own Hesione, 570 - Persuading her with gifts - As wife to share thy couch. - - _Enter_ IO _in form like a fair woman with a heifer's - horns_,[171] _followed by the Spectre of_ ARGOS - - _Io._ What land is this? What people? Whom shall I - Say that I see thus vexed - With bit and curb of rock? - For what offence dost thou - Bear fatal punishment? - Tell me to what far land - I've wandered here in woe. - Ah me! ah me! - Again the gadfly stings me miserable. - Spectre of Argos, thou, the earth-born one— - Ah, keep him off, O Earth! - I fear to look upon that herdsman dread, 580 - Him with ten thousand eyes: - Ah lo! he cometh with his crafty look, - Whom Earth refuses even dead to hold;[172] - But coming from beneath - He hunts me miserable, - And drives me famished o'er the sea-beach sand. - - - STROPHE - - And still his waxened reed-pipe soundeth clear - A soft and slumberous strain; - O heavens! O ye Gods! 590 - Whither do these long wanderings lead me on? - For what offence, O son of Cronos, what, - Hast thou thus bound me fast - In these great miseries? - Ah me! ah me! - And why with terror of the gadfly's sting - Dost thou thus vex me, frenzied in my soul? - Burn me with fire, or bury me in earth, - Or to wild sea-beasts give me as a prey: - Nay, grudge me not, O King, - An answer to my prayers: 600 - Enough my many-wandered wanderings - Have exercised my soul, - Nor have I power to learn - How to avert the woe. - - (_To Prometheus_.) Hear'st thou the voice of maiden crowned with horns? - - _Prom._ Surely I heard the maid by gadfly driven, - Daughter of Inachos, who warmed the heart - Of Zeus with love, and now through Hera's hate - Is tried, perforce, with wanderings over-long? - - - ANTISTROPHE - - _Io._ How is it that thou speak'st my father's name? - Tell me, the suffering one, 610 - Who art thou, who, poor wretch, - Who thus so truly nam'st me miserable, - And tell'st the plague from Heaven, - Which with its haunting stings - Wears me to death? Ah woe! - And I with famished and unseemly bounds - Rush madly, driven by Hera's jealous craft. - Ah, who of all that suffer, born to woe, 620 - Have trouble like the pain that I endure? - But thou, make clear to me, - What yet for me remains, - What remedy, what healing for my pangs. - Show me, if thou dost know: - Speak out and tell to me, - The maid by wanderings vexed. - - _Prom._ I will say plainly all thou seek'st to know; - Not in dark tangled riddles, but plain speech, - As it is meet that friends to friends should speak; - Thou see'st Prometheus who gave fire to men. 630 - - _Io._ O thou to men as benefactor known, - Why, poor Prometheus, sufferest thou this pain? - - _Prom._ I have but now mine own woes ceased to wail. - - _Io._ Wilt thou not then bestow this boon on me? - - _Prom._ Say what thou seek'st, for I will tell thee all. - - _Io._ Tell me, who fettered thee in this ravine? - - _Prom._ The counsel was of Zeus, the hand Hephæstos'. - - _Io._ Of what offence dost thou the forfeit pay? - - _Prom._ Thus much alone am I content to tell. - - _Io._ Tell me, at least, besides, what end shall come 640 - To my drear wanderings; when the time shall be. - - _Prom._ Not to know this is better than to know. - - _Io._ Nay, hide not from me what I have to bear. - - _Prom._ It is not that I grudge the boon to thee. - - _Io._ Why then delayest thou to tell the whole? - - _Prom._ Not from ill will, but loth to vex thy soul. - - _Io._ Nay, care thou not beyond what pleases me. - - _Prom._ If thou desire it I must speak. Hear then. - - _Chor._ Not yet though; grant me share of pleasure too. - Let us first ask the tale of her great woe, 650 - While she unfolds her life's consuming chances; - Her future sufferings let her learn from thee. - - _Prom._ 'Tis thy work, Io, to grant these their wish, - On other grounds and as thy father's kin:[173] - For to bewail and moan one's evil chance, - Here where one trusts to gain a pitying tear - From those who hear,—this is not labour lost. - - _Io._ I know not how to disobey your wish; - So ye shall learn the whole that ye desire - In speech full clear. And yet I blush to tell 660 - The storm that came from God, and brought the loss - Of maiden face, what way it seized on me. - For nightly visions coming evermore - Into my virgin bower, sought to woo me - With glozing words. “O virgin greatly blest, - Why art thou still a virgin when thou might'st - Attain to highest wedlock? For with dart - Of passion for thee Zeus doth glow, and fain - Would make thee his. And thou, O child, spurn not - The bed of Zeus, but go to Lerna's field, 670 - Where feed thy father's flocks and herds, - That so the eye of Zeus may find repose - From this his craving.” With such visions I - Was haunted every evening, till I dared - To tell my father all these dreams of night, - And he to Pytho and Dodona sent - Full many to consult the Gods, that he, - Might learn what deeds and words would please Heaven's lords. - And they came bringing speech of oracles - Shot with dark sayings, dim and hard to know. 680 - At last a clear word came to Inachos - Charging him plainly, and commanding him - To thrust me from my country and my home, - To stray at large[174] to utmost bounds of earth; - And, should he gainsay, that the fiery bolt - Of Zeus should come and sweep away his race. - And he, by Loxias' oracles induced, - Thrust me, against his will, against mine too, - And drove me from my home; but spite of all, - The curb of Zeus constrained him this to do. 690 - And then forthwith my face and mind were changed; - And hornèd, as ye see me, stung to the quick - By biting gadfly, I with maddened leap - Rushed to Kerchneia's fair and limpid stream, - And fount of Lerna.[175] And a giant herdsman, - Argos, full rough of temper, followed me, - With many an eye beholding, on my track: - And him a sudden and unlooked-for doom - Deprived of life. And I, by gadfly stung, - By scourge from Heaven am driven from land to land. 700 - What has been done thou hearest. And if thou - Can'st tell what yet remains of woe, declare it; - Nor in thy pity soothe me with false words; - For hollow words, I deem, are worst of ills. - - _Chor._ Away, away, let be: - Ne'er thought I that such tales - Would ever, ever come unto mine ears; - Nor that such terrors, woes and outrages, - Hard to look on, hard to bear, 710 - Would chill my soul with sharp goad, double-edged. - Ah fate! Ah fate! - I shudder, seeing Io's fortune strange. - - _Prom._ Thou art too quick in groaning, full of fear: - Wait thou a while until thou hear the rest. - - _Chor._ Speak thou and tell. Unto the sick 'tis sweet - Clearly to know what yet remains of pain. - - _Prom._ Your former wish ye gained full easily. - Your first desire was to learn of her 720 - The tale she tells of her own sufferings; - Now therefore hear the woes that yet remain - For this poor maid to bear at Hera's hands. - And thou, O child of Inachos! take heed - To these my words, that thou may'st hear the goal - Of all thy wanderings. First then, turning hence - Towards the sunrise, tread the untilled plains, - And thou shalt reach the Skythian nomads, those[176] - Who on smooth-rolling waggons dwell aloft - In wicker houses, with far-darting bows 730 - Duly equipped. Approach thou not to these, - But trending round the coasts on which the surf - Beats with loud murmurs,[177] traverse thou that clime. - On the left hand there dwell the Chalybes,[178] - Who work in iron. Of these do thou beware, - For fierce are they and most inhospitable; - And thou wilt reach the river fierce and strong, - True to its name.[179] This seek not thou to cross, - For it is hard to ford, until thou come - To Caucasos itself, of all high hills - The highest, where a river pours its strength - From the high peaks themselves. And thou must cross 740 - Those summits near the stars, must onward go - Towards the south, where thou shalt find the host - Of the Amâzons, hating men, whose home - Shall one day be around Thermôdon's bank, - By Themiskyra,[180] where the ravenous jaws - Of Salmydessos ope upon the sea, - Treacherous to sailors, stepdame stern to ships.[181] - And they with right good-will shall be thy guides; - And thou, hard by a broad pool's narrow gates, - Wilt pass to the Kimmerian isthmus. Leaving - This boldly, thou must cross Mæotic channel;[182] 750 - And there shall be great fame 'mong mortal men - Of this thy journey, and the Bosporos[183] - Shall take its name from thee. And Europe's plain - Then quitting, thou shalt gain the Asian coast. - Doth not the all-ruling monarch of the Gods - Seem all ways cruel? For, although a God, - He, seeking to embrace this mortal maid, - Imposed these wanderings on her. Thou hast found, - O maiden! bitter suitor for thy hand; - For great as are the ills thou now hast heard, - Know that as yet not e'en the prelude's known. 760 - - _Io._ Ah woe! woe! woe! - - _Prom._ Again thou groan'st and criest. What wilt do - When thou shall learn the evils yet to come? - - _Chor._ What! are there troubles still to come for her? - - _Prom._ Yea, stormy sea of woe most lamentable. - - _Io._ What gain is it to live? Why cast I not - Myself at once from this high precipice, - And, dashed to earth, be free from all my woes? - Far better were it once for all to die - Than all one's days to suffer pain and grief. 770 - - _Prom._ My struggles then full hardly thou would'st bear, - For whom there is no destiny of death; - For that might bring a respite from my woes: - But now there is no limit to my pangs - Till Zeus be hurled out from his sovereignty. - - _Io._ What! shall Zeus e'er be hurled from his high state? - - _Prom._ Thou would'st rejoice, I trow, to see that fall. - - _Io._ How should I not, when Zeus so foully wrongs me? - - _Prom._ That this is so thou now may'st hear from me. - - _Io._ Who then shall rob him of his sceptred sway? 780 - - _Prom._ Himself shall do it by his own rash plans. - - _Io._ But how? Tell this, unless it bringeth harm. - - _Prom._ He shall wed one for whom one day he'll grieve. - - _Io._ Heaven-born or mortal? Tell, if tell thou may'st. - - _Prom._ Why ask'st thou who? I may not tell thee that. - - _Io._ Shall his bride hurl him from his throne of might? - - _Prom._ Yea; she shall bear child mightier than his sire. - - _Io._ Has he no way to turn aside that doom? - - _Prom._ No, none; unless I from my bonds be loosed.[184] - - _Io._ Who then shall loose thee 'gainst the will of Zeus? 790 - - _Prom._ It must be one of thy posterity. - - _Io._ What, shall a child of mine free thee from ills? - - _Prom._ Yea, the third generation after ten.[185] - - _Io._ No more thine oracles are clear to me. - - *_Prom._ Nay, seek not thou thine own drear fate to know. - - _Io._ Do not, a boon presenting, then withdraw it. - - _Prom._ Of two alternatives, I'll give thee choice. - - _Io._ Tell me of what, then give me leave to choose. - - _Prom._ I give it then. Choose, or that I should tell - Thy woes to come, or who shall set me free. 800 - - _Chor._ Of these be willing one request to grant - To her, and one to me; nor scorn my words: - Tell her what yet of wanderings she must bear, - And me who shall release thee. This I crave. - - _Prom._ Since ye are eager, I will not refuse - To utter fully all that ye desire. - Thee, Io, first I'll tell thy wanderings wild, - Thou, write it in the tablets of thy mind. - When thou shalt cross the straits, of continents - The boundary,[186] take thou the onward path - On to the fiery-hued and sun-tracked East. 810 - [And first of all, to frozen Northern blasts - Thou'lt come, and there beware the rushing whirl, - Lest it should come upon thee suddenly, - And sweep thee onward with the cloud-rack wild;][187] - Crossing the sea-surf till thou come at last - Unto Kisthene's Gorgoneian plains, - Where dwell the grey-haired virgin Phorkides,[188] - Three, swan-shaped, with one eye between them all - And but one tooth; whom nor the sun beholds - With radiant beams, nor yet the moon by night: - And near them are their wingèd sisters three, - The Gorgons, serpent-tressed, and hating men, - Whom mortal wight may not behold and live. 820 - *Such is one ill I bid thee guard against; - Now hear another monstrous sight: Beware - The sharp-beaked hounds of Zeus that never bark,[189] - The Gryphons, and the one-eyed, mounted host - Of Arimaspians, who around the stream - That flows o'er gold, the ford of Pluto, dwell:[190] - Draw not thou nigh to them. But distant land - Thou shalt approach, the swarthy tribes who dwell - By the sun's fountain,[191] Æthiopia's stream: - By its banks wend thy way until thou come - To that great fall where from the Bybline hills 830 - The Neilos pours its pure and holy flood; - And it shall guide thee to Neilotic land, - Three-angled, where, O Io, 'tis decreed - For thee and for thy progeny to found - A far-off colony. And if of this - Aught seem to thee as stammering speech obscure, - Ask yet again and learn it thoroughly: - Far more of leisure have I than I like. - - _Chor._ If thou hast aught to add, aught left untold - Of her sore-wasting wanderings, speak it out; 840 - But if thou hast said all, then grant to us - The boon we asked. Thou dost not, sure, forget it. - - _Prom._ The whole course of her journeying she hath heard, - And that she know she hath not heard in vain - I will tell out what troubles she hath borne - Before she came here, giving her sure proof - Of these my words. The greater bulk of things - I will pass o'er, and to the very goal - Of all thy wanderings go. For when thou cam'st - To the Molossian plains, and by the grove[192] - Of lofty-ridged Dodona, and the shrine - Oracular of Zeus Thesprotian, 850 - And the strange portent of the talking oaks, - By which full clearly, not in riddle dark, - Thou wast addressed as noble spouse of Zeus,— - If aught of pleasure such things give to thee,— - Thence strung to frenzy, thou did'st rush along - The sea-coast's path to Rhea's mighty gulf,[193] - In backward way from whence thou now art vexed, - And for all time to come that reach of sea, - Know well, from thee Ionian shall be called, - To all men record of thy journeyings. 860 - These then are tokens to thee that my mind - Sees somewhat more than that is manifest. - - What follows (_to the Chorus_) I will speak to you and her - In common, on the track of former words - Returning once again. A city stands, - Canôbos, at its country's furthest bound, - Hard by the mouth and silt-bank of the Nile; - There Zeus shall give thee back thy mind again,[194] - With hand that works no terror touching thee,— - Touch only—and thou then shalt bear a child - Of Zeus begotten, Epaphos, “Touch-born,” 870 - Swarthy of hue, whose lot shall be to reap - The whole plain watered by the broad-streamed Neilos: - And in the generation fifth from him - A household numbering fifty shall return - Against their will to Argos, in their flight - From wedlock with their cousins.[195] And they too, - (Kites but a little space behind the doves) - With eager hopes pursuing marriage rites - Beyond pursuit shall come; and God shall grudge - To give up their sweet bodies. And the land - Pelasgian[196] shall receive them, when by stroke - Of woman's murderous hand these men shall lie - Smitten to death by daring deed of night: 880 - For every bride shall take her husband's life, - And dip in blood the sharp two-edgèd sword - (So to my foes may Kypris show herself!)[197] - Yet one of that fair band shall love persuade - Her husband not to slaughter, and her will - Shall lose its edge; and she shall make her choice - Rather as weak than murderous to be known. - And she at Argos shall a royal seed - Bring forth (long speech 'twould take to tell this clear) 890 - Famed for his arrows, who shall set me free[198] - From these my woes. Such was the oracle - Mine ancient mother Themis, Titan-born, - Gave to me; but the manner and the means,— - That needs a lengthy tale to tell the whole, - And thou can'st nothing gain by learning it. - - _Io._ Eleleu! Oh, Eleleu![199] - The throbbing pain inflames me, and the mood - Of frenzy-smitten rage; - The gadfly's pointed sting, - Not forged with fire, attacks, - And my heart beats against my breast with fear. 900 - Mine eyes whirl round and round: - Out of my course I'm borne - By the wild spirit of fierce agony, - And cannot curb my lips, - And turbid speech at random dashes on - Upon the waves of dread calamity. - - - STROPHE I - - _Chor._ Wise, very wise was he - Who first in thought conceived this maxim sage, - And spread it with his speech,[200]— - That the best wedlock is with equals found, - And that a craftsman, born to work with hands, - Should not desire to wed - Or with the soft luxurious heirs of wealth, 910 - Or with the race that boast their lineage high. - - - ANTISTROPHE I - - Oh ne'er, oh ne'er, dread Fates, - May ye behold me as the bride of Zeus, - The partner of his couch, - Nor may I wed with any heaven-born spouse! - For I shrink back, beholding Io's lot - Of loveless maidenhood, - Consumed and smitten low exceedingly - By the wild wanderings from great Hera sent! - - - STROPHE II - - To me, when wedlock is on equal terms, 920 - It gives no cause to fear: - Ne'er may the love of any of the Gods, - The strong Gods, look on me - With glance I cannot 'scape! - - - ANTISTROPHE II - - That fate is war that none can war against, - Source of resourceless ill; - Nor know I what might then become of me: - I see not how to 'scape - The counsel deep of Zeus. - - _Prom._ Yea, of a truth shall Zeus, though stiff of will, - Be brought full low. Such bed of wedlock now - Is he preparing, one to cast him forth 930 - In darkness from his sovereignty and throne. - And then the curse his father Cronos spake - Shall have its dread completion, even that - He uttered when he left his ancient throne; - And from these troubles no one of the Gods - But me can clearly show the way to 'scape. - I know the time and manner: therefore now - Let him sit fearless, in his peals on high - Putting his trust, and shaking in his hands - His darts fire-breathing. Nought shall they avail - To hinder him from falling shamefully 940 - A fall intolerable. Such a combatant - He arms against himself, a marvel dread, - Who shall a fire discover mightier far - Than the red levin, and a sound more dread - Than roaring of the thunder, and shall shiver - That plague sea-born that causeth earth to quake, - The trident, weapon of Poseidon's strength: - And stumbling on this evil, he shall learn - How far apart a king's lot from a slave's. - - _Chor._ What thou dost wish thou mutterest against Zeus. - - _Prom._ Things that shall be, and things I wish, I speak. 950 - - _Chor._ And must we look for one to master Zeus? - - _Prom._ Yea, troubles harder far than these are his. - - _Chor._ Art not afraid to vent such words as these? - - _Prom._ What can I fear whose fate is not to die? - - _Chor._ But He may send on thee worse pain than this. - - _Prom._ So let Him do: nought finds me unprepared. - - _Chor._ Wisdom is theirs who Adrasteia worship.[201] - - _Prom._ Worship then, praise and flatter him that rules; - My care for Zeus is nought, and less than nought: - Let Him act, let Him rule this little while, 960 - E'en as He will; for long He shall not rule - Over the Gods. But lo! I see at hand - The courier of the Gods, the minister - Of our new sovereign. Doubtless he has come - To bring me tidings of some new device. - - _Enter_ HERMES - - _Herm._ Thee do I speak to,—thee, the teacher wise, - The bitterly o'er-bitter, who 'gainst Gods - Hast sinned in giving gifts to short-lived men— - I speak to thee, the filcher of bright fire. - The Father bids thee say what marriage thou - Dost vaunt, and who shall hurl Him from his might; - And this too not in dark mysterious speech, 970 - But tell each point out clearly. Give me not, - Prometheus, task of double journey. Zeus - Thou see'st, is not with such words appeased. - - _Prom._ Stately of utterance, full of haughtiness - Thy speech, as fits a messenger of Gods. - Ye yet are young in your new rule, and think - To dwell in painless towers. Have I not - Seen two great rulers driven forth from thence?[202] - And now the third, who reigneth, I shall see - In basest, quickest fall. Seem I to thee 980 - To shrink and quail before these new-made Gods? - Far, very far from that am I. But thou, - Track once again the path by which thou camest; - Thou shalt learn nought of what thou askest me. - - _Herm._ It was by such self-will as this before - That thou did'st bring these sufferings on thyself. - - _Prom._ I for my part, be sure, would never change - My evil state for that thy bondslave's lot. - - _Herm._ To be the bondslave of this rock, I trow, - Is better than to be Zeus' trusty herald! 990 - - _Prom._ So it is meet the insulter to insult. - - _Herm._ Thou waxest proud, 'twould seem, of this thy doom. - - _Prom._ Wax proud! God grant that I may see my foes - Thus waxing proud, and thee among the rest! - - _Herm._ Dost blame me then for thy calamities? - - _Prom._ In one short sentence—all the Gods I hate, - Who my good turns with evil turns repay. - - _Herm._ Thy words prove thee with no slight madness plagued. - - _Prom._ If to hate foes be madness, mad I am. - - _Herm._ Not one could bear thee wert thou prosperous. 1000 - - _Prom._ Ah me! - - _Herm._ That word is all unknown to Zeus. - - _Prom._ Time waxing old can many a lesson teach. - - _Herm._ Yet thou at least hast not true wisdom learnt. - - _Prom._ I had not else addressed a slave like thee. - - _Herm._ Thou wilt say nought the Father asks, 'twould seem. - - _Prom._ Fine debt I owe him, favour to repay. - - _Herm._ Me as a boy thou scornest then, forsooth. - - _Prom._ And art thou not a boy, and sillier far, - If that thou thinkest to learn aught from me? - There is no torture nor device by which 1010 - Zeus can impel me to disclose these things - Before these bonds that outrage me be loosed. - Let then the blazing levin-flash be hurled; - With white-winged snow-storm and with earth-born thunders - Let Him disturb and trouble all that is; - Nought of these things shall force me to declare - Whose hand shall drive him from his sovereignty. - - _Herm._ See if thou findest any help in this. - - _Prom._ Long since all this I've seen, and formed my plans. 1020 - - _Herm._ O fool, take heart, take heart at last in time, - To form right thoughts for these thy present woes. - - _Prom._ Like one who soothes a wave, thy speech in vain - Vexes my soul. But deem not thou that I, - Fearing the will of Zeus, shall e'er become - As womanised in mind, or shall entreat - Him whom I greatly loathe, with upturned hand, - In woman's fashion, from these bonds of mine - To set me free. Far, far am I from that. - - _Herm._ It seems that I, saying much, shall speak in vain; - For thou in nought by prayers art pacified, - Or softened in thy heart, but like a colt 1030 - Fresh harnessed, thou dost champ thy bit, and strive, - And fight against the reins. Yet thou art stiff - In weak device; for self-will, by itself, - In one who is not wise, is less than nought. - Look to it, if thou disobey my words, - How great a storm and triple wave of ills,[203] - Not to be 'scaped, shall come on thee; for first, - With thunder and the levin's blazing flash - The Father this ravine of rock shall crush, - And shall thy carcase hide, and stern embrace - Of stony arms shall keep thee in thy place. 1040 - And having traversed space of time full long, - Thou shalt come back to light, and then his hound, - The wingèd hound of Zeus, the ravening eagle, - Shall greedily make banquet of thy flesh, - Coming all day an uninvited guest, - And glut himself upon thy liver dark. - And of that anguish look not for the end, - Before some God shall come to bear thy woes, - And will to pass to Hades' sunless realm, - And the dark cloudy depths of Tartaros.[204] 1050 - Wherefore take heed. No feigned boast is this, - But spoken all too truly; for the lips - Of Zeus know not to speak a lying speech, - But will perform each single word. And thou, - Search well, be wise, nor think that self-willed pride - Shall ever better prove than counsel good. - - _Chor._ To us doth Hermes seem to utter words - Not out of season; for he bids thee quit - Thy self-willed pride and seek for counsel good. - Hearken thou to him. To the wise of soul - It is foul shame to sin persistently. 1060 - - _Prom._ To me who knew it all - He hath this message borne; - And that a foe from foes - Should suffer is not strange. - Therefore on me be hurled - The sharp-edged wreath of fire; - And let heaven's vault be stirred - With thunder and the blasts - Of fiercest winds; and Earth - From its foundations strong, - E'en to its deepest roots, - Let storm-wind make to rock; - And let the Ocean wave, - With wild and foaming surge, - Be heaped up to the paths 1070 - Where move the stars of heaven; - And to dark Tartaros - Let Him my carcase hurl, - With mighty blasts of force: - Yet me He shall not slay. - - _Herm._ Such words and thoughts from one - Brain-stricken one may hear. - What space divides his state - From frenzy? What repose - Hath he from maddened rage? - But ye who pitying stand - And share his bitter griefs, 1080 - Quickly from hence depart, - Lest the relentless roar - Of thunder stun your soul. - - _Chor._ With other words attempt - To counsel and persuade, - And I will hear: for now - Thou hast this word thrust in - That we may never bear. - How dost thou bid me train - My soul to baseness vile? - With him I will endure - Whatever is decreed. - Traitors I've learnt to hate, - Nor is there any plague 1090 - That more than this I loathe. - - _Herm._ Nay then, remember ye - What now I say, nor blame - Your fortune: never say - That Zeus hath cast you down - To evil not foreseen. - Not so; ye cast yourselves: - For now with open eyes, - Not taken unawares, - In Atè's endless net - Ye shall entangled be - By folly of your own. - - [_A pause, and then flashes of lightning and - peals of thunder_[205] - - _Prom._ Yea, now in very deed, - No more in word alone, - The earth shakes to and fro, - And the loud thunder's voice - Bellows hard by, and blaze - The flashing levin-fires; - And tempests whirl the dust, - And gusts of all wild winds - On one another leap, - In wild conflicting blasts, - And sky with sea is blent: - Such is the storm from Zeus 1110 - That comes as working fear, - In terrors manifest. - O Mother venerable! - O Æther! rolling round - The common light of all, - See'st thou what wrongs I bear? - ------ - -Footnote 136: - - The scene seems at first an exception to the early conventional rule, - which forbade the introduction of a third actor on the Greek stage. - But it has been noticed that (1) Force does not speak, and (2) - Prometheus does not speak till Strength and Force have retired, and - that it is therefore probable that the whole work of nailing is done - on a lay figure or effigy of some kind, and that one of the two who - had before taken part in the dialogue then speaks behind it in the - character of Prometheus. So the same actor must have appeared in - succession as Okeanos, Io, and Hermes. - -Footnote 137: - - Prometheus (_Forethought_) is the son of Themis (_Right_) the second - occupant of the Pythian Oracle (_Eumen_. v. 2). His sympathy with man - leads him to impart the gift which raised them out of savage animal - life, and for this Zeus, who appears throughout the play as a hard - taskmaster, sentences him to fetters. Hephæstos, from whom this fire - had been stolen, has a touch of pity for him. Strength, who comes as - the servant, not of Hephæstos, but of Zeus himself, acts, as such, - with merciless cruelty. - -Footnote 138: - - The generalised statement refers to Zeus, as having but recently - expelled Cronos from his throne in Heaven. - -Footnote 139: - - Hephæstos, as the great fire-worker, had taught Prometheus to use the - fire which he afterwards bestowed on men. - -Footnote 140: - - Perhaps, “All might is ours except o'er Gods to rule.” - -Footnote 141: - - The words indicate that the effigy of Prometheus, now nailed to the - rock, was, as being that of a Titan, of colossal size. - -Footnote 142: - - The touch is characteristic as showing that here, as in the - _Eumenides_, Æschylos relied on the horribleness of the masks, as part - of the machinery of his plays. - -Footnote 143: - - The silence of Prometheus up to this point was partly, as has been - said, consequent on the conventional laws of the Greek drama, but it - is also a touch of supreme insight into the heroic temper. In the - presence of his torturers, the Titan will not utter even a groan. When - they are gone, he appeals to the sympathy of Nature. - -Footnote 144: - - The legend is from Hesiod (_Theogon._, v. 567). The fennel, or - _narthex_, seems to have been a large umbelliferous plant, with a - large stem filled with a sort of pith, which was used when dry as - tinder. Stalks were carried as wands (the _thyrsi_) by the men and - women who joined in Bacchanalian processions. In modern botany, the - name is given to the plant which produces Asafœtida, and the stem of - which, from its resinous character, would burn freely, and so connect - itself with the Promethean myth. On the other hand, the Narthex - Asafœtida is found at present only in Persia, Afghanistan, and the - Punjaub. - -Footnote 145: - - The ocean nymphs, like other divine ones, would be anointed with - ambrosial unguents, and the odour would be wafted before them by the - rustling of their wings. This too we may think of as part of the - “stage effects” of the play. - -Footnote 146: - - The words are not those of a vague terror only. The sufferer knows - that his tormentor is to come to him before long on wings, and - therefore the sound as of the flight of birds is full of terrors. - -Footnote 147: - - By the same stage mechanism the Chorus remains in the air till verse - 280, when, at the request of Prometheus, they alight. - -Footnote 148: - - Here, as throughout the play, the poet puts into the mouth of his - _dramatis personæ_ words which must have seemed to the devouter - Athenians sacrilegious enough to call for an indictment before the - Areiopagos. But the final play of the Trilogy came, we may believe, as - the _Eumenides_ did in its turn, as a reconciliation of the - conflicting thoughts that rise in men's minds out of the seeming - anomalies of the world. - -Footnote 149: - - The words leave it uncertain whether Themis is identified with Earth, - or, as in the _Eumenides_ (v. 2) distinguished from her. The Titans as - a class, then, children of Okeanos and Chthôn (another name for _Land_ - or _Earth_), are the kindred rather than the brothers of Prometheus. - -Footnote 150: - - The generalising words here, as in v. 35, appeal to the Athenian - hatred of all that was represented by the words _tyrant_ and - _tyranny_. - -Footnote 151: - - The state described is that of men who “through fear of death are all - their lifetime subject to bondage.” That state, the parent of all - superstition, fostered the slavish awe in which Zeus delighted. - Prometheus, representing the active intellect of man, bestows new - powers, new interests, new hopes, which at last divert them from that - fear. - -Footnote 152: - - The home of Okeanos was in the far west, at the boundary of the great - stream surrounding the whole world, from which he took his name. - -Footnote 153: - - One of the sayings of the Seven Sages, already recognised and quoted - as a familiar proverb. - -Footnote 154: - - See note on _Agam._ 1602. - -Footnote 155: - - In the mythos, Okeanos had given his daughter Hesione in marriage to - Prometheus after the theft of fire, and thus had identified himself - with his transgression. - -Footnote 156: - - In the _Theogony_ of Hesiod (v. 509), Prometheus and Atlas appear as - the sons of two sisters. As other Titans were thought of as buried - under volcanoes, so this one was identified with the mountain which - had been seen by travellers to Western Africa, or in the seas beyond - it, rising like a column to support the vault of heaven. In Herodotos - (iv. 174) and all later writers, the name is given to the chain of - mountains in Lybia, as being the “pillar of the firmament;” but - Humboldt and others identify it with the lonely peak of Teneriffe, as - seen by Phœnikian or Hellenic voyagers. Teneriffe, too, like most of - the other Titan mountains, was at one time volcanic. Homer (_Odyss._ - i. 53) represents him as holding the pillars which separate heaven - from earth; Hesiod (_Theogon._ v. 517) as himself standing near the - Hesperides (this too points to Teneriffe), sustaining the heavens with - his head and shoulders. - -Footnote 157: - - The volcanic character of the whole of Asia Minor, and the liability - to earthquakes which has marked nearly every period of its history, - led men to connect it also with the traditions of the Titans, some - accordingly placing the home of Typhon in Phrygia, some near Sardis, - some, as here, in Kilikia. Hesiod (_Theogon._ v. 820) describes Typhon - (or Typhoeus) as a serpent-monster hissing out fire; Pindar (_Pyth._ - i. 30, viii. 21) as lying with his head and breast crushed beneath the - weight of Ætna, and his feet extending to Cumæ. - -Footnote 158: - - The words point probably to an eruption, then fresh in men's memories, - which had happened B.C. 476. - -Footnote 159: - - By some editors this speech from “No, not so,” to “thou know'st how,” - is assigned to Okeanos. - -Footnote 160: - - These are, of course, the Amazons, who were believed to have come - through Thrakè from the Tauric Chersonesos, and had left traces of - their name and habits in the Attic traditions of Theseus. - -Footnote 161: - - Beyond the plains of Skythia, and the lake Mæotis (the sea of Azov) - there would be the great river Okeanos, which was believed to flow - round the earth. - -Footnote 162: - - Sarmatia has been conjectured instead of Arabia. No Greek author - sanctions the extension of the latter name to so remote a region as - that north of the Caspian. - -Footnote 163: - - The Greek leaves the object of the sympathy undefined, but it seems - better to refer it to that which Atlas receives from the waste of - waters around, and the dark world beneath, than to the pity shown to - Prometheus. This has already been dwelt on in line 421. - -Footnote 164: - - The passage that follows has for modern palæontologists the interest - of coinciding with their views as to the progress of human society, - and the condition of mankind during what has been called the “Stone” - period. Comp. Lucretius, v. 955-984. - -Footnote 165: - - Comp. Mr. Blakesley's note on Herod. ii. 4, as showing that here there - was the greater risk of faulty observation. - -Footnote 166: - - Another reading gives perhaps a better sense— - - “Memory, handmaid true - And mother of the Muses.” - -Footnote 167: - - In Greece, as throughout the East, the ox was used for all - agricultural labours, the horse by the noble and the rich, either in - war chariots, or stately processions, or in chariot races in the great - games. - -Footnote 168: - - Compare with this the account of the inventions of Palamedes in - Sophocles, _Fragm._ 379. - -Footnote 169: - - Here we can recognise the knowledge of one who had studied in the - schools of Pythagoras, or had at any rate picked up their terminology. - A more immediate connexion may perhaps be traced with the influence of - Epimenides, who was said to have spent many years in searching out the - healing virtues of plants, and to have written books about them. - -Footnote 170: - - The lines that follow form almost a manual of the art of divination as - then practised. The “ominous sounds” include chance words, strange - cries, any unexpected utterance that connected itself with men's fears - for the future. The flights of birds were watched by the diviner as he - faced the north, and so the region on the right hand was that of the - sunrise, light, blessedness; on the left there were darkness and gloom - and death. - -Footnote 171: - - So Io was represented, we are told, by Greek sculptors (Herod. ii. - 41), as Isis was by those of Egypt. The points of contact between the - myth of Io and that of Prometheus, as adopted, or perhaps developed, - by Æschylos are—(1) that from her the destined deliverer of the - chained Titan is to come; (2) that both were suffering from the - cruelty of Zeus; (3) that the wanderings of Io gave scope for the wild - tales of far countries on which the imagination of the Athenians fed - greedily. But, as the _Suppliants_ may serve to show, the story itself - had a strange fascination for him. In the birth of Epaphos, and Io's - release from her frenzy, he saw, it may be, a reconciliation of what - had seemed hard to reconcile, a solution of the problems of the world, - like in kind to that which was shadowed forth in the lost _Prometheus - Unbound_. - -Footnote 172: - - Argos had been slain by Hermes, and his eyes transferred by Hera to - the tail of the peacock, and that bird was henceforth sacred to her. - -Footnote 173: - - Inachos the father of Io (identified with the Argive river of the same - name), was, like all rivers, a son of Okeanos, and therefore brother - to the nymphs who had come to see Prometheus. - -Footnote 174: - - The words used have an almost technical meaning as applied to animals - that were consecrated to the service of a God, and set free to wander - where they liked. The fate of Io, as at once devoted to Zeus and - animalised in form, was thus shadowed forth in the very language of - the Oracle. - -Footnote 175: - - Lerna was the lake near the mouth of the Inachos, close to the sea. - Kerchneia may perhaps be identified with the Kenchreæ, the haven of - Korinth in later geographies. - -Footnote 176: - - The wicker huts used by Skythian or Thrakian nomads (the Calmucks of - modern geographers) are described by Herodotos (iv. 46) and are still - in use. - -Footnote 177: - - _Sc._, the N.E. boundary of the Euxine, where spurs of the Caucasos - ridge approach the sea. - -Footnote 178: - - The Chalybes are placed by geographers to the south of Colchis. The - description of the text indicates a locality farther to the north. - -Footnote 179: - - Probably the Araxes, which the Greeks would connect with a word - conveying the idea of a torrent dashing on the rocks. The description - seems to imply a river flowing into the Euxine from the Caucasos, and - the condition is fulfilled by the Hypanis or _Kouban_. - -Footnote 180: - - When the Amazons appear in contact with Greek history, they are found - in Thrace. But they had come from the coast of Pontos, and near the - mouth of the Thermodon (_Thermeh_). The words of Prometheus point to - yet earlier migrations from the East. - -Footnote 181: - - Here, as in Soph. _Antig._ (970) the name Salmydessos represents the - rockbound, havenless coast from the promontory of Thynias to the - entrance of the Bosporos, which had given to the Black Sea its earlier - name of Axenos, the “inhospitable.” - -Footnote 182: - - The track is here in some confusion. From the Amazons south of the - Caucasos, Io is to find her way to the Tauric Chersonese (the Crimea) - and the Kimmerian Bosporos, which flows into the Sea of Azov, and so - to return to Asia. - -Footnote 183: - - Here, as in a hundred other instances, a false etymology has become - the parent of a myth. The name Bosporos is probably Asiatic not Greek, - and has an entirely different signification. - -Footnote 184: - - The lines refer to the story that Zeus loved Thetis the daughter of - Nereus, and followed her to Caucasos, but abstained from marriage with - her because Prometheus warned him that the child born of that union - should overthrow his father. Here the future is used of what was still - contingent only. In the lost play of the Trilogy the myth was possibly - brought to its conclusion and connected with the release of - Prometheus. - -Footnote 185: - - Heracles, whose genealogy was traced through Alcmena, Perseus, Danae, - Danaos and seven other names, to Epaphos and Io. - -Footnote 186: - - Probably the Kimmerian Bosporos. The Tanais or Phasis has, however, - been conjectured. - -Footnote 187: - - The history of the passage in brackets is curious enough to call for a - note. They are not in any extant MS., but they are found in a passage - quoted by Galen (v. p. 454), as from the _Prometheus Bound_, and are - inserted here by Mr. Paley. - -Footnote 188: - - Kisthene belongs to the geography of legend, lying somewhere on the - shore of the great ocean-river in Lybia or Æthiopia, at the end of the - world, a great mountain in the far West, beyond the Hesperides, the - dwelling-place, as here, of the Gorgons, the daughters of Phorkys. - Those first-named are the Graiæ. - -Footnote 189: - - Here, like the “wingèd hound” of v. 1043, for the eagles that are the - messengers of Zeus. - -Footnote 190: - - We are carried back again from the fabled West to the fabled East. The - Arimaspians, with one eye, and the Grypes or Gryphons (the griffins of - mediæval heraldry), quadrupeds with the wings and beaks of eagles, - were placed by most writers (Herod. iv. 13, 27) in the north of - Europe, in or beyond the _terra incognita_ of Skythia. The mention of - the “ford of Pluto” and Æthiopia, however, may possibly imply (if we - identify it, as Mr. Paley does, with the Tartessos of Spain, or - Bœtis—_Guadalquivir_) that Æschylos followed another legend which - placed them in the West. There is possibly a _paronomasia_ between - Pluto, the God of Hades, and Plutos, the ideal God of riches. - -Footnote 191: - - The name was applied by later writers (Quintus Curtius, iv. 7, 22; - Lucretius, vi. 848) to the fountain in the temple of Jupiter Ammon in - the great Oasis. The “river Æthiops” may be purely imaginary, but it - may also suggest the possibility of some vague knowledge of the Niger, - or more probably of the Nile itself in the upper regions of its - course. The “Bybline hills” carry the name Byblos, which we only read - of as belonging to a town in the Delta, to the Second Cataract. - -Footnote 192: - - Comp. Sophocles, _Trachin._, v. 1168. - -Footnote 193: - - The Adriatic or Ionian Gulf. - -Footnote 194: - - In the _Suppliants_, Zeus is said to have soothed her, and restored - her to her human consciousness by his “divine breathings.” The thought - underlying the legend may be taken either as a distortion of some - primitive tradition, or as one of the “unconscious prophecies” of - heathenism. The deliverer is not to be born after the common manner of - men, and is to have a divine as well as a human parentage. - -Footnote 195: - - See the argument of the _Suppliants_, who, as the daughters of Danaos, - descended from Epaphos, are here referred to. The passage is - noticeable as showing that the theme of that tragedy was already - present to the poet's thoughts. - -Footnote 196: - - Argos. So in the _Suppliants_, Pelasgos is the mythical king of the - Apian land who receives them. - -Footnote 197: - - Hypermnæstra, who spared Lynceus, and by him became the mother of Abas - and a line of Argive kings. - -Footnote 198: - - Heracles, who came to Caucasos, and with his arrows slew the eagle - that devoured Prometheus. - -Footnote 199: - - The word is simply an interjection of pain, but one so characteristic - that I have thought it better to reproduce it than to give any English - equivalent. - -Footnote 200: - - The maxim, “Marry with a woman thine equal,” was ascribed to Pittacos. - -Footnote 201: - - The Euhemerism of later scholiasts derived the name from a king - Adrastos, who was said to have been the first to build a temple to - Nemesis, and so the power thus worshipped was called after his name. A - better etymology leads us to see in it the idea of the “inevitable” - law of retribution working unseen by men, and independently even of - the arbitrary will of the Gods, and bringing destruction upon the - proud and haughty. - -Footnote 202: - - Comp. _Agam._ 162-6. - -Footnote 203: - - Either a mere epithet of intensity, as in our “thrice blest,” or - rising from the supposed fact that every third wave was larger and - more impetuous than the others, like _fluctus decumanus_ of the - Latins, or from the sequence of three great waves which some have - noted as a common phenomenon in storms. - -Footnote 204: - - Here again we have a strange shadowing forth of the mystery of - Atonement, and what we have learnt to call “vicarious” satisfaction. - In the later legend, Cheiron, suffering from the agony of his wounds, - resigns his immortality, and submits to die in place of the - ever-living death to which Prometheus was doomed. - -Footnote 205: - - It is noticeable that both Æschylos and Sophocles have left us - tragedies which end in a thunderstorm as an element of effect. But the - contrast between the _Prometheus_ and the _Œdipus at Colonos_ as to - the impression left in the one case of serene reconciliation, and in - the other of violent antagonism, is hardly less striking than the - resemblance in the outward phenomena which are common to the two. - - - - - THE SUPPLIANTS - - - DRAMATIS PERSONÆ - - DANAOS - Herald - PELASGOS, _king of_ Argos - _Chorus of the daughters of_ DANAOS - - -_ARGUMENT.—When Io, after many wanderings, had found refuge in Egypt, -and having been touched by Zeus, had given birth to Epaphos, it came to -pass that he and his descendants ruled over the region of Canôpos, near -one of the seven mouths of Neilos. And in the fifth generation there -were two brothers, Danaos and Ægyptos, the sons of Belos, and the former -had fifty daughters and the latter fifty sons, and Ægyptos sought the -daughters of Danaos in marriage for his sons. And they, looking on the -marriage as unholy, and hating those who wooed them, took flight and -came to Argos, where Pelasgos then ruled as king, as to the land whence -Io, from whom they sprang, had come. And thither the sons of Ægyptos -followed them in hot pursuit._ - - - SCENE.—Argos, _the entrance of the gates. Statues of_ ZEUS, - - ARTEMIS, _and other Gods, placed against the walls_ - - _Enter Chorus of the_ Daughters of DANAOS,[206] _in the dress of - Egyptian women, with the boughs of suppliants in their hands, - and fillets of white wool twisted round them, chanting as they - move in procession to take up their position round the thymele_ - - Zeus, the God of Suppliants, kindly - Look on this our band of wanderers, - That from banks at mouths of Neilos, - Banks of finest sand, departed![207] - Yea, we left the region sacred, - Grassy plain on Syria's borders,[208] - Not for guilt of blood to exile - By our country's edict sentenced, - But with free choice, loathing wedlock, - Fleeing marriage-rites unholy - With the children of Ægyptos. 10 - And our father Danaos, ruler, - Chief of council, chief of squadrons, - Playing moves on fortune's draught-board,[209] - Chose what seemed the best of evils, - Through the salt sea-waves to hasten, - Steering to the land of Argos, - Whence our race has risen to greatness; - Sprung, so boasts it, from the heifer - Whom the stinging gadfly harassed, - By the touch of Zeus love-breathing:[210] - And to what land more propitious - Could we come than this before us, 20 - Holding in our hand the branches - Suppliant, wreathed with white wool fillets? - O State! O land! O water gleaming! - Ye the high Gods, ye the awful, - In the dark the graves still guarding; - Thou too with them, Zeus Preserver,[211] - Guardian of the just man's dwelling, - Welcome with the breath of pity, - Pity as from these shores wafted, - Us poor women who are suppliants. - And that swarm of men that follow, - Haughty offspring of Ægyptos, 30 - Ere they set their foot among you - On this silt-strown shore,[212]—oh, send them - Seaward in their ship swift-rowing; - There, with whirlwind tempest-driven, - There, with lightning and with thunder, - There, with blasts that bring the storm-rain, - May they in the fierce sea perish, - Ere they, cousin-brides possessing, - Rest on marriage-beds reluctant, - Which the voice of right denies them! - - - STROPHE I - - And now I call on him, the Zeus-sprung steer,[213] 40 - Our true protector, far beyond the sea, - Child of the heifer-foundress of our line, - Who cropped the flowery mead, - Born of the breath, and named from touch of Zeus. - *And lo! the destined time - *Wrought fully with the name, - And she brought forth the “Touch-born,” Epaphos. - - - ANTISTROPHE I - - And now invoking him in grassy fields, 50 - Where erst his mother strayed, to dwellers here - Telling the tale of all her woes of old, - I surest pledge shall give; - And others, strange beyond all fancy's dream, - Shall yet perchance be found; - And in due course of time - Shall men know clearly all our history. - - - STROPHE II - - And if some augur of the land be near, - Hearing our piteous cry, - Sure he will deem he hears - The voice of Tereus' bride,[214] - Piteous and sad of soul, - The nightingale sore harassed by the kite. 60 - - - ANTISTROPHE II - - *For she, driven back from wonted haunts and streams,[215] - Mourns with a strange new plaint - The home that she has lost, - And wails her son's sad doom, - How he at her hand died, - Meeting with evil wrath unmotherly; - - - STROPHE III - - E'en so do I, to wailing all o'er-given, - In plaintive music of Ionian mood,[216] - *Vex the soft cheek on Neilos' banks that bloomed, - And heart that bursts in tears, - And pluck the flowers of lamentations loud, - Not without fear of friends, 70 - *Lest none should care to help - This flight of mine from that mist-shrouded shore. - - - ANTISTROPHE III - - But, O ye Gods ancestral! hear my prayer, - Look well upon the justice of our cause, - Nor grant to youth to gain its full desire - Against the laws of right, - But with prompt hate of lust, our marriage bless. - *Even for those who come - As fugitives in war - The altar serves as shield that Gods regard. - - - STROPHE IV - - May God good issue give![217] 80 - And yet the will of Zeus is hard to scan: - Through all it brightly gleams, - E'en though in darkness and the gloom of chance - For us poor mortals wrapt. - - - ANTISTROPHE IV - - Safe, by no fall tripped up, - The full-wrought deed decreed by brow of Zeus; - For dark with shadows stretch - The pathways of the counsels of his heart, - And difficult to see. - - - STROPHE V - - And from high-towering hopes He hurleth down 90 - To utter doom the heir of mortal birth; - Yet sets He in array - No forces violent; - All that Gods work is effortless and calm: - Seated on holiest throne, - Thence, though we know not how, - He works His perfect will. - - - ANTISTROPHE V - - Ah, let him look on frail man's wanton pride, - With which the old stock burgeons out anew, - By love for me constrained, - In counsels ill and rash, 100 - And in its frenzied, passionate resolve - Finds goad it cannot shun; - But in deceivèd hopes, - Shall know, too late, its woe. - - - STROPHE VI - - Such bitter griefs, lamenting, I recount, - With cries shrill, tearful, deep, - (Ah woe! ah woe!) - That strike the ear with mourner's woe-fraught cry. - Though yet alive, I wail mine obsequies; - Thee, Apian sea-girt bluff,[218] - I greet (our alien speech - Thou knowest well, O land,) 110 - And ofttimes fall, with rendings passionate, - On robe of linen and Sidonian veil. - - - ANTISTROPHE VI - - But to the Gods, for all things prospering well, - When death is kept aloof, - Gifts votive come of right. - Ah woe! Ah woe! - Oh, troubles dark, and hard to understand! - Ah, whither will these waters carry me? - Thee, Apian sea-girt bluff, 120 - I greet (our alien speech - Thou knowest well, O land,) - And ofttimes fall, with rendings passionate, - On robe of linen and Sidonian veil. - - - STROPHE VII - - The oar indeed and dwelling, timber-wrought, - With sails of canvas, 'gainst the salt sea proof - Brought me with favouring gales, - By stormy wind unvexed; - Nor have I cause for murmur. Issues good - May He, the all-seeing Father, grant, that I, 130 - Great seed of Mother dread, - In time may 'scape, still maiden undefiled, - My suitor's marriage-bed. - - - ANTISTROPHE VII - - And with a will that meets my will may She, - The unstained child of Zeus, on me look down, - *Our Artemis, who guards - The consecrated walls; - And with all strength, though hunted down, uncaught, - May She, the Virgin, me a virgin free, 140 - Great seed of Mother dread, - That I may 'scape, still maiden undefiled, - My suitor's marriage-bed. - - - STROPHE VIII - - But if this may not be, - We, of swarth sun-burnt race, - Will with our suppliant branches go to him, - Zeus, sovereign of the dead,[219] - The Lord that welcomes all that come to him, - Dying by twisted noose 150 - If we the grace of Gods Olympian miss. - By thine ire, Zeus, 'gainst Io virulent, - The Gods' wrath seeks us out, - And I know well the woe - Comes from thy queen who reigns in heaven victorious; - For after stormy wind - The tempest needs must rage. - - - ANTISTROPHE VIII - - And then shall Zeus to words - Unseemly be exposed, - Having the heifer's offspring put to shame, 160 - Whom he himself begat, - And now his face averting from our prayers: - Ah, may he hear on high, - Yea, pitying look and hear propitiously! - By thine ire, Zeus, 'gainst Io virulent, - The Gods' wrath seeks us out, - And I know well the woe - Comes from thy queen, who reigns in heaven victorious; - For after stormy wind 170 - The tempest needs must rage. - - _Danaos._ My children, we need wisdom; lo! ye came - With me, your father wise and old and true, - As guardian of your voyage. Now ashore, - With forethought true I bid you keep my words, - As in a tablet-book recording them: - I see a dust, an army's voiceless herald, - Nor are the axles silent as they turn; - And I descry a host that bear the shield, - And those that hurl the javelin, marching on - With horses and with curvèd battle-cars. - Perchance they are the princes of this land, 180 - Come on the watch, as having news of us; - But whether one in kindly mood, or hot - With anger fierce, leads on this great array, - It is, my children, best on all accounts - To take your stand hard by this hill of Gods - Who rule o'er conflicts.[220] Better far than towers - Are altars, yea, a shield impenetrable. - But with all speed approach the shrine of Zeus, - The God of mercy, in your left hand holding - The suppliants' boughs wool-wreathed, in solemn guise,[221] - And greet our hosts as it is meet for us, 190 - Coming as strangers, with all duteous words - Kindly and holy, telling them your tale - Of this your flight, unstained by guilt of blood; - And with your speech, let mood not overbold, - Nor vain nor wanton, shine from modest brow - And calm, clear eye. And be not prompt to speak, - Nor full of words; the race that dwelleth here - Of this is very jealous:[222] and be mindful - Much to concede; a fugitive thou art, - A stranger and in want, and 'tis not meet - That those in low estate high words should speak. - - _Chor._ My father, to the prudent prudently 200 - Thou speakest, and my task shall be to keep - Thy goodly precepts. Zeus, our sire, look on us! - - _Dan._ Yea, may He look with favourable eye! - - _Chor._ I fain would take my seat not far from thee. - - [_Chorus moves to the altar not far from_ - DANAOS - - _Dan._ Delay not then; success go with your plan. - - _Chor._ Zeus, pity us with sorrow all but crushed! - - _Dan._ If He be willing, all shall turn out well. - - _Chor._ . . . . . - - _Dan._ Invoke ye now the mighty bird of Zeus.[223] - - _Chor._ We call the sun's bright rays to succour us. - - _Dan._ Apollo too, the holy, in that He, 210 - A God, has tasted exile from high heaven.[224] - - _Chor._ Knowing that fate, He well may feel for men. - - _Dan._ So may He feel, and look on us benignly! - - _Chor._ Whom of the Gods shall I besides invoke? - - _Dan._ I see this trident here, a God's great symbol.[225] - - _Chor._ Well hath He brought us, well may He receive! - - _Dan._ Here too is Hermes,[226] as the Hellenes know him. - - _Chor._ To us, as free, let Him good herald prove. - - _Dan._ Yea, and the common shrine of all these Gods - Adore ye, and in holy precincts sit, - Like swarms of doves in fear of kites your kinsmen, 220 - Foes of our blood, polluters of our race. - How can bird prey on bird and yet be pure? - And how can he be pure who seeks in marriage - Unwilling bride from father too unwilling? - Nay, not in Hades' self, shall he, vain fool, - Though dead, 'scape sentence, doing deeds like this; - For there, as men relate, a second Zeus[227] - Judges men's evil deeds, and to the dead - Assigns their last great penalties. Look up, - And take your station here, that this your cause - May win its way to a victorious end. - - _Enter the_ KING _on his chariot, followed by_ Attendants - - _King._ Whence comes this crowd, this non-Hellenic band, 230 - In robes and raiment of barbaric fashion - So gorgeously attired, whom now we speak to? - This woman's dress is not of Argive mode, - Nor from the climes of Hellas. How ye dared, - Without a herald even or protector, - Yea, and devoid of guides too, to come hither - Thus boldly, is to me most wonderful. - And yet these boughs, as is the suppliant's wont, - Are set by you before the Gods of conflicts: - By this alone will Hellas guess aright. - Much more indeed we might have else conjectured, 240 - Were there no voice to tell me on the spot. - - _Chor._ Not false this speech of thine about our garb; - But shall I greet thee as a citizen, - Or bearing Hermes' rod, or city ruling?[228] - - _King._ Nay, for that matter, answer thou and speak - Without alarm. Palæchthon's son am I, - Earth-born, the king of this Pelasgic land; - And named from me, their king,[229] as well might be, - The race Pelasgic reaps our country's fruits; - *And all the land through which the Strymon pours 250 - Its pure, clear waters to the West I rule; - And as the limits of my realm I mark - The land of the Perrhæbi, and the climes - Near the Pæonians, on the farther side - Of Pindos, and the Dodonæan heights;[230] - And the sea's waters form its bounds. O'er all - Within these coasts I govern; and this plain, - The Apian land, itself has gained its name - Long since from one who as a healer lived;[231] - For Apis, coming from Naupactian land - That lies beyond the straits, Apollo's son, - Prophet and healer, frees this land of ours 260 - From man-destroying monsters, which the soil, - Polluted with the guilt of blood of old, - By anger of the Gods, brought forth,—fierce plagues, - The dragon-brood's dread, unblest company; - And Apis, having for this Argive land - Duly wrought out his saving surgery, - Gained his reward, remembered in our prayers; - And thou, this witness having at my hands, - May'st tell thy race at once, and further speak; - Yet lengthened speech our city loveth not. - - _Chor._ Full short and clear our tale. We boast that we - Are Argives in descent, the children true 270 - Of the fair, fruitful heifer. And all this - Will I by what I speak show firm and true. - - _King._ Nay, strangers, what ye tell is past belief - For me to hear, that ye from Argos spring; - For ye to Libyan women are most like,[232] - And nowise to our native maidens here. - Such race might Neilos breed, and Kyprian mould, - Like yours, is stamped by skilled artificers - On women's features; and I hear that those - Of India travel upon camels borne, 280 - Swift as the horse, yet trained as sumpter-mules, - E'en those who as the Æthiops' neighbours dwell. - And had ye borne the bow, I should have guessed, - Undoubting, ye were of th' Amâzon's tribe, - Man-hating, flesh-devouring. Taught by you, - I might the better know how this can be, - That your descent and birth from Argos come. - - _Chor._ They tell of one who bore the temple-keys - Of Hera, Io, in this Argive land. - - _King._ So was't indeed, and wide the fame prevails: - And was it said that Zeus a mortal loved? 290 - - _Chor._ And that embrace was not from Hera hid. - - _King._ What end had then these strifes of sovereign Ones? - - _Chor._ The Argive goddess made the maid a heifer. - - _King._ Did Zeus that fair-horned heifer still approach? - - _Chor._ So say they, fashioned like a wooing steer. - - _King._ How acted then the mighty spouse of Zeus? - - _Chor._ She o'er the heifer set a guard all-seeing. - - _King._ What herdsman strange, all-seeing, speak'st thou of? - - _Chor._ Argos, the earth-born, him whom Hermes slew. 300 - - _King._ What else then wrought she on the ill-starred heifer? - - _Chor._ She sent a stinging gadfly to torment her. - [Those who near Neilos dwell an _æstros_ call it.] - - _King._ Did she then drive her from her country far? - - _Chor._ All that thou say'st agrees well with our tale. - - _King._ And did she to Canôbos go, and Memphis? - - _Chor._ Zeus with his touch, an offspring then begets. - - _King._ What Zeus-born calf that heifer claims as mother? - - _Chor._ *He from that touch which freed named Epaphos.310 - - _King._ [_What offspring then did Epaphos beget?_][233] - - _Chor._ Libya, that gains her fame from greatest land. - - _King._ What other offspring, born of her, dost tell of? - - _Chor._ Sire of my sire here, Belos, with two sons. - - _King._ Tell me then now the name of yonder sage. - - _Chor._ Danaos, whose brother boasts of fifty sons. - - _King._ Tell me his name, too, with ungrudging speech. - - _Chor._ Ægyptos: knowing now our ancient stock, - Take heed thou bid thine Argive suppliants rise. - - _King._ Ye seem, indeed, to make your ancient claim - To this our country good: but how came ye 320 - To leave your father's house? What chance constrained you? - - _Chor._ O king of the Pelasgi, manifold - Are ills of mortals, and thou could'st not find - The self-same form of evil anywhere. - Who would have said that this unlooked-for flight - Would bring to Argos race once native here, - Driving them forth in hate of wedlock's couch? - - _King._ What seek'st thou then of these the Gods of conflicts, - Holding your wool-wreathed branches newly-plucked? - - _Chor._ That I serve not Ægyptos' sons as slave. - - _King._ Speak'st thou of some old feud, or breach of right? 330 - - _Chor._ Nay, who'd find fault with master that one loved? - - _King._ Yet thus it is that mortals grow in strength.[234] - - _Chor._ True; when men fail, 'tis easy to desert them. - - _King._ How then to you may I act reverently? - - _Chor._ Yield us not up unto Ægyptos' sons. - - _King._ Hard boon thou ask'st, to wage so strange a war. - - _Chor._ Nay, Justice champions those who fight with her. - - _King._ Yes, if her hand was in it from the first. - - _Chor._ Yet reverence thou the state-ship's stern thus wreathed.[235] - - _King._ I tremble as I see these seats thus shadowed. 340 - - - STROPHE I - - _Chor._ Dread is the wrath of Zeus, the God of suppliants: - Son of Palæchthon, hear; - Hear, O Pelasgic king, with kindly heart. - Behold me suppliant, exile, wanderer, - *Like heifer chased by wolves - Upon the lofty crags, - Where, trusting in her strength, - She lifteth up her voice - And to the shepherd tells her tale of grief. - - _King._ I see, o'ershadowed with the new-plucked boughs, - *Bent low, a band these Gods of conflict own; - And may our dealings with these home-sprung strangers 350 - Be without peril, nor let strife arise - To this our country for unlooked-for chance - And unprovided! This our State wants not. - - - ANTISTROPHE I - - _Chor._ Yea, may that Law that guards the suppliant's right - Free this our flight from harm, - Law, sprung from Zeus, supreme Apportioner, - But thou, [_to the King_,] though old, from me, though younger, learn: - If thou a suppliant pity - Thou ne'er shall penury know, - So long as Gods receive - Within their sacred shrines - Gifts at the hands of worshipper unstained. - - _King._ It is not at my hearth ye suppliant sit; - But if the State be as a whole defiled, 360 - Be it the people's task to work the cure. - I cannot pledge my promise to you first - Ere I have counselled with my citizens.[236] - - - STROPHE II - - _Chor._ Thou art the State—yea, thou the commonwealth, - Chief lord whom none may judge; - 'Tis thine to rule the country's altar-hearth, - With the sole vote of thy prevailing nod; - And thou on throne of state, - Sole-sceptred in thy sway, - Bringest each matter to its destined end; - Shun thou the curse of guilt. - - _King._ Upon my foes rest that dread curse of guilt! 370 - Yet without harm I cannot succour you, - Nor gives it pleasure to reject your prayers. - In a sore strait am I; fear fills my soul - To take the chance, to do or not to do. - - - ANTISTROPHE II - - _Chor._ Look thou on Him who looks on all from heaven, - Guardian of suffering men - Who, worn with toil, unto their neighbours come - As suppliants, and receive not justice due: - For these the wrath of Zeus, - Zeus, the true suppliant's God, - Abides, by wail of sufferer unappeased. 380 - - _King._ Yet if Ægyptos' sons have claim on thee - By their State's law, asserting that they come - As next of kin, who dare oppose their right? - Thou must needs plead that by thy laws at home - They over thee have no authority.[237] - - - STROPHE III - - _Chor._ Ah! may I ne'er be captive to the might - Of males! Where'er the stars - Are seen in heaven, I track my way in flight, - As refuge from a marriage that I hate. - But thou, make Right thy friend, - And honour what the Gods count pure and true. 390 - - _King._ Hard is the judgment: choose not me as judge. - But, as I said before, I may not act - Without the people, sovereign though I be, - Lest the crowd say, should aught fall out amiss, - “In honouring strangers, thou the State did'st ruin.” - - - ANTISTROPHE III - - _Chor._ Zeus, the great God of kindred, in these things - Watches o'er both of us, - Holding an equal scale, and fitly giving - To the base evil, to the righteous blessing. - Why, when these things are set - In even balance, fear'st thou to do right? 400 - - _King._ Deep thought we need that brings deliverance, - That, like a diver, mine eye too may plunge - Clear-seeing to the depths, not wine-bedrenched, - That these things may be harmless to the State, - And to ourselves may issue favourably: - That neither may the strife make you its prey, - Nor that we give you up, who thus are set - Near holy seat of Gods, and so bring in - To dwell with us the Avenger terrible, - God that destroyeth, who not e'en in Hades 410 - Gives freedom to the dead. Say, think ye not - That there is need of counsel strong to save? - - - STROPHE I - - _Chor._ Take heed to it, and be - Friend to the stranger wholly faithful found; - Desert not thou the poor, - Driven from afar by godless violence. - - - ANTISTROPHE I - - See me not dragged away, - O thou that rul'st the land! from seat of Gods: - Know thou men's wanton pride, 420 - And guard thyself against the wrath of Zeus. - - - STROPHE II - - Endure not thou to see thy suppliant, - Despite of law, torn off, - As horses by their frontlets, from the forms - Of sculptured deities, - Nor yet the outrage of their wanton hands, - Seizing these broidered robes. - - - ANTISTROPHE II - - For know thou well, whichever course thou take, - Thy sons and all thy house - *Must pay in war the debt that Justice claims, - Proportionate in kind. 430 - Lay well to heart these edicts, wise and true, - Given by great Zeus himself. - - _King._ Well then have I thought o'er it. To this point - Our ship's course drives. Fierce war we needs must risk - Either with these (_pointing to the Gods_) or those. Set fast and firm - Is this as is the ship tight wedged in stocks; - And without trouble there's no issue out. - For wealth indeed, were our homes spoiled of that, - There might come other, thanks to Zeus the Giver, - More than the loss, and filling up the freight; 440 - And if the tongue should aim its adverse darts, - Baleful and over-stimulant of wrath, - There might be words those words to heal and soothe. - But how to blot the guilt of kindred blood, - This needs a great atonement—many victims - Falling to many Gods—to heal the woe. - *I take my part, and turn aside from strife; - And I far rather would be ignorant - Than wise, forecasting evil. May the end, - Against my judgment, show itself as good! - - _Chor._ Hear, then, the last of all our pleas for pity. - - _King._ I hear; speak on. It shall not 'scape my heed. 450 - - _Chor._ Girdles I have, and zones that bind my robes. - - _King._ Such things are fitting for a woman's state. - - _Chor._ With these then, know, as good and rare device.... - - _King._ Nay, speak. What word is this thou'lt utter now? - - _Chor._ Unless thou giv'st our band thy plighted word.... - - _King._ What wilt thou do with this device of girdles? - - _Chor._ With tablets new these sculptures we'll adorn. - - _King._ Thou speak'st a riddle. Make thy meaning plain. - - _Chor._ Upon these Gods we'll hang ourselves at once. - - _King._ I hear a word which pierces to the heart. 460 - - _Chor._ Thou see'st our meaning. Eyes full clear I've given. - - _King._ Lo then! in many ways sore troubles come. - A host of evils rushes like a flood; - A sea of woe none traverse, fathomless, - This have I entered; haven there is none. - For if I fail to do this work for you, - Thou tellest of defilement unsurpassed;[238] - And if for thee against Ægyptos' sons, - Thy kindred, I before my city's walls - In conflict stand, how can there fail to be - A bitter loss, to stain the earth with blood 470 - Of man for woman's sake? And yet I needs - Must fear the wrath of Zeus, the suppliant's God; - That dread is mightiest with the sons of men. - Thou, then, O aged father of these maidens! - Taking forthwith these branches in thine arms, - Lay them on other altars of the Gods - Our country worships, that the citizens - May all behold this token of thy coming, - And about me let no rash speech be dropped; - For 'tis a people prompt to blame their rulers. - And then perchance some one beholding them, 480 - And pitying, may wax wrathful 'gainst the outrage - Of that male troop, and with more kindly will - The people look on you; for evermore - Men all wish well unto the weaker side. - - _Dan._ This boon is counted by us of great price, - To find a patron proved so merciful. - And thou, send with us guides to lead us on, - And tell us how before their shrines to find - The altars of the Gods that guard the State, - *And holy places columned round about; - And safety for us, as the town we traverse. - Not of like fashion is our features' stamp; 490 - For Neilos rears not race like Inachos.[239] - Take heed lest rashness lead to bloodshed here; - Ere now, unknowing, men have slain their friends. - - _King_ (_to Attendants_). Go then, my men; full well the stranger - speaks; - And lead him where the city's altars stand, - The seats of Gods; and see ye talk not much - To passers-by as ye this traveller lead, - A suppliant at the altar-hearth of Gods. - - [_Exeunt_ DANAOS _and Attendants_ - - _Chor._ Thou speak'st to him; and may he go as bidden! - But what shall I do? What hope giv'st thou me? - - _King._ Leave here those boughs, the token of your grief. 500 - - _Chor._ Lo! here I leave them at thy beck and word. - - _King._ Now turn thy steps towards this open lawn. - - _Chor._ What shelter gives a lawn unconsecrate?[240] - - _King._ We will not yield thee up to birds of prey. - - _Chor._ Nay, but to foes far worse than fiercest dragons. - - _King._ Good words should come from those who good have heard. - - _Chor._ No wonder they wax hot whom fear enthrals. - - _King._ But dread is still for rulers all unmeet. - - _Chor._ Do thou then cheer our soul by words and deeds. - - _King._ Nay, no long time thy sire will leave thee lorn; 510 - And I, all people of the land convening, - Will the great mass persuade to kindly words; - And I will teach thy father what to say. - Wherefore remain and ask our country's Gods, - With suppliant prayers, to grant thy soul's desire, - And I will go in furtherance of thy wish: - Sweet Suasion follow us, and Fortune good! [_Exit_ - - - STROPHE I - - _Chor._ O King of kings! and blest - Above all blessed ones, - And Power most mighty of the mightiest! - O Zeus, of high estate! 520 - Hear thou and grant our prayer! - Drive thou far off the wantonness of men, - The pride thou hatest sore, - And in the pool of darkling purple hue - Plunge thou the woe that comes in swarthy barque. - - - ANTISTROPHE I - - Look on the women's cause; - Recall the ancient tale, - Of one whom Thou did'st love in time of old, - The mother of our race: - Remember it, O Thou - Who did'st on Io lay thy mystic touch. - We boast that we are come - Of consecrated land the habitants, 530 - And from this land by lineage high descended. - - - STROPHE II - - Now to the ancient track, - Our mother's, I have passed, - The flowery meadow-land where she was watched,— - The pastures of the herd, - Whence Io, by the stinging gadfly driven, - Flees, of her sense bereft, - Passing through many tribes of mortal men; - And then by Fate's decree - Crossing the billowy straits, - On either side she leaves a continent.[241] 540 - - - ANTISTROPHE II - - Now through the Asian land - She hastens o'er and o'er, - Right through the Phrygian fields where feed the flocks; - And passes Teuthras' fort, - Owned by the Mysians,[242] and the Lydian plains; - And o'er Kilikian hills, - And those of far Pamphylia rushing on, - By ever-flowing streams, - On to the deep, rich lands, - And Aphrodite's home in wheat o'erflowing.[243] - - - STROPHE III - - And so she cometh, as that herdsman winged 550 - Pierces with sharpest sting, - To holy plain all forms of life sustaining, - Fields that are fed from snows,[244] - Which Typhon's monstrous strength has traversed,[245] - And unto Neilos' streams, - By sickly taint untouched,[246] - Still maddened with her toil of ignominy, - By torturing stings driven on, great Hera's frenzied slave. - - - ANTISTROPHE III - - And those who then the lands inhabited, - Quivered with pallid fear, 560 - That filled their soul at that unwonted marvel, - Seeing that monstrous shape, - The human joined with brute, - Half heifer, and half form of woman fair:[247] - And sore amazed were they. - Who was it then that soothed - Poor Io, wandering in her sore affright, - Driven on, and ever on, by gadfly's maddening sting? - - - STROPHE IV - - Zeus, Lord of endless time - [Was seen All-working then;] - He, even He, for by his sovereign might - That works no ill, was she from evil freed; 570 - And by his breath divine - She findeth rest, and weeps in floods of tears - Her sorrowing shame away; - And with new burden big, - Not falsely 'Zeus-born' named, - She bare a son that grew in faultless growth, - - - ANTISTROPHE IV - - Prosperous through long, long years; - And so the whole land shouts with one accord, - “Lo, a race sprung from him, the Lord of life, - In very deed, Zeus-born! 580 - Who else had checked the plagues that Hera sent?” - This is the work of Zeus: - And speaking of our race - That sprang from Epaphos - As such, thou would'st not fail to hit the mark. - - - STROPHE V - - Which of the Gods could I with right invoke - As doing juster deeds? - He is our Father, author of our life, - The King whose right hand worketh all his will, - Our line's great author, in his counsels deep - Recording things of old, - Directing all his plans, the great work-master, Zeus. - - - ANTISTROPHE V - - For not as subject hastening at the beck - Of strength above his own,[248] - Reigns He subordinate to mightier powers; 590 - Nor does He pay his homage from below, - While One sits throned in majesty above;[249] - Act is for him as speech, - To hasten what his teeming mind resolves. - - _Re-enter_ DANAOS - - _Dan._ Be of good cheer, my children. All goes well - With those who dwell here, and the people's voice - Hath passed decrees full, firm, irrevocable. - - _Chor._ Hail, aged sire, that tell'st me right good news! - But say with what intent the vote hath passed, - And on which side the people's hands prevail. - - _Dan._ The Argives have decreed without division, - So that my aged mind grew young again; 600 - For in full congress, with their right hands raised - Rustled the air as they decreed their vote - That we should sojourn in their land as free, - Free from arrest, and with asylum rights; - And that no native here nor foreigner - Should lead us off; and, should he venture force, - That every citizen who gave not help - Dishonoured should be driven to exile forth. - Such counsel giving, the Pelasgian King 610 - Gained their consent, proclaiming that great wrath - Of Zeus the God of suppliants ne'er would let - The city wax in fatness,—warning them - That double guilt[250] upon the State would come, - Touching at once both guests and citizens, - The food and sustenance of sore disease - That none could heal. And then the Argive host, - Hearing these things, decreed by show of hands, - Not waiting for the herald's proclamation, - So it should be. They heard, indeed, the crowd - Of those Pelasgi, all the winning speech, - The well-turned phrases cunning to persuade; - But it was Zeus that brought the end to pass. - - _Chor._ Come then, come, let us speak for Argives - Prayers that are good for good deeds done; 620 - Zeus, who o'er all strangers watches, - May He regard with his praise and favour - The praise that comes from the lips of strangers, - *And guide in all to a faultless issue. - - - STROPHE I - - _Half-Chor. A._ Now, now, at last, ye Gods of Zeus begotten,[251] - Hear, as I pour my prayers upon their race, - That ne'er may this Pelasgic city raise - From out its flames the joyless cry of War, - War, that in other fields - Reapeth his human crop: - For they have mercy shown, - And passed their kind decree, 630 - Pitying this piteous flock, the suppliants of great Zeus. - - - ANTISTROPHE I - - They did not take their stand with men 'gainst women - Casting dishonour on their plea for help, - *But looked to Him who sees and works from heaven, - *Full hard to war with. Yea, what house could bear - To see Him on its roof - Casting pollution there?[252] - Sore vexing there he sits. - Yes, they their kin revere, - Suppliants of holiest Zeus; 640 - Therefore with altars pure shall they the Gods delight. - - - STROPHE II - - Therefore from faces by our boughs o'ershadowed[253] - Let prayers ascend in emulous eagerness: - Ne'er may dark pestilence - This State of men bereave; - May no fierce party strife - Pollute these plains with native carcases; - And may the bloom of youth - Be with them still uncropt; - And ne'er may Aphrodite's paramour, 650 - Ares the scourge of men, - Mow down their blossoms fair! - - - ANTISTROPHE II - - And let the altars tended by the old - *Blaze with the gifts of men with hoary hairs; - So may the State live on - In full prosperity! - Let them great Zeus adore, - The strangers' God, the one Supreme on high, - By venerable law - Ordering the course of fate. - And next we pray that ever more and more - Earth may her tribute bear, - And Artemis as Hecate preside[254] - O'er woman's travail-pangs. 660 - - - STROPHE III - - Let no destroying strife come on, invading - This city to lay waste, - Setting in fierce array - War, with its fruit of tears, - Lyreless and danceless all, - And cry of people's wrath; - And may the swarm of plagues, - Loathly and foul to see, - Abide far off from these our citizens, - And that Lykeian king, may He be found - Benignant to our youth![255] - - - ANTISTROPHE III - - And Zeus, may He, by his supreme decree, 670 - Make the earth yield her fruits - Through all the seasons round, - And grant a plenteous brood - Of herds that roam the fields! - May Heaven all good gifts pour, - And may the voice of song - Ascend o'er altar shrines, - Unmarred by sounds of ill! - And let the voice that loves with lyre to blend - Go forth from lips of blameless holiness, - In accents of great joy! - - - STROPHE IV - - *And may the rule in which the people share - Keep the State's functions as in perfect peace, - E'en that which sways the crowd, - *Which sways the commonwealth, 680 - By counsels wise and good; - And to the strangers and the sojourners - May they grant rights that rest on compacts sure, - Ere War is roused to arms, - So that no trouble come! - - - ANTISTROPHE IV - - And the great Gods who o'er this country watch, - May they adore them in the land They guard, - With rites of sacrifice, - And troops with laurel boughs, - As did our sires of old! - For thus to honour those who gave us life, - This stands as one of three great laws on high,[256] - Written as fixed and firm, - The laws of Right revered. - - _Dan._ I praise these seemly prayers, dear children mine. 690 - But fear ye not, if I your father speak - Words that are new, and all unlooked-for by you; - For from this station to the suppliant given - I see the ship; too clear to be mistaken - The swelling sails, the bulwark's coverings, - And prow with eyes that scan the onward way,[257] - But too obedient to the steerman's helm, - Being, as it is, unfriendly. And the men - Who sail in her with swarthy limbs are seen, - In raiment white conspicuous. And I see 700 - Full clear the other ships that come to help; - And this as leader, putting in to shore, - Furling its sails, is rowed with equal stroke. - 'Tis yours, with mood of calm and steadfast soul, - To face the fact, and not to slight the Gods. - And I will come with friends and advocates; - For herald, it may be, or embassy, - May come, and wish to seize and bear you off, - Grasping their prey. But nought of this shall be; - Fear ye not them. It were well done, however, - If we should linger in our help, this succour 710 - In no wise to forget. Take courage then; - In their own time and at the appointed day, - Whoever slights the Gods shall pay for it. - - - STROPHE I - - _Chor._ I fear, my father, since the swift-winged ships - Are come, and very short the time that's left. - A shuddering anguish makes me sore afraid, - Lest small the profit of my wandering flight. - I faint, my sire, for fear. - - _Dan._ My children, since the Argives' vote is passed, - Take courage: they will fight for thee, I know. 720 - - - ANTISTROPHE I - - _Chor._ Hateful and wanton are Ægyptos' sons, - Insatiable of conflict, and I speak - To one who knows them. They in timbered ships, - Dark-eyed, have sailed in wrath that hits its mark, - With great and swarthy host. - - _Dan._ Yet many they shall find whose arms are tanned - In the full scorching of the noontide heat.[258] - - - STROPHE II - - _Chor._ Leave me not here alone, I pray thee, father! - Alone, a woman is as nought, and war - Is not for her. Of over-subtle mind, - And subtle counsel in their souls impure, 730 - Like ravens, e'en for altars caring not,— - Such, such in soul are they. - - _Dan._ That would work well indeed for us, my children, - Should they be foes to Gods as unto thee. - - - ANTISTROPHE II - - _Chor._ No reverence for these tridents or the shrines - Of Gods, my father, will restrain their hands: - Full stout of heart, of godless mood unblest, - Fed to the full, and petulant as dogs, - And for the voice of high Gods caring not,— - Such, such in soul are they. - - _Dan._ Nay, the tale runs that wolves prevail o'er dogs; 740 - And byblos fruit excels not ear of corn.[259] - - _Chor._ But since their minds are as the minds of brutes, - Restless and vain, we must beware of force. - - _Dan._ Not rapid is the getting under weigh - Of naval squadron, nor their anchoring, - Nor the safe putting into shore with cables. - Nor have the shepherds of swift ships quick trust - In anchor-fastenings, most of all, as now, - When coming to a country havenless; - And when the sun has yielded to the night, - That night brings travail to a pilot wise, 750 - [Though it be calm and all the waves sleep still;] - So neither can this army disembark - Before the ship is safe in anchorage. - And thou beware lest in thy panic fear - Thou slight the Gods whom thou hast called to help. - The city will not blame your messenger, - Old though he be, being young in clear-voiced thought. _Exit_ - - - STROPHE I - - _Chor._ Ah, me! thou land of jutting promontory - Which justly all revere, - What lies before us? Where in Apian land - Shall we a refuge find, - If still there be dark hiding anywhere? - Ah! that I were as smoke - That riseth full and black - Nigh to the clouds of Zeus, 760 - Or soaring up on high invisible, - Like dust that vanishes, - Pass out of being with no help from wings! - - - ANTISTROPHE I - - *E'en so the ill admits not now of flight; - My heart in dark gloom throbs; - My father's work as watcher brings me low; - I faint for very fear, - And I would fain find noose that bringeth death, - In twisted cordage hung, - Before the man I loathe - Draws near this flesh of mine: 770 - Sooner than that may Hades rule o'er me - Sleeping the sleep of death! - - - STROPHE II - - Ah, might I find a place in yon high vault, - Where the rain-clouds are passing into snow, - Or lonely precipice - Whose summit none can see, - Rock where the vulture haunts, - Witness for me of my abysmal fall, - Before the marriage that will pierce my heart - Becomes my dreaded doom! - - - ANTISTROPHE II - - I shrink not from the thought of being the prey 780 - Of dogs and birds that haunt the country round; - For death shall make me free - From ills all lamentable: - Yea, let death rather come - Than the worse doom of hated marriage-bed! - What other refuge now remains for me - That marriage to avert? - - - STROPHE III - - Yea, to the Gods raise thou - Cloud-piercing, wailing cry - Of songs and litanies, - Prevailing, working freedom out for me: 790 - And thou, O Father, look, - Look down upon the strife, - With glance of wrath against our enemies - From eyes that see the right; - With pity look on us thy suppliants, - O Lord of Earth, O Zeus omnipotent! - - - ANTISTROPHE III - - For lo! Ægyptos' house, - In pride intolerable, - O'er-masculine in mood, - Pursuing me in many a winding course, - Poor wandering fugitive, - With loud and wild desires, - Seek in their frenzied violence to seize: 800 - But thine is evermore - The force that turns the balance of the scale: - What comes to mortal men apart from Thee? - - Ah! ah! ah! ah! - *Here on the land behold the ravisher - Who comes on us by sea! - *Ah, may'st thou perish, ravisher, ere thou - Hast stopped or landed here! - *I utter cry of wailing loud and long, - *I see them work the prelude of their crimes, - Their crimes of violence. - Ah! ah! Ah me! 810 - Haste in your flight for help! - The mighty ones are waxing fat and proud, - By sea and land alike intolerable. - Be thou, O King, our bulwark and defence! - - _Enter_ Herald _of the sons of_ ÆGYPTOS, _advancing to - the daughters of_ DANAOS - - _Her._ Haste, haste with all your speed unto the barque. - - _Chor._ Tearing of hair, yea, tearing now will come, - And print of nails in flesh, - And smiting off of heads, - With murderous stream of blood. - - _Her._ Haste, haste ye, to that barque that yonder lies, 820 - Ye wretches, curse on you. - - - STROPHE I - - _Chor._ Would thou had'st met thy death - Where the salt waves wildly surge, - Thou with thy lordly pride, - In nail-compacted ship: - *Lo! they will smite thee, weltering in thy blood, - *And drive thee to thy barque. - - _Her._ I bid you cease perforce, the cravings wild - Of mind to madness given. - Ho there! what ho! I say; 830 - Give up those seats, and hasten to the ship: - I reverence not what this State honoureth. - - - ANTISTROPHE I - - _Chor._ Ah, I may ne'er again - Behold the stream where graze the goodly kine, - Nourished and fed by which[260] - The blood of cattle waxes strong and full! - *As with a native's right, - *And one of old descent, - I keep, old man, my seat, my seat, I say. - - _Her._ Nay, in a ship, a ship them shalt soon go, 840 - With or without thy will, - By force, I say, by force: - Come, come, provoke not evils terrible, - Falling by these my hands. - - - STROPHE II - - _Chor._ Ah me! ah me! - Would thou may'st perish with no hand to help, - Crossing the sea's wide plain, - In wanderings far and wide, - Where Sarpedonian sand-bank[261] spreads its length, - Driven by the sweeping blasts! - - _Her._ Sob thou, and howl, and call upon the Gods: 850 - Thou shalt not 'scape that barque from Ægypt come, - Though thou should'st pour a bitterer strain of grief. - - - ANTISTROPHE II - - _Chor._ Woe! woe! Ah woe! ah woe, - For this foul wrong! Thou utterest fearful things; - *Thou art too bold and insolent of speech. - *May mighty Nile that reared thee turn away - Thy wanton pride and lust - That we behold it not! - - _Her._ I bid you go to yon ship double-prowed,[262] - With all your speed. Let no one lag behind; - But little shall my grasp your ringlets spare. 860 - - [_Seizes on the leader of the Suppliants_ - - - STROPHE III - - _Chor._ Ah me! my father, ah! - The help of holiest statues turns to woe; - He leads me to the sea, - With motion spider-like, - Or like a dream, a dark and dismal dream, - Ah woe! ah woe! ah woe! - O mother Earth! O Earth! O mother mine! - Avert that cry of fear, - O Zeus, thou king! O son of mother Earth! - - _Her._ Nay, I fear not the Gods they worship here; - They did not rear nor lead me up to age. 870 - - - ANTISTROPHE III - - _Chor._ Near me he rages now, - · · · · · - That biped snake, - And like a viper bites me by the foot. - Oh, woe is me! woe! woe! - O mother Earth! O Earth! O mother mine! - Avert that cry of fear, - O Zeus, thou king! O son of mother Earth! - - _Her._ If some one yield not, and to yon ship go, - The hand that tears her tunic will not pity. - - - STROPHE IV - - _Chor._ Ho! rulers of the State! 880 - Ye princes! I am seized. - - _Her._ It seems, since ye are slow to hear my words, - That I shall have to drag you by the hair. - - - ANTISTROPHE IV - - _Chor._ We are undone, undone! - We suffer, prince, unlooked-for outrages, - - _Her._ Full many princes, heirs of great Ægyptos, - Ye soon shall see. Take courage; ye shall have - No cause to speak of anarchy as there. - - _Enter_ KING _followed by his_ Bodyguard - - _King._ Ho there! What dost thou? and with what intent - Dost thou so outrage this Pelasgic land? - Dost think thou comest to a town of women? 890 - Too haughty thou, a stranger 'gainst Hellenes, - And, sinning much, hast nothing done aright. - - _Her._ What sin against the right have I then done? - - _King._ First, thou know'st not how stranger-guest should act. - - _Her._ How so? When I, but finding what I lost.... - - _King._ Whom among us dost thou then patrons call? - - _Her._ Hermes the Searcher, chiefest patron mine.[263] - - _King._ Thou, Gods invoking, honourest not the Gods. - - _Her._ The Gods of Neilos are the Gods I worship. - - _King._ Ours then are nought, if I thy meaning catch. 900 - - _Her._ These girls I'll lead, if no one rescues them. - - _King._ Lay hand on them, and soon thou'lt pay the cost. - - _Her._ I hear a word in no wise hospitable. - - _King._ Who rob the Gods I welcome not as guests. - - _Her._ I then will tell Ægyptos' children this. - - _King._ This threat is all unheeded in my mind. - - _Her._ But that I, knowing all, may speak it plain, - (For it is meet a herald should declare - Each matter clearly,) what am I to say? - By whom have I been robbed of that fair band - Of women whom I claim as kindred? Nay, 910 - But it is Ares that shall try this cause, - And not with witnesses, nor money down, - Settling the matter, but there first must fall - Full many a soldier, and of many a life - The rending in convulsive agony. - - _King._ Why should I tell my name? In time thou'lt know it, - Thou and thy fellow-travellers. But these maidens, - With their consent and free choice of their wills, - Thou may'st lead off, if godly speech persuade them: - But this decree our city's men have made - With one consent, that we to force yield not - This company of women. Here the nail 920 - Is driven tight home to keep its place full firm;[264] - These things are written not on tablets only, - [Nor signed and sealed in folds of byblos-rolls;] - Thou hear'st them clearly from a tongue that speaks - With full, free speech. Away, away, I say: - And with all speed from out my presence haste. - - _Her._ It is thy will then a rash war to wage: - May strength and victory on our males attend! - - [_Exit_ - - _King._ Nay, thou shall find the dwellers of this land - Are also males, and drink not draughts of ale 930 - From barley brewed.[265] [_To the Suppliants._] But ye, and your - attendants, - Take courage, go within the fencèd city, - Shut in behind its bulwark deep of towers; - Yea, many houses to the State belong, - And I a palace own not meanly built, - If ye prefer to live with many others - In ease and plenty: or if that suits better, - Ye may inhabit separate abodes. - Of these two offers that which pleases best - Choose for yourselves, and I as your protector, 940 - And all our townsmen, will defend the pledge - Which our decree has given you. Why wait'st thou - For any better authorised than these? - - _Chor._ For these thy good deeds done may'st thou in good, - All good, abound, great chief of the Pelasgi! - But kindly send to us - Our father Danaos, brave and true of heart, - To counsel and direct. - His must the first decision be where we - Should dwell, and where to find - A kindly home; for ready is each one - To speak his word of blame 'gainst foreigners. 950 - But may all good be ours! - And so with fair repute and speech of men, - Free from all taint of wrath, - So place yourselves, dear handmaids, in the land, - As Danaos hath for each of us assigned - Dowry of handmaid slaves. - - _Enter_ DANAOS _followed by_ Soldiers - - _Dan._ My children, to the Argives ye should pray, - And sacrifice, and full libations pour, - As to Olympian Gods, for they have proved, - With one consent, deliverers: and they heard - *All that I did towards those cousins there, 960 - *Those lovers hot and bitter. And they gave - To me as followers these that bear the spear, - That I might have my meed of honour due, - And might not die by an assassin's hand - A death unlooked-for, and thus leave the land - A weight of guilt perpetual: and 'tis fit - That one who meets such kindness should return, - *From his heart's depths, a nobler gratitude; - And add ye this to all already written, - Your father's many maxims of true wisdom, - That we, though strangers, may in time be known; 970 - For as to aliens each man's tongue is apt - For evil, and spreads slander thoughtlessly; - But ye, I charge you, see ye shame me not, - With this your life's bloom drawing all men's eyes. - The goodly vintage is full hard to watch, - All men and beasts make fearful havoc of it, - Nay, birds that fly, and creeping things of earth; - And Kypris offers fruitage, dropping ripe, - *As prey to wandering lust, nor lets it stay;[266] - And on the goodly comeliness of maidens 980 - Each passer-by, o'ercome with hot desire, - Darts forth the amorous arrows of the eye. - And therefore let us suffer nought of this, - Through which our ship has ploughed such width of sea, - Such width of trouble; neither let us work - Shame to ourselves, and pleasure to our foes. - This twofold choice of home is open to you: - [Pelasgos offers his, the city theirs,] - To dwell rent-free. Full easy terms are these: - Only, I charge you, keep your father's precepts, - Prizing as more than life your chastity. 990 - - _Chor._ May the high Gods that on Olympos dwell - Bless us in all things; but for this our vintage - Be of good cheer, my father; for unless - The counsels of the Gods work strange device, - I will not leave my spirit's former path. - - - STROPHE I - - _Semi-Chor. A_. Go then and make ye glad the high Gods, blessed for - ever, - Those who rule our towns, and those who watch over our city, - And they who dwell by the stream of Erasinos ancient.[267] - - _Semi-Chor. B_. And ye, companions true, - Take up your strain of song. 1000 - Let praise attend this city of Pelasgos; - Let us no more, no more adore the mouths of Neilos - With these our hymns of praise; - - - ANTISTROPHE I - - _Semi-Chor. A_. Nay, but the rivers here that pour calm streams through - our country,[268] - Parents of many a son, making glad the soil of our meadows, - With wide flood rolling on, in full and abounding richness. - - _Semi-Chor. B_. And Artemis the chaste, - May she behold our band 1010 - With pity; ne'er be marriage rites enforcèd - On us by Kythereia: those who hate us, - Let that ill prize be theirs. - - - STROPHE II - - _Semi-Chor. A_. Not that our kindly strain does slight to Kypris - immortal; - For she, together with Hera, as nearest to Zeus is mighty, - A goddess of subtle thoughts, she is honoured in mysteries solemn. - - _Semi-Chor. B_. Yea, as associates too with that their mother - belovèd,1020 - Are fair Desire and Suasion,[269] whose pleading no man can gainsay, - Yea, to sweet Concord too Aphrodite's power is entrusted, - *And the whispering paths of the Loves. - - - ANTISTROPHE II - - _Semi-Chor. A_. Yet am I sore afraid of the ship that chases us - wanderers, - Of terrible sorrows, and wars that are bloody and hateful; - *Why else have they had fair gale for this their eager pursuing?1030 - - _Semi-Chor. B_. Whate'er is decreed of us, I know that it needs must - happen; - The mighty purpose of Zeus, unfailing, admits no transgression: - *May this fate come to us, as to many women before us, - *Fate of marriage and spouse! - - - STROPHE III - - _Semi-Chor. A_. Ah, may great Zeus avert - From me all marriage with Ægyptos' sons! - - _Semi-Chor. B_. Nay, all will work for good. - - _Semi-Chor. A_. Thou glozest that which will no glozing bear.1040 - - _Semi-Chor. B_. And thou know'st not what future comes to us. - - - ANTISTROPHE III - - _Semi-Chor. A_. How can I read the mind - Of mightiest Zeus, to sight all fathomless? - - _Semi-Chor. B_. Well-tempered be thy speech! - - _Semi-Chor. A_. What mood of calmnesss wilt thou school me in? - - _Semi-Chor. B_. Be not o'er-rash in what concerns the Gods. - - - STROPHE IV - - _Semi-Chor. A_. Nay, may our great king Zeus avert that marriage - With husbands whom we hate, - E'en He who, touching her with healing hand, - Freed Io from her pain, - Putting an end from all her wanderings, - Working with kindly force! 1050 - - - ANTISTROPHE IV - - _Semi-Chor. B_. And may He give the victory to women! - I choose the better part, - Though mixed with ill; and that the trial end - Justly, as I have prayed, - By means of subtle counsels which God gives - To liberate from ills.[270] - - - - - ÆSCHYLOS - - ------ - -Footnote 206: - - The daughters of Danaos are always represented as fifty in number. It - seems probable, however, that the vocal chorus was limited to twelve, - the others appearing as mutes. - -Footnote 207: - - The alluvial deposit of the Delta. - -Footnote 208: - - Syria is used obviously with a certain geographical vagueness, as - including all that we know as Palestine, and the wilderness to the - south of it, and so as conterminous with Egypt. - -Footnote 209: - - Elsewhere in Æschylos (_Agam._ 33, _Fr._ 132) we trace allusion to - games played with dice. Here we have a reference to one, the details - of which are not accurately known to us, but which seems to have been - analogous to draughts or chess. - -Footnote 210: - - See the whole story, given as in prophecy, in the _Prometheus_, v. - 865-880. - -Footnote 211: - - The invocation is addressed—(1) to the Olympian Gods in the brightness - of heaven; (2) to the Chthonian deities in the darkness below the - earth; (3) to Zeus, the preserver, as the supreme Lord of both. - -Footnote 212: - - An Athenian audience would probably recognise in this a description of - the swampy meadows near the coast of Lerna. The descendants of Io had - come to the very spot where the tragic history of their ancestors had - had its origin. - -Footnote 213: - - The invocation passes on to Epaphos, as a guardian deity able and - willing to succour his afflicted children. - -Footnote 214: - - Philomela. See the tale as given in the notes to _Agam._ 1113. - -Footnote 215: - - “Streams,” as flowing through the shady solitude of the groves which - the nightingale frequented. - -Footnote 216: - - “Ionian,” as soft and elegiac, in contrast with the more military - character of Dorian music. - -Footnote 217: - - In the Greek the _paronomasia_ turns upon the supposed etymological - connection between θεὸς and τιθήμι. I have here, as elsewhere, - attempted an analogous rather than identical _jeu de mot_. - -Footnote 218: - - The Greek word which I have translated “bluff” was one not familiar to - Attic ears, and was believed to be of Kyrenean origin. Æschylos - accordingly puts it into the lips of the daughters of Danaos, as - characteristic more or less of the “alien speech” of the land from - which they came. - -Footnote 219: - - So in v. 235 Danaos speaks of the “second Zeus” who sits as Judge in - Hades. The feeling to which the Chorus gives utterance is that of— - - “Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo.” - -Footnote 220: - - Some mound dedicated to the Gods, with one or more altars and statues - of the Gods on it, is on the stage, and the suppliants are told to - take up their places there. The Gods of conflict who are named below, - Zeus, Apollo, Poseidon, presided generally over the three great games - of Greece. Hermes is added to the list. - -Footnote 221: - - Comp. _Libation-Pourers_, 1024, _Eumen._ 44. - -Footnote 222: - - The Argives are supposed to share the love of brevity which we - commonly connect with their neighbours the Laconians. - -Footnote 223: - - The “mighty bird of Zeus” seems here, from the answer of the Chorus, - to mean not the “eagle” but the “sun,” which roused men from their - sleep as the cock did, so that “cockcrow” and “sunrise” were - synonymous. It is, in any case, striking that Zeus, rather than - Apollo, appears as the Sun-God. - -Footnote 224: - - The words refer to the myth of Apollo's banishment from heaven and - servitude under Admetos. - -Footnote 225: - - In the Acropolis at Athens the impress of a trident was seen on the - rock, and was believed to commemorate the time when Poseidon had - claimed it as his own by setting up his weapon there. Something of the - same kind seems here to be supposed to exist at Argos, where a like - legend prevailed. - -Footnote 226: - - The Hellenic Hermes is distinguished from his Egyptian counterpart, - Thoth, as being different in form and accessories. - -Footnote 227: - - A possible reference to the Egyptian Osiris, as lord or judge of - Hades. Comp. v. 145. - -Footnote 228: - - “Shall I,” the Chorus asks, “speak to you as a private citizen, or as - a herald, or as a king?” - -Footnote 229: - - It would appear from this that the king himself bore the name - Pelasgos. In some versions of the story he is so designated. - -Footnote 230: - - The lines contain a tradition of the wide extent of the old Pelasgic - rule, including Thessalia, or the Pelasgic Argos, between the mouths - of Peneus and Pindos, Perrhæbia, Dodona, and finally the Apian land or - Peloponnesos. - -Footnote 231: - - The true meaning of the word “Apian,” as applied to the Peloponnesos, - seems to have been “distant.” Here the myth is followed which - represented it as connected with Apis the son of Telchin (son of - Apollo, in the sense of being a physician-prophet), who had freed the - land from monsters. - -Footnote 232: - - The description would seem to indicate—(1) that the daughter of Danaos - appeared on the stage as of swarthy complexion; and (2) that Indians, - Æthiopians, Kyprians, and Amazons, were all thought of as in this - respect alike. - -Footnote 233: - - The line is conjectural, but some question of this kind is implied in - the answer of the Chorus. - -Footnote 234: - - By sacrificing personal likings to schemes of ambition, men and women - contract marriages which increase their power. - -Footnote 235: - - The Gods of conflict are the pilots of the ship of the State. The - altar dedicated to them is as its stern: the garlands and wands of - suppliants which adorn it are as the decorations of the vessels. - -Footnote 236: - - Some editors have seen in this an attempt to enlist the constitutional - sympathies of an Athenian audience in favour of the Argive king, who - will not act without consulting his assembly. There seems more reason - to think that the aim of the dramatist was in precisely the opposite - direction, and that the words which follow set forth his admiration - for the king who can act, as compared with one who is tied and - hampered by restrictions. - -Footnote 237: - - By an Attic law, analogous in principle to that of the Jews, (Num. - xxxvi. 8; 1 Chron. xxiii. 22), heiresses were absolutely bound to - marry their next of kin, if he claimed his right. The king at once - asserts this as the law which was _primâ facie_ applicable to the - case, and declares himself ready to surrender it if the petitioners - can show that their own municipal law is on the other side. He will - not thrust his country's customs upon foreigners, who can prove that - they live under a different rule, but in the absence of evidence must - act on the law which he is bound officially to recognise. - -Footnote 238: - - _Sc._, the pollution which the statues of the Gods would contract if - they carried into execution their threat of suicide. - -Footnote 239: - - Inachos, the river-God of Argos, and as such contrasted with Neilos. - -Footnote 240: - - _i.e._, “Unconsecrate,” marked out by no barriers, accessible to all, - and therefore seeming to offer but little prospect of a safe asylum. - The place described seems to have been an open piece of turf rather - than a grove of trees. - -Footnote 241: - - Comp. the narrative as given in _Prometheus Bound_, vv. 660, _et seq._ - -Footnote 242: - - Teuthras' fort, or Teuthrania, is described by Strabo (xii. p. 571) as - lying between the Hellespont and Mount Sipylos, in Magnesia. - -Footnote 243: - - Kypros, as dedicated to the worship of Aphrodite, and famous for its - wine, and oil, and corn. - -Footnote 244: - - The question, what caused the mysterious exceptional inundations of - the Nile, occupied, as we see from Herodotos (ii. c. 19-27), the minds - of the Greeks. Of the four theories which the historian discusses, - Æschylos adopts that which referred it to the melting of the snows on - the mountains of central Africa. - -Footnote 245: - - Typhon, the mythical embodiment of the power of evil, was fabled to - have wandered over Egypt, seeking the body of Osiris. Isis, to baffle - him, placed coffins in all parts of Egypt, all empty but the one which - contained the body. - -Footnote 246: - - The fame of the Nile for the purity of its water, after the earthy - matter held in solution had been deposited, seems to have been as - great in the earliest periods of its history as it is now. - -Footnote 247: - - Io was represented as a woman with a heifer's head, and was probably a - symbolic representation of the moon, with her crescent horns. - Sometimes the transformation is described (as in v. 294) in words - which imply a more thorough change. - -Footnote 248: - - Perhaps— - - “For not as subject sitting 'neath the sway - Of strength above his own.” - -Footnote 249: - - The passage takes its place among the noblest utterances of a faith - passing above the popular polytheism to the thought of one sovereign - Will ruling and guiding all things, as Will—without effort, in the - calmness of a power irresistible. - -Footnote 250: - - Double, as involving a sin against the laws of hospitality, so far as - the suppliants were strangers—a sin against the laws of kindred, so - far as they might claim by descent the rights of citizenship. - -Footnote 251: - - If, as has been conjectured, the tragedy was written with a view to - the alliance between Argos and Athens, made in B.C. 461, this choral - ode must have been the centre, if not of the dramatic, at all events - of the political interest of the play. - -Footnote 252: - - The image is that of a bird of evil omen, perched upon the roof, and - defiling the house, while it uttered its boding cries. - -Footnote 253: - - The suppliants' boughs, so held as to shade the face from view. - -Footnote 254: - - The name of Hecate connected Artemis as, on the one side, with the - unseen world of Hades, so, on the other, with childbirth, and the - purifications that followed on it. - -Footnote 255: - - The name of Lykeian, originally, perhaps, simply representing Apollo - as the God of Light, came afterwards to be associated with the might - of destruction (the Wolf-destroyer) and the darts of pestilence and - sudden death. The prayer is therefore that he, the Destroyer, may - hearken to the suppliants, and spare the people for whom they pray. - -Footnote 256: - - The “three great laws” were those ascribed to Triptolemos, “to honour - parents, to worship the Gods with the fruits of the earth, to hurt - neither man nor beast.” - -Footnote 257: - - The Egyptian ships, like those of many other Eastern countries, had - eyes (the eyes of Osiris, as they were called) painted on their bows. - -Footnote 258: - - A side-thrust, directed by the poet, who had fought at Marathon, - against the growing effeminacy of the Athenian youth, many of whom - were learning to shrink from all activity and exposure that might - spoil their complexions. Comp. Plato, _Phædros_, p. 239. - -Footnote 259: - - The saying is somewhat dark, but the meaning seems to be that if the - “dogs” of Egypt are strong, the “wolves” of Argos are stronger; that - the wheat on which the Hellenes lived gave greater strength to limbs - and sinew than the “byblos fruit” on which the Egyptian soldiers and - sailors habitually lived. Some writers, however, have seen in the last - line, rendered— - - “The byblos fruit not always bears full ear,” - - a proverb like the English, - - “There's many a slip - 'Twixt the cup and the lip.” - -Footnote 260: - - The words recall the vision of the “seven well-favoured kine and - fat-fleshed,” which “came out of the river,” as Pharaoh dreamed (Gen. - xli. 1, 2), and which were associated so closely with the fertility - which it ordinarily produced through the whole extent of the valley of - the Nile. - -Footnote 261: - - Two dangerous low headlands seem to have been known by this name, one - on the coast of Kilikia, the other on that of the Thrakian Chersonese. - -Footnote 262: - - No traces of ships of this structure are found in Egyptian art; but, - if the reading be right, it implies the existence of boats of some - kind, so built that they could be steered from either end. - -Footnote 263: - - Hermes, the guardian deity of heralds, is here described by the - epithet which marked him out as being also the patron of detectives. - Every stranger arriving in a Greek port had to place himself under a - _proxenos_ or patron of some kind. The herald, having no _proxenos_ - among the citizens, appeals to his patron deity. - -Footnote 264: - - The words refer to the custom of nailing decrees, proclamations, - treaties, and the like, engraved on metal or marble, upon the walls of - temples or public buildings. Traces of the same idea may possibly be - found in the promise to Eliakim that he shall be “as a nail in a sure - place” (Isa. xxii. 23), in the thanksgiving of Ezra that God had given - His people “a nail in his holy place” (Ezra ix. 8). - -Footnote 265: - - As before, the bread of the Hellenes was praised to the disparagement - of the “byblos fruit” of Egypt, so here their wine to that of the - Egyptian beer, which was the ordinary drink of the lower classes. - -Footnote 266: - - The words present a striking parallelism to the erotic imagery of the - _Song of Solomon_: “Take us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil our - vines, for our vines have tender grapes.” (ii. 15). - -Footnote 267: - - The Erasinos was supposed to rise in Arcadia, in Mount Stymphalos, to - disappear below the earth, and to come to sight again in Argolis. - -Footnote 268: - - In this final choral ode of the _Suppliants_, as in that of the _Seven - against Thebes_, we have the phenomenon of the division of the Chorus, - hitherto united, into two sections of divergent thought and purpose. - Semi-Chorus A. remains steadfast in its purpose of perpetual - virginity; Semi-Chorus B. relents, and is ready to accept wedlock. - -Footnote 269: - - The two names were closely connected in the local worship of Athens, - the temples of Aphrodite and Peitho (Suasion) standing at the - south-west angle of the Acropolis. If any special purpose is to be - traced in the invocation, we may see it in the poet's desire to bring - out the nobler, more ethical side of Aphrodite's attributes, in - contrast with the growing tendency to look on her as simply the - patroness of brutal lust. - -Footnote 270: - - The play, as acted, formed part of a trilogy, and the next play, the - _Danaids_, probably contained the sequel of the story, the acceptance - by the Suppliants of the sons of Ægyptos in marriage, the plot of - Danaos for the destruction of the bridegrooms on the wedding-night, - and the execution of the deed of blood by all but Hypermnestra. - - - - - AGAMEMNON - - - DRAMATIS PERSONÆ - - _Watchman_ - CLYTÆMNESTRA - AGAMEMNON - _Chorus of Argive Elders_ - _Herald_ (TALTHYBIOS) - CASSANDRA - ÆGISTHOS - - -_ARGUMENT.—Ten years had passed since Agamemnon, son of Atreus, king of -Mykenæ, had led the Hellenes to Troïa to take vengeance on Alexandros -(also known as Paris), son of Priam. For Paris had basely wronged -Menelaos, king of Sparta, Agamemnon's brother, in that, being received -by him as a guest, he enticed his wife Helena to leave her lord and go -with him to Troïa. And now the tenth year had come, and Paris was slain, -and the city of the Troïans was taken and destroyed, and Agamemnon and -the Hellenes were on their way homeward with the spoil and prisoners -they had taken. But meanwhile Clytæmnestra too, Agamemnon's queen, had -been unfaithful, and had taken as her paramour Ægisthos, son of that -Thyestes whom Atreus, his brother, had made to eat, unknowing, of the -flesh of his own children. And now, partly led by her adulterer, and -partly seeking to avenge the death of her daughter Iphigeneia, whom -Agamemnon had sacrificed to appease the wrath of Artemis, and partly -also jealous because he was bringing back Cassandra, the daughter of -Priam, as his concubine, she plotted with Ægisthos against her husband's -life. But this was done secretly, and she stationed a guard on the roof -of the royal palace to give notice when he saw the beacon-fires, by -which Agamemnon had promised that he would send tidings that Troïa was -taken._ - -_Note._—The unfaithfulness of Clytæmnestra and the murder of Agamemnon -had entered into the Homeric cycle of the legends of the house of -Atreus. In the _Odyssey_, however, Ægisthos is the chief agent in this -crime (_Odyss._ iii. 264, iv. 91, 532, xi. 409); and the manner of it -differs from that which Æschylos has adopted. Clytæmnestra first appears -as slaying both her husband and Cassandra in Pindar (_Pyth._ xi. 26). - - - SCENE.—Argos. _The Palace of_ AGAMEMNON; _statues of the Gods - in front. Watchman on the roof. Time, night._ - - _Watchman._ I ask the Gods a respite from these toils, - This keeping at my post the whole year round, - Wherein, upon the Atreidæ's roof reclined, - Like dog, upon my elbow, I have learnt - To know night's goodly company of stars, - And those bright lords that deck the firmament, - And winter bring to men, and harvest-tide; - [The rising and the setting of the stars.] - And now I watch for sign of beacon-torch, - The flash of fire that bringeth news from Troïa, - And tidings of its capture. So prevails - *A woman's manly-purposed, hoping heart; 10 - And when I keep my bed of little ease, - Drenched with the dew, unvisited by dreams, - (For fear, instead of sleep, my comrade is, - So that in sound sleep ne'er I close mine eyes,) - And when I think to sing a tune, or hum, - (My medicine of song to ward off sleep,) - Then weep I, wailing for this house's chance, - No more, as erst, right well administered. - Well! may I now find blest release from toils, 20 - When fire from out the dark brings tidings good. - - [_Pauses, then springs up suddenly, seeing a - light in the distance_ - - Hail! thou torch-bearer of the night, that shedd'st - Light as of morn, and bringest full array - Of many choral bands in Argos met, - Because of this success. Hurrah! hurrah! - So clearly tell I Agamemnon's queen, - With all speed rising from her couch to raise - Shrill cry of triumph o'er this beacon-fire - Throughout the house, since Ilion's citadel - Is taken, as full well that bright blaze shows. 30 - I, for my part, will dance my prelude now; - - [_Leaps and dances_ - - For I shall score my lord's new turn of luck, - This beacon-blaze may throw of triple six.[271] - Well, would that I with this mine hand may touch - The dear hand of our king when he comes home! - As to all else, the word is “Hush!” An ox[272] - Rests on my tongue; had the house a voice - 'Twould tell too clear a tale. I'm fain to speak - To those who know, forget with those who know not. - - [_Exit_ - - _Enter Chorus of twelve Argive elders, chanting as they march to take - up their position in the centre of the stage. A procession of - women bearing torches is seen in the distance_ - - Lo! the tenth year now is passing 40 - Since, of Priam great avengers, - Menelaos, Agamemnon, - Double-throned and doubled-sceptred, - Power from sovran Zeus deriving— - Mighty pair of the Atreidæ— - Raised a fleet of thousand vessels - Of the Argives from our country, - Potent helpers in their warfare, - Shouting cry of Ares fiercely; - E'en as vultures shriek who hover, - Wheeling, whirling o'er their eyrie, 50 - In wild sorrow for their nestlings, - With their oars of stout wings rowing, - Having lost the toil that bound them - To their callow fledglings' couches. - But on high One,—or Apollo, - Zeus, or Pan,—the shrill cry hearing, - Cry of birds that are his clients,[273] - Sendeth forth on men transgressing, - Erinnys, slow but sure avenger; - So against young Alexandros[274] - Atreus' sons the great King sendeth, - Zeus, of host and guest protector: 60 - He, for bride with many a lover, - Will to Danai give and Troïans - Many conflicts, men's limbs straining, - When the knee in dust is crouching, - And the spear-shaft in the onset - Of the battle snaps asunder. - But as things are now, so are they, - So, as destined, shall the end be. - Nor by tears, nor yet libations - Shall he soothe the wrath unbending - Caused by sacred rites left fireless.[275] 70 - We, with old frame little honoured, - Left behind that host are staying, - Resting strength that equals childhood's - On our staff: for in the bosom - *Of the boy, life's young sap rushing, - Is of old age but the equal; - Ares not as yet is found there: - And the man in age exceeding, - When the leaf is sere and withered, - Goes with three feet on his journey;[276] 80 - Not more Ares-like than boyhood, - Like a day-seen dream he wanders. - - [_Enter_ CLYTÆMNESTRA, _followed by the procession - of torch-bearers_ - - Thou, of Tyndareus the daughter, - Queen of Argos, Clytæmnestra, - What has happened? what news cometh? - What perceiving, on what tidings - Leaning, dost thou put in motion - All this solemn, great procession? - Of the Gods who guard the city, - Those above and those beneath us, - Of the heaven, and of the market, 90 - Lo! with thy gifts blaze the altars; - And through all the expanse of Heaven, - Here and there, the torch-fire rises, - With the flowing, pure persuasion - Of the holy unguent nourished, - *And the chrism rich and kingly - From the treasure-store's recesses. - Telling what of this thou canst tell, - What is right for thee to utter, - Be a healer of my trouble, - Trouble now my soul disturbing, 100 - *While anon fond hope displaying - Sacrificial signs propitious, - Wards off care that no rest knoweth, - Sorrow mind and heart corroding. - - [_The Chorus, taking their places round the central - thymele, begin their song_[277] - - - STROPHE - - Able am I to utter, setting forth - The might from omens sprung - *What met the heroes as they journeyed on, - (For still, by God's great gift, - My age, yet linked with strength, - *Breathes suasive power of song,) - How the Achæans' twin-throned majesty, - Accordant rulers of the youth of Hellas, 110 - With spear and vengeful hand, - Were sent by fierce, strong bird 'gainst Teucrian shore, - Kings of the birds to kings of ships appearing, - One black, with white tail one, - Near to the palace, on the spear-hand side, - On station seen of all, - A pregnant hare devouring with her young, - Robbed of all runs to come: - Wail as for Linos, wail, wail bitterly, - And yet may good prevail![278] 120 - - - ANTISTROPHE - - And the wise prophet of the army seeing - The brave Atreidæ twain - Of diverse mood, knew those that tore the hare, - And those that led the host; - And thus divining spake: - “One day this armament - Shall Priam's city sack, and all the herds - Owned by the people, countless, by the towers, - Fate shall with force lay low. - Only take heed lest any wrath of Gods 130 - Blunt the great curb of Troïa yet encamped, - Struck down before its time; - For Artemis the chaste that house doth hate, - Her father's wingèd hounds, - Who slay the mother with her unborn young, - And loathes the eagles' feast. - Wail as for Linos, wail, wail bitterly; - And yet may good prevail! - - - EPODE - - “*For she, the fair One, though so kind of heart - *To fresh-dropt dew from mighty lion's womb,[279] - And young that suck the teats - Of all that roam the fields, 140 - *Yet prays Him bring to pass - The portents of those birds, - The omens good yet also full of dread. - And Pæan I invoke - As Healer, lest she on the Danai send - Delays that keep the ships - Long time with hostile blasts, - So urging on a new, strange sacrifice, - Unblest, unfestivalled,[280] - By natural growth artificer of strife, - Bearing far other fruit than wife's true fear, - For there abideth yet, - Fearful, recurring still, - Ruling the house, full subtle, unforgetting, - Vengeance for children slain.”[281] 150 - Such things, with great good mingled, Calchas spake, - In voice that pierced the air, - As destined by the birds that crossed our path - To this our kingly house: - And in accord with them, - Wail as for Linos, wail, wail bitterly; - And yet may good prevail. - - - STROPHE I - - O Zeus—whate'er He be,[282] - If that Name please Him well, - By that on Him I call: - Weighing all other names I fail to guess - Aught else but Zeus, if I would cast aside, - Clearly, in every deed, - From off my soul this idle weight of care. 160 - - - ANTISTROPHE I - - Nor He who erst was great,[283] - Full of the might to war, - *Avails now; He is gone; - And He who next came hath departed too, - His victor meeting; but if one to Zeus, - High triumph-praise should sing, - His shall be all the wisdom of the wise; - - - STROPHE II - - Yea, Zeus, who leadeth men in wisdom's way, 170 - And fixeth fast the law, - That pain is gain; - And slowly dropping on the heart in sleep - Comes woe-recording care, - And makes the unwilling yield to wiser thoughts: - And doubtless this too comes from grace of Gods, - *Seated in might upon their awful thrones. - - - ANTISTROPHE II - - And then of those Achæan ships the chief,[284] - The elder, blaming not - Or seer or priest; - But tempered to the fate that on him smote.... 180 - When that Achæan host - Were vexed with adverse winds and failing stores, - Still kept where Chalkis in the distance lies, - And the vexed waves in Aulis ebb and flow; - - - STROPHE III - - And breezes from the Strymon sweeping down, - Breeding delays and hunger, driving forth - Our men in wandering course, - On seas without a port. - Sparing nor ships, nor rope, nor sailing gear, - With doubled months wore down the Argive host; 190 - And when, for that wild storm, - Of one more charm far harder for our chiefs - The prophet told, and spake of Artemis,[285] - In tone so piercing shrill, - The Atreidæ smote their staves upon the ground, - And could not stay their tears. - - - ANTISTROPHE III - - And then the old king lifted up his voice, - And spake, “Great woe it is to disobey; - Great too to slay my child, 200 - The pride and joy of home, - Polluting with the streams of maiden's blood - Her father's hands upon the altar steps. - What course is free from ill? - How lose my ships and fail of mine allies? - 'Tis meet that they with strong desire should seek - A rite the winds to soothe, - E'en though it be with blood of maiden pure; - May all end well at last!” 210 - - - STROPHE III - - So when he himself had harnessed - To the yoke of Fate unbending, - With a blast of strange, new feeling, - Sweeping o'er his heart and spirit, - Aweless, godless, and unholy, - He his thoughts and purpose altered - To full measure of all daring, - (Still base counsel's fatal frenzy, - Wretched primal source of evils, - Gives to mortal hearts strange boldness,) - And at last his heart he hardened - His own child to slay as victim, - Help in war that they were waging, - To avenge a woman's frailty, - Victim for the good ship's safety. - - - ANTISTROPHE III - - All her prayers and eager callings, 220 - On the tender name of Father, - All her young and maiden freshness, - They but set at nought, those rulers, - In their passion for the battle. - And her father gave commandment - To the servants of the Goddess, - When the prayer was o'er, to lift her, - Like a kid, above the altar, - In her garments wrapt, face downwards,—[286] - Yea, to seize with all their courage, - And that o'er her lips of beauty - Should be set a watch to hinder - Words of curse against the houses, - With the gag's strength silence-working.[287] - - - STROPHE IV - - And she upon the ground - Pouring rich folds of veil in saffron dyed, 230 - Cast at each one of those who sacrificed - A piteous glance that pierced, - Fair as a pictured form;[288] - And wishing,—all in vain,— - To speak; for oftentimes - In those her father's hospitable halls - She sang, a maiden pure with chastest song, - *And her dear father's life - That poured its threefold cup of praise to God,[289] - Crowned with all choicest good, - She with a daughter's love - Was wont to celebrate. - - - ANTISTROPHE IV - - What then ensued mine eyes - Saw not, nor may I tell, but Calchas' arts 240 - Were found not fruitless. Justice turns the scale - For those to whom through pain - At last comes wisdom's gain. - *But for our future fate, - *Since help for it is none, - *Good-bye to it before it comes, and this - Has the same end as wailing premature; - For with to-morrow's dawn - It will come clear; may good luck crown our fate! - So prays the one true guard, - Nearest and dearest found, - Of this our Apian land.[290] - - [_The Chief of the Chorus turns to_ CLYTÆMNESTRA, _and - her train of handmaids, who are seen - approaching_ - - _Chor._ I come, O Clytæmnestra, honouring - Thy majesty: 'tis meet to pay respect - To a chief's wife, the man's throne empty left: 250 - But whether thou hast heard good news, or else - In hopes of tidings glad dost sacrifice, - I fain would hear, yet will not silence blame. - - _Clytæm._ May Morning, as the proverb runs, appear - Bearing glad tidings from his mother Night![291] - Joy thou shalt learn beyond thy hope to hear; - For Argives now have taken Priam's city. - - _Chor._ What? Thy words sound so strange they flit by me. - - _Clytæm._ The Achæans hold Troïa. Speak I clear enough? 260 - - _Chor._ Joy creeps upon me, drawing forth my tears. - - _Clytæm._ Of loyal heart thine eyes give token true. - - _Chor._ What witness sure hast thou of these events? - - _Clytæm._ Full clear (how else?) unless the God deceive.[292] - - _Chor._ Reliest thou on dreams or visions seen? - - _Clytæm._ I place no trust in mind weighed down with sleep.[293] - - _Chor._ Hath then some wingless omen charmed thy soul?[294] - - _Clytæm._ My mind thou scorn'st, as though 'twere but a girl's. - - _Chor._ What time has passed since they the city sacked? - - _Clytæm._ This very night, the mother of this morn. 270 - - _Chor._ What herald could arrive with speed like this? - - _Clytæm._ Hephæstos flashing forth bright flames from Ida: - Beacon to beacon from that courier-fire - Sent on its tidings; Ida to the rock[295] - Hermæan named, in Lemnos: from the isle - The height of Athos, dear to Zeus, received - A third great torch of flame, and lifted up, - So as on high to skim the broad sea's back, - The stalwart fire rejoicing went its way; - The pine-wood, like a sun, sent forth its light - Of golden radiance to Makistos' watch; 280 - And he, with no delay, nor unawares - Conquered by sleep, performed his courier's part: - Far off the torch-light, to Eurîpos' straits - Advancing, tells it to Messapion's guards: - They, in their turn, lit up and passed it on, - Kindling a pile of dry and aged heath. - Still strong and fresh the torch, not yet grown dim, - Leaping across Asôpos' plain in guise - Like a bright moon, towards Kithæron's rock, - Roused the next station of the courier flame. 290 - And that far-travelled light the sentries there - Refused not, burning more than all yet named: - And then the light swooped o'er Gorgôpis' lake, - And passing on to Ægiplanctos' mount, - Bade the bright fire's due order tarry not; - And they, enkindling boundless store, send on - A mighty beard of flame, and then it passed - The headland e'en that looks on Saron's gulf, - Still blazing. On it swept, until it came - To Arachnæan heights, the watch-tower near; 300 - Then here on the Atreidæ's roof it swoops, - This light, of Ida's fire no doubtful heir. - Such is the order of my torch-race games; - One from another taking up the course,[296] - But here the winner is both first and last; - And this sure proof and token now I tell thee, - Seeing that my lord hath sent it me from Troïa. - - _Chor._ I to the Gods, O Queen, will pray hereafter, - But fain would I hear all thy tale again, - E'en as thou tell'st, and satiate my wonder. 310 - - _Clytæm._ This very day the Achæans Troïa hold. - I trow full diverse cry pervades the town: - Pour in the same vase vinegar and oil, - *And you would call them enemies, not friends; - And so from conquerors and from captives now - The cries of varied fortune one may hear. - For these, low-fallen on the carcases - Of husbands and of brothers, children too - By aged fathers, mourn their dear ones' death, - And that with throats that are no longer free. 320 - And those the hungry toil of sleepless guard, - After the battle, at their breakfast sets; - Not billeted in order fixed and clear, - But just as each his own chance fortune grasps, - They in the captive houses of the Troïans - Dwell, freed at last from all the night's chill frosts, - And dews of heaven, for now, poor wretches, they - Will sleep all night without the sentry's watch; - And if they reverence well the guardian Gods - Of that new-conquered country, and their shrines, 330 - Then they, the captors, will not captured be. - Ah! let no evil lust attack the host - Conquered by greed, to plunder what they ought not: - For yet they need return in safety home, - Doubling the goal to run their backward race.[297] - *But should the host come sinning 'gainst the Gods, - Then would the curse of those that perishèd - Be watchful, e'en though no quick ill might fall. - Such thoughts are mine, mere woman though I be. - May good prevail beyond all doubtful chance! 340 - For I have got the blessing of great joy. - - _Chor._ Thou, lady, kindly, like a sage, dost speak, - And I, on hearing thy sure evidence, - Prepare myself to give the Gods due thanks; - For they have wrought full meed for all our toil. - - [_Exit_ CLYTÆM. _with her train_ - - O Zeus our King! O Night beloved, - Mighty winner of great glories, - Who upon the towers of Troïa - Casted'st snare of closest meshes, - So that none full-grown or youthful 350 - Could o'erleap the net of bondage, - Woe of universal capture;— - Zeus, of host and guest protector, - Who hath brought these things, I worship; - He long since on Alexandros - Stretched his bow that so his arrow - Might not sweep at random, missing, - Or beyond the stars shoot idly. - - - STROPHE I - - Yes, one may say, 'tis Zeus whose blow they feel; - This one may clearly trace: - They fared as He decreed: - Yea, one there was who said, 360 - “The Gods deign not to care for mortal men[298] - By whom the grace of things inviolable - Is trampled under foot.” - No fear of God had he: - *Now is it to the children manifest[299] - Of those who, overbold, - Breathed rebel War beyond the bounds of Right, - Their houses overfilled with precious store - *Above the golden mean. - *Ah! let our life be free from all that hurts, 370 - So that for one who gains - Wisdom in heart and soul, - That lot may be enough. - Since still there is no bulwark strong in wealth - Against destruction's doom, - For one who in the pride of wantonness - Spurns the great altar of the Right and Just. - - - ANTISTROPHE I - - Him woeful, subtle Impulse urges on, - Resistless in her might, - Atè's far-scheming child: - All remedy is vain. - It is not hidden, but is manifest, - That mischief with its horrid gleaming light; 380 - And, like to worthless bronze,[300] - By friction tried and tests, - It turns to tarnished blackness in its hue: - Since, boy-like, he pursues - A bird upon its flight, and so doth bring - Upon his city shame intolerable: - And no God hears his prayer, - But bringeth low the unjust, - Who deals with deeds like this. - Thus Paris came to the Atreidæ's home, 390 - And stole its queen away, - And so left brand of shame indelible - Upon the board where host and guest had sat. - - - STROPHE II - - She, leaving to her countrymen at home - Wild din of spear and shield and ships of war, - And bringing, as her dower, - To Ilion doom of death, - Passed very swiftly through the palace gates, - Daring what none should dare; - And many a wailing cry - They raised, the minstrel prophets of the house, - “Woe for that kingly home! - Woe for that kingly home and for its chiefs! 400 - Woe for the marriage-bed and traces left - Of wife who loved her lord!” - *There stands he silent; foully wronged and yet - *Uttering no word of scorn,[301] - *In deepest woe perceiving she is gone; - And in his yearning love - For one beyond the sea, - A ghost shall seem to queen it o'er the house; - The grace of sculptured forms[302] - Is loathèd by her lord, - And in the penury of life's bright eyes - All Aphroditè's charm - To utter wreck has gone. - - - ANTISTROPHE II - - And phantom shades that hover round in dreams 410 - Come full of sorrow, bringing vain delight; - For vain it is, when one - Sees seeming shows of good, - And gliding through his hands the dream is gone, - After a moment's space, - On wings that follow still - Upon the path where sleep goes to and fro. - Such are the woes at home - Upon the altar hearth, and worse than these. - But on a wider scale for those who went - From Hellas' ancient shore, - A sore distress that causeth pain of heart 420 - Is seen in every house. - Yea, many things there are that touch the quick: - For those whom each did send - He knoweth; but, instead - Of living men, there come to each man's home - Funeral urns alone, - And ashes of the dead. - - - STROPHE III - - For Ares, trafficking for golden coin - The lifeless shapes of men, - And in the rush of battle holding scales, - Sends now from Ilion - Dust from the funeral pyre, - A burden sore to loving friends at home, - And bitterly bewailed, - Filling the brazen urn - With well-smoothed ashes in the place of men; 430 - And with high praise they mourn - This hero skilled and valiant in the fight, - And that who in the battle nobly fell, - All for another's wife: - And other words some murmur secretly; - And jealous discontent - Against the Atreidæ, champions in the suit, - Creeps on all stealthily; - And some around the wall, - In full and goodly form have sepulture - There upon Ilion's soil, 440 - And their foes' land inters its conquerors. - - - ANTISTROPHE III - - And so the murmurs of their subjects rise - With sullen discontent, - And do the dread work of a people's curse; - And now my boding fear - Awaits some news of ill, - As yet enwrapt in blackness of the night. - Not heedless are the Gods - Of shedders of much blood, - And the dark-robed Erinnyes in due time, - By adverse chance of life, 450 - Place him who prospers in unrighteousness - In gloom obscure; and once among the unseen, - There is no help for him: - Fame in excess is but a perilous thing; - For on men's quivering eyes - Is hurled by Zeus the blinding thunderbolt. - I praise the good success - That rouses not God's wrath; - Ne'er be it mine a city to lay waste.[303] - Nor, as a prisoner, see - My life wear on beneath another's power! - - - EPODE - - And now at bidding of the courier flame, - The herald of good news, - A rumour swift spreads through the city streets, 460 - But who knows clearly whether it be true, - Or whether God has mingled lies with it? - Who is so childish or so reft of sense, - As with his heart a-glow - At that fresh uttered message of the flame, - Then to wax sad at changing rumour's sound? - It suits the mood that sways a woman's mind - To pour thanksgiving ere the truth is seen: - Quickly, with rapid steps, too credulous, - The limit which a woman sets to trust - Advances evermore;[304] - And with swift doom of death 470 - A rumour spread by woman perishes. - - [_As the Chorus ends, a Herald is seen approaching, - his head wreathed with olive_[305] - - Soon we shall know the sequence of the torches - Light-giving, and of all the beacon-fires, - If they be true; or if, as 'twere a dream, - This sweet light coming hath beguiled our minds. - I see a herald coming from the shore, - With olive boughs o'ershadowed, and the dust,[306] - Dry sister-twin of mire,[307] announces this, - That neither without voice, nor kindling blaze - Of wood upon the mountains, he will signal 480 - With smoke from fire, but either he will come, - With clear speech bidding us rejoice, or else ... [_pauses_ - The word opposed to this I much mislike. - Nay, may good issue good beginnings crown! - Who for our city utters other prayers, - May he himself his soul's great error reap! - - _Herald._ Hail, soil of this my Argive fatherland. - Now in the light of the tenth year I reach thee, - Though many hopes are shattered, gaining one. - For never did I think in Argive land - To die, and share the tomb that most I craved. 490 - Now hail! thou land; and hail! thou light of day: - Zeus our great ruler, and thou Pythian king, - No longer darting arrows from thy bow.[308] - Full hostile wast thou by Scamandros' banks, - Now be thou Saviour, yea, and Healer found, - O king Apollo! and the Gods of war, - These I invoke; my patron Hermes too, - Dear herald, whom all heralds reverence,— - Those heroes, too, that sent us,[309]—graciously - To welcome back the host that war has spared. 500 - Hail, O ye royal dwellings, home beloved! - Ye solemn thrones, and Gods who face the sun![310] - If e'er of old, with cheerful glances now - After long time receive our king's array. - For he is come, in darkness bringing light - To you and all, our monarch, Agamemnon. - Salute him with all grace; for so 'tis meet, - Since he hath dug up Troïa with the spade - Of Zeus the Avenger, and the plain laid waste; - Fallen their altars and the shrines of Gods; 510 - The seed of all the land is rooted out, - This yoke of bondage casting over Troïa, - Our chief, the elder of the Atreidæ, comes, - A man full blest, and worthiest of high honour - Of all that are. For neither Paris' self, - Nor his accomplice city now can boast - Their deed exceeds its punishment. For he, - Found guilty on the charge of rape and theft,[311] - Hath lost his prize and brought his father's house, - With lands and all, to waste and utter wreck; - And Priam's sons have double forfeit paid.[312] 520 - - _Chor._ Joy, joy, thou herald of the Achæan host! - - _Her._ All joy is mine: I shrink from death no more. - - _Chor._ Did love for this thy fatherland so try thee? - - _Her._ So that mine eyes weep tears for very joy,* - - _Chor._ Disease full sweet then this ye suffered from ... - - _Her._ How so? When taught, I shall thy meaning master. - - _Chor._ Ye longed for us who yearned for you in turn. - - _Her._ Say'st thou this land its yearning host yearned o'er? - - _Chor._ Yea, so that oft I groaned in gloom of heart. - - _Her._ Whence came these bodings that an army hates? 530 - - _Chor._ Silence I've held long since a charm for ill. - - _Her._ How, when your lords were absent, feared ye any? - - _Chor._ To use thy words, death now would welcome be. - - _Her._ Good is the issue; but in so long time - Some things, one well might say, have prospered well, - And some give cause for murmurs. Save the Gods, - Who free from sorrow lives out all his life? - For should I tell of toils, and how we lodged - Full hardly, seldom putting in to shore,[313] - And then with couch full hard.... What gave us not - Good cause for mourning? What ill had we not 540 - As daily portion? And what passed on land, - That brought yet greater hardship: for our beds - Were under our foes' walls, and meadow mists - From heaven and earth still left us wringing wet, - A constant mischief to our garments, making - Our hair as shaggy as the beasts'.[314] And if - One spoke of winter frosts that killed the birds, - By Ida's snow-storms made intolerable,[315] - Or heat, when Ocean in its noontide couch - Windless reclined and slept without a wave.... - But why lament o'er this? Our toil is past; 550 - Past too is theirs who in the warfare fell, - So that no care have they to rise again. - Why should I count the number of the dead, - Or he that lives mourn o'er a past mischance? - To change and chance I bid a long Farewell: - With us, the remnant of the Argive host, - Good fortune wins, no ills as counterpoise. - So it is meet to this bright sun we boast, - Who travel homeward over land and sea; - “The Argive host who now have captured Troïa, 560 - These spoils of battle[316] to the Gods of Hellas - Hang on their pegs, enduring prize and joy.”[317] - Hearing these things we ought to bless our country - And our commanders; and the grace of Zeus - That wrought this shall be honoured. My tale's told. - - _Chor._ Thy words o'ercome me, and I say not nay; - To learn good keeps youth's freshness with the old. - 'Tis meet these things should be a special care - To Clytæmnestra and the house, and yet - That they should make me sharer in their joy. - - _Enter_ CLYTÆMNESTRA - - _Clytæm._ I long ago for gladness raised my cry, 570 - When the first fiery courier came by night, - Telling of Troïa taken and laid waste: - And then one girding at me spake, “Dost think, - Trusting in beacons, Troïa is laid waste? - This heart elate is just a woman's way.” - In words like these they made me out distraught; - Yet still I sacrificed, and with a strain - Shrill as a woman's, they, now here, now there, - Throughout the city hymns of blessing raised - In shrines of Gods, and lulled to gentle sleep - The fragrant flame that on the incense fed. 580 - And now why need'st thou lengthen out thy words? - I from the king himself the tale shall learn; - And that I show all zeal to welcome back - My honoured lord on his return (for what - Is brighter joy for wife to see than this, - When God has brought her husband back from war, - To open wide her gates?) tell my lord this, - “To come with all his speed, the city's idol;” - And “may he find a faithful wife at home, - Such as he left her, noble watch-dog still 590 - For him, and hostile to his enemies; - And like in all things else, who has not broken - One seal of his in all this length of time.”[318] - No pleasure have I known, nor scandal ill - With any other more than ... stains on bronze.[319] - Such is my vaunt, and being full of truth, - Not shameful for a noble wife to speak.[320] [_Exit_ - - _Chor._ [_to Herald_.] She hath thus spoken in thy hearing now - A goodly word for good interpreters. - But tell me, herald, tell of Menelaos, 600 - If, coming home again in safety he - Is with you, the dear strength of this our land. - - _Her._ I cannot make report of false good news, - So that my friends should long rejoice in it. - - _Chor._ Ah! could'st thou good news speak, and also true! - These things asunder are not well concealed. - - _Her._ The chief has vanished from the Achæan host, - He and his ship. I speak no falsehood here. - - _Chor._ In sight of all when he from Ilion sailed? - Or did a storm's wide evil part him from you? 610 - - _Her._ Like skilful archer thou hast hit the mark, - And in few words has told of evil long. - - _Chor._ And was it of him as alive or dead - The whisper of the other sailors ran? - - _Her._ None to that question answer clear can give, - Save the Sun-God who feeds the life of earth. - - _Chor._ How say'st thou? Did a storm come on our fleet, - And do its work through anger of the Gods? - - _Her._ It is not meet a day of tidings good - To mar with evil news. Apart for each 620 - Is special worship. But when courier brings - With louring face the ills men pray against, - And tells a city that its host has fallen, - That for the State there is a general wound, - That many a man from many a home is driven, - As banned by double scourge that Ares loves, - Woe doubly-barbed, Death's two-horsed chariot this.... - When with such griefs as freight a herald comes, - 'Tis meet to chant the Erinnyes' dolorous song; - But for glad messenger of good deeds wrought - That bring deliverance, coming to a town 630 - Rejoicing in its triumph, ... how shall I - Blend good with evil, telling of a storm - That smote the Achæans, not without God's wrath? - For they a compact swore who erst were foes, - Ocean and Fire, and their pledges gave, - Wrecking the ill-starred army of the Argives; - And in the night rose ill of raging storm: - For Thrakian tempests shattered all the ships, - Each on the other. Some thus crashed and bruised, - By the storm stricken and the surging foam - Of wind-tost waves, soon vanished out of sight, 640 - Whirled by an evil pilot. And when rose - The sun's bright orb, behold, the Ægæan sea - Blossomed with wrecks of ships and dead Achæans. - And as for us and our uninjured ship, - Surely 'twas some one stole or begged us off, - Some God, not man, presiding at the helm; - And on our ship with good will Fortune sat, - Giver of safety, so that nor in haven - Felt we the breakers, nor on rough rock-beach - Ran we aground. But when we had escaped 650 - The hell of waters, then in clear, bright day, - Not trusting in our fortune, we in thought - O'er new ills brooded of our host destroyed, - And eke most roughly handled. And if still - Breathe any of them they report of us - As having perished. How else should they speak? - And we in our turn deem that they are so. - God send good ending! Look you, first and chief, - For Menelaos' coming; and indeed, - If any sunbeam know of him alive - And well, by help of Zeus who has not willed 660 - As yet to blot out all the regal race, - Some hope there is that he'll come back again. - Know, hearing this, that thou the truth hast heard. - - [_Exit Herald_ - - - STROPHE I - - _Chor._ Who was it named her with such wondrous truth? - (Could it be One unseen, - In strange prevision of her destined work, - Guiding the tongue through chance?) - Who gave that war-wed, strife-upstirring one - The name of Helen, ominous of ill?[321] 670 - For all too plainly she - Hath been to men, and ships, - And towers, as doom of Hell. - From bower of gorgeous curtains forth she sailed - With breeze of Zephyr Titan-born and strong;[322] - And hosts of many men, - Hunters that bore the shield, - Went on the track of those who steered their boat - Unseen to leafy banks of Simois, - On her account who came, - Dire cause of strife with bloodshed in her train. 680 - - - ANTISTROPHE I - - And so the wrath which works its vengeance out - Dear bride to Ilion brought, - (Ah, all too truly named!) exacting still[323] - After long lapse of time - The penalty of foul dishonour done - To friendship's board and Zeus, of host and guest - The God, from those who paid - Their loud-voiced honour then - Unto that bridal strain, - That hymeneal chorus which to chant - Fell to the lot of all the bridegroom's kin.[324] - But learning other song, - Priam's ancient city now 690 - Bewaileth sore, and calls on Paris' name, - Wedded in fatal wedlock; all the time - *Enduring tear-fraught life - *For all the blood its citizens had lost. - - - STROPHE II - - So once a lion's cub, - A mischief in his house, - As foster child one reared,[325] - While still it loved the teats; - In life's preluding dawn - Tame, by the children loved, 700 - And fondled by the old,[326] - Oft in his arms 'twas held, - Like infant newly born, - With eyes that brightened to the hand that stroked, - And fawning at the hest of hunger keen. - - - ANTISTROPHE II - - But when full-grown, it showed - The nature of its sires; - For it unbidden made - A feast in recompense - Of all their fostering care, - *By banquet of slain sheep; 710 - With blood the house was stained, - A curse no slaves could check, - Great mischief murderous: - By God's decree a priest of Atè thus - Was reared, and grew within the man's own house. - - - STROPHE III - - So I would tell that thus to Ilion came - Mood as of calm when all the air is still, - The gentle pride and joy of kingly state, - A tender glance of eye, - The full-blown blossom of a passionate love, - Thrilling the very soul; 720 - And yet she turned aside, - And wrought a bitter end of marriage feast, - Coming to Priam's race, - Ill sojourner, ill friend, - Sent by great Zeus, the God of host and guest— - Erinnys, for whom wives weep many tears. - - - ANTISTROPHE III - - There lives an old saw, framed in ancient days,[327] - In memories of men, that high estate - Full-grown brings forth its young, nor childless dies, - But that from good success - Springs to the race a woe insatiable. 730 - But I, apart from all, - Hold this my creed alone: - For impious act it is that offspring breeds, - Like to their parent stock: - For still in every house - That loves the right their fate for evermore - Rejoiceth in an issue fair and good. - - - STROPHE IV - - But Recklessness of old - Is wont to breed another Recklessness, - Sporting its youth in human miseries, - Or now, or then, whene'er the fixed hour comes: 740 - That in its youth, in turn, - Doth full-flushed Lust beget, - And that dread demon-power unconquerable, - Daring that fears not God,— - Two curses black within the homes of men, - Like those that gendered them. - - - ANTISTROPHE IV - - But Justice shineth bright - In dwellings that are dark and dim with smoke, - And honours life law-ruled, - While gold-decked homes conjoined with hands defiled 750 - She with averted eyes - Hath left, and draweth near - To holier things, nor worships might of wealth, - If counterfeit its praise; - But still directeth all the course of things - Towards its destined goal. - - [AGAMEMNON _is seen approaching in his - chariot, followed by another chariot, in - which_ CASSANDRA _is standing, carrying - her prophet's wand in her hand, and - wearing fillets round her temples, and by - a great train of soldiers bearing trophies. - As they come on the stage the Chorus - sings its welcome_ - - Come then, king, thou son of Atreus, - Waster of the towers of Troïa, - What of greeting and of homage - Shall I give, nor overshooting, - Nor due need of honour missing? - Men there are who, right transgressing, - Honour semblance more than being. 760 - O'er the sufferer all are ready - Wail of bitter grief to utter, - Though the biting pang of sorrow - Never to their heart approaches; - So with counterfeit rejoicing - Men strain faces that are smileless; - But when one his own sheep knoweth, - Then men's eyes cannot deceive him, - When they deem with kindly purpose, 770 - And with fondness weak to flatter. - Thou, when thou did'st lead thine army - For Helen's sake—(I will not hide it)— - Wast to me as one whose features - Have been limned by unskilled artist, - Guiding ill the helm of reason, - Giving men to death's doom sentenced - *Courage which their will rejected.[328] - Now nor from the spirit's surface, - Nor with touch of thought unfriendly, - All the toil, I say, is welcome, - If men bring it to good issue. - And thou soon shalt know, enquiring 780 - Him who rightly, him who wrongly - Of thy citizens fulfilleth - Task of office for the city.[329] - - _Agam._ First Argos, and the Gods who guard the land, - 'Tis right to greet; to them in part I owe - This my return, and vengeance that I took - On Priam's city. Not on hearsay proof - Judging the cause, with one consent the Gods - Cast in their votes into the urn of blood - For Ilion's ruin and her people's death; - *I' the other urn Hope touched the rim alone, 790 - Still far from being filled full.[330] And even yet - The captured city by its smoke is seen, - *The incense clouds of Atè live on still; - And, in the act of dying with its prey, - From richest store the dust sends savours sweet. - For these things it is meet to give the Gods - Thank-offerings long-enduring; for our nets - Of vengeance we set close, and for a woman - Our Argive monster laid the city low,[331] - Foaled by the mare, a people bearing shield, - Taking its leap when set the Pleiades;[332] - And, bounding o'er the tower, that ravenous lion 800 - Lapped up its fill of blood of kingly race. - This prelude to the Gods I lengthen out; - And as concerns thy feeling (this I well - Remember hearing) I with thee agree, - And thou in me may'st find an advocate. - With but few men is it their natural bent - To honour without grudging prosperous friend: - For ill-souled envy that the heart besets, - Doubles his woe who suffers that disease: - He by his own griefs first is overwhelmed, - And groans at sight of others' happier lot. 810 - *And I with good cause say, (for well I know,) - They are but friendship's mirror, phantom shade, - Who seemed to be my most devoted friends. - Odysseus only, who against his will[333] - Sailed with us, still was found true trace-fellow: - And this I say of him or dead or living. - But as for all that touches on the State, - Or on the Gods, in full assembly we, - Calling our council, will deliberate: 820 - For what goes well we should with care provide - How longest it may last; and where there needs - A healing charm, there we with all good-will, - By surgery or cautery will try - To turn away the mischief of disease. - And now will I to home and household hearth - Move on, and first give thanks unto the Gods - Who led me forth, and brought me back again. - Since Victory follows, long may she remain! - - _Enter_ CLYTÆMNESTRA, _followed by female attendants - carrying purple tapestry_ - - _Clytæm._ Ye citizens, ye Argive senators, - I will not shrink from telling you the tale - Of wife's true love. As time wears on one drops 830 - All over-shyness. Not learning it from others, - I will narrate my own unhappy life, - The whole long time my lord at Ilion stayed. - For first, that wife should sit at home alone - Without her husband is a monstrous grief, - Hearing full many an ill report of him, - Now one and now another coming still, - Bringing news home, worse trouble upon bad. - Yea, if my lord had met as many wounds - As rumour told of, floating to our house, 840 - He had been riddled more than any net; - And had he died, as tidings still poured in, - Then he, a second Geryon[334] with three lives, - Had boasted of a threefold coverlet - Of earth above, (I will not say below him,)[335] - Dying one death for each of those his forms; - And so, because of all these ill reports, - Full many a noose around my neck have others - Loosed by main force, when I had hung myself. - And for this cause no son is with me now, 850 - Holding in trust the pledges of our love, - As he should be, Orestes. Wonder not; - For now a kind ally doth nurture him, - Strophios the Phokian, telling me of woes - Of twofold aspect, danger on thy side - At Ilion, and lest loud-voiced anarchy - Should overthrow thy council, since 'tis still - The wont of men to kick at those who fall. - No trace of guile bears this excuse of mine; - As for myself, the fountains of my tears - Have flowed till they are dry, no drop remains, 860 - And mine eyes suffer from o'er-late repose, - Watching with tears the beacons set for thee,[336] - Left still unheeded. And in dreams full oft - I from my sleep was startled by the gnat - With thin wings buzzing, seeing in the night - Ills that stretched far beyond the time of sleep.[337] - Now, having borne all this, with mind at ease, - I hail my lord as watch-dog of the fold, - The stay that saves the ship, of lofty roof 870 - Main column-prop, a father's only child, - Land that beyond all hope the sailor sees, - Morn of great brightness following after storm, - Clear-flowing fount to thirsty traveller.[338] - Yes, it is pleasant to escape all straits: - With words of welcome such as these I greet thee; - May jealous Heaven forgive them! for we bore - Full many an evil in the past; and now, - Dear husband, leave thy car, nor on the ground, - O King, set thou the foot that Ilion trampled. 880 - Why linger ye, [_turning to her attendants_,] ye maids, whose task it - was - To strew the pathway with your tapestries? - Let the whole road be straightway purple-strown, - That Justice lead to home he looked not for. - All else my care, by slumber not subdued, - Will with God's help work out what fate decrees.[339] - - (_The handmaids advance, and are about to lay the - purple carpets on the ground_) - - _Agam._ O child of Leda, guardian of my home, - Thy speech hath with my absence well agreed— - For long indeed thou mad'st it—but fit praise - Is boon that I must seek at other hands. 890 - I pray thee, do not in thy woman's fashion - Pamper my pride, nor in barbaric guise - Prostrate on earth raise full-mouthed cries to me; - Make not my path offensive to the Gods - By spreading it with carpets.[340] They alone - May claim that honour; but for mortal men - To walk on fair embroidery, to me - Seems nowise without peril. So I bid you - To honour me as man, and not as God. - Apart from all foot-mats and tapestry - My fame speaks loudly; and God's greatest gift 900 - Is not to err from wisdom. We must bless - Him only who ends life in fair estate.[341] - Should I thus act throughout, good hope were mine. - - _Clytæm._ Nay, say not this my purposes to thwart. - - _Agam._ Know I change not for the worse my purpose. - - _Clytæm._ In fear, perchance, thou vowèd'st thus to act. - - _Agam._ If any, I, with good ground spoke my will.[342] - - _Clytæm._ What think'st thou Priam, had he wrought such deeds...? - - _Agam._ Full gladly he, I trow, had trod on carpets. - - _Clytæm._ Then shrink not thou through fear of men's dispraise.910 - - _Agam._ And yet a people's whisper hath great might.[343] - - _Clytæm._ Who is not envied is not enviable. - - _Agam._ 'Tis not a woman's part to crave for strife. - - _Clytæm._ True, yet the prosperous e'en should sometimes yield. - - _Agam._ Dost thou then prize that victory in the strife? - - _Clytæm._ Nay, list; with all good-will yield me this boon. - - _Agam._ Well, then, if thou wilt have it so, with speed - Let some one loose my buskins[344] (servants they - Doing the foot's true work), and as I tread - Upon these robes sea-purpled, may no wrath - From glance of Gods smite on me from afar! 920 - Great shame I feel to trample with my foot - This wealth of carpets, costliest work of looms; - So far for this. This stranger [_pointing to_ CASSANDRA] lead thou in - With kindliness. On him who gently wields - His power God's eye looks kindly from afar. - None of their own will choose a bondslave's life; - And she, the chosen flower of many spoils, - Has followed with me as the army's gift. - But since I turn, obeying thee in this, - I'll to my palace go, on purple treading. 930 - - _Clytæm._ There is a sea,—and who shall drain it dry? - Producing still new store of purple juice, - Precious as silver, staining many a robe. - And in our house, with God's help, O my king, - 'Tis ours to boast our palace knows no stint. - Trampling of many robes would I have vowed, - Had that been ordered me in oracles, - When for my lord's return I then did plan - My votive gifts. For while the root lives on, - The foliage stretches even to the house, - And spreads its shade against the dog-star's rage; 940 - So when thou comest to thy hearth and home, - Thou show'st that warmth hath come in winter time; - And when from unripe clusters Zeus matures - The wine,[345] then is there coolness in the house, - If the true master dwelleth in his home. - Ah, Zeus! the All-worker, Zeus, work out for me - All that I pray for; let it be thy care - To look to what Thou purposest to work.[346] - - [_Exeunt_ AGAMEMNON, _walking on the tapestry_, - CLYTÆMNESTRA, _and her attendants_ - - - STROPHE I - - _Chor._ Why thus continually - Do haunting phantoms hover at the gate - Of my foreboding heart? 950 - Why floats prophetic song, unbought, unbidden? - Why doth no steadfast trust - Sit on my mind's dear throne, - To fling it from me as a vision dim? - Long time hath passed since stern-ropes of our ships - Were fastened on the sand, when our great host - Of those that sailed in ships - Had come to Ilion's towers:[347] - - - ANTISTROPHE I - - And now from these mine eyes 960 - I learn, myself reporting to myself, - Their safe return; and yet - My mind within itself, taught by itself, - Chanteth Erinnys' dirge, - The lyreless melody, - And hath no strength of wonted confidence. - Not vain these inner pulses, as my heart - Whirls eddying in breast oracular. - I, against hope, will pray - It prove false oracle. 970 - - - STROPHE II - - Of high, o'erflowing health - There is no bound that stays the wish for more, - For evermore disease, as neighbour close - Whom but a wall divides, - Upon it presses; and man's prosperous state - *Moves on its course, and strikes - Upon an unseen rock; - But if his fear for safety of his freight, - A part, from well-poised sling, shall sacrifice, 980 - Then the whole house sinks not, - O'erfilled with wretchedness, - Nor does he swamp his boat: - So, too, abundant gift - From Zeus in bounteous fulness, and the fruit - Of glebe at harvest tide - Have caused to cease sore hunger's pestilence; - - - ANTISTROPHE II - - But blood that once hath flowed - In purple stains of death upon the ground - At a man's feet, who then can bid it back - By any charm of song? - Else him who knew to call the dead to life[348] - *Zeus had not sternly checked, 990 - *As warning unto all; - But unless Fate, firm-fixed, had barred our fate - From any chance of succour from the Gods, - Then had my heart poured forth - Its thoughts, outstripping speech.[349] - But now in gloom it wails - Sore vexed, with little hope - At any time hereafter fitting end 1000 - To find, unravelling, - My soul within me burning with hot thoughts. - - _Re-enter_ CLYTÆMNESTRA - - _Clytæm._ [_to_ CASSANDRA, _who has remained in the - chariot during the choral ode_] - Thou too—I mean Cassandra—go within; - Since Zeus hath made it thine, and not in wrath, - To share the lustral waters in our house, - Standing with many a slave the altar nigh - Of Zeus, who guards our goods.[350] Now get thee down - From out this car, nor look so over proud. - They say that e'en Alcmena's son endured[351] - Being sold a slave, constrained to bear the yoke: - And if the doom of this ill chance should come, - Great boon it is to meet with lords who own - Ancestral wealth. But whoso reap full crops 1010 - They never dared to hope for, these in all, - And beyond measure, to their slaves are harsh:[352] - From us thou hast what usage doth prescribe. - - _Chor._ So ends she, speaking words full clear to thee: - And seeing thou art in the toils of fate, - If thou obey, thou wilt obey; and yet, - Perchance, obey thou wilt not. - - _Clytæm._ Nay, but unless she, like a swallow, speaks - A barbarous tongue unknown, I speaking now - Within her apprehension, bid obey. 1020 - - _Chor._ [_to_ CASSANDRA, _still standing motionless_] Go with her. What - she bids is now the best; - Obey her: leave thy seat upon this car. - - _Clytæm._ I have no leisure here to stay without: - For as regards our central altar, there - The sheep stand by as victims for the fire; - For never had we hoped such thanks to give: - If thou wilt do this, make no more delay; - But if thou understandest not my words, - Then wave thy foreign hand in lieu of speech. - - [CASSANDRA _shudders as in horror, but - makes no sign_ - - _Chor._ The stranger seems a clear interpreter - To need. Her look is like a captured deer's. 1030 - - _Clytæm._ Nay, she is mad, and follows evil thoughts, - Since, leaving now her city, newly-captured, - She comes, and knows not how to take the curb, - Ere she foam out her passion in her blood. - I will not bear the shame of uttering more. [_Exit_ - - _Chor._ And I—I pity her, and will not rage: - Come, thou poor sufferer, empty leave thy car; - Yield to thy doom, and handsel now the yoke. - - [CASSANDRA _leaves the chariot, and bursts - into a cry of wailing_ - - - STROPHE I - - _Cass._ Woe! woe, and well-a-day! - Apollo! O Apollo! 1040 - - _Chor._ Why criest thou so loud on Loxias? - The wailing cry of mourner suits not him. - - - ANTISTROPHE I - - _Cass._ Woe! woe, and well-a-day! - Apollo! O Apollo! - - _Chor._ Again with boding words she calls the God, - Though all unmeet as helper to men's groans. - - - STROPHE II - - _Cass._ Apollo! O Apollo! - God of all paths, Apollo true to me; - For still thou dost appal me and destroy.[353] - - _Chor._ She seems her own ills like to prophesy: 1050 - The God's great gift is in the slave's mind yet. - - - ANTISTROPHE II - - _Cass._ Apollo! O Apollo! - God of all paths, Apollo true to me; - What path hast led me? To what roof hast brought? - - _Chor._ To that of the Atreidæ. This I tell, - If thou know'st not. Thou wilt not find it false. - - - STROPHE III - - _Cass._ Ah! Ah! Ah me! - Say rather to a house God hates—that knows - Murder, self-slaughter, ropes,[354] - *A human shamble, staining earth with blood. 1060 - - _Chor._ Keen scented seems this stranger, like a hound, - And sniffs to see whose murder she may find. - - - ANTISTROPHE III - - _Cass._ Ah! Ah! Ah me! - Lo! [_looking wildly, and pointing to the house_,] there the witnesses - whose word I trust,— - Those babes who wail their death, - The roasted flesh that made a father's meal. - - _Chor._ We of a truth had heard thy seeress fame, - But prophets now are not the race we seek.[355] - - - STROPHE IV - - _Cass._ Ah me! O horror! What ill schemes she now? - What is this new great woe? 1070 - Great evil plots she in this very house, - Hard for its friends to bear, immedicable; - And help stands far aloof. - - _Chor._ These oracles of thine surpass my ken; - Those I know well. The whole town rings with them.[356] - - - ANTISTROPHE IV - - _Cass._ Ah me! O daring one! what work'st thou here, - Who having in his bath - Tended thy spouse, thy lord, then ... How tell the rest? - For quick it comes, and hand is following hand, - Stretched out to strike the blow. 1080 - - _Chor._ Still I discern not; after words so dark - I am perplexed with thy dim oracles. - - - STROPHE V - - _Cass._ Ah, horror, horror! What is this I see? - Is it a snare of Hell? - Nay, the true net is she who shares his bed, - Who shares in working death. - Ha! let the Band insatiable in hate[357] - Howl for the race its wild exulting cry - O'er sacrifice that calls - For death by storm of stones. - - - STROPHE VI - - _Chor._ What dire Erinnys bidd'st thou o'er our house - To raise shrill cry? Thy speech but little cheers; - And to my heart there rush - Blood-drops of saffron hue,[358] 1090 - *Which, when from deadly wound - They fall, together with life's setting rays - End, as it fails, their own appointed course: - And mischief comes apace. - - - ANTISTROPHE V - - _Cass._ See, see, I say, from that fell heifer there - Keep thou the bull:[359] in robes - Entangling him, she with her weapon gores - Him with the swarthy horns;[360] - Lo! in that bath with water filled he falls, - Smitten to death, and I to thee set forth - Crime of a bath of blood, - By murderous guile devised. - - - ANTISTROPHE VI - - _Chor._ I may not boast that I keen insight have - In words oracular; yet bode I ill. 1100 - What tidings good are brought - By any oracles - To mortal men? These arts, - In days of evil sore, with many words, - Do still but bring a vague, portentous fear - For men to learn and know. - - - STROPHE VII - - _Cass._ Woe, woe! for all sore ills that fall on me! - It is my grief thou speak'st of, blending it - With his.[361] [_Pausing, and then crying out_.] - Ah! wherefore then - Hast thou[362] thus brought me here, - Only to die with thee? - What other doom is mine? - - - STROPHE VIII - - _Chor._ Frenzied art thou, and by some God's might swayed, 1110 - And utterest for thyself - A melody which is no melody, - Like to that tawny one, - Insatiate in her wail, - The nightingale, who still with sorrowing soul, - And “Itys, Itys,” cry,[363] - Bemoans a life o'erflourishing in ills. - - - ANTISTROPHE VII - - _Cass._ Ah, for the doom of clear-voiced nightingale! - The Gods gave her a body bearing wings, - And life of pleasant days - With no fresh cause to weep: - But for me waiteth still - Stroke from the two-edged sword. - - - ANTISTROPHE VIII - - _Chor._ From what source hast thou these dread agonies - Sent on thee by thy God, - Yet vague and little meaning; and thy cries 1120 - Dire with ill-omened shrieks - Dost utter as a chant, - And blendest with them strains of shrillest grief? - Whence treadest thou this track - Of evil-boding path of prophecy? - - - STROPHE IX - - _Cass._ Woe for the marriage-ties, the marriage-ties - Of Paris that brought ruin on his friends! - Woe for my native stream, - Scamandros, that I loved! - Once on thy banks my maiden youth was reared, - (Ah, miserable me!) - Now by Cokytos and by Acheron's shores - I seem too likely soon to utter song - Of wild, prophetic speech. - - - STROPHE X - - _Chor._ What hast thou spoken now - With utterance all too clear? - *Even a boy its gist might understand; - I to the quick am pierced - With throe of deadly pain, - Whilst thou thy moaning cries art uttering - Over thy sore mischance, - Wondrous for me to hear. - - - ANTISTROPHE IX - - _Cass._ Woe for the toil and trouble, toil and trouble - Of city that is utterly destroyed! - Woe for the victims slain - Of herds that roamed the fields, 1140 - My father's sacrifice to save his towers! - No healing charm they brought - To save the city from its present doom: - And I with hot thoughts wild myself shall cast - Full soon upon the ground. - - - ANTISTROPHE X - - _Chor._ This that thou utterest now - With all before agrees. - Some Power above dooms thee with purpose ill, - Down-swooping heavily, - To utter with thy voice - Sorrows of deepest woe, and bringing death. - And what the end shall be - Perplexes in the extreme. - - _Cass._ Nay, now no more from out of maiden veils - My oracle shall glance, like bride fresh wed;[364] 1150 - But seems as though 'twould rush with speedy gales - In full, clear brightness to the morning dawn; - So that a greater war than this shall surge - Like wave against the sunlight.[365] Now I'll teach - No more in parables. Bear witness ye, - As running with me, that I scent the track - Of evil deeds that long ago were wrought: - For never are they absent from this house, - That choral band which chants in full accord, - Yet no good music; good is not their theme. - And now, as having drunk men's blood,[366] and so - Grown wilder, bolder, see, the revelling band, 1160 - Erinnyes of the race, still haunt the halls, - Not easy to dismiss. And so they sing, - Close cleaving to the house, its primal woe,[367] - And vent their loathing in alternate strains - On marriage-bed of brother ruthless found - To that defiler. *Miss I now, or hit, - Like archer skilled? or am I seeress false, - A babbler vain that knocks at every door? - Yea, swear beforehand, ere I die, I know - (And not by rumour only) all the sins - Of ancient days that haunt and vex this house. - - _Chor._ How could an oath, how firm soe'er confirmed, - Bring aught of healing? Lo, I marvel at thee, 1170 - That thou, though born far off beyond the sea, - Should'st tell an alien city's tale as clear - As though thyself had stood by all the while. - - _Cass._ The seer Apollo set me to this task. - - _Chor._ Was he a God, so smitten with desire? - - _Cass._ There was a time when shame restrained my speech. - - _Chor._ True; they who prosper still are shy and coy. - - _Cass._ He wrestled hard, breathing hot love on me. - - _Chor._ And were ye one in act whence children spring? - - _Cass._ I promised Loxias, then I broke my vow. - - _Chor._ Wast thou e'en then possessed with arts divine? 1180 - - _Cass._ E'en then my country's woes I prophesied. - - _Chor._ How wast thou then unscathed by Loxias' wrath? - - _Cass._ I for that fault with no man gained belief. - - _Chor._ To us, at least, thou seem'st to speak the truth. - - _Cass._ [_Again speaking wildly, as in an ecstasy._] Ah, woe is me! - Woe's me! Oh, ills on ills! - Again the dread pang of true prophet's gift - With preludes of great evil dizzies me. - See ye those children sitting on the house - In fashion like to phantom forms of dreams? 1190 - Infants who perished at their own kin's hands, - Their palms filled full with meat of their own flesh, - Loom on my sight, the heart and entrails bearing, - (A sorry burden that!) on which of old - Their father fed.[368] And in revenge for this, - I say a lion, dwelling in his lair, - With not a spark of courage, stay-at-home, - Plots 'gainst my master, now he's home returned, - (Yes mine—for still I must the slave's yoke bear;) - And the ship's ruler, Ilion's conqueror, - Knows not what things the tongue of that lewd bitch - Has spoken and spun out in welcome smooth, 1200 - And, like a secret Atè, will work out - With dire success: thus 'tis she plans: the man - Is murdered by the woman. By what name - Shall I that loathèd monster rightly call? - An Amphisbæna? or a Skylla dwelling[369] - Among the rocks, the sailors' enemy? - Hades' fierce raging mother, breathing out - Against her friends a curse implacable? - Ah, how she raised her cry, (oh, daring one!) - As for the rout of battle, and she feigns - To hail with joy her husband's safe return! - And if thou dost not credit this, what then? - What will be will. Soon, present, pitying me 1210 - Thou'lt own I am too true a prophetess. - - _Chor._ Thyestes' banquet on his children's flesh - I know and shudder at, and fear o'ercomes me, - Hearing not counterfeits of fact, but truths; - Yet in the rest I hear and miss my path. - - _Cass._ I say thou'lt witness Agamemnon's death. - - _Chor._ Hush, wretched woman, close those lips of thine! - - _Cass._ For this my speech no healing God's at hand. - - _Chor._ True, if it must be; but may God avert it! 1220 - - _Cass._ Thou utterest prayers, but others murder plot. - - _Chor._ And by what man is this dire evil wrought? - - _Cass._ Sure, thou hast seen my bodings all amiss. - - _Chor._ I see not his device who works the deed. - - _Cass._ And yet I speak the Hellenic tongue right well. - - _Chor._ So does the Pythian, yet her words are hard. - - _Cass._ [_In another access of frenzy._] Ah me, this fire! - It comes upon me now! - Ah me, Apollo, wolf-slayer! woe is me! - This biped lioness who takes to bed - A wolf in absence of the noble lion, 1230 - Will slay me, wretched me. And, as one - Mixing a poisoned draught, she boasts that she - Will put my price into her cup of wrath, - Sharpening her sword to smite her spouse with death, - So paying him for bringing me. Oh, why - Do I still wear what all men flout and scorn, - My wand and seeress wreaths around my neck?[370] - Thee, ere myself I die I will destroy: [_breaks her wand_] - Perish ye thus: [_casting off her wreaths_] I soon shall follow you: - Make rich another Atè[371] in my place; - Behold Apollo's self is stripping me 1240 - Of my divining garments, and that too, - When he has seen me even in this garb - Scorned without cause among my friends and kin, - *By foes, with no diversity of mood. - Reviled as vagrant, wandering prophetess, - Poor, wretched, famished, I endured to live: - And now the Seer who me a seeress made - Hath brought me to this lot of deadly doom. - Now for my father's altar there awaits me - A butcher's block, where I am smitten down - By slaughtering stroke, and with hot gush of blood. - But the Gods will not slight us when we're dead; 1250 - Another yet shall come as champion for us, - A son who slays his mother, to avenge - His father; and the exiled wanderer - Far from his home, shall one day come again, - Upon these woes to set the coping-stone: - For the high Gods have sworn a mighty oath, - His father's fall, laid low, shall bring him back. - Why then do I thus groan in this new home,[372] - When, to begin with, Ilion's town I saw - Faring as it did fare, and they who held - That town are gone by judgment of the Gods? 1260 - I too will fare as they, and venture death: - So I these gates of Hades now address, - And pray for blow that bringeth death at once, - That so with no fierce spasm, while the blood - Flows in calm death, I then may close mine eyes. - - [_Goes towards the door of the palace_ - - _Chor._ O thou most wretched, yet again most wise: - Long hast thou spoken, lady, but if well - Thou know'st thy doom, why to the altar go'st thou, - Like heifer driven of God, so confidently?[373] 1270 - - _Cass._ For me, my friends, there is no time to 'scape.[374] - - _Chor._ Yea; but he gains in time who comes the last. - - _Cass._ The day is come: small gain for me in flight. - - _Chor._ Know then thou sufferest with a heart full brave. - - _Cass._ Such words as these the happy never hear. - - _Chor._ Yet mortal man may welcome noble death. - - _Cass._ [_Shrinking back from opening the door._] Woe's me for thee and - thy brave sons, my father![375] - - _Chor._ What cometh now? What fear oppresseth thee? - - _Cass._ [_Again going to the door and then shuddering in another burst - of frenzy._] Fie on't, fie! - - _Chor._ Whence comes this “Fie?” unless from mind that loathes? - - _Cass._ The house is tainted with the scent of death. 1280 - - _Chor._ How so? This smells of victims on the hearth. - - _Cass._ Nay, it is like the blast from out a grave. - - _Chor._ No Syrian ritual tell'st thou for our house.[376] - - _Cass._ Well then I go, and e'en within will wail - My fate and Agamemnon's. And for me, - Enough of life. Ah, friends! Ah! not for nought - I shrink in fear, as bird shrinks from the brake.[377] - When I am dead do ye this witness bear, - When in revenge for me, a woman, Death - A woman smites, and man shall fall for man 1290 - In evil wedlock wed. This friendly office, - As one about to die, I pray you do me. - - _Chor._ Thy doom foretold, poor sufferer, moves my pity. - - _Cass._ I fain would speak once more, yet not to wail - Mine own death-song; but to the Sun I pray, - To his last rays, that my avengers wreak - Upon my hated murderers judgment due - For me, who die a slave's death, easy prey. - Ah, life of man! when most it prospereth, - *It is but limned in outline;[378] and when brought - To low estate, then doth the sponge, full soaked, 1300 - Wipe out the picture with its frequent touch: - And this I count more piteous e'en than that.[379] - - [_Passes through the door into the palace_ - - _Chor._ 'Tis true of all men that they never set - A limit to good fortune; none doth say, - As bidding it depart, - *And warding it from palaces of pride, - “Enter thou here no more.” - To this our lord the Blest Ones gave to take - Priam's city; and he comes - Safe to his home and honoured by the Gods; - But if he now shall pay - The forfeit of blood-guiltiness of old, - And, dying, so work out for those who died, - By his own death another penalty, 1310 - Who then of mortal men, - Hearing such things as this, - Can boast that he was born - With fate from evil free? - - _Agam._ [_from within._] Ah, me! I am struck down with deadly stroke. - - _Chor._ Hush! who cries out with deadly stroke sore smitten? - - _Agam._ Ah me, again! struck down a second time! - - [_Dies_ - - _Chor._ By the king's groans I judge the deed is done; - But let us now confer for counsels safe.[380] - - _Chor. a._ I give you my advice to summon here, - Here to the palace, all the citizens. 1320 - - _Chor. b._ I think it best to rush at once on them, - And take them in the act with sword yet wet. - - _Chor. c._ And I too give like counsel, and I vote - For deed of some kind. 'Tis no time to pause. - - _Chor. d._ Who will see, may.—They but the prelude work - Of tyranny usurped o'er all the State. - - _Chor. e._ Yes, we are slow, but they who trample down - The thought of hesitation slumber not. - - _Chor. f._ I know not what advice to find or speak: - He who can act knows how to counsel too. 1330 - - _Chor. g._ I too think with thee; for I have no hope - With words to raise the dead again to life. - - _Chor. h._ What! Shall we drag our life on and submit - To these usurpers that defile the house? - - _Chor. i._ Nay, that we cannot bear: To die were better; - For death is gentler far than tyranny. - - _Chor. k._ Shall we upon this evidence of groans - Guess, as divining that our lord is dead? - - _Chor. l._ When we know clearly, then should we discuss: - To guess is one thing, and to know another. 1340 - - _Chor._[381] So vote I too, and on the winning side, - Taking the votes all round that we should learn - How he, the son of Atreus, fareth now. - - _Enter_ CLYTÆMNESTRA _from the palace, in robes with stains of blood, - followed by soldiers and attendants. The open doors show the - corpses of_ AGAMEMNON _and_ CASSANDRA, _the former lying in a - silvered bath_ - - _Clytæm._ Though many words before to suit the time - Were spoken, now I shall not be ashamed - The contrary to utter: How could one - By open show of enmity to foes - Who seemed as friends, fence in the snares of death - Too high to be o'erleapt? But as for me, - Not without forethought for this long time past, - This conflict comes to me from triumph old[382] - Of his, though slowly wrought. I stand where I 1350 - Did smite him down, with all my task well done. - So did I it, (the deed deny I not,) - That he could nor avert his doom nor flee: - I cast around him drag-net as for fish, - With not one outlet, evil wealth of robe: - And twice I smote him, and with two deep groans - He dropped his limbs: And when he thus fell down - I gave him yet a third, thank-offering true[383] - To Hades of the dark, who guards the dead. - So fallen, he gasps out his struggling soul, - And breathing forth a sharp, quick gush of blood, - He showers dark drops of gory rain on me, 1360 - Who no less joy felt in them than the corn, - When the blade bears, in glad shower given of God. - Since this is so, ye Argive elders here, - Ye, as ye will, may hail the deed, but I - Boast of it. And were't fitting now to pour - Libation o'er the dead,[384] 'twere justly done, - Yea more than justly; such a goblet full, - Of ills hath he filled up with curses dire - At home, and now has come to drain it off. - - _Chor._ We marvel at the boldness of thy tongue 1370 - Who o'er thy husband's corpse speak'st vaunt like this. - - _Clytæm._ Ye test me as a woman weak of mind; - But I with dauntless heart to you that know - Say this, and whether thou dost praise or blame, - Is all alike:—here Agamemnon lies, - My husband, now a corpse, of this right hand, - As artist just, the handiwork: so stands it. - - - STROPHE - - _Chor._ What evil thing, O Queen, or reared on earth, - Or draught from salt sea-wave 1380 - Hast thou fed on, to bring - Such incense on thyself,[385] - A people's loud-voiced curse? - 'Twas thou did'st sentence him, - 'Twas thou did'st strike him down; - But thou shall exiled be, - Hated with strong hate of the citizens. - - _Clytæm._ Ha! now on me thou lay'st the exile's doom, - My subjects' hate, and people's loud-voiced curse, - Though ne'er did'st thou oppose my husband there, - Who, with no more regard than had been due - To a brute's death, although he called his own - Full many a fleecy sheep in pastures bred, - Yet sacrificed his child, the dear-loved fruit 1390 - Of all my travail-pangs, to be a charm - Against the winds of Thrakia. Shouldst thou not - Have banished him from out this land of ours, - As meed for all his crimes? Yet hearing now - My deeds, thou art a judge full stern. But I - Tell thee to speak thy threats, as knowing well - I am prepared that thou on equal terms - Should'st rule, if thou dost conquer. But if God - Should otherwise decree, then thou shall learn, - Late though it be, the lesson to be wise. - - - ANTISTROPHE - - _Chor._ Yea, thou art stout of heart, and speak'st big words;1400 - And maddened is thy soul - As by a murderous hate; - And still upon thy brow - Is seen, not yet avenged, - The stain of blood-spot foul; - And yet it needs must be, - One day thou, reft of friends, - Shall pay the penalty of blow for blow. - - _Clytæm._ Now hear thou too my oaths of solemn dread: - By my accomplished vengeance for my child, - By Atè and Erinnys, unto whom - I slew him as a victim, I look not - That fear should come beneath this roof of mine, - So long as on my hearth Ægisthos kindles 1410 - The flaming fire, as well disposed to me - As he hath been aforetime. He to us - Is no slight shield of stoutest confidence. - There lies he, [_pointing to the corpse of_ AGAMEMNON,] one who foully - wronged his wife, - The darling of the Chryseïds at Troïa; - And there [_pointing to_ CASSANDRA] this captive slave, this auguress, - His concubine, this seeress trustworthy, - *Who shared his bed, and yet was as well known - To the sailors as their benches!... They have fared - Not otherwise than they deserved: for he - Lies as you see. And she who, like a swan,[386] - Has chanted out her last and dying song, 1420 - Lies close to him she loved, and so has brought - The zest of a new pleasure to my bed. - - - STROPHE I[387] - - _Chor._ Ah me, would death might come - Quickly, with no sharp throe of agony, - Nor long bed-ridden pain, - Bringing the endless sleep; - Since he, the watchman most benign of all, - Hath now been smitten low, - And by a woman's means hath much endured, - And at a woman's hand hath lost his life! - - - STROPHE II - - Alas! alas! O Helen, evil-souled, 1430 - Who, though but one, hast slain - Many, yea, very many lives at Troïa.[388] - · · · · · - - - STROPHE III - - *But now for blood that may not be washed out - *Thou hast to full bloom brought - *A deed of guilt for ever memorable, - For strife was in the house, - Wrought out in fullest strength, - Woe for a husband's life. - - - STROPHE IV - - _Clytæm._ Nay, pray not thou for destiny of death, - Oppressed with what thou see'st; - Nor turn thou against Helena thy wrath, 1440 - As though she murderess were, - And, though but one, had many Danaï's souls - Brought low in death, and wrought o'erwhelming woe. - - - ANTISTROPHE I - - _Chor._ O Power that dost attack - Our palace and the two Tantalidæ,[389] - *And dost through women wield - *A might that grieves my heart![390] - And o'er the body, like a raven foul, - Against all laws of right, - *Standing, she boasteth in her pride of heart[391] - That she can chant her pæan hymn of praise. 1450 - - - ANTISTROPHE IV - - _Clytæm._ Now thou dost guide aright thy speech and thought, - Invoking that dread Power, - *The thrice-gorged evil genius of this house; - For he it is who feeds - In the heart's depth the raging lust of blood: - Ere the old wound is healed, new bloodshed comes. - - - STROPHE V - - _Chor._ Yes, of a Power thou tell'st - *Mighty and very wrathful to this house; - Ah me! ah me! an evil tale enough 1460 - Of baleful chance of doom, - Insatiable of ill: - Yet, ah! it is through Zeus, - The all-appointing and all-working One; - For what with mortal men - Is wrought apart from Zeus? - What of all this is not by God decreed?[392] - - - STROPHE VI - - Ah me! ah me! - My king, my king, how shall I weep for thee? - What shall I speak from heart that truly loves? - And now thou liest there, breathing out thy life, 1470 - In impious deed of death, - In this fell spider's web,— - - - STROPHE VII - - (Yes, woe is me! woe, woe! - Woe for this couch of thine dishonourable!)— - Slain by a subtle death,[393] - With sword two-edged which her right hand did wield. - - - STROPHE VIII - - _Clytæm._ Thou speak'st big words, as if the deed were mine; - Yet think thou not of me, - As Agamemnon's spouse; - But in the semblance of this dead man's wife, - The old and keen Avenger of the house - Of Atreus, that cruel banqueter of old, - Hath wrought out vengeance full - On him who lieth here, 1480 - And full-grown victim slain - Over the younger victims of the past.[394] - - - ANTISTROPHE V - - _Chor._ That thou art guiltless found - Of this foul murder who will witness bear? - How can it be so, how? And yet, perchance, - As helper to the deed, - Might come the avenging Fiend - Of that ancestral time; - And in this rush of murders of near kin - Dark Ares presses on, - Where he will vengeance work - For clotted gore of children slain as food. 1490 - - - ANTISTROPHE VI - - Ah me! ah me! - My king, my king, how shall I weep for thee? - What shall I speak from heart that truly loves? - And now thou liest there, breathing out thy life, - In impious deed of death, - In this fell spider's web,— - - - ANTISTROPHE VII - - (Yes, woe is me! woe, woe! - Woe for this couch of thine dishonourable!)— - Slain by a subtle death, - With sword two-edged which her right hand did wield. - - - ANTISTROPHE VIII - - _Clytæm._ Nay, not dishonourable - His death doth seem to me: - Did he not work a doom, - In this our house with guile?[395] 1500 - Mine own dear child, begotten of this man, - Iphigeneia, wept with many a tear, - He slew; now slain himself in recompense, - Let him not boast in Hell, - Since he the forfeit pays, - Pierced by the sword in death, - For all the evil that his hand began. - - - STROPHE IX - - _Chor._ I stand perplexed in soul, deprived of power - Of quick and ready thought, - Where now to turn, since thus 1510 - Our home is falling low. - I shrink in fear from the fierce pelting storm - Of blood that shakes the basement of the house: - No more it rains in drops: - And for another deed of mischief dire, - Fate whets the righteous doom - On other whetstones still. - - - ANTISTROPHE II - - O Earth! O Earth! Oh, would thou had'st received me, - Ere I saw him on couch - Of bath with silvered walls thus stretched in death! - Who now will bury him, who wail? Wilt thou, - When thou hast slain thy husband, have the heart 1520 - To mourn his death, and for thy monstrous deeds - Do graceless grace? And who will chant the dirge - With tears in truth of heart, - Over our godlike chief? - - - STROPHE X - - _Clytæm._ It is not thine to speak; - 'Twas at our hands he fell, - Yea, he fell low in death, - And we will bury him, 1530 - Not with the bitter tears of those who weep - As inmates of the house; - But she, his child, Iphigeneia, there - Shall meet her father, and with greeting kind, - E'en as is fit, by that swift-flowing ford, - Dark stream of bitter woes, - Shall clasp him in her arms, - And give a daughter's kiss. - - - ANTISTROPHE IX - - _Chor._ Lo! still reproach upon reproach doth come; - Hard are these things to judge: - The spoiler still is spoiled, - The slayer pays his debt; - Yea, while Zeus liveth through the ages, this 1540 - Lives also, that the doer dree his weird; - For this is law fast fixed. - Who now can drive from out the kingly house - The brood of curses dark? - The race to Atè cleaves. - - - ANTISTROPHE X - - _Clytæm._ Yes, thou hast touched with truth - That word oracular; - But I for my part wish, - (Binding with strongest oath - The evil dæmon of the Pleisthenids,)[396] - Though hard it be to bear, - To rest content with this our present lot; - And, for the future, that he go to vex - Another race with homicidal deaths. 1550 - Lo! 'tis enough for me, - Though small my share of wealth, - At last to have freed my house - From madness that sets each man's hand 'gainst each. - - _Enter_ ÆGISTHOS - - _Ægis._ Hail, kindly light of day that vengeance brings! - Now I can say the Gods on high look down, - Avenging men, upon the woes of earth, - Since lying in the robes the Erinnyes wove - I see this man, right welcome sight to me, - Paying for deeds his father's hand had wrought. 1560 - Atreus, our country's ruler, this man's father, - Drove out my sire Thyestes, his own brother, - (To tell the whole truth,) quarrelling for rule, - An exile from his country and his home. - And coming back a suppliant on the hearth, - The poor Thyestes found a lot secure, - Nor did he, dying, stain the soil with blood, - There in his home. But this man's godless sire,[397] - Atreus, more prompt than kindly in his deeds, - On plea of keeping festal day with cheer, - To my sire banquet gave of children's flesh, 1570 - His own. The feet and finger-tips of hands - *He, sitting at the top, apart concealed; - And straight the other, in his blindness taking - The parts that could not be discerned, did eat - A meal which, as thou see'st, perdition works - For all his kin. And learning afterwards - The deed of dread, he groaned and backward fell, - Vomits the feast of blood, and imprecates - On Pelops' sons a doom intolerable, - And makes the o'erturning of the festive board, - With fullest justice, as a general curse, - That so might fall the race of Pleisthenes. 1580 - And now thou see'st how here accordingly - This man lies fallen; I, of fullest right, - The weaver of the plot of murderous doom. - For me, a babe in swaddling-clothes, he banished - With my poor father, me, his thirteenth child; - And Vengeance brought me back, of full age grown: - And e'en far off I wrought against this man, - And planned the whole scheme of this dark device. - And so e'en death were now right good for me, - Seeing him into the nets of Vengeance fallen. - - _Chor._ I honour not this arrogance in guilt, 1590 - Ægisthos. Thou confessest thou hast slain - Of thy free will our chieftain here,—that thou - Alone did'st plot this murder lamentable; - Be sure, I say, thy head shall not escape - The righteous curse a people hurls with stones. - - _Ægisth._ Dost thou say this, though seated on the bench - Of lowest oarsmen, while the upper row - Commands the ship?[398] But thou shalt find, though old, - How hard it is at such an age to learn, - When the word is, “keep temper.” But a prison - And fasting pains are admirably apt, 1600 - As prophet-healers even for old age. - Dost see, and not see this? Against the pricks - Kick not,[399] lest thou perchance should'st smart for it. - - _Chor._ Thou, thou, O Queen, when thy lord came from war, - While keeping house, thy husband's bed defiling, - Did'st scheme this death for this our hero-chief. - - _Ægisth._ These words of thine shall parents prove of tears: - But this thy tongue is Orpheus' opposite; - He with his voice led all things on for joy, - But thou, provoking with thy childish cries, - Shalt now be led; and then, being kept in check, - Thou shall appear in somewhat gentler mood. 1610 - - _Chor._ As though thou should'st o'er Argives ruler be, - Who even when thou plotted'st this man's death - Did'st lack good heart to do the deed thyself? - - _Ægisth._ E'en so; to work this fraud was clearly part - Fit for a woman. I was foe, of old - Suspected. But now will I with his wealth - See whether I his subjects may command, - And him who will not hearken I will yoke - In heavy harness as a full-fed colt, - Nowise as trace-horse;[400] but sharp hunger joined - With darksome dungeon shall behold him tamed. 1620 - - _Chor._ Why did'st not thou then, coward as thou art, - Thyself destroy him? but a woman with thee, - Pollution to our land and our land's Gods, - She slew him. Does Orestes see the light, - Perchance, that he, brought back by Fortune's grace, - May for both these prove slayer strong to smite? - - _Ægisth._ Well, since thou think'st to act, not merely talk, - Thou shall know clearly.... - - [_Calling his Guards from the palace_ - - On then, my troops, the time for deeds is come. - - _Chor._ On then, let each man grasp his sword in hand. - - _Ægisth._ With sword in hand, I too shrink not from death. 1630 - - _Chor._ Thou talkest of thy death; we hail the word; - And make our own the fortune it implies. - - _Clytæm._ Nay, let us not do other evil deeds, - Thou dearest of all friends. An ill-starred harvest - It is to have reaped so many. Enough of woe: - Let no more blood be shed: Go thou—[_to the Chorus_]—go ye, - Ye aged sires, to your allotted homes, - Ere ye do aught amiss and dree your weird: - *This that we have done ought to have sufficed; - But should it prove we've had enough of ills, - We will accept it gladly, stricken low - In evil doom by heavy hand of God. - This is a woman's counsel, if there be - That deigns to hear it. - - _Ægisth._ But that these should fling - The blossoms of their idle speech at me, 1640 - And utter words like these, so tempting Fate, - And fail of counsel wise, and flout their master...! - - _Chor._ It suits not Argives on the vile to fawn. - - _Ægisth._ Be sure, hereafter I will hunt thee down. - - _Chor._ Not so, if God should guide Orestes back. - - _Ægisth._ Right well I know how exiles feed on hopes. - - _Chor._ Prosper, wax fat, do foul wrong—'tis thy day. - - _Ægisth._ Know thou shalt pay full price for this thy folly. - - _Chor._ Be bold, and boast, like cock beside his mate. - - _Clytæm._ Nay, care not thou for these vain howlings; I - And thou together, ruling o'er the house, - Will settle all things rightly. [_Exeunt_ - ------ - -Footnote 271: - - The form of gambling from which the phrase is taken, had clearly - become common in Attica among the class to which the watchman was - supposed to belong, and had given rise to proverbial phrases like that - in the text. The Greeks themselves supposed it to have been invented - by the Lydians (Herod. i. 94), or Palamedes, one of the heroes of the - tale of Troïa, but it enters also into Egyptian legends (Herod. ii. - 122), and its prevalence from remote antiquity in the farther East, as - in the Indian story of Nala and Damayanti, makes it probable that it - originated there. The game was commonly played, as the phrase shows, - with three dice, the highest throw being that which gave three sixes. - Æschylos, it may be noted, appears in a lost drama, which bore the - title of _Palamedes_, to have brought the game itself into his plot. - It is referred to, as invented by that hero, in a fragment of - Sophocles (_Fr._ 380), and again in the proverb,— - - “The dice of Zeus have ever lucky throws.”—(_Fr._ 763.) - -Footnote 272: - - Here, also, the watchman takes up another common proverbial phrase, - belonging to the same group as that of “kicking against the pricks” in - v. 1624. He has his reasons for silence, weighty as would be the tread - of an ox to close his lips. - -Footnote 273: - - The vultures stand, _i.e._, to the rulers of Heaven, in the same - relation as the foreign sojourners in Athens, the _Metoics_, did to - the citizens under whose protection they placed themselves. - -Footnote 274: - - Alexandros, the other name of Paris, the seducer of Helen. - -Footnote 275: - - The words, perhaps, refer to the grief of Menelaos, as leading him to - neglect the wonted sacrifices to Zeus, but it seems better to see in - them a reference to the sin of Paris. He, at least, who had carried - off his host's wife, had not offered acceptable sacrifices, had - neglected all sacrifices to Zeus Xenios, the God of host and guest. - The allusion to the sacrifice of Iphigeneia, which some (Donaldson and - Paley) have found here, and the wrath of Clytæmnestra, which Agamemnon - will fail to soothe, seems more far-fetched. - -Footnote 276: - - An allusion, such as the audience would catch and delight in, to the - well-known enigma of the Sphinx. See Sophocles (_Trans._), p. 1. - -Footnote 277: - - The Chorus, though too old to take part in the expedition, are yet - able to tell both of what passed as the expedition started, and of the - terrible fulfilment of the omens which they had seen. The two eagles - are, of course, in the symbolism of prophecy, the two chieftains, - Menelaos and Agamemnon. The “white feathers” of the one may point to - the less heroic character of Menelaos: so in v. 123, they are of - “diverse mood.” The hare whom they devour is, in the first instance, - Troïa, and so far the omen is good, portending the success of the - expedition; but, as Artemis hates the fierceness of the eagles, so - there is, in the eyes of the seer, a dark token of danger from her - wrath against the Atreidæ. Either their victory will be sullied by - cruelty which will bring down vengeance, or else there is some secret - sin in the past which must be atoned for by a terrible sacrifice. In - the legend followed by Sophocles (_Electr._ 566), Agamemnon had - offended Artemis by slaying a doe sacred to her, as he was hunting. In - the manifold meanings of such omens there is, probably, a latent - suggestion of the sacrifice of Iphigeneia by the two chieftains, - though this was at the time hidden from the seer. The fact that they - are seen on the right, not on the left hand, was itself ominous of - good. - -Footnote 278: - - The song of Linos, originally the dirge with which men mourned for the - death of Linos, the minstrel-son of Apollo and Urania, brother of - Orpheus, who was slain by Heracles—a type, like Thammuz and Adonis, of - life prematurely closed and bright hopes never to be fulfilled,—had - come to be the representative of all songs of mourning. So Hesiod (in - Eustath. on Hom. _Il._, vii. 569) speaks of the name, as applied to - all funeral dirges over poets and minstrels. So Herodotos (ii. 79) - compares it, as the type of this kind of music among the Greeks, with - what he found in Egypt connected with the name of Maneros, the only - son of the first king of Egypt, who died in the bloom of youth. The - name had, therefore, as definite a connotation for a Greek audience as - the words _Miserere_ or _Jubilate_ would have for us, and ought not, I - believe, to disappear from the translation. - -Footnote 279: - - The comparison of a lion's whelps to dew-drops, bold as the figure is, - has something in it analogous to that with which we are more familiar, - describing the children, or the army of a king, as the “dew” from “the - womb of the morning” (Ps. cx. 3). - -Footnote 280: - - The sacrifice, _i.e._, was to be such as could not, according to the - customary ritual, form a feast for the worshippers. - -Footnote 281: - - The dark words look at once before and after, back to the murder of - the sons of Thyestes, forward, though of this the seer knew not, to - the sacrifice of Iphigeneia. Clytæmnestra is the embodiment of the - Vengeance of which the Chorus speaks. - -Footnote 282: - - As a part of the drama the whole passage that follows is an assertion - by the Chorus that in this their trouble they will turn to no other - God, invoke no other name, but that of the Supreme Zeus. But it can - hardly be doubted that they have a meaning beyond this, and are the - utterance by the poet of his own theology. In the second part of the - Promethean trilogy (all that we now know of it) he had represented - Zeus as ruling in the might of despotic sovereignty, the - representative of a Power which men could not resist, but also could - not love, inflicting needless sufferings on the sons of men. Now he - has grown wiser. The sovereignty of Zeus is accepted as part of the - present order of the world; trust in Him brings peace; the pain which - He permits is the one only way to wisdom. The stress laid upon the - name of Zeus implies a wish to cleave to the religion inherited from - the older Hellenes, as contrasted with those with which their - intercourse with the East had made the Athenians familiar. Like the - voice which came to Epimenides, as he was building a sanctuary to the - Muses, bidding him dedicate it not to them but to Zeus (Diog. Laert. - i. 10), it represents a faint approximation to a truer, more - monotheistic creed than that of the popular mythology. - -Footnote 283: - - The two mighty ones who have passed away are Uranos and Cronos, the - representatives in Greek mythology of the earlier stages of the - world's history, (1) mere material creation, (2) an ideal period of - harmony, a golden, Saturnian age, preceding the present order of - divine government with its mingled good and evil. Comp. Hesiod. - _Theogon._, 459. - -Footnote 284: - - The Chorus returns, after its deeper speculative thoughts, to its - interrupted narrative. - -Footnote 285: - - The seer saw his augury fulfilled. When he uttered the name of Artemis - it was pregnant with all the woe which he had foreboded at the outset. - -Footnote 286: - - So that the blood may fall upon the altar, as the knife was drawn - across the throat. - -Footnote 287: - - The whole passage should be compared with the magnificent description - in Lucretius i. 84-101. - -Footnote 288: - - Beautiful as a picture, and as motionless and silent also. The art, - young as it was, had already reached the stage when it supplied to the - poet an ideal standard of perfection. Other allusions to it are found - in vv. 774, 1300. - -Footnote 289: - - The words point to the ritual of Greek feasts, which assigned the - first libation to Zeus and the Olympian Gods, the second to the - Heroes, the third to Zeus in his special character as Saviour and - Preserver; the last was commonly accompanied by a pæan, hymn of - praise. The life of Agamemnon is described as one which had good cause - to offer many such libations. Iphigeneia had sung many such pæans. - -Footnote 290: - - The mythical explanation of this title for the Argive territory is - found in the _Suppl._ v. 256, and its real meaning is discussed in a - note to that passage. - -Footnote 291: - - To speak of Morning as the child of Night was, we may well believe, - among the earliest parables of nature. In its mythical form it appears - in Hesiod (_Theogon._ 123), but its traces are found wherever, as - among Hebrews, Athenians, Germans, men reckoned by nights rather than - by days, and spoke of “the evening and the morning” rather than of - “day and night.” - -Footnote 292: - - The God thought of is, as in v. 272, Hephæstos, as being Lord of the - Fire, that had brought the tidings. - -Footnote 293: - - It is not without significance that Clytæmnestra scorns the channel of - divine instruction of which the Chorus had spoken with such reverence. - The dramatist puts into her mouth the language of those who scoffed at - the notion that truth might come to the soul in “visions of the - night,” when “deep sleep falleth upon men.” So Sophocles puts like - thoughts into the mouth of Jocasta (_Œd. King_, vv. 709, 858). - -Footnote 294: - - Omens came from the flight of birds. An omen which was not - trustworthy, or belonged to some lower form of divination, might - therefore be spoken of as “wingless.” But the word may possibly be - intensive, not negative, “swift-winged,” and then refer generically to - that form of divination. - -Footnote 295: - - The description that follows, over and above its general interest, - had, probably, for an Athenian audience, that of representing the - actual succession of beacon-stations, by which they, in the course of - the wars, under Pericles, had actually received intelligence from the - coasts of Asia. A glance at the map will show the fitness of the - places named—Ida, Lemnos, Athos, Makistos (a mountain in Eubœa), - Messapion (on the coast of Bœotia), over the plains of the Asôpos to - Kithæron, in the south of the same province, then over Gorgopis, a bay - of the Corinthian Gulf, to Ægiplanctos in Megaris, then across to a - headland overlooking the Saronic Gulf, to the Arachnæan hill in - Argolis. The word “_courier_-fire” connects itself also with the - system of posts or messengers, which the Persian kings seem to have - been the first to organise, and which impressed the minds both of - Hebrews (Esth. viii. 14) and Greeks (Herod. viii. 98) by their regular - transmission of the king's edicts, or of special news. - -Footnote 296: - - Our ignorance of the details of the _Lampadephoria_, or “torch-race - games,” in honour of the fire-God, Prometheus, makes the allusion to - them somewhat obscure. As described by Pausanias (I. xxx. 2), the - runners started with lighted torches from the altar of Prometheus in - the Academeia and ran towards the city. The first who reached the goal - with his torch still burning became the winner. If all the torches - were extinguished, then all were losers. As so described, however, - there is no succession, no taking the torch from one and passing it on - to another, like that described here and in the well-known line of - Lucretius (ii. 78), - - “Et quasi cursores vitaï lampada tradunt.” - (And they, as runners, pass the torch of life.) - - On the other hand, there are descriptions which show that such a - transfer was the chief element of the game. This is, indeed, implied - both in this passage and in the comparison between the game and the - Persian courier-system in Herod. viii. 98. The two views may be - reconciled by supposing (1) that there were sets of runners, vying - with each other as such, rather than individually, or (2) that a - runner whose speed failed him though his torch kept burning, was - allowed to hand it on to another who was more likely to win the race, - but whose torch was out. The next line seems meant to indicate where - the comparison failed. In the torch-race which Clytæmnestra describes - there had been no contest. One and the self-same fire (the idea of - succession passing into that of continuity) had started and had - reached the goal, and so had won the prize. An alternative rendering - would be,— - - “He wins who is first in, though starting last.” - -Footnote 297: - - The complete foot-race was always to the column which marked the end - of the course, round it, and back again. In getting to Troïa, - therefore, but half the race was done. - -Footnote 298: - - Dramatically the words refer to the practical impiety of evildoers - like Paris, with, perhaps, a half-latent allusion to that of - Clytæmnestra. But it can hardly be doubted that for the Athenian - audience it would have a more special significance, as a protest - against the growing scepticism, what in a later age would have been - called the Epicureanism, of the age of Pericles. It is the assertion - of the belief of Æschylos in the moral government of the world. The - very vagueness of the singular, “One there was,” would lead the - hearers to think of some teacher like Anaxagoras, whom they suspected - of Atheism. - -Footnote 299: - - The Chorus sees in the overthrow of Troïa, an instance of this - righteous retribution. The audience were, perhaps, intended to think - also of the punishment which had fallen on the Persians for the - sacrilegious acts of their fathers. The “things inviolable” are the - sanctities of the ties of marriage and hospitality, both of which - Paris had set at nought. - -Footnote 300: - - Here, and again in v. 612, we have a similitude drawn from the - metallurgy of Greek artists. Good bronze, made of copper and tin, - takes the green rust which collectors prize, but when rubbed, the - brightness reappears. If zinc be substituted for tin, as in our brass, - or mixed largely with it, the surface loses its polish, oxidizes and - becomes black. It is, however, doubtful whether this combination of - metals was at the time in use, and the words may simply refer to - different degrees of excellence in bronze properly so called. - -Footnote 301: - - In a corrupt passage like this, the text of which has been so - variously restored and rendered, it may be well to give at least one - alternative version: - - “There stands she silent, with no honour met, - Nor yet with words of scorn, - Sweetest to see of all that he has lost.” - - The words, as so taken, refer to the vision of Helen, described in the - lines that follow. Another, for the line “In deepest woe,” &c., ... - would give, - - “Believing not he sees the lost one there.” - -Footnote 302: - - The art of Pheidias had already made it natural at Athens to speak of - kings as decorating their palaces with the life-size busts or statues - of those they loved. - -Footnote 303: - - Here again one may note a protest against the aggressive policy of - Pericles, an assertion of the principle that a nation should be - content with independence, without aiming at supremacy. - -Footnote 304: - - Perhaps passively, “Soon suffers trespassers.” - -Footnote 305: - - As the play opens on the morning of the day on which Troïa was taken, - and now we have the arrivals, first, of the herald, and then of - Agamemnon, after the capture has been completed, and the spoil - divided, and the fleet escaped a storm, an interval of some days must - be supposed between the two parts of the play, the imaginary law of - the unities notwithstanding. - -Footnote 306: - - The customary adornment of heralds who brought good news. Comp. - Sophocles, _Œd. K._ v. 83. The custom prevailed for many centuries, - and is recognised by Dante, _Purg._ ii. 70, as usual in his time in - Italy. - -Footnote 307: - - So in the _Seven against Thebes_ (v. 494), smoke is called “the sister - of fire.” - -Footnote 308: - - A probable reference, not only to the story, but to the actual words - of Homer, _Il._ i. 45-52. - -Footnote 309: - - Specially the Dioscuri, Castor and Polydeukes. - -Footnote 310: - - Such a position (especially in the case of Zeus or Apollo) was common - in the temples both of Greece and Rome, and had a very obvious - signification. As the play was performed, the actual hour of the day - probably coincided with that required by the dramatic sequence of - events, and the statues of the Gods were so placed on the stage as to - catch the rays of the morning sun when the herald entered. Hence the - allusion to the bright “cheerful glances” would have a visible as well - as ethical fitness. - -Footnote 311: - - It formed part of the guilt of Paris, that, besides his seduction of - Helena, he had carried off part of the treasures of Menelaos. - -Footnote 312: - - The idea of a payment twofold the amount of the wrong done, as a - complete satisfaction to the sufferer, was common in the early - jurisprudence both of Greeks and Hebrews (Exod. xxii. 4-7). In some - cases it was even more, as in the four or fivefold restitution of - Exod. xxii. 1. In the grand opening of Isaiah's message of glad - tidings the fact that Jerusalem has received “double for all her sins” - is made the ground on the strength of which she may now hope for - pardon. Comp. also Isa. lxi. 7; Zech. ix. 12. - -Footnote 313: - - Perhaps— - - “Full hardly, and the close and crowded decks.” - -Footnote 314: - - So stress is laid upon this form of hardship, as rising from the - climate of Troïa, by Sophocles, _Aias_, 1206. - -Footnote 315: - - One may conjecture that here also, as with the passage describing the - succession of beacon fires (vv. 281-314), the description would have - for an Athenian audience the interest of recalling personal - reminiscences of some recent campaign in Thrakè, or on the coasts of - Asia. - -Footnote 316: - - We may, perhaps, think of the herald, as he speaks, placing some - representative trophy upon the pegs on the pedestals of the statues of - the great Gods of Hellas, whom he had invoked on his entrance. - -Footnote 317: - - Or, - - “So that to this bright morn our sons may boast, - As they o'er land and ocean take their flight, - 'The Argive host of old, who captured Troïa, - These spoils of battle to the Gods of Hellas, - Hung on their pegs, a trophy of old days.'” - -Footnote 318: - - The husband, on his departure, sealed up his special treasures. It was - the glory of the faithful wife or the trusty steward to keep these - seals unbroken. - -Footnote 319: - - There is an ambiguity, possibly an intentional one, in the comparison - which Clytæmnestra uses. If there was no such art as that of “staining - bronze” (or copper) known at the time, the words would be a natural - phrase enough to describe what was represented as an impossibility. - Later on in the history of art, however, as in the time of Plutarch, a - process so described (perhaps analogous to enamelling) is mentioned - (_De Pyth. Orac_. § 2) as common. If we suppose the art to have been a - mystery known to the few, but not to the many, in the time of - Æschylos, then the words would have for the hearers the point of a - _double entendre_. She seems to the mass to disclaim what yet, to - those in the secret she acknowledges. - - Another rendering refers “bronze” to the “sword,” and makes the stains - those of blood; as though she said, “I am as guiltless of adultery as - of murder,” while yet she knew that she had committed the one, and - meant to commit the other. The possibility of such a meaning is - certainly in the words, and with a sharp-witted audience catching at - ænigmas and dark sayings may have added to their suggestiveness. The - ambiguous comment of the Chorus shows that they read, as between the - lines, the shameful secret which they knew, but of which the Herald - was ignorant. - -Footnote 320: - - The last two lines are by some editors assigned to the Herald. - -Footnote 321: - - It need hardly be said that it is as difficult to render a - _paronomasia_ of this kind as it is to reproduce those, more or less - analogous, which we find in the prophets of the Old Testament (comp. - especially Micah i.); but it seems better to substitute something - which approaches, however imperfectly, to an equivalent than to - obscure the reference to the _nomen et omen_ by abandoning the attempt - to translate it. “Hell of men, and hell of ships, and hell of towers,” - has been the rendering adopted by many previous translators. The Greek - fondness for this play on names is seen in Sophocles, _Aias_, v. 401. - -Footnote 322: - - Zephyros, Boreas, and the other great winds were represented in the - _Theogony_ of Hesiod (v. 134) as the offspring of Astræos and Eôs, and - Astræos was a Titan. The west wind was, of course, favourable to Paris - as he went with Helen from Greece to Troïa. - -Footnote 323: - - Here again the translator has to meet the difficulty of a pun. As an - alternative we might take— - - “To Ilion brought, well-named, - A marriage marring all.” - -Footnote 324: - - The sons of Priam are thought of as taking part in the celebration of - Helen's marriage with Paris, and as, therefore, involving themselves - in the guilt and the penalty of his crime. - -Footnote 325: - - Here, too, it may be well to give an alternative rendering— - - “A mischief in his house, - A man reared, not on milk.” - - Home-reared lions seem to have been common as pets, both among Greeks - and Latins (Arist., _Hist. Anim._ ix. 31; Plutarch, _de Cohib. irâ_, § - 14, p. 822), sometimes, as in Martial's Epigram, ii. 25, with fatal - consequences. The text shows the practice to have been common enough - in the time of Pericles to supply a similitude. - -Footnote 326: - - There may, possibly, be a half allusion here to the passage in the - _Iliad_ (vv. 154-160), which describes the fascination which the - beauty of Helen exercised on the Troïan elders. - -Footnote 327: - - The poet becomes a prophet, and asserts what it has been given him to - know of the righteous government of God. The dominant creed of Greece - at the time was, that the Gods were envious of man's prosperity, that - this alone, apart from moral evil, was enough to draw down their - wrath, and bring a curse upon the prosperous house. So, _e.g._, Amasis - tells Polycrates (Herod. iii. 40) that the unseen Divinity that rules - the world is envious, that power and glory are inevitably the - precursors of destruction. Comp. also the speech of Artabanos (Herod. - vii. 10, 46). Against this, in the tone of one who speaks singlehanded - for the truth, Æschylos, through the Chorus, enters his protest. - -Footnote 328: - - _Sc._, Agamemnon, by the sacrifice of Iphigeneia, had induced his - troops to persevere in an expedition from which, in their inmost - hearts, they shrank back with strong dislike. A conjectural reading - gives, - - “By the sacrifice he offered - Giving death-doomed men false boldness.” - -Footnote 329: - - The tone of ambiguous irony mingles, it will be seen, even here, with - the praises of the Chorus. - -Footnote 330: - - Possibly an allusion to Pandora's box. Here, too, Hope alone was left, - but it only came up to where the curve of the rim began, not to its - top. The imagery is drawn from the older method of voting, in which - (as in _Eumenides_, v. 678) the votes for condemnation and acquittal - were cast into separate urns. - -Footnote 331: - - The lion, as the symbol of the house of Atreus, still seen in the - sculptures of Mykenæ; the horse, in allusion to the stratagem by which - Troïa had been taken. - -Footnote 332: - - At the end of autumn, and therefore at a season when a storm like that - described by the herald would be a probable incident enough. - -Footnote 333: - - So in Sophocles, Philoctetes (v. 1025) taunts Odysseus:— - - “And yet thou sailedst with them by constraint, - By tricks fast bound.” - -Footnote 334: - - Geryon appears in the myth of Hercules as a monster with three heads - and three bodies, ruling over the island Erytheia, in the far West, - beyond Hesperia. To destroy him and seize his cattle was one of the - “twelve labours,” with which Hesiod (_Theogon._ vv. 287-294) had - already made men familiar. - -Footnote 335: - - When a man is buried, there is earth above and earth below him. - Clytæmnestra having used the words “coverlet,” pauses to make her - language accurate to the very letter. She is speaking only of the - earth which would have been laid over her husband's corpse, had he - died as often as he was reported to have done. She will not utter - anything so ominous as an allusion to the depths below him stretching - down to Hades. - -Footnote 336: - - Or— - - “Weeping because the torches in thy house - No more were lighted as they were of yore.” - -Footnote 337: - - The words touch upon the psychological fact that in dreams, as in - other abnormal states of the mind, the usual measures of time - disappear, and we seem to pass through the experiences of many years - in the slumber of a few minutes. - -Footnote 338: - - The rhetoric of the passage, with all its multiplied similitudes, fine - as it is in itself, receives its dramatic significance by being put - into the lips of Clytæmnestra. She “doth protest too much.” A true - wife would have been content with fewer words. - -Footnote 339: - - The last three lines of the speech are of course intentionally - ambiguous, carrying one meaning to the ear of Agamemnon, and another - to that of the audience. - -Footnote 340: - - There is obviously a side-thrust, such as an Athenian audience would - catch at, at the token of homage which the Persian kings required of - their subjects, the prostration at their feet, the earth spread over - with costly robes. Of the latter custom we have examples in the - history of Jehu (2 Kings ix. 13), in our Lord's entry into Jerusalem - (Mark xi. 8), in the usages of modern Persian kings (Malcolm's - _Persia_, i. 580); perhaps also in the true rendering of Ps. xlv. 14. - “She shall be brought unto the king _on_ raiment of needle-work.” In - the march of Xerxes across the Hellespont myrtle-boughs strown on the - bridge of boats took the place of robes (Herod. vii. 54). To the Greek - character, with its strong love of independence, such customs were - hateful. The case of Pausanias, who offended the national feeling by - assuming the outward state of the Persian kings, must have been - recalled to the minds of the Athenians, intentionally or otherwise, by - such a passage as this.e bridge of boats took the place of robes - (Herod. vii. 54). To - -Footnote 341: - - The “old saying, famed of many men,” which we find in the _Trachiniæ_ - of Sophocles (v. 1), and in the counsel of Solon to Crœsos (Herod. i. - 32). - -Footnote 342: - - He who had suffered so much from the wrath of Artemis at Aulis knew - what it was to rouse the wrath and jealousy of the Gods. - -Footnote 343: - - An echo of a line in Hesiod (_Works and Days_, 763)— - - “No whispered rumours which the many spread - Can ever wholly perish.” - -Footnote 344: - - Here, too, we may trace a reference to the Oriental custom of - recognising the sanctity of a consecrated place by taking the shoes - from off the feet, as in Exod. iii. 5, in the services of the - Tabernacle and Temple, through all their history (Juven., _Sat._ vi. - 159), in all mosques to the present day. Agamemnon, yielding to the - temptress, seeks to make a compromise with his conscience. He will - walk upon the tapestry, but will treat it as if it, of right, belonged - to the Gods, and were a consecrated thing. It is probably in - connection with this incident that Æschylos was said to have been the - first to bring actors on the stage in these boots or buskins (Suidas. - s. v. άρβύλη). - -Footnote 345: - - The words of Isaiah (xviii. 5), “when the sour grape is ripening in - the flower,” present an almost verbal parallel. - -Footnote 346: - - The ever-recurring ambiguity of Clytæmnestra's language is again - traceable, as is also her fondness for rhetorical similitudes. - -Footnote 347: - - The Chorus speaks in perplexity. In cannot get rid of its forebodings, - and yet it would seem as if the time for the fulfilment of the dark - words of Calchas must have passed long since. It actually sees the - safe return of the leader of the host, yet still its fears haunt it. - -Footnote 348: - - Asclepios, whom Zeus smote with his thunderbolt for having restored - Hippolytos to life. - -Footnote 349: - - The Chorus, in spite of their suspicions and forebodings, have given - the king no warning. They excuse themselves by the plea of necessity, - the sovereign decree of Zeus overruling all man's attempts to - withstand it. - -Footnote 350: - - Cassandra is summoned to an act of worship. The household is gathered, - the altar to Zeus Ktesios (the God of the family property, slaves - included), standing in the servants' hall, is ready. The new slave - must come in and take her place with the others. - -Footnote 351: - - As in the story which forms the groundwork of the _Trachiniæ_ of - Sophocles, vv. 250-280, that Heracles had been sold to Omphale as a - slave, in penalty for the murder of Iphitos. - -Footnote 352: - - Political as well as dramatic. The Eupatrid poet appeals to public - opinion against the _nouveaux riches_, the tanners and lamp-makers, - who were already beginning to push themselves forward towards - prominence and power. The way was thus prepared in the first play of - the Trilogy for what is known to have been the main object of the - last. Comp. Arist., _Rhet._ ii. 32. - -Footnote 353: - - Here again the translator has the task of finding an English - _paronomasia_ which approximates to that of the Greek, between Apollo - and ἀπόλλων _the destroyer_. To Apollo, as the God of paths - (_Aguieus_), an altar stood, column-fashion, before the street-door of - every house, and to such an altar, placed by the door of Agamemnon's - palace, Cassandra turns, with the twofold play upon the name. - -Footnote 354: - - This refers, probably, to the death of Hippodameia, the wife of - Pelops, who killed herself, in remorse for the death of Chrysippos, or - fear of her husband's anger. The horrors of the royal house of Argos - pass, one by one, before the vision of the prophetess, and this leads - the procession, followed by the spectres of the murdered children of - Thyestes. - -Footnote 355: - - The Chorus, as in their last ode, had made up their minds, though - foreboding ill, to let destiny take its course. They do not wish that - policy of non-interference to be changed by any too clear vision of - the future. - -Footnote 356: - - The Chorus understands the vision of the _clairvoyante_ as regards the - past tragedy of the house of Atreus, but not that which seems to - portend another actually imminent. - -Footnote 357: - - Fresh visions come before the eyes of the seeress. She beholds the - company of Erinnyes hovering over the accursed house, and calls on - them to continue their work till the new crime has met with its due - punishment. The murder which she sees as if already wrought, demands - death by stoning. - -Footnote 358: - - The “yellow” look of fear is thought of as being caused by an actual - change in the colour of the blood as it flows through the veins to the - heart. - -Footnote 359: - - Here there is prevision as well as clairvoyance. The deed is not yet - done. The sacrifice and the feast are still going on, yet she sees the - crime in all its circumstances. - -Footnote 360: - - As before (v. 115) the black eagle had been the symbol of the - warrior-chief, so here the black-horned bull, that being one of the - notes of the best breed of cattle. A various reading gives “with _her_ - swarthy horn.” - -Footnote 361: - - What the Chorus had just said as to the fruitlessness of prophetic - insight tallied all too well with her own bitter experience. - -Footnote 362: - - The ecstasy of horror interrupts the tenor of her speech, and the - second “thou” is addressed not to the Chorus, but to Agamemnon, whose - death Cassandra has just witnessed in her vision. - -Footnote 363: - - The song of the nightingale, represented by these sounds, was - connected with a long legend, specially Attic in its origin. - Philomela, daughter of Pandion, king of Attica, suffered outrage at - the hands of Tereus, who was married to her sister Procne, and was - then changed into a nightingale, destined ever to lament over the fate - of Itys her sister's son. The earliest form of the story appears in - the _Odyssey_ (xix. 518). Comp. Sophocles, _Electr._ v. 148. - -Footnote 364: - - In the marriage-rites of the Greeks of the time of Æschylos, the bride - for three days after the wedding wore her veil; then, as now no longer - shrinking from her matron life, she laid it aside and looked on her - husband with unveiled face. - -Footnote 365: - - The picture might be drawn by any artist of power, but we may, - perhaps, trace a reproduction of one of the grandest passages in the - _Iliad_ (iv. 422-426). - -Footnote 366: - - So in the _Eumenides_ (v. 293), the Erinnyes appear as vampires, - drinking the blood of their victims. - -Footnote 367: - - The death of Myrtilos as the first crime in the long history of the - house of Pelops. Comp. Soth. _Electr._ v. 470. The “defiler” is - Thyestes, who seduced Aerope, the wife of Atreus. - -Footnote 368: - - The horror of the Thyestes banquet again haunts her as the source of - all the evils that followed, of the deaths both of Iphigenia and - Agamemnon. The “stay-at-home” is Ægisthos. - -Footnote 369: - - Both words point to the Sindbad-like stories of distant marvels - brought back by Greek sailors. The Amphisbæna (double-goer), wriggling - itself backward and forward, believed to have a head at each - extremity, was looked upon as at once the most subtle and the most - venomous of serpents. Skylla, already famous in its mythical form from - the story in the _Odyssey_ (xii. 85-100), was probably a “development” - of the monstrous cuttle-fish of the straits of Messina. - -Footnote 370: - - As in Homer (_Il._ i. 14) so here, the servant of Apollo bears the - wand of augury, and fillets or wreaths round head and arms. The - divining garments, in like manner, were of white linen. - -Footnote 371: - - If we adopt this reading, we must think of Cassandra as identifying - herself with the woe (Atè) which makes up her life, just as afterwards - Clytæmnestra speaks of herself as one with the avenging Demon - (Alastor) of the house of Atreus (1473). The alternative reading - gives— - - “Make rich in woe another in my place.” - -Footnote 372: - - Perhaps, “in home not mine.” - -Footnote 373: - - When the victim, instead of shrinking and struggling, went, as with - good courage, to the altar, it was noted as a sign of divine impulse. - Such a strange, new courage the Chorus notices in Cassandra. - -Footnote 374: - - Possibly, - - “My one escape, my friends, is but delay.” - -Footnote 375: - - The implied thoughts of the words is that Priam and his sons, though - they had died nobly, were yet miserable, and not happy. - -Footnote 376: - - The Syrian ritual had, it would seem, become proverbial for its lavish - use of frankincense and other spices. - -Footnote 377: - - The close parallel of Shakespeare's _Henry VI._, Act. v. sc. 6, is - worth quoting— - - “The bird that hath been limed in a bush, - With trembling eyes misdoubteth every bush” - -Footnote 378: - - The older reading gives— - - “A shadow might o'erturn it.” - -Footnote 379: - - Her own doom, hard as it was, touches her less than the common lot of - human suffering and mutability. - -Footnote 380: - - So far the dialogue has been sustained by the Coryphæos, or leader of - the Chorus. Now each member of it speaks and gives his counsel. - -Footnote 381: - - The Coryphæos again takes up his part, sums up, and pronounces his - decision. - -Footnote 382: - - _i.e._, He had had his triumph over her when, forgetful of her - mother's feelings, he had sacrificed Iphigeneia. She has now repaid - him to the full. - -Footnote 383: - - The third libation at all feasts was to Zeus, as the Preserver or - Guardian Deity. Clytæmnestra boasts that her third blow was as an - offering to a God of other kind, to Him who had in his keeping not the - living, but the dead. - -Footnote 384: - - So in the _Choëphori_ (vv. 351, 476), the custom of pouring libations - on the burial-place of the dead is recognised as an element of their - blessedness or shame in Hades, and Agamemnon is represented as lacking - the honour which comes from them till he receives it at the hand of - Orestes. - -Footnote 385: - - Incense was placed on the head of the victim. The Chorus tell - Clytæmnestra that she has brought upon her own head the incense, not - of praise and admiration, but of hatred and wrath, as though some - poison had driven her mad. - -Footnote 386: - - The species of swan referred to is said to be the _Cygnus Musicus_. - Aristotle (_Hist. Anim._ ix. 12) describes swans of some kind as - having been heard by sailors near the coast of Libya, “singing with a - lamentable cry.” Mrs. Somerville (_Phys. Geog._, c. xxxiii. 3) - describes their note as “like that of a violin.” The same fact is - reported of the swans of Iceland and other regions of the far North. - The strange, tender beauty of the passage in the _Phædo_ of Plato (p. - 85, a), which speaks of them as singing when at the point of death, - has done more than anything else to make the illustration one of the - commonplaces of rhetoric and poetry. - -Footnote 387: - - The structure of the lyrical dialogue that follows is rather - complicated, and different editors have adopted different - arrangements. I have followed Paley's. - -Footnote 388: - - Several lines seem to have dropped out by some accident of - transcription. - -Footnote 389: - - Agamemnon and Menelaos, as descended from Tantalos, the father of - Pelops. - -Footnote 390: - - In each case women, Helen and Clytæmnestra, had been the unconscious - instruments of the divine Nemesis, to which the Chorus traces the ruin - of the house of Atreus. - -Footnote 391: - - Or, with another reading,— - - “He (_sc._ the avenging Demon) boasteth in his pride of heart.” - -Footnote 392: - - It is characteristic of the teaching of Æschylos that the Chorus - passes from the thought of the agency of any lower Power to the - supreme will of Zeus. - -Footnote 393: - - Or, “Dying, as dies a slave.” - -Footnote 394: - - Clytæmnestra still harps (though in ambiguous words, which may refer - also to the murder of the children of Thyestes) upon the death of - Iphigeneia as the crime which it had been her work to avenge. - -Footnote 395: - - Perhaps, “And that, too, not a slave's.” - -Footnote 396: - - Here the genealogy is carried one step further to Pleisthenes, the - father of Tantalos. - -Footnote 397: - - Ægisthos, in his version of the story, suppresses the adultery of - Thyestes with the wife of Atreus, which led the latter to his horrible - revenge. - -Footnote 398: - - The image is taken from the trireme with its three benches full of - rowers. The Chorus is compared to the men on the lowest, Ægisthos and - Clytæmnestra to those on the uppermost bench. - -Footnote 399: - - The earliest occurrence of the proverb with which we are familiar - through the history of St. Paul's conversion, Acts ix. 5, xxvi. 14. - -Footnote 400: - - The trace-horse, as not under the pressure of the collar, was taken as - the type of free, those that wore the yoke, of enforced submission. - - - - - THE LIBATION-POURERS - - - DRAMATIS PERSONÆ - - ORESTES - CLYTÆMNESTRA - PYLADES - ELECTRA - ÆGISTHOS - _Nurse_ - _Servant_ - _Chorus of Captive Women_ - - -_ARGUMENT.—It came to pass, after Agamemnon had been slain, that -Clytæmnestra and Ægisthos ruled in Argos, and all things seemed to go -well with them. Orestes, who was heir to Agamemnon, they had sent away -to the care of Strophios of Phokis, and there he abode. Electra, his -sister, mourned in secret over her father's death, and prayed for -vengeance, but no avenger came. And when Orestes grew up to man's -estate, he went to ask counsel of the God at Delphi, and the Gods -straitly charged him to take vengeance on his father's murderers; and so -he started on his journey with his trusty friend Pylades, and arrived at -Argos. And it chanced that a little while before he came, the Gods sent -Clytæmnestra a fearful dream, that troubled her soul greatly; and in her -terror she bade Electra go with her handmaids to pour libations on the -tomb of Agamemnon, that so she might appease his soul, and propitiate -the Powers that rule over the dark world of the dead._ - - - - - THE LIBATION-POURERS - - - SCENE.—Argos, _in front of the palace of the Atreidæ. The tomb of_ - AGAMEMNON _(a raised mound of earth) is seen in the background._ - - _Enter_ ORESTES _and_ PYLADES _from the left;_ ORESTES _advances to - the mound, and, as he speaks, lays on it a lock of his hair._ - - _Orest._ O Hermes of the darkness 'neath the earth, - Who hast the charge of all thy Father's[401] sway, - To me who pray deliverer, helper be; - For I to this land come, from exile come, - And on the raised mound of this monument - I bid my father hear and list. One tress, - Thank-offering for the gifts that fed my youth, - To Inachos I consecrate, and this - The second as the token of my grief;[402] - For mine it was not, father, being by, - Over thy death to groan, nor yet to stretch - My hand forth for the burial of thy corpse. - - [_As he speaks_, ELECTRA, _followed by a train of - captive women in black garments, bearing libations, - wailing and tearing their clothes, comes - forth from the palace_ - - What see I now? What company of women - Is this that comes in mourning garb attired? - What chance shall I conjecture as its cause? 10 - Does a new sorrow fall upon this house? - Or am I right in guessing that they bring - Libations to my father, soothing gifts - To those beneath? It cannot but be so. - I think Electra, mine own sister, comes, - By wailing grief conspicuous. Thou, O Zeus, - Grant me full vengeance for my father's death, - And of thine own good will my helper be! - Come, Pylades, and let us stand aside, - That I may clearly learn what means this train - Of women offering prayers. 20 - - - STROPHE I - - _Chor._ Sent from the house I come, - With quick, sharp beatings of the hands in grief, - To pour libations here; - *And see, my cheeks with bloody marks are tracked,[403] - The new-cut furrows which my nails have made, - And evermore my heart is fed with groans; - And folds of mantles tied - Across the breast are rent - To shreds and rags in grief, - *Marring the grace of linen vestments fair, - *Since we by woes that shut out smiles are smitten. 30 - - - ANTISTROPHE I - - *Full clear a spectre came - That made each single hair to stand on end, - Dream-prophet of this house, - That e'en in sleep breathes out avenging wrath; - And from the secret chamber cried in fear - A cry that broke the silence of the night, - There, where the women dwell, - Falling with heaviest weight; - And those who judge such dreams - Told, calling God to witness, that the souls - Below were wroth and vexed with those that slew them. 40 - - - STROPHE II - - On such a graceless deed of grace, as charm - To ward off ill, (O Earth! O mother kind!) - A godless woman now - Sends me with eager heart; - And yet I dread to utter that same prayer; - What ransom has been found - For blood on earth once poured? - Oh! hearth all miserable! - Oh! utter overthrow of house and home! - Yea, mists of darkness, sunless, loathed of men, 50 - Cover both home and house - With its lords' bloody deaths. - - - ANTISTROPHE II - - Yea, all the majesty that awed of old, - Unchecked, unconquered, irresistible, - Thrilling the people's heart - As well as ears, is gone; - There are, may be, that fear;[404] but now Success - Is man's sole God and more; - Yet stroke of Vengeance swift - Smites some in life's clear day, - For some who tarry long their sorrows wait - In twilight dim, on darkness' borderland, - *And some an endless night - Of nothingness holds fast. - - - STROPHE III - - Because of blood that mother earth has drunk, - The guilt of slaughter that will vengeance work - Is fixed indelibly; - And Atè, working grief, 60 - Permits awhile the guilty one to wait, - That so he may be full and overflow - *With all-devouring ill. - - - ANTISTROPHE III - - For him whose foul touch stains the marriage bed[405] - No remedy avails; and water-streams, - Though all as from one source - Should pour to cleanse the guilt - *Of murder that the sin-stained hand defiles, - *Would yet flow all in vain - *That guilt to purify. - - - EPODE - - But now to me, since the high Gods have sent - A doom of bondage round my city's walls, - (For from my father's home - They have brought on me fate of slavery,) - Deeds right and wrong alike - Have been as things 'twas meet I should accept, 70 - Since this slave-life began, - Where deeds are done by violence and force,— - And I must needs suppress - *The bitter loathing of my inmost heart, - *And now beneath my cloak I weep and wail - *For all the frustrate fortunes of my lords,[406] - Chilled through with secret grief. - - _Elect._ Ye handmaids, ye who deftly tend this house, - Since ye are here companions in my task - As suppliants, give me your advice in this, - What shall I say as these funereal gifts - I pour? How shall I speak acceptably? 80 - How to my father pray? What? Shall I say - “I bring from loving wife to husband loved - Gifts”—from my mother? No, I am not bold - Enough for that, nor know I what to speak, - Pouring this chrism on my father's tomb,[407] - Or shall I say this prayer, as men are wont, - “Good recompense make thou to those who bring - These garlands,” yea, a gift full well deserved - By deeds of ill? Or dumb, with ignominy - Like that with which he perished, shall I pour - Libations on the earth, and like a man - That flings away the lustral filth, shall I - Throw down the urn and walk with eyes not turned?[408] 90 - Be sharers in my counsels, O my friends; - A common hate we cherish in the house; - Hide nothing in your heart through fear of man. - Fate's doom firm-fixed awaits alike the free, - And those in bondage to another's hand. - Speak, if thou can'st a better counsel give. 100 - - _Chor._ [_laying their hands on Agamemnon's tomb._] Thy father's tomb - as altar honouring, - I, as thou bidd'st, will speak my heart-thoughts out! - - _Elect._ Speak, then, as thou my father's tomb dost honour, - - _Chor._ Say, as thou pour'st, good words for those that love, - - _Elect._ Which of my friends shall I address as such! - - _Chor._ First then thyself, and whoso hates Ægisthos. - - _Elect._ Shall I for thee, as for myself, pray thus? - - _Chor._ Now that thou'rt learning, judge of that thyself. - - _Elect._ Whom shall I add then to this company? - - _Chor._ Far though Orestes be, forget him not. - - _Elect._ Right well is this: thou teachest admirably. - - _Chor._ Then, for the blood-stained ones remembering say.... - - _Elect._ What then? Explain, and teach my ignorance.[409] 110 - - _Chor._ That there may come to them some God or man.... - - _Elect._ Shall I “as judge” or as “avenger” say? - - _Chor._ Say it out plain! “to give them death for death.”... - - _Elect._ May prayers like these consist with piety? - - _Chor._ Why not,—a foe with evils to requite? - - _Elect._ [_moving to the tomb, and pouring libations as she speaks._] - *O mightiest herald of the Gods on high - And those below, O Hermes of the dark, - Call thou the Powers beneath, and bid them hear - The prayers that look towards my father's house; - And Earth herself, who all things bringeth forth, 120 - And rears them and again receives their fruit. - And I to human souls libations pouring, - Say, calling on my father, “Pity me; - How shall we bring our dear Orestes home?” - For now as sold to ill by her who bore us, - We poor ones wander. She as husband gained - Ægisthos, who was partner in thy death; - And I am as a slave, and from his wealth - Orestes now is banished, and they wax - Full haughty in the wealth thy toil had gained. 130 - And that Orestes hither with good luck - May come, I pray. Hear thou that prayer, my father! - And to myself grant thou that I may be - Than that my mother wiser far of heart, - Holier in act. For us this prayer I pour; - And for our foes, my father, this I pray, - That Justice may as thine avenger come, - And that thy murderers perish. Thus I place - Midway in prayer for good that now I speak, - My prayer 'gainst them for evil. Be thou then - The escort[410] of these good things that I ask, 140 - With help of Gods, and Earth, and conquering Justice. - With prayers like these my votive gifts I pour; - And as for you [_turning to the Chorus_] 'tis meet with cries to crown - The pæan ye utter, wailing for the dead. - - - STROPHE - - _Chor._ *Pour ye the pattering tear, - *Falling for fallen lord, - *Here by the tomb that shuts out good and ill,— - Here, where the full libations have been poured - That turn aside the curse men deprecate, - Hear me, O Thou my Dread, 150 - Hear thou, O Sire, the words my dark mind speaks! - - - ANTISTROPHE - - Oh, woe is me, woe, woe! - Woe, woe, and woe is me! - *What warrior strong of spear - Shall come the house to free, - Or Ares with his Skythian bow[411] in hand, - Shaking its pliant strength in deeds of war, - *Or guiding in encounter closer yet - The weapons made with hilts? - - [_During the choral ode_ ELECTRA, _after going to the - mound, and pouring the libations on it, returns - holding in her hands the lock of hair which_ - ORESTES _had left there_ - - _Elect._ The gifts the earth hath drunk, my father hath them: - Now this new wonder come and share with me. - - _Chor._ Speak on, my heart goes pit-a-pat with fear. - - _Elect._ There on the tomb I see this lock cut off. 160 - - _Chor._ What man or maid low-girdled can it claim? - - _Elect._ Full easy this for any one to guess. - - _Chor._ Old as I am, may I from younger learn? - - _Elect._ None but myself could cut off lock like this. - - _Chor._ Yea, foes are they that should with grief-locks mourn. - - _Elect._ Yes, surely, 'tis indeed the self-same hair.... - - _Chor._ But as what tresses? This I seek to know. - - _Elect._ And of a truth 'tis very like to ours.... - - _Chor._ Did then Orestes send this secret gift?[412] - - _Elect._ It is most like those flowing locks of his. 170 - - _Chor._ Yet how had he adventured to come hither? - - _Elect._ He to his father sent the lock as gift. - - _Chor._ Not less regretful than before, thy words, - If on this soil his foot shall never tread. - - _Elect._ Yea, on me too there rushed heart-surge of gall - And I was smitten as with dart that pierced; - And from mine eyes there fell the thirsty drops - That pour unchecked, of this full bitter flood, - As I this lock beheld. How can I think - That any other townsman owns this hair? 180 - Nay, she who slew ... she did not cut it off, - My mother ... who towards her children shows - A godless mood that little suits the name; - And yet that I should this assert outright, - The precious gift is his whom most of men - I love, Orestes.... Nay, hope flatters me. - Alas! alas! - Would, herald-like, it had a kindly voice! - So should I not turn to and fro in doubt; - But either it had told me with all clearness - To loathe this tress, if cut from hated head; 190 - Or, being of kin, had sought to share my grief, - To deck the tomb and do my father honour. - - _Chor._ Well, on the Gods we call, on those who know - In what storms we, like sailors, now are tossed: - But if deliverance may indeed be ours, - From a small seed a mighty trunk may grow.[413] - - _Elect._ Here too are foot-prints as a second proof, - Just like ... yea, close resembling those of mine. - For here are outlines of two separate feet, - His own and those of fellow-traveller, 200 - And all the heels and impress of the feet, - When measured, fit well with my footsteps here.... - Pangs come on me, and sore bewilderment. - - [_As she ceases speaking_ ORESTES _comes forward - from his concealment_ - - _Orest._ Pray, uttering to the Gods no fruitless prayer, - For good success in what is yet to come. - - _Elect._ What profits now to me the Gods' good will? - - _Orest._ Thou see'st those here whom most thou did'st desire. - - _Elect._ Whom called I on, that thou hast knowledge of? - - _Orest._ Right well I know how thou dost prize Orestes. - - _Elect._ In what then find I now my prayers fulfilled? 210 - - _Orest._ Behold me! Seek no dearer friend than I! - - _Elect._ Nay, stranger, dost thou weave a snare for me? - - _Orest._ Then do I plot my schemes against myself. - - _Elect._ Thou seekest to make merry with my grief. - - _Orest._ With mine then also, if at all with thine. - - _Elect._ Art thou indeed Orestes that I speak to? - - _Orest._ Though thou see'st him, thou'rt slow to learn 'tis I; - Yet when thou saw'st this lock of mourner's hair, - And did'st the foot-prints track my feet had made, - Agreeing with thine own, as brother's true, - Then did'st thou deem in hope thou looked'st on me. 220 - Fit then this lock where it was cut, and see; - See too this woven robe, thine own hands' work, - The shuttle's stroke, and forms of beasts[414] of chase. - - [ELECTRA _starts, as if about to cry aloud for joy_ - - Restrain thyself, nor lose thy head for joy: - Our nearest kin, I know, are foes to us. - - _Elect._ [_embracing_ ORESTES] Thou whom thy father's house most loves, - most prays for, - Our one sole hope, bewept with many a tear, - Of issue that shall work deliverance! - Thine own might trusting, thou thy father's house - Shall soon win back. O pleasant fourfold name! 230 - I needs must speak to thee as father dear;[415] - The love I owe my mother turns to thee, - (She with full right to me is hateful now,) - My sister's too, who ruthlessly was slain; - And thou wast ever faithful brother found, - And one whom I revered. May Might and Right, - And sovran Zeus as third, my helpers be! - - _Orest._ Zeus! Zeus! be Thou a witness of our troubles, - See the lorn brood that calls an eagle sire, - Eagle that perished in the coils and folds 240 - Of a fell viper. Now on them bereaved - Presses gaunt famine. Not as yet full-grown - Are they to bring their father's booty home. - Thus it is thine to see in me and her, - (I mean Electra) children fatherless, - Both suffering the same exile from our home. - - _Elect._ And should'st Thou havoc make of brood of sire - Who at thine altar greatly honoured Thee, - Whence wilt Thou get a festive offering - From hand as free? Nor, should'st Thou bring to nought - The eagle's nestlings, would'st thou have at hand 250 - A messenger to bear thy will to man - In signs persuasive; nor when withered up - This royal stock shall be, will it again - Wait on thine altars at high festivals: - Oh, bring it back, and then Thou too wilt raise - From low estate a lofty house, which now - Seems to have fallen, fallen utterly. - - _Chor._ Ah, children! saviours of your father's house, - Hush, hush, lest some one hear you, children dear, - And for mere talking's sake report all this - To those that rule. Ah, would I might behold them - Lie dead 'midst oozing fir-pyre blazing high![416] 260 - - _Orest._ Nay, nay, I tell you, Loxias' oracle, - In strength excelling, will not fail us now, - That bade me on this enterprise to start, - And with clear voice spake often, warning me - Of chilling pain-throes at the fevered heart, - Unless my father's murderers I should chase, - Bidding me kill them in the self-same fashion, - Stirred by the wrongs that pauperise my life, - And said that I with many a mischief ill - Should pay for that fault with mine own dear life. - For making known to men the charms earth-born 270 - *That soothe the wrathful powers,[417] he spake for us - Of ills as follows, leprous sores that creep - All o'er the flesh, and as with cruel jaws - Eat out its ancient nature, and white hairs[418] - On that foul ill to supervene: and still - He spake of other onsets of the Erinnyes, - As brought to issue from a father's blood; - For the dark weapon of the Gods below - Winged by our kindred that lie low in death, - And beg for vengeance, yea, and madness too, - And vague, dim fears at night disturb and haunt me, - *Seeing full clearly, though I move my brow[419] 280 - In the thick darkness ... and that then my frame, - Thus tortured, should be driven from the city - With brass-knobbed scourge: and that for such as I - It was not given to share the wine-cup's taste, - Nor votive stream in pure libation poured; - And that my father's wrath invisible - Would drive me from all altars, and that none - Should take me in, or lodge with me; at last, - That, loathed of all and friendless, I should die, - A wretched mummy, all my strength consumed. - Must I not trust such oracles as these? - Yea, though I trust not, must the deed be done; 290 - For many motives now in one converge,— - The God's command, great sorrow for my father; - My lack of fortune, this, too, urges me - Never to leave our noble citizens, - With noblest courage Troïa's conquerors, - To be the subjects to two women thus; - Yea, his soul is as woman's:[420] an' it be not, - He soon shall know the issue. - - _Chor._ Grant ye from Zeus, O mighty Destinies! - That so our work may end - As Justice wills, who takes our side at last; 300 - Now for the tongue of bitter hate let tongue - Of bitter hate be given. Loud and long - The voice of Vengeance claiming now her debt; - And for the murderous blow - Let him who slew with murderous blow repay. - “That the wrong-doer bear the wrong he did,” - Thrice-ancient saying of a far-off time,[421] - This speaketh as we speak. - - - STROPHE I - - _Orest._ O father, sire ill-starred, - What deed or word could I - Waft from afar to thee, - Where thy couch holds thee now, 310 - *To be a light with dark commensurate? - Alike, in either case, - The wail that tells their praise is welcome gift - To those Atreidæ, guardians of our house. - - - STROPHE II - - _Chor._ My child, my child, the mighty jaws of fire[422] - Bind not the mood and spirit of the dead! - But e'en when that is past he shows his wrath. - When he that dies is wailed, - The murderer stands revealed: 320 - The righteous cry for parents that begat, - To fullest utterance roused, - Searches the whole truth out. - - - ANTISTROPHE I - - _Elect._ Hear then, O father, now - Our tearful griefs in turn; - From us thy children twain - The funeral wail ascends; - And we, as suppliants and as exiles too, - Find shelter at thy tomb. - What of all this is good, what void of ills? 330 - Is not this now a woe invincible? - - _Chor._ Yet, even yet, from evils such as these, - God, if He will, may bring more pleasant strains: - And for the dirge we utter by the tomb, - A pæan in the royal house may raise - Welcome to new-found friend. - - - STROPHE III - - _Orest._ Had'st thou beneath the walls - Of Ilion, O my sire, - Been slain by Lykian foe,[423] - Pierced through and through with spear, - Leaving high fame at home, 340 - And laying strong and sure - *Thy children's paths in life, - Then had'st thou had as thine - Far off across the sea - A mound of earth heaped high, - To all thy kith and kin endurable. - - - ANTISTROPHE II - - _Chor._ Yea, and as friend with friends - That nobly died, he then - Had dwelt in high estate - A sovereign ruler, held - Of all in reverence, - High in their train who rule - Supreme in that dark world; 350 - For he, too, while he lived, - As monarch ruled o'er those - Whose hands the sceptre held - That mortal men obey.[424] - - - ANTISTROPHE III - - _Elect._ Not even 'neath the walls - Of Troïa, O my sire, - With those the spear hath slain, - Would I have had thee lie - By fair Scamandros' stream: - No, this my prayer shall be - That those who slew thee fall, - *By their own kin struck down, 360 - That one might hear far off, - Untried by woes like this, - The fate that brings inevitable death. - - _Chor._ Of blessings more than golden, O my child, - Greater than greatest fortune, or the bliss - Of those beyond the North[425] thou speakest now; - For this is in thy grasp; - But hold; e'en now this thud of double scourge[426] - Finds its way on to him; - Already these find helpers 'neath the earth, - But of those rulers whom we loathe and hate - Unholy are the hands: 370 - And children gain the day. - - - STROPHE IV - - _Elect._ Ah! this, like arrow, pierces through the ear! - O Zeus! O Zeus! who sendest from below - A woe of tardy doom - Upon the bold and subtle hands of men.... - Nay, though they parents be, - Yet all shall be fulfilled. - - - STROPHE V - - _Chor._ May it be mine to chant o'er funeral pyre - *Cry well accordant with the pine-fed blaze,[427] - When first the man is slain, - And his wife perisheth! 380 - Why should I hide what flutters round my heart? - On my heart's prow a blast blows mightily, - Keen wrath and loathing fierce. - - - ANTISTROPHE IV - - _Orest._ And when shall Zeus, the orphan's guardian true, - Lay to his hand and smite the guilty heads? - So may our land learn faith! - Vengeance I claim from those who did the wrong. 390 - Hear me, O Earth, and ye, - *Powers held in awe below! - - _Chor._ Yea, the law saith that gory drops once shed - Upon the ground for yet more blood should crave; - *For lo! fell slaughter on Erinnys calls, - To come from those that perished long ago, - And on one sorrow other sorrow bring. - - - STROPHE VI - - _Elect._ *Ah, ah, O Earth, and Lords of those below! - Behold, ye mighty Curses of the slain, - Behold the remnant of the Atreidæ's house - Brought to extremest strait, 400 - Bereaved of house and home! - Whither, O Zeus, can any turn for help? - - - ANTISTROPHE V - - _Chor._ Ah, my fond heart is quivering in dismay, - *Hearing this loud lament most lamentable: - Now have I little cheer, - And blackened is my heart, - *Hearing that speech; but then again when hope - *On strength uplifts me, far it drives my grief, - *Propitious seen at last. - - - ANTISTROPHE VI - - _Orest._ What could we speak more fitly than the woes 410 - We suffer, yea, and from a parent's hands? - Well, she may fawn; our mood remains unsoothed; - For like a wolf untamed, - We from our mother take - A wrathful soul that to no fawning yields. - - - STROPHE VII - - _Chor._ *I strike an Arian stroke, and in the strain - Of Kissian mourner skilled,[428] - Ye might have seen the stretching forth of hands, - With rendings of the hair, and random blows, - In quick succession given, - Dealt from above with arm at fullest length, - And with the beating still my head is stunned, 420 - Battered and full of woe. - - _Elect._ O mother, hostile found, and daring all! - With burial as of foe - Thou had'st the heart a ruler to inter, - His citizens not there, - A spouse unwept, with no lamentings loud. - - - STROPHE VIII - - _Orest._ Ah! thou hast told the whole full tale of shame; - Shall she not pay then for that outrage dire - Unto my father done, - So far as Gods prevail, - So far as my hands work? - May it be mine to smite her and then die! 430 - - - ANTISTROPHE VII - - _Chor._ Yea, he was maimed![429] (that thou the tale may'st know) - And as she slaughtered, so she buried him, - Seeking to work a doom - For thy young life all unendurable. - Now thou dost hear the woes - Thy father suffered, stained with foulest shame. - - - ANTISTROPHE VIII - - _Elect._ Thou tellest of my father's death, but I - Stood afar off, contemned, - Counted as nought, and like a cursèd hound - Shut up within, I poured the tide of tears - (More ready they than smiles) - Uttering in secret wail of weeping full. 440 - Hear thou these things, and write them in my mind. - - _Chor._ Let the tale pierce thine ears, - While thy soul onward moves with tranquil step: - So much, thou know'st, stands thus; - Seek thou with all desire to know the rest; - 'Tis meet to enter now - Within the lists with mind inflexible. - - - STROPHE IX - - _Orest._ I bid thee, O my father, help thy friends. - - _Elect._ Bitterly weeping, these my tears I add. - - _Chor._ With full accord so cries our company. - Come then to light, and hear; 450 - Be with us 'gainst our foes. - - - ANTISTROPHE IX - - _Orest._ My Might their Might, my Right their - Right must meet. - - _Elect._ *Ye Gods, give righteous issue in our cause. - - _Chor._ Fear creeps upon me as I hear your prayers. - Long tarries destiny, - But comes to those who pray. - - - STROPHE X - - _Semi-Chor. A._ Oh, woe that haunts the race, - And harsh, shrill stroke of Atè's bloody scourge! - Woes sad and hard to bear, 460 - Calling for wailing loud, - Ah, woe is me, a grief immedicable. - - - ANTISTROPHE X - - _Semi-Chor. B._ Yea, but as cure for this, - And healing salve,'tis yours with your own hands, - With no help from without, - *To press your suit of blood; - So runs our hymn to those great Gods below. - - _Chor._ Yea, hearing now, ye blest Ones 'neath the earth, - This prayer, send ye your children timely help - That worketh victory. - - _Orest._ O sire, who in no kingly fashion died'st, 470 - Hear thou my prayer; grant victory o'er this house. - - _Elect._ I, father, ask this prayer, that I may work - *Ægisthos' death, and then acquittal gain. - - _Orest._ Yea, thus the banquets that men give the dead - Would for thee too be held, but otherwise - *Dishonoured wilt thou lie 'mid those that feast,[430] - Robbed of thy country's rich burnt-offerings. - - _Elect._ I too from out my father's house will bring - Libations from mine own inheritance, - As marriage offerings. Chief and first of all, - Will I do honour to this sepulchre. - - _Orest._ Set free my sire, O Earth, to watch the battle. 480 - - _Elect._ O Persephassa, goodly victory grant! - - _Orest._ Remember, sire, the bath in which they slew thee! - - _Elect._ *Remember thou the net they handselled so! - - _Orest._ In fetters not of brass wast thou snared, father. - - _Elect._ Yea, basely with that mantle they devised. - - _Orest._ Art thou not roused by these reproaches, father? - - _Elect._ Dost thou not lift thine head for those thou lov'st? - - _Orest._ Or send thou Vengeance to assist thy friends; - Or let them get like grasp of those thy foes, - If thou, o'ercome, dost wish to conquer them. 490 - - _Elect._ And hear thou this last prayer of mine, my father, - Seeing us thy nestlings sitting at thy tomb, - Have mercy on thy boy and on thy girl; - Nor blot thou out the seed of Pelopids: - So thou, though thou hast died, art yet not dead; - For children are the voices that preserve - Man's memory when he dies: so bear the net - The corks that float the flax-mesh from the deep. - Hear thou: This is our wailing cry for thee, - And thou, our prayer regarding, sav'st thyself. 500 - - _Chor._ Unblamed have ye your utterance lengthened out, - Amends for that his tomb's unwept-for lot. - But as to what remains, since thou'rt resolved - To act, act now; make trial of thy Fate. - - _Orest._ So shall it be. Yet 'tis not out of course - To ask why she libations sent, why thus - Too late she cares for ill she cannot cure? - Yea, to a dead man heeding not 'twas sent, - A sorry offering. Why, I fail to guess: - The gifts are far too little for the fault; 510 - For should a man pour all he has to pay - For one small drop of blood, the toil were vain: - So runs the saying. But if thou dost know, - Tell this to me as wishing much to learn. - - _Chor._ I know, my child, for I was by. Stirred on - By dreams and wandering terrors of the night, - That godless woman these libations sent. - - _Orest._ And have ye learnt the dream, to tell it right? - - _Chor._ As she doth say, she thought she bare a snake. - - _Orest._ How ends the tale, and what its outcome then? - - _Chor._ She nursed it, like a child, in swaddling clothes. 520 - - _Orest._ What food did that young monster crave for then? - - _Chor._ She in her dream her bosom gave to it. - - _Orest._ How 'scaped her breast by that dread beast unhurt? - - _Chor._ Nay, with the milk it sucked out clots of blood. - - _Orest._ Ah, not in vain comes this dream from her lord. - - _Chor._ She, roused from sleep, cries out all terrified, - And many torches that were quenched in gloom - Blazed for our mistress' sake within the house. - Then these libations for the dead she sends, - Hoping they'll prove good medicine of ills. 530 - - _Orest._ Now to Earth here and my sire's tomb I pray - They leave not this strange vision unfulfilled. - So I expound it that it all coheres; - For if, the self-same spot that I left leaving, - *The snake was then wrapt in my swaddling clothes, - And sucked the very breast that nourished me, - And mixed the sweet milk with a clot of blood, - And she in terror wailed the strange event, - So must she, as that monster dread she nourished, - Die cruel death: and I, thus serpentised, 540 - Am here to slay her, as this dream portends; - I take thee as my dream-interpreter. - - _Chor._ So be it; but in all else guide thy friends; - *Bid some do this, some that, some nought at all. - - _Orest._ Simple my orders, that she [_pointing to_ ELECTRA] go within; - And you, I charge you, hide these plans of mine, - That they who slew a noble soul by guile, - By guile may die and in the self-same snare - Be caught, as Loxias gave his oracle, - The king Apollo, seer that never lied: 550 - For like a stranger in full harness clad - Will I draw near with this man, Pylades, - To the great gates, a stranger I, and he, - Ally in arms. And then we both will speak - Parnassian speech, and imitate the tone - Of Phokian tongue. And should no porter there - Give us good welcome, on the ground that now - The house with ills is haunted, there we'll stay, - So that a man who passeth by the house - Will guess, and thus will speak, “Why drives Ægisthos - The suppliant from his gate, if he's at home - And knows it?” But if I should pass the threshold 560 - Of the great gate, and find him seated there - Upon my father's throne, or if he comes - And meets me, face to face, and lifts his eyes, - And drops them, then be sure, before he says, - “Whence is this stranger?”—I will lay him dead, - With my swift-footed brazen weapon pierced; - And then Erinnys, stinted not in slaughter, - Shall drink her third draught of unmingled blood.[431] - Thou, then, [_to_ ELECTRA] watch well what passes in the house, 570 - So that these things may dovetail close and well: - And you [_to the Chorus_] I bid to keep a tongue discreet, - Silent, if need be, or the right word speaking, - And Him[432] [_pointing to the statue of Apollo_] I call to look upon - me here, - Since he has set me on this strife of swords. - - [_Exeunt_ ORESTES, PYLADES, _and_ ELECTRA - - - STROPHE I - - _Chor._ Many dread forms of evils terrible - Earth bears, and Ocean's bays - With monsters wild and fierce - *O'erflow, and through mid-air the meteor lights 580 - Sweep by; and wingèd birds - And creeping things can tell the vehement rage - Of whirling storms of winds. - - - ANTISTROPHE I - - But who man's temper overbold may tell, - Or daring passionate loves - Of women bold in heart, - Passions close bound with men's calamities? - Love that true love disowns, - That sways the weaker sex in brutes and men, 590 - Usurps o'er wedlock's ties. - - - STROPHE II - - Whoso is not bird-witted, let him think - What scheme she learnt to plan, - Of subtle craft that wrought its will by fire, - That wretched child of Thestios, who to slay - Her son did set a-blaze - The brand that glowed blood-red, - Which had its birth when first from out the womb - He came with infant's wail, - And spanned the measure of its life with his, 600 - On to the destined day.[433] - - - ANTISTROPHE II - - Another, too, must we with loathing name, - Skylla, with blood defiled.[434] - Who for the sake of foes a dear one slew, - Won by the gold-chased bracelets brought from Crete, - The gifts that Minos gave, - And knowing not the end, - Robbed Nisos of his lock of deathless life, - She with her dog-like heart 610 - Surprising him deep-breathing in his sleep; - But Hermes comes on her.[435] - - - STROPHE III - - And since I tell the tale of ruthless woes....[436] - Yet now 'tis not the time - *To tell of evil marriage which this house - Doth loathe and execrate, - And of a woman's schemes and stratagems - Against a warrior chief, - *Chief whom his people honoured as was meet, - I give my praise to hearth from hot broils free, - And praise that woman's mood - That dares no deed of ill. - - - ANTISTROPHE III - - But of all crimes the Lemnian foremost stands[437] 620 - *And the Earth mourns that woe - As worthy of all loathing. Yes, this guilt - One might have well compared - With Lemnian ills; and now that race is gone, - To lowest shame brought down - By the foul guilt the Gods abominate: - For no man honours what the Gods condemn, - Which instance of all these - Do I not rightly urge?[438] - - - STROPHE IV - - And now the sword already at the heart, - Sharp-pointed, strikes a blow that pierces through, - While Vengeance guides the hand; 630 - For lo! the lawlessness - Of one who doth transgress all lawlessly - The might and majesty of Zeus, lies not - As trampled under foot.[439] - - - ANTISTROPHE IV - - The anvil-block of Vengeance firm is set, - And Fate, the swordsmith, hammers on the bronze - Beforehand; and the child - Is brought unto his home, - And in due time the debt of guilt is paid - By the dark-souled Erinnys, famed of old, - For blood of former days. - - - ORESTES _and_ PYLADES _enter, disguised as Phokian travellers, - go to the door of the palace, and knock loudly_ - - _Orest._ What ho, boy! hear us knocking at the gate. 640 - Who is within, boy? who, boy?—hear, again; - A third time now I give my summons here, - If good Ægisthos' house be hospitable. - - [_A_ SLAVE _opens the door_ - - _Slave._ Hold, hold; I hear. What stranger comes, and whence? - - _Orest._ Tell thou thy lords who over this house rule, - To whom I come and tidings new report; - And make good speed, for now the dusky car - Of night comes on apace, and it is time - For travellers in hospitable homes - To cast their anchor; and let some one come - From out the house who hath authority; 650 - The lady, if so be one ruleth here, - But, seemlier far, her lord; for then no shame - In converse makes our words obscure and dim; - But man with man gains courage to speak out, - And makes his mission manifest as day. - - _Enter_ CLYTÆMNESTRA - - _Clytæm._ If ye need aught, O strangers, speak; for here - Is all that's fitting for a house like ours; - Warm baths,[440] and bed that giveth rest from toil, - And presence of right honest faces too; - If there be aught that needeth counsel more, - That is men's business, and to them we'll tell it. 660 - - _Orest._ A Daulian traveller, from Phokis come, - Am I, and as I went on business bound, - My baggage with me, unto Argos, I - (Just as I set forth,) met a man I knew not, - Who knew not me, and he then, having asked - My way and told me his, the Phokian Strophios - (For so I learnt in talking) said to me, - “Since thou dost go, my friend, for Argos bound, - In any case, tell those who gave him birth, - Remembering it right well, Orestes' death; - See thou forget it not, and whether plans 670 - Prevail to fetch him home, or bury him - There where he is, a stranger evermore, - Bear back the message as thy freight for us; - For now the ribbed sides of an urn of bronze - The ashes hide of one whom men have wept.” - So much I heard and now have told; and if - I speak to kin that have a right in him - I know not, but his father sure should know it. - - _Clytæm._ Ah, thou hast told how utterly our ruin - Is now complete! O Curse of this our house, - Full hard to wrestle with! How many things, 680 - Though lying out of reach, thou aimest at, - And with well-darted arrows from afar - Dost bring them low! And now thou strippest me, - Most wretched one, of all that most I loved. - A lucky throw Orestes now was making, - Getting his feet from out destruction's slough; - But now the hope of high, exulting joy, - *Which this house had as healer, he scores down - As present in this fashion that we see. - - _Orest._ I could have wished to come to prosperous hosts, - As known and welcomed for my tidings good; - For who to hosts is friendlier than a guest? 690 - But 'twould have been as impious in my thoughts - Not to complete this matter for my friends, - By promise bound and pledged as guest to host. - - _Clytæm._ Thou shalt not meet with less than thou deserv'st; - Nor wilt thou be to this house less a friend; - Another would have brought news all the same: - But since 'tis time that strangers who have made - A long day's journey find the things they need, - Lead him [_to her Slave, pointing to_ ORESTES] to these our hospitable - halls, - And these his fellow-travellers and servants: 700 - There let them meet with what befits our house. - I bid thee act as one who gives account; - And we unto the masters of our house - Will tell this news, and with no lack of friends - Deliberate of this calamity.[441] - - [_Exeunt_ CLYTÆMNESTRA, ORESTES, PYLADES, - _and Attendants_ - - _Chor._ Come then, handmaids of the palace, - When shall we with full-pitched voices - Show our feeling for Orestes? - O earth revered! thou height revered, too, - Of the mound piled o'er the body - Of our navy's kingly captain, 710 - Oh, hear us now; oh, come and help us; - For 'tis time for subtle Suasion[442] - To go with them to the conflict, - And that Hermes act as escort, - He who dwells in earth's deep darkness, - In the strife where swords work mischief. - - _Enter_ KILISSA - - _Chor._ The stranger seems about to work some ill; - And here I see Orestes' nurse in tears. - Where then, Kilissa, art thou bound, that thus - Thou tread'st the palace-gates, and with thee comes - Grief as a fellow-traveller unbidden? 720 - - _Kilis._ Our mistress bids me with all speed to call - Ægisthos to the strangers, that he come - And hear more clearly, as a man from man, - This newly-brought report. Before her slaves, - Under set eyes of melancholy cast, - She hid her inner chuckle at the events - That have been brought to pass—too well for her, - But for this house and hearth most miserably,— - As in the tale the strangers clearly told. - He, when he hears and learns the story's gist, - Will joy, I trow, in heart. Ah, wretched me! 730 - How those old troubles, of all sorts made up, - Most hard to bear, in Atreus' palace-halls - Have made my heart full heavy in my breast! - But never have I known a woe like this. - For other ills I bore full patiently, - But as for dear Orestes, my sweet charge, - Whom from his mother I received and nursed.... - And then the shrill cries rousing me o' nights. - And many and unprofitable toils - For me who bore them. For one needs must rear - The heedless infant like an animal, 740 - (How can it else be?) as his humour serves. - For while a child is yet in swaddling clothes, - *It speaketh not, if either hunger comes, - Or passing thirst, or lower calls of need; - And children's stomach works its own content. - And I, though I foresaw this, call to mind - How I was cheated, washing swaddling clothes, - And nurse and laundress did the self-same work. - I then with these my double handicrafts, - Brought up Orestes for his father dear; - And now, woe's me! I learn that he is dead, 750 - And go to fetch the man that mars this house: - And gladly will he hear these words of mine. - - _Chor._ And how equipped then doth she bid him come? - - _Nurse._ 'How?' Speak again that I may better learn. - - _Chor._ By spearmen followed, or himself alone? - - _Nurse._ She bids him bring his guards with lances armed. - - _Chor._ Nay, say not that to him thy lord doth hate.[443] - But bid him 'come alone,' (that so he hear - Without alarm,) 'full speed, with joyous mind,' - Since 'secret speech with messengers goes best.' 760 - - _Nurse._ And art thou of good cheer at this my tale? - - _Chor._ But what if Zeus will turn the tide of ill? - - _Nurse._ How so? Orestes, our one hope is gone. - - _Chor._ Not yet; a sorry seer might know thus much. - - _Nurse._ What say'st thou? Know'st thou aught besides my tale? - - _Chor._ Go tell thy message; do thine errand well: - The Gods for what they care for, care enough. - - _Nurse._ I then will go, complying with thy words: - May all, by God's gift, end most happily! - - - STROPHE I - - _Chor._ Now to my prayer, O Father of the Gods 770 - Of high Olympos, Zeus, - Grant that their fortune may be blest indeed - *Who long to look on goodness prospering well, - Yea, with full right and truth - I speak the word—O Zeus, preserve thou him! - - - STROPHE II - - Yea, Zeus, set him whom now the palace holds, - Set him above his foes; - For if thou raise him high, - Then shall thou have, to thy heart's full content, - Payment of twofold, threefold recompense. - - - ANTISTROPHE I - - Know that the son of one who loved thee well 780 - *Like colt of sire bereaved, - *Is to the chariot of great evils yoked, - *And set thy limit to his weary path. - *Ah, would that one might see - *His panting footsteps, as he treads his course, - *Keeping due measure through this plain of ours! - - - STROPHE III - - And ye within the gate, - Ye Gods, in purpose one, - Who dwell in shrines enriched - With all good things, come ye, - And now with vengeance fresh - Atone for murder foul - Of those that fell long since: 790 - *And let that blood of old, - *When these are justly slain, - Breed no more in our house. - - - MESODE - - O Thou[444] that dwellest in the cavern vast, - Adorned with goodly gifts, - Grant our lord's house to look up yet once more, - And that it now may glance, - In free and glorious guise - With loving kindly eyes, - From out its veil of gloom. - Let Maia's son[445] too give - His righteous help, and waft - Good end with prosperous gale. - - - ANTISTROPHE III - - *And things that now are hid, 800 - He, if he will, will bring - As to the daylight clear; - But when it pleases him - Dark, hidden words to speak, - As in thick night he bears - Black gloom before his face;[446] - Nor is he in the day - One whit more manifest. - - - STROPHE IV - - *And then our treasured store,[447] - *The price as ransom paid - To free the house from ill, - A woman's gift on breath - Of favouring breeze onborne, - We then with clamorous cry, - To sound of cithern sweet, - Will in the city pour; - And if this prospers well, - *My gains, yea mine, 'twill swell, and Atè then - From those I love stands far. 810 - - - ANTISTROPHE II - - But thou, take courage, when the time is come - For action, and cry out, - Shouting thy father's name, - When she shall cry aloud the name of “son,” - And work thou out a woe that none will blame. - - - ANTISTROPHE IV - - And have thou in thy breast - The heart that Perseus had,[448] - And for thy friends beneath, - And those on earth who dwell, - Go thou and work the deed - Acceptable to them, 820 - Of bitter, wrathful mood, - And consummate within - *The loathly work of blood; - [And bidding Vengeance come as thine ally,] - Destroy the murderer. - - _Enter_ ÆGISTHOS - - _Ægis._ Not without summons came I, but by word - Of courier fetched, and learn that travellers bring - Their tale of tidings new, in no wise welcome. - As for Orestes' death, with it to charge - The house would be a burden dropping fear - To one by that old bloodshed sorely stung.[449] - How shall I count these things? As clear and true? - Or are they vague reports of woman's fears, 830 - That leap up high and die away to nought? - What can'st thou say that will my mind inform? - - _Chor._ We heard, 'tis true; but go thou in and ask - Of these same strangers. Nought is found in words - Of messengers like asking, man from man. - - _Ægis._ I wish to see and probe the messenger, - If he himself were present at the death, - Or tells it hearing of a vague report: - They shall not cheat a mind with eyes wide open. - - [_Exit_ - - _Chor._ Zeus! Zeus! what words shall I 840 - Now speak, whence start in prayer, - *Invoking help of Gods? - How with all wish for good - Shall I speak fitting words? - For now the sharp sword-points, - Red with the blood of man, - Will either work for aye - The utter overthrow - Of Agamemnon's house, - Or, kindling fire and torch - For freedom thus achieved, - Will he the sceptre wield - Of duly-ordered sway, - His father's pride and state: 850 - Such is the contest he, - Orestes, godlike one, - Now wages all alone, - The one sole combatant,[450] - In place of him who fell, - Against those twain. May victory be his! - - _Ægisth._ [_groaning within_] Ah! ah! Woe's me! - - _Chor._ Hark! hark! How goes it now? - What issue has been wrought within the house? - Let us hold back while they the deed are doing, - That we may seem as guiltless of these ills: - For surely now the fight has reached its end. - - _Enter_ Servant _from the chief door_ - - _Serv._ Alas! alas! my master perishes! 860 - Alas! alas! a third time yet I call. - Ægisthos is no more; but open now - With all your speed, and loosen ye the bolts - That bar the women's gates. A man's full strength - Is needed; not indeed that that would help - A man already slain. - - [_Rushes to the gate of the woman's half of the - palace_ - - Ho there! I say: - I speak to the deaf; to those that sleep I utter - In vain my useless cries. And where is she? - Where's Clytæmnestra? What doth she do now? - Her neck upon the razor's edge doth seem - To fall, down-stricken by a vengeance just. 870 - - _Enter_ CLYTÆMNESTRA _from the side door_ - - _Clytæm._ What means all this? What cry is this thou mak'st? - - _Serv._ I say the dead are killing one who lives. - - _Clytæm._ Ah, me! I see the drift of thy dark speech; - By guile we perish, as of old we slew: - Let some one hand at once axe strong to slay; - Let's see if we are conquered or can conquer, - For to that point of evil am I come. - - _Enter_ ORESTES _and_ PYLADES _from the other door_ - - _Orest._ 'Tis thou I seek: he there has had enough. - - _Clytæm._ Ah me! my loved Ægisthos! Art thou dead? - - _Orest._ Lov'st thou the man? Then in the self-same tomb 880 - Shalt thou now lie, nor in his death desert him. - - _Clytæm._ [_baring her bosom_] Hold, boy! Respect - this breast of mine, my son,[451] - Whence thou full oft, asleep, with toothless gums, - Hast sucked the milk that sweetly fed thy life. - - _Orest._ What shall I do, my Pylades? Shall I - Through this respect forbear to slay my mother? - - _Pyl._[452] Where, then, are Loxias' other oracles, - The Pythian counsels, and the fast-sworn vows? - Have all men hostile rather than the Gods. - - _Orest._ My judgment goes with thine; thou speakest well: - [_To_ CLYTÆMNESTRA] Follow: I mean to slay thee where he lies,890 - For while he lived thou held'st him far above - My father. Sleep thou with him in thy death, - Since thou lov'st him, and whom thou should'st love hatest. - - _Clytæm._ I reared thee, and would fain grow old with thee. - - _Orest._ What! Thou live with me, who did'st slay my father? - - _Clytæm._ Fate, O my son, must share the blame of that. - - _Orest._ This fatal doom, then, it is Fate that sends. - - _Clytæm._ Dost thou not fear a parent's curse, my son? - - _Orest._ Thou, though my mother, did'st to ill chance cast me. - - _Clytæm._ No outcast thou, so sent to house allied. 900 - - _Orest._ I was sold doubly, though of free sire born. - - _Clytæm._ Where is the price, then, that I got for thee? - - _Orest._ I shrink for shame from pressing that charge home. - - _Clytæm._ Nay, tell thy father's wantonness as well. - - _Orest._ Blame not the man who toils when thou'rt at ease.[453] - - _Clytæm._ 'Tis hard, my son, for wives to miss their husband. - - _Orest._ The husband's toil keeps her that sits at home.[453] - - _Clytæm._ Thou seem'st, my son, about to slay thy mother. - - _Orest._ It is not I that slay thee, but thyself. - - _Clytæm._ Take heed, beware a mother's vengeful hounds.[454] 910 - - _Orest._ How, slighting this, shall I escape my father's? - - _Clytæm._ I seem in life to wail as to a tomb.[455] - - _Orest._ My father's fate ordains this doom for thee. - - _Clytæm._ Ah me! the snake is here I bare and nursed.[456] - - _Orest._ An o'er-true prophet was that dread dream-born; - Thou slewest one thou never should'st have slain, - Now suffer fate should never have been thine. - - [_Exit_ ORESTES, _leading_ CLYTÆMNESTRA _into the - palace, and followed by_ PYLADES - - _Chor._ E'en of these two I wail the twin mischance; - But since long line of murder culminates - In poor Orestes, this we yet accept, - That he, our one light, fall not utterly. 920 - - - STROPHE I - - Late came due vengeance on the sons of Priam, - Just forfeit of sore woe;— - Late came there too to Agamemnon's house, - Twin lions, twofold Death.[457] - The exile who obeyed the Pythian hest - Hath gained his full desire, - Sped on his way by counsel from the Gods. - - - STROPHE II - - Shout ye, loud shout for the escape from ills - Our master's house has seen, - And from the wasting of his ancient wealth - By that defilèd pair, 930 - Ill fate intolerable. - - - ANTISTROPHE I - - And so on one who loves the war of guile - Revenge came subtle-souled; - And in the strife of hands the child of Zeus - In very deed gave help, - (We mortals call her Vengeance, hitting well - The meetest name for her,) - Breathing destroying wrath against her foes. - - - STROPHE III - - She, she it is whom Loxias summons now, 940 - Who dwelleth in Parnassia's cavern vast, - *Calling on her who still - *Is guileful without guile, - *Halting of foot and tarrying over-long: - The will of Gods is strangely overruled; - It may not help the vile;[458] - 'Tis meet to adore the Power that rules in Heaven: - At last we see the light. - - - ANTISTROPHE II - - *Now is the bit that curbed the slaves ta'en off:[459] - Arise, arise, O house: - Too long, too long, all prostrate on the ground 950 - Ye have been used to lie. - · · · · · - - - ANTISTROPHE III - - Quickly all-working Time will bring a change - Across the threshold of the palace old, - When from the altar-hearth - It shall drive all the guilt, - With cleansing rites that chase away our woes; - And Fortune's throws shall fall with gladsome cast, - *Once more benign to see,[460] - For new-come strangers settled in the house: - At last we see the light. - - _Enter_ ORESTES, PYLADES, _and followers from the palace. His - attendants bear the robe in which_ AGAMEMNON _had been murdered_ - - _Orest._ See ye this country's tyrant rulers twain, 960 - My father's murderers, wasters of his house; - Stately were they, seen sitting on their thrones, - Friends too e'en now, to argue from their fate, - Whose oaths are kept to every pledge they gave. - Firmly they swore that they would slay my father, - And die together. Well those oaths are kept: - And ye who hear these ills, behold ye now - Their foul device, as bonds for my poor father, - Handcuffs, and fetters both his feet to bind. - Come, stretch it out, and standing all around, 970 - Show ye the snare that wrapt him o'er, that He - May see, our Father,—not of mine I speak, - But the great Sun that looks on all we do,— - My mother's deeds, defilèd and impure, - That He may be a witness in my cause, - That I did justly bring this doom to pass - Upon my mother.... Of Ægisthos' fate - No word I speak. He bears the penalty, - As runs the law, of an adulterer's guilt; - But she who planned this crime against a man - By whom she knew the weight of children borne - Beneath her girdle, once a burden loved, - But now, as it is proved, a grievous ill, 980 - What seems she to you? Had she viper been, - Or fell myræna,[461] she with touch alone, - *Rather than bite, had made a festering sore - With that bold daring of unrighteous mood. - What shall I call it, using mildest speech? - A wild beast's trap?—a pall that wraps a bier, - And hides a dead man's feet?—A net, I trow, - A snare, a robe entangling, one might call it. - Such might be owned by one to plunder trained, - Practised in duping travellers, and the life - That robs men of their money; with this trap 990 - Destroying many, many deeds of ill - His fevered brain might hatch. May such as she - Ne'er share my dwelling! May the hand of God - Far rather smite me that I childless die! - - _Chor._ [_looking on_ AGAMEMNON'S _robe._] Ah me! ah me! these deeds - most miserable! - By hateful murder thou wast done to death. - Woe, woe is me! - And evil buds and blooms for him that's left. - - _Orest._ Was the deed hers or no? Lo! this same robe - Bears witness how she dyed Ægisthos' sword, - And the blood-stain helps Time's destroying work, 1000 - Marring full many a tint of pattern fair: - *Now name I it, now as eye-witness wail;[462] - And calling on this robe that slew my father, - Moan for all done and suffered, wail my race, - Bearing the foul stains of this victory. - - _Chor._ No mortal man shall live a life unharmed, - *Stout-hearted and rejoicing evermore. - Woe, woe is me! - One trouble vexes now, another comes. - - _Orest._ (_wildly, as one distraught._) Nay, know ye—for I know not how - 'twill end;1010 - Like chariot-driver with his steeds I'm dragged - Out of my course; for passion's moods uncurbed - Bear me their victim headlong. At my heart - Stands terror ready or to sing or dance - In burst of frenzy. While my reason stays, - I tell my friends here that I slew my mother, - Not without right, my father's murderess, - Accursed, and hated of the Gods. And I - As chiefest spell that made me dare this deed - Count Loxias, Pythian prophet, warning me - That doing this I should be free from blame, 1020 - But slighting.... I pass o'er the penalty[463].... - For none, aim as he will, such woes will hit. - And now ye see me, in what guise equipped, - - [_Putting on the suppliant's wreaths of wool, and - taking an olive branch in his hand_ - - With this my bough and chaplet I will gain - Earth's central shrine, the home where Loxias dwells, - And the bright fire that is as deathless known,[464] - Seeking to 'scape this guilt of kindred blood; - And on no other hearth, so Loxias bade, - May I seek shelter. And I charge you all, - Ye Argives, bear ye witness in due time 1030 - How these dark deeds of wretched ill were wrought: - But I, a wanderer, exiled from my land, - Shall live, and leaving these my prayers in death,... - - _Chor._ Nay, thou hast prospered: burden not thy lips - With evil speech, nor speak ill-boding words, - When thou hast freed the Argive commonwealth, - By good chance lopping those two serpents' heads. - - [_The Erinnyes are seen in the background, visible - to_ ORESTES _only, in black robes, and with - snakes in their hair_ - - _Orest._ Ah! ah! ye handmaids: see, like Gorgons these, - Dark-robed, and all their tresses hang entwined - With many serpents. I can bear no more. - - _Chor._ What phantoms vex thee, best beloved of sons 1040 - By thy dear sire? Hold, fear not, victory's thine. - - _Orest._ These are no phantom terrors that I see: - Full clear they are my mother's vengeful hounds. - - _Chor._ The blood fresh-shed is yet upon thy hands, - And thence it is these troubles haunt thy soul. - - _Orest._ O King Apollo! See, they swarm, they swarm, - And from their eyes is dropping loathsome blood. - - _Chor._ One way of cleansing is there; Loxias' form - Clasp thou, and he will free thee from these ills. - - _Orest._ These forms ye see not, but I see them there: - They drive me on, and I can bear no more. [_Exit_ - - _Chor._ Well, may'st thou prosper; may the gracious God 1050 - Watch o'er and guard thee with a chance well timed! - - Here, then, upon this palace of our kings - A third storm blows again; - The blast that haunts the race has run its course. - First came the wretched meal of children's flesh; - Next what befell our king: - Slain in the bath was he who ruled our host, - Of all the Achæans lord; - And now a third has come, we know not whence,[465] - To save ... or shall I say, - To work a doom of death? - Where will it end? Where will it cease at last, - The mighty Atè dread, - Lulled into slumber deep? - ------ - -Footnote 401: - - Hermes is invoked, (1) as the watcher over the souls of the dead in - Hades, and therefore the natural patron of the murdered Agamemnon; (2) - as exercising an authority delegated by Zeus, and therefore capable of - being, like Zeus himself, the deliverer and helper of suppliants. So - Electra, further on, invokes Hermes in the same character. The line - may, however, be rendered, - - “Who stand'st as guardian of my father's house.” - - The three opening lines are noticeable, as having been chosen by - Aristophanes as the special object for his satirical criticism - (_Frogs_, 1126-1176), abounding in a good score of ambiguities and - tautologies. - -Footnote 402: - - The words point to the two symbolic aspects of one and the same - practice. In both there are some points of analogy with the earlier - and later forms of the Nazarite vow among the Jews. (1) As being part - of the body, and yet separable from it without mutilation, it became - the representative of the whole man, and as such was the sign of a - votive dedication. As early as Homer, it was the custom of youths to - keep one long, flowing lock as consecrated, and when they reached - manhood, they cut it off, and offered it to the river-god of their - country, throwing it into the stream, as that to which, directly and - indirectly, they owed their nurture. Here the offering is made to - Inachos, as the hero-founder of Argos, identified with the river that - bore his name. (2) They shaved their head, wholly or in part, as a - token as a token of grief, and then, because true grief for the dead - was an acceptable and propitiatory offering, this became the natural - offering for suppliants who offered their prayers at the tombs of the - departed. So in the _Aias_ of Sophocles (v. 1174) Teucros calls on - Eurysakes to approach the corpse of his father, holding in his hand - locks of his own hair, his mother's, and that of Teucros. In the - offering which Achilles makes over the grave of Patroclos of the hair - which he had cherished for the river-god of his fatherland, - Spercheios, we have the union of the two customs. Homer. _Il._ xxiii. - 141-151. - -Footnote 403: - - After the widespread fashion of the East, the handmaids of - Clytæmnestra (originally Troïan captives) had to rend their clothes, - beat their breasts, and lacerate their faces till the blood came. The - higher civilisation of Solon's laws had forbidden these wild, - barbarous forms of grief at Athens. Plutarch, _Solon_, p. 164. - -Footnote 404: - - Purposely, perhaps, obscure. They seem to say that the old reverence - for Agamemnon has passed away, and instead of it there is only a - slavish fear for Ægisthos. For the more acute, however, they imply - that those who have cause to fear are Ægisthos and Clytæmnestra - themselves. - -Footnote 405: - - The words, in their generalising sententiousness, refer specially to - the twofold crime of Ægisthos as an adulterer and murderer. Then, in - the Epode, the Chorus justify themselves for their seeming - inconsistency in thus abhorring the guilt, and yet acting as - instruments of the guilty in their attempts to escape punishment. - -Footnote 406: - - The mourners speak, of course, of Agamemnon and Orestes, not of - Ægisthos and Clytæmnestra. - -Footnote 407: - - A mixture of meal, honey, and oil formed the half-liquid substance - commonly used for these funereal libations. The “garlands” may be - wreaths of flowers or fillets, or the word may be used figuratively - for the libation itself, as crowning the mound in which Agamemnon lay. - -Footnote 408: - - The words point to a strange Athenian custom. When a house was - cleansed of that which defiled it, morally or physically, the filth - was carried in an earthen vessel to a place where three ways met, and - the worshipper flung the vessel behind him, and walked away without - turning to look at it. To Electra's mind, the libation which her - mother sends is equally unclean, and should be treated in the same - way. So in Hom. _Il._ i. 314, the Argives purify themselves, and then - cast the lustral water they have used into the sea. Lev. vi. 11, gives - us an analogous usage. Comp. also Theocritos, _Idyll_ xxiv., vv. - 22-97. - -Footnote 409: - - Partly it is the youth of Electra that seeks counsel from those who - had more experience; partly she shrinks from the responsibility of - being the first to utter the formula of execration. - -Footnote 410: - - The word “escort” has a special reference to the function of Hermes in - the unseen world. As he was wont to act as guide to the souls of the - dead in their downward journey, so now Electra prays that he may lead - the blessings she asks for upward from the dark depths of Earth. - -Footnote 411: - - The Skythian bow, long and elastic, bending either way, like those of - the Arabians (Herod. vii. 69). The connection of Ares with the wild, - fierce tribes of Thrakia and Skythia meets us again and again in the - literature of Greece. He was the only God to whom they built temples - (_ibid._ iv. 59). They sacrificed human victims to an iron sword as - his more appropriate symbol (iv. 62). The use of iron for weapons of - war came to the Greeks from them (_Seven ag. Th._ 729; _Prom._ 714). - -Footnote 412: - - It may be worth while to compare the method adopted by the three - dramatists of Greece in bringing about the recognition of the brother - by the sister. (1) Here the lock of hair, in its peculiar colour and - texture resembling her own, followed by the likeness of his footsteps - to hers, prepares the way first for vague anticipations, and then the - robe she had made for him, leads to her acceptance of Orestes on his - own discovery of himself. To this it has been objected, by Euripides - in the first instance (_Electra_, vv. 462-500), that the evidence of - the colour of the hair is weak, that a young man's foot must have been - larger than a maiden's, and that he could not have worn as a man the - garment she had made for him as a child. It might be replied, perhaps, - that there are such things as hereditary resemblances extending to the - colour of the hair and the arch of the instep, and that the robe may - either have been shown instead of worn, or, being worn, have been - adapted for the larger growth. (2) In the _Electra_ of Sophocles the - lock of hair alone convinces Chrysothemis that her brother is near at - hand (v. 900), while Electra herself requires the further evidence of - Agamemnon's seal (v. 1223). In Euripides (v. 527), all proof fails - till Orestes shows a scar on his brow, which his sister remembers. - -Footnote 413: - - The saying is probably one of the widespread proverbs which imply - parables. The idea is obviously that with which we are familiar in the - Gospel “grain of mustard seed.” Here, as in the “kicking against the - pricks” of Acts ix. 5, xxvi. 14, and _Agam._ v. 1604, we are carried - back to a period which lies beyond the range of history as that in - which men took note of the analogies and embodied them in forms like - this. - -Footnote 414: - - So in the _Odyssey_ (xix. 228), Odysseus appears as wearing a woollen - cloak, on which are embroidered the figures of a fawn and a dog. - -Footnote 415: - - An obvious reproduction of the words of Andromache (_Il._ vi. 429). - -Footnote 416: - - The words seem to imply that burning alive was known among the Greeks - as a punishment for the most atrocious crimes. The “oozing pitch,” if - we adopt that rendering, apparently describes something like the - “_tunica molesta_” of Juvenal. (_Sat._ viii. 235.) Hesychios (s. v. - Κωνῆσαι) mentions the practice as alluded to in a lost play of - Æschylos. - -Footnote 417: - - The words are both doubtful and obscure. Taking the reading which I - have adopted, they seem to mean that while men in general had means of - propitiating the Erinnyes and other Powers for the guilt of unavenged - bloodshed, Orestes and Electra had no such way of escape open to them. - If they, the next of kin, failed to do their work, they would be - exposed to the full storm of wrath. But a conjectural emendation of - one word gives us, - - “For making known to men the earth-born ills - That come from wrathful Powers.” - -Footnote 418: - - Either that old age would come prematurely, or that the hair itself - would share the leprous whiteness of the flesh. - -Footnote 419: - - The words, as taken in the text, refer to Orestes seeing even in sleep - the spectral forms of the Erinnyes. By some editors the verse is - placed after v. 276, and the lines then read thus:— - - “And that he calls fresh onsets of the Erinnyes - As brought to issue from a father's blood, - Seeing clearly, though he move his brow in darkness.” - - So taken, the last line refers to Agamemnon, who, though in the - darkness of Hades, sees the penalties which will fail upon his son - should he neglect to take vengeance on his father's murderers. - -Footnote 420: - - Stress is laid here, as in _Agam._ 1224, on the effeminacy of the - adulterer. - -Footnote 421: - - The great law of retribution is repeated from _Agam._ 1564. As one of - the earliest utterances of man's moral sense, it was referred - popularly among the Greeks to Rhadamanthos, who with Minos judged the - souls of the dead in Hades. Comp. Aristot. _Ethic. Nicom._, v. 8. - -Footnote 422: - - The funeral pyre, which consumes the body, leaves the life and power - of the man untouched. The spirit survives, and calls on the Gods that - dwell in darkness to avenge him. The very cry of wailing tends, as a - prayer to them, to the exposure of the murderer. - -Footnote 423: - - The Lykians, of whom Glaucos and Sarpedon are the representative - heroes in the _Iliad_, are named as the chief allies of the Troïans. - -Footnote 424: - - The words embody the widespread feeling that the absence of funereal - honours affected the spirit of the dead, and that the souls with whom - he dwelt held him in high or low esteem according as they had been - given or withheld. - -Footnote 425: - - Pindar (_Pyth._ x. 47), the contemporary of Æschylos, had made the - name of these Hyperborei well known to all Greeks. The vague dreams of - men, before the earth had been searched out, pictured a happy land as - lying beyond their reach. There were Islands of the Blest in the far - West; Æthiopians, peaceful and long-lived, in the South; and far away, - beyond the cold North, a people exempt from the common evils of - humanity. The latter have been connected with the old Aryan belief in - the paradise of Mount Meru. Comp. also Herod. iv. 421; _Prom._ 812. - -Footnote 426: - - _Sc._, the beating of both hands upon the breast, as the Chorus - uttered their lamentations. - -Footnote 427: - - Perhaps, simply “the sharp and bitter cry.” But the rendering in the - text seems justified as repeating the wish already expressed (v. 260), - that the murderers may die by this form of death. - -Footnote 428: - - The Chorus at this point renew their words and cries of lamentation, - smiting on their breasts. By some critics this speech and Antistrophe - VII. are assigned to Electra, Antistrophe VIII. to the Chorus, with a - corresponding change in the pronouns “my” and “thy.” The Chorus, as - consisting of Troïan captives, is represented as adopting the more - vehement Asiatic forms of wailing. Among these the Arians, Kissians, - and Mariandynians (_Pers._ 920) seem to have been most conspicuous for - their skill in lamentation, and, as such, were in request where hired - mourners were wanted. Compare the opening chorus, v. 22. - -Footnote 429: - - The practice of mutilating the corpse of a murdered man by cutting off - his hands and feet and fastening them round his waist, seems to have - been looked on as rendering him powerless to seek for vengeance. Comp. - Soph. _Elect._ v. 437. This kind of mutilation, and not mere wanton - outrage, is what the Chorus refer to. - -Footnote 430: - - As in v. 351 the loss of honour among the dead was represented as one - consequence of the absence of funereal rites from those who loved the - dead, so here the restoration of the children to their rights appears - as the condition without which that dishonour must continue. If they - succeed, then, and then only, can they offer funereal banquets, year - by year, as was the custom. There may be a special reference to an - Argive custom mentioned by Plutarch (_Quæst. Græc._, c. 24) of - sacrificing immediately after the death of a relative to Apollo, and - thirty days later to Hermes. - -Footnote 431: - - Another reference to the third cup of undiluted wine which men drank - to the honour of Zeus the Preserver. Comp. _Agam._ v. 245. - -Footnote 432: - - Possibly the pronoun refers to Pylades. - -Footnote 433: - - The story of Althæa has perhaps been made most familiar to English - readers by Mr. Swinburne's _Atalanta in Calydon_. More briefly told, - the legend ran that she, being the wife of Œneus, bare a son, who was - believed to be the child of Ares—that the Fates came to her when the - boy, who was named Meleagros, was seven days old, and told her that - his life should last until the firebrand then burning on the earth - should be consumed. She took the firebrand and quenched it, and laid - it by in a chest; but when Meleagros grew up, he joined in the chase - of the great boar of Calydon, and when he had slain it, gave the skin - as a trophy to Atalanta, and when his mother's brothers, the sons of - Thestios, claimed it as their right, he waxed wroth with them and slew - them. And then Althæa, in her grief, caring more for her brothers than - her son, took the brand from the chest, and threw it into the fire, - and so Meleagros died. Phrynichos is said to have made the myth the - subject of a drama. In Homer (_Il._ x. 566), Althæa brings about her - son's death by her curses. - -Footnote 434: - - Skylla (not to be confounded with the sea-monster of Messina) was the - daughter of Nisos, king of Megaris, who had on his head a lock of - purple hair, which was a charm that preserved his life from all - danger. And the Cretans under Minos attacked Nisos, and besieged him - in his city; and Minos won the love of Skylla, and tempted her with - gifts, and she cut off her father's lock of hair, and so he perished. - But Minos, scorning her for her deed, bound her by the feet to the - stern of his ship and drowned her. - -Footnote 435: - - Hermes, _i.e._, in his office as the escort of the souls of the dead - to Hades. - -Footnote 436: - - The Chorus apparently is represented as on the point of completing its - catalogue of crimes committed by women with the story of - Clytæmnestra's guilt. Something leads them to check themselves, and - they are contented with a dark and vague allusion. - -Footnote 437: - - The story of the Lemnian women is told by Herodotos (vi. 138). They - rose up against their husbands and put them all to death; and the deed - passed into a proverb, so that all great crimes were spoken of as - Lemnian. This guilt is that alluded to in Strophe III. - -Footnote 438: - - In every case of which the Chorus had spoken guilt had been followed - by retribution. So, it is implied, it will be in that which is present - to their thoughts. - -Footnote 439: - - _Sc._, is not forgotten or overlooked, but will assuredly meet with - its due punishment. - -Footnote 440: - - So in Homer (_Il._ xxii. 444), the warm bath is prepared by Andromache - for Hector on his return from the battle in which he fell. - -Footnote 441: - - As in her speeches in the _Agamemnon_ (vv. 595, 884), Clytæmestra's - words here also are full of significant ambiguity. The “things that - befit the house,” the proposed conference with Ægisthos, her - separation of Orestes from his companions, are all indications of - suspicion already half aroused. The last three lines were probably - spoken as an “aside.” - -Footnote 442: - - Suasion is personified, and invoked to come and win Clytæmnestra to - trust herself in the power of the two avengers. - -Footnote 443: - - An alternative rendering is, - - “Nay, say not that to him with show of hate.” - -Footnote 444: - - Apollo in the shrine at Delphi. - -Footnote 445: - - Hermes invoked once more, as at once the patron of craft and the - escort of the dead. - -Footnote 446: - - Or “before our eyes.” - -Footnote 447: - - The “treasured score” is explained by the words that follow to mean - the cry of exultation which the Chorus will raise when the deed of - vengeance is accomplished; or, possibly (as Mr. Paley suggests), the - funereal wail over the bodies of Ægisthos and Clytæmnestra, which the - Chorus would raise to avert the guilt of the murder from Orestes. - -Footnote 448: - - As Perseus could only overcome the Gorgon, Medusa, by turning away his - eyes, lest looking on her he should turn to stone, so Orestes was to - avoid meeting his mother's glance, lest that should unman him and - blunt his purpose. - -Footnote 449: - - Ægisthos had suffered enough, he says, for his share in Agamemnon's - death. He has no wish that fresh odium should fall on him, as being - implicated also in the death of Orestes, of which he has just heard. - -Footnote 450: - - The word (_ephedros_) was applied technically to one who sat by during - a conflict between two athletes, prepared to challenge the victor to a - fresh encounter. Orestes is such a combatant, taking the place of - Agamemnon. - -Footnote 451: - - So, in Homer (_Il._ xxii. 79), Hecuba, when the entreaties of Priam - had been in vain, makes this last appeal— - - “Then to the front his mother rushed, in tears, - Her bosom bare, with either hand her breast - Sustaining, and with tears addressed him thus, - 'Hector, my son, thy mother's breast revere.'” - -Footnote 452: - - The reader will note this as the only speech put into the lips of - Pylades, though he is present as accompanying Orestes throughout great - part of the drama. - -Footnote 453: - - The different ethical standard applied to the guilt of the husband and - the wife was, we may well believe, that which prevailed among the - Athenians generally. It has only too close a parallel in the ballads - and romances of our own early literature. - -Footnote 454: - - The line is memorable as prophetic of the whole plot of the - _Eumenides._ - -Footnote 455: - - The phrase “wail as to a tomb” seems to have been a by-word for - fruitless entreaty and lamentation. - -Footnote 456: - - Clytæmnestra sees now the important of the dream referred to in vv. - 518-522. - -Footnote 457: - - The words must be left in their obscurity. Commentators have - conjectured Orestes and Pylades, or the deaths of Agamemnon and - Iphigeneia, or those of Ægisthos and Clytæmnestra, as the “two lions,” - spoken of. The first seems most in harmony with the context. - -Footnote 458: - - The Eternal Justice which orders all things is mightier than any - arbitrary will, such as men attribute to the Gods. That will, even if - we dare to think of it as changeable or evil, is held in restraint. It - cannot, even if it would, protect the evildoers. - -Footnote 459: - - The Chorus feel that they have been too long silent; now, at last, - they can speak. As slaves dreading punishment they had been gagged - before; now the gag is removed. - -Footnote 460: - - Or, “Once more for those who wail.” - -Footnote 461: - - It is not clear with what form of animal life the _myræna_ is to be - identified. The ideal implied is that of some sea-monster whose touch - was poisonous, but this does not hold good of the “lamprey.” - -Footnote 462: - - As the text stands, Orestes says that at last he can speak of the - murder over which he had long brooded in silence. Another reading - makes him speak of the oscillations in his own mind— - - “Now do I praise myself, now wail and blame.” - -Footnote 463: - - Comp. vv. 270-288. - -Footnote 464: - - Delphi was to the Greek (as Jerusalem was to mediæval Christendom) the - centre at once of his religious life and of the material earth. Its - rock was the _omphalos_ of the world. Consecrated widows watched over - the sacred and perpetual fire. Once only up to the time of Æschylos, - when the Temple itself was desecrated by the Persians, had it ceased - to burn. - -Footnote 465: - - Once again we have the thought of the third cup offered as a libation - to Zeus as saviour and deliverer. The Chorus asks whether this third - deed of blood will be true to that idea and work out deliverance. - - - - - EUMENIDES - - - DRAMATIS PERSONÆ - - PYTHIAN PRIESTESS - APOLLO - ATHENA - _Ghost of Clytæmnestra_ - ORESTES - HERMES - _Chorus of the Erinnyes_ - _Athenian Citizens, Women, and Girls_ - - -_ARGUMENT.—The Erinnyes who appeared to Orestes after the murder of -Clytæmnestra made his life miserable, and drove him without rest from -land to land. And he, seeking to escape them, had recourse to the Oracle -of Apollo at Delphi, believing that he who had sent him to do the work -of vengeance would also help to free him from this wretchedness. But the -Erinnyes followed him there also, and took their places even within the -holy shrine of the Oracle, and while Orestes knelt on the central hearth -as a suppliant, they sat upon the seats there, and for very weariness -fell asleep._ - - - - - EUMENIDES - - - SCENE.—_The Outer Court of the Oracle at_ Delphi. _Inner shrine in - the background, with doors leading into it_ - - _Enter the_ PYTHIAN PRIESTESS - - _Pyth._ First, with this prayer, of all the Gods I honour - The primal seeress Earth, and Themis next,[466] - Who in due order filled her mother's place, - (So runs the tale,) and in the third lot named, - With her good-will and doing wrong to none, - Another of the Titans' offspring sat, - Earth's daughter Phœbe, and as birthday gift - She gives it up to Phœbos,[467] and he takes - His name from Phœbe. And he, leaving then - The pool[468] and rocks of Delos, having steered - To the ship-traversed shores that Pallas owns, 10 - Came to this land and to Parnassos' seat: - And with great reverence they escort him on, - Hephæstos' sons, road-makers,[469] turning thus - The wilderness to land no longer wild; - And when he comes the people honour him, - And Delphos too,[470] chief pilot of this land. - And him Zeus sets, his mind with skill inspired, - As the fourth seer upon these sacred seats; - And Loxias is his father Zeus's prophet. - These Gods in prologue of my prayer I worship; 20 - Pallas Pronaia[471] too claims highest praise; - The Nymphs adore I too where stands the rock - Korykian,[472] hollow, loved of birds and haunt - Of Gods. [And Bromios[473] also claims this place, - Nor can I now forget it, since the time - When he, a God, with help of Bacchants warred, - And planned a death for Pentheus, like a hare's.[474] - Invoking Pleistos'[475] founts, Poseidon's might, - And Zeus most High, supreme Accomplisher, - I in due order sit upon this seat - As seeress, and I pray them that they grant - To find than all my former divinations 30 - One better still. If Hellas pilgrims sends, - Let them approach by lot, as is our law; - For as the God guides I give oracles.[476] - - [_She passes through the door to the adytum, - and after a pause returns trembling and - crouching with fear, supporting herself - with her hands against the walls and - columns. The door remains open, and - Orestes and the Erinnyes are seen in the - inner sanctuary_ - - Dread things to tell, and dread for eyes to see, - Have sent me back again from Loxias' shrine, - *So that strength fails, nor can I nimbly move, - But run with help of hands, not speed of foot; - A woman old and terrified is nought, - A very child. Lo! into yon recess - With garlands hung I go, and there I see - Upon the central stone[477] a God-loathed man, 40 - Sitting as suppliant, and with hands that dripped - Blood-drops, and holding sword but newly drawn, - And branch of olive from the topmost growth, - With amplest tufts of white wool meetly wreathed; - For this I will say clearly.[478] And a troop - Of women strange to look at sleepeth there, - Before this wanderer, seated on their stools; - Not women they, but Gorgons[479] I must call them; - Nor yet can I to Gorgon forms compare them: - I have seen painted shapes that bear away 50 - The feast of Phineus.[480] Wingless, though, are these, - And swarth, and every way abominable. - *They snort with breath that none may dare approach, - And from their eyes a loathsome humour pours, - And such their garb as neither to the shrine - Of Gods is meet to bring, nor mortal roof. - Ne'er have I seen a race that owns this tribe, - Nor is there land can boast it rears such brood, - Unhurt and free from sorrow for its pains. - Henceforth be it the lot of Loxias, 60 - Our mighty lord, himself to deal with them: - True prophet-healer he, and portent-seer, - And for all others cleanser of their homes. - - _Enter_ APOLLO _from the inner adytum, attended - by_ HERMES - - _Apol._ [_To_ ORESTES.] Nay, I'll not fail thee, but as close at hand - Will guard thee to the end, or though far off, - Will not prove yielding to thine adversaries; - And now thou see'st these fierce ones captive ta'en, - These loathly maidens fallen fast in sleep. - Hoary and ancient virgins they, with whom - Nor God, nor man, nor beast, holds intercourse. 70 - They owe their birth to evils; for they dwell - In evil darkness, yea in Tartaros - Beneath the earth, and are the hate and dread - Of all mankind, and of Olympian Gods. - Yet fly thou, fly, and be not faint of heart; - For they will chase thee over mainland wide, - As thou dost tread the soil by wanderers tracked, - And o'er the ocean, and by sea-girt towns; - And fail thou not before the time, as brooding - O'er this great toil. But go to Pallas' city, - And sit, and clasp her ancient image[481] there; 80 - And there with judges of these things, and words - Strong to appease, will we a means devise - To free thee from these ills for evermore; - For I urged thee to take thy mother's life. - - _Orest._ Thou know'st, O king Apollo, not to wrong; - And since thou know'st, learn also not to slight: - Thy strength gives full security for act. - - _Apol._ Remember, let no fear o'ercome thy soul; - And [_To_ HERMES] thou, my brother, of one father born, - My Hermes, guard him; true to that thy name, - Be thou his Guide, true shepherd of this man, - Who comes to me as suppliant: Zeus himself 90 - *Reveres this reverence e'en to outcasts due, - When it to mortals comes with guidance good.[482] - - [_Exit_ ORESTES _led by_ HERMES. APOLLO _retires - within the adytum. The Ghost of_ CLYTÆMNESTRA - _rises from the ground_ - - _Clytæm._ What ho! Sleep on! What need of sleepers now? - And I am put by you to foul disgrace - Among the other dead, nor fails reproach - Among the shades that I a murderess am; - And so in shame I wander, and I tell you - That at their hands I bear worst form of blame. - And much as I have borne from nearest kin, 100 - Yet not one God is stirred to wrath for me, - Though done to death by matricidal hands. - See ye these heart-wounds, whence and how they came? - Yea, when it sleeps, the mind is bright with eyes;[483] - But in the day it is man's lot to lack - All true discernment. Many a gift of mine - Have ye lapped up, libations pure from wine,[484] - And soothing rites that shut out drunken mirth; - And I dread banquets of the night would offer - On altar-hearth, at hour no God might share. - And lo! all this is trampled under foot. 110 - He is escaped, and flees, like fawn, away; - And even from the midst of all your toils - Has nimbly slipped, and draws wide mouth at you. - Hear ye; for I have spoken for my life: - Give heed, ye dark, earth-dwelling Goddesses, - I, Clytæmnestra's phantom, call on you. - - [_The Erinnyes moan in their sleep_ - - Moan on, the man is gone, and flees far off: - My kindred find protectors; I find none. - - [_Moan as before_ - - Too sleep-oppressed art thou, nor pitiest me: - Orestes, murderer of his mother, 'scapes. 120 - - [_Noises repeated_ - - Dost snort? Dost drowse? Wilt thou not rise and speed? - What have ye ever done but work out ill? - - [_Noises as before_ - - Yea, sleep and toil, supreme conspirators, - Have withered up the dreaded dragon's strength. - - _Chor._ [_starting up suddenly with a yell._] Seize him, seize, seize, - yea, seize: look well to it. - - _Clytæm._ Thou, phantom-like,[485] dost hunt thy prey, and criest, - Like hound that never rests from care of toil. - What dost thou? (_to one Erinnys._) Rise and let not toil o'ercome - thee, - Nor, lulled to sleep, lose all thy sense of loss. - Let thy soul (_to another_) feel the pain of just reproach: 130 - The wise of heart find that their goad and spur. - And thou (_to a third_), breathe on him with thy blood-flecked breath, - And with thy vapour, thy maw's fire, consume him; - Chase him, and wither with a fresh pursuit. - - _Leader of the Chor._ Wake, wake, I say; wake her, as I wake thee. - Dost slumber? Rise, I say, and shake off sleep. - Let's see if this our prelude be in vain. - - - STROPHE I - - Pah! pah! Oh me! we suffered, O my friends.... - Yea, many mine own sufferings undeserved.... - We suffered a great sorrow, full of woe, 140 - An evil hard to bear. - Out of the nets he's slipped, our prey is gone: - O'ercome by sleep I have my quarry lost. - - - ANTISTROPHE I - - Ah, son of Zeus, a very robber thou, - Though young, thou didst old Goddesses ride down,[486] - Honouring thy suppliant, godless though he be, - One whom his parents loathe: - Thou, though a God, a matricide hast freed: - Of which of these acts can one speak as just? - - - STROPHE II - - Yea, this reproach that came to me in dreams 150 - Smote me, as charioteer - Smites with a goad he in the middle grasps, - Beneath my breast, my heart; - 'Tis ours to feel the keen, the o'er keen smart, - As by the public scourger fiercely lashed. - - - ANTISTROPHE II - - Such are the doings of these younger Gods, - Beyond all bounds of right - Stretching their power.... A clot of blood besmeared - Upon the base, the head,... - Earth's central shrine itself we now may see 160 - Take to itself pollution terrible. - - - STROPHE III - - And thou, a seer, with guilt that stains thy hearth - Hast fouled thy shrine, self-prompted, self-impelled, - Against God's laws a mortal honouring, - And bringing low the Fates - Born in the hoary past. - - - ANTISTROPHE III - - Me he may vex, but shall not rescue him; - Though 'neath the earth he flee, he is not freed - For he, blood-stained, shall find upon his head - Another after me, - Destroyer foul and dread. - - [APOLLO _advances from the adytum and confronts - them_ - - _Apol._ Out, out, I bid you, quickly from this temple; - Go forth, and leave this shrine oracular, 170 - Lest, smitten with a serpent winged and bright, - Forth darted from my bow-string golden-wrought, - Thou in sore pain bring up dark foam, and vomit - The clots of blood thou suck'dst from human veins. - This is no house where ye may meetly come, - But there where heads upon the scaffold lie,[487] - And eyes are gouged, and throats of men are cut, - *And mutilation mars the bloom of youth, - Where men are maimed and stoned to death, and groan - With bitter wailing, 'neath the spine impaled; 180 - Hear ye what feast ye love, and so become - Loathed of the Gods? Yes, all your figure's fashion - Points clearly to it. Such as ye should dwell - In cave of lion battening upon blood, - Nor tarry in these sacred precincts here, - Working defilement. Go, and roam afield - Without a shepherd, for to flock like this - Not one of all the Gods is friendly found. - - _Chor._ O king Apollo, hear us in our turn: - No mere accomplice art thou of these things, 190 - But guilty art in full as principal. - - _Apol._ How then? Prolong thy speech to tell me this. - - _Chor._ Thou bad'st this stranger be a matricide. - - _Apol._ I bade him to avenge his sire. Why not? - - _Chor._ Then thou did'st welcome here the blood just shed. - - _Apol._ I bade him seek this shrine as suppliant. - - _Chor._ Yet us who were his escort thou revilest. - - _Apol._ It is not meet that ye come nigh this house. - - _Chor._ Yet is this self-same task appointed us. - - _Apol._ What function's this? Boast thou of nobler task? 200 - - _Chor._ We drive from home the murderers of their mothers. - - _Apol._ What? Those who kill a wife that slays her spouse? - - _Chor._ That deed brings not the guilt of blood of kin.[488] - - _Apol._ *Truly thou mak'st dishonoured, and as nought, - The marriage-vows of Zeus and Hera great; - And by this reasoning Kypris too is shamed, - From whom men gain the ties of closest love. - For still to man and woman marriage bed, - Assigned by Fate and guided by the Right, - Is more than any oath. If thou then deal - So gently, when the one the other slays, 210 - And dost not even look on them with wrath, - I say thou dost not justly chase Orestes; - For thou, in the one case, I know, dost rage; - I' the other, clearly tak'st it easily: - The Goddess Pallas shall our quarrel judge. - - _Chor._ That man I ne'er will leave for evermore. - - _Apol._ Chase him then, chase, and gain yet more of toil. - - _Chor._ Curtail thou not my functions by thy speech. - - _Apol._ Ne'er by my choice would I thy functions own. - - _Chor._ True; great thy name among the thrones of Zeus: 220 - But I, his mother's blood constraining me, - Will this man chase, and track him like a hound. - - _Apol._ And I will help him and my suppliant free; - For dreadful among Gods and mortals too - The suppliant's curse, should I abandon him. - - [_Exeunt_ - -_Scene changes to_ Athens, _in front of the Temple of Athena Polias, on -the Acropolis_[489] - - _Enter_ ORESTES - - _Orest._ [_clasping the statue of the Goddess._] O Queen Athena, I at - Loxias' hest - Am come: do thou receive me graciously, - Sin-stained though I have been: no guilt of blood - Is on my soul, nor is my hand unclean, - But now with stain toned down and worn away, - In other homes and journeyings among men,[490] 230 - O'er land and water travelling alike, - Keeping great Loxias' charge oracular, - I come, O Goddess, to thy shrine and statue: - Here will I stay and wait the trial's issue. - - _Enter the Erinnyes in pursuit_ - - _Chor._ Lo! here are clearest traces of the man: - Follow thou up that dumb informer's[491] hints; - For as the hound pursues a wounded fawn, - So by red blood and oozing gore track we. - My lungs are panting with full many a toil, - Wearing man's strength down. Every spot of earth 240 - Have I now searched, and o'er the sea in flight - Wingless I came pursuing, swift as ship; - And now full sure he's crouching somewhere here: - The smell of human blood wafts joy to me. - See, see again, look round ye every way, - Lest he, the murderer, slip away unscathed. - He, it is true, in full security, - Clasping the statue of the deathless goddess, - Would fain now take his trial at our hands. 250 - This may not be; a mother's blood out-poured - (Pah! pah!) can never be raised up again, - The life-blood shed is pourèd out and gone, - But thou must give to us to suck the blood - Red from thy living members; yea, from thee, - May I gain meal of drink undrinkable! - And, having dried thee up, I'll drag thee down - Alive to bear the doom of matricide. - There thou shalt see if any other man - Has sinned in not revering God or guest, - Or parents dear, that each receiveth there 260 - The recompense of sin that Vengeance claims. - For Hades is a mighty arbiter - Of those that dwell below, and with a mind - That writes true record all man's deeds surveys. - - _Orest._ I, taught by troubles, know full many a form - Of cleansing rites,—to speak, when that is meet, - And when 'tis not, keep silence, and in this - I by wise teacher was enjoined to speak; - For the blood fails and fades from off my hands; - The guilt of matricide is washed away. 270 - For when 'twas fresh, it then was all dispelled, - At Phœbos' shrine, by spells of slaughtered swine. - Long would the story be, if told complete, - Of all I joined in harmless fellowship. - Time waxing old, too, cleanses all alike: - And now with pure lips, I in words devout, - Call Athenæa, whom this land owns queen, - To come and help me: So without a war - Shall she gain me, my land, my Argive people, 280 - Full faithful friends, allies for evermore;[492] - But whether in the climes of Libyan land, - Hard by her birth-stream's foam, Tritonian named,[493] - She stands upright, or sits with feet enwrapt, - Helping her friends, or o'er Phlegræan plains, - Like a bold chieftain, she keeps watchful guard,[494] - Oh, may she come! (far off a God can hear,) - And work for me redemption from these ills! - - _Chor._ Nay, nor Apollo, nor Athena's might - Can save thee from the doom of perishing, 290 - Outcast, not knowing where to look for joy, - The bloodless food of demons, a mere shade. - Wilt thou not answer? Scornest thou my words, - A victim reared and consecrate to me? - Alive thou'lt feed me, not at altar slain; - And thou shalt hear our hymn as spell to bind thee. - -_The Erinnyes, as they sing the ode that follows, move round and round -in solemn and weird measure_ - - Come, then, let us form our chorus; - Since 'tis now our will to utter - Melody or song most hateful, - Telling how our band assigneth - All the lots that fall to mortals; 300 - And we boast that we are righteous: - Not on one who pure hands lifteth - Falleth from us any anger, - But his life he passeth scatheless; - But to him who sins like this man, - And his blood-stained hands concealeth, - Witnesses of those who perish, - Coming to exact blood-forfeit, - We appear to work completeness. 310 - - - STROPHE I - - O mother who did'st bear me, mother Night, - A terror of the living and the dead, - Hear me, oh hear! - The son of Leto puts me to disgrace - And robs me of my spoil, - This crouching victim for a mother's blood: - And over him as slain, - We raise this chant of madness, frenzy-working,[495] - The hymn the Erinnyes love, - A spell upon the soul, a lyreless strain - That withers up men's strength. - - - ANTISTROPHE I - - This lot the all-pervading Destiny 320 - Hath spun to hold its ground for evermore, - That we should still attend - On him on whom there rests the guilt of blood - Of kin shed causelessly, - Till earth lie o'er him; nor shall death set free. - And over him as slain, - We raise this chant of madness, frenzy-working, - The hymn the Erinnyes love, - A spell upon the soul, a lyreless strain - That withers up men's strength. - - - STROPHE II - - Such lot was then assigned us at our birth: - From us the Undying Ones must hold aloof: 330 - Nor is there one who shares - The banquet-meal with us; - In garments white I have nor part nor lot;[496] - My choice was made for overthrow of homes, - Where home-bred slaughter works a loved one's death: - Ha! hunting after him, - Strong though he be, 'tis ours - *To wear the newness of his young blood down.[497] - - - ANTISTROPHE II - - *Since 'tis our work another's task to take,[498] 340 - *The Gods indeed may bar the force of prayers - Men offer unto me, - But may not clash in strife; - For Zeus doth cast us from his fellowship, - “Blood-dropping, worthy of his utmost hate.”... - For leaping down as from the topmost height, - I on my victim bring - The crushing force of feet, - Limbs that o'erthrow e'en those that swiftly run, - An Atè hard to bear. 350 - - - STROPHE III - - And fame of men, though very lofty now - Beneath the clear, bright sky, - Below the earth grows dim and fades away - Before the attack of us, the black-robed ones, - And these our dancings wild, - Which all men loathe and hate. - - - ANTISTROPHE III - - Falling in frenzied guilt, he knows it not; - So thick the blinding cloud - *That o'er him floats; and Rumour widely spread - With many a sigh reports the dreary doom, - A mist that o'er the house - In gathering darkness broods. - - - STROPHE IV - - Fixed is the law, no lack of means find we; 360 - We work out all our will, - We, the dread Powers, the registrars of crime, - Whom mortals fail to soothe, - Fulfilling tasks dishonoured, unrevered, - Apart from all the Gods, - *In foul and sunless gloom,[499] - Driving o'er rough steep road both those that see, - And those whose eyes are dark. - - - ANTISTROPHE IV - - What mortal man then doth not bow in awe - And fear before all this, - Hearing from me the destined ordinance - Assigned me by the Gods? 370 - This task of mine is one of ancient days; - Nor meet I here with scorn, - Though 'neath the earth I dwell, - And live there in the darkness thick and dense, - Where never sunbeam falls. - - _Enter_ ATHENA, _appearing in her chariot, and then alights_ - - _Athena._ I heard far off the cry of thine entreaty - E'en from Scamandros,[500] claiming there mine own, - The land which all Achaia's foremost leaders, - As portion chief from out the spoils of war, - Gave to me, trees and all, for evermore, - A special gift for Theseus' progeny. 380 - Thence came I plying foot that never tires, - Flapping my ægis-folds, no need of wings, - My chariot drawn by young and vigorous steeds: - And seeing this new presence in the land, - I have no fear, though wonder fills mine eyes; - Who, pray, are ye? To all of you I speak, - And to this stranger at my statue suppliant. - And as for you, like none of Nature's births, - Nor seen by Gods among the Goddess-forms, - Nor yet in likeness of a mortal shape.... 390 - But to speak ill of neighbours blameless found - Is far from just, and Right holds back from it. - - _Chor._ Daughter of Zeus, thou shalt learn all in brief; - Children are we of everlasting Night; - [At home, beneath the earth, they call us Curses.] - - _Athena._ Your race I know, and whence ye take your name. - - _Chor._ Thou shalt soon know then what mine office is. - - _Athena._ Then could I know, if ye clear speech would speak. - - _Chor._ We from their home drive forth all murderers. - - _Athena._ Where doth the slayer find the goal of flight? 400 - - _Chor._ Where to find joy in nought is still his wont. - - _Athena._ And whirrest thou such flight on this man here? - - _Chor._ Yea, for he thought it meet to slay his mother. - - _Athena._ Was there no other power whose wrath he feared? - - _Chor._ What impulse, then, should prick to matricide? - - _Athena._ Two sides are here, and I but half have heard. - - _Chor._ But he nor takes nor tenders us an oath.[501] - - _Athena._ Thou lov'st the show of Justice more than act. - - _Chor._ How so? Inform me. Skill thou dost not lack! - - _Athena._ 'Tis not by oaths a cause unjust shall win.[502] 410 - - _Chor._ Search out the cause, then, and right judgment judge. - - _Athena._ And would ye trust to me to end the cause?[503] - - _Chor._ How else? Thy worth, and worthy stock we honour. - - _Athena._ What dost thou wish, O stranger, to reply? - Tell thou thy land, thy race, thy life's strange chance, - And then ward off this censure aimed at thee, - Since thou sitt'st trusting in thy right, and hold'st - This mine own image, near mine altar hearth, - A suppliant, like Ixion,[504] honourable. - Answer all this in speech intelligible. 420 - - _Orest._ O Queen Athena, from thy last words starting, - I first will free thee from a weighty care: - I am not now defiled: no curse abides - Upon the hand that on thy statue rests; - And I will give thee proof full strong of this. - The law is fixed the murderer shall be dumb, - Till at the hand of one who frees from blood, - The purple stream from yeanling swine run o'er him;[505] - Long since at other houses these dread rites[506] - We have gone through, slain victims, flowing streams: - This care, then, I can speak of now as gone. 430 - And how my lineage stands thou soon shalt know: - An Argive I, my sire well known to thee, - Chief ruler of the seamen, Agamemnon, - With whom thou madest Troïa, Ilion's city, - To be no city. He, when he came home, - Died without honour; and my dark-souled mother - Enwrapt and slew him with her broidered toils, - Which bore their witness of the murder wrought - There in the bath; and I, on my return, 440 - (Till then an exile,) did my mother kill, - (That deed I'll not deny,) in forfeit due - Of blood for blood of father best beloved; - And Loxias, too, is found accomplice here, - Foretelling woes that pricked my heart to act, - If I did nought to those accomplices - In that same crime. But thou, judge thou my cause, - If what I did were right or wrong, and I, - Whate'er the issue, will be well content. - - _Athena._ Too great this matter, if a mortal man - Think to decide it. Nor is't meet for me - To judge a cause of murder stirred by wrath; 450 - *And all the more since thou with contrite soul - Hast come to this my house a suppliant, - Harmless and pure. I now, in spite of all, - Take thee as one my city need not blame;[507] - But these hold office that forbids dismissal, - And should they fail of victory in this cause, - Hereafter from their passionate mood will poison[508] - Fall on the land, disease intolerable, - And lasting for all time. E'en thus it stands; - And both alike, their staying or dismissal, - Are unto me perplexing and disastrous. - But since the matter thus hath come on me, - I will appoint as judges of this murder - Men bound by oath, a law for evermore;[509] - And ye, call ye your proofs and witnesses, - Sworn pledges given to help the cause of right. - And I, selecting of my citizens - Those who are best, will come again that they - May judge this matter truly, taking oaths - To utter nought against the law of right. [_Exit_ - - - STROPHE I - - _Chor._ Now will there be an outbreak of new laws: - If victory shall rest - Upon the wrong right of this matricide, 470 - This deed will prompt forthwith - All mortal men to callous recklessness. - And many deaths, I trow, - At children's hands their parents now await - Through all the time to come. - - - ANTISTROPHE I - - For since no wrath on evil deeds will creep - Henceforth from those who watch - With wild, fierce souls the evil deeds of men, - I will let loose all crime; - *And each from each shall seek in eager quest, 480 - *Speaking of neighbour's ills, - *For pause and lull of woes;[510] yet wretched man, - He speaks of cures that fail. - - - STROPHE II - - Henceforth let none call us, - When smitten by mischance, - Uttering this cry of prayer, - “O Justice, and O ye, Erinnyes' thrones!” - Such wail, perchance, a father then shall utter, - Or mother newly slain, - Since, fallen low, the shrine of Justice now - Lies prostrate in the dust. 490 - - - ANTISTROPHE II - - There are with whom 'tis well - That awe should still abide, - As watchman o'er their souls. - Calm wisdom gained by sorrow profits much: - For who that in the gladness of his heart, - Or man or commonwealth, - Has nought of this, would bow before the Right - Humbly as heretofore?[511] - - - STROPHE III - - Praise not the lawless life, 500 - Nor that which owns a despot's sovereignty; - To the true mean in all God gives success,[512] - And with far other mood, - On other course looks on; - And I will say, with this in harmony, - That Pride is truly child of Godlessness; - While from the soul's true health - Comes the fair fortune, loved of all mankind, - And aim of many a prayer. - - - ANTISTROPHE III - - And now, I say, in sum, 510 - Revere the altar reared to Justice high, - Nor, thine eye set on gain, with godless foot - Treat it contemptuously: - For wrath shall surely come; - The appointed end abideth still for all. - Therefore let each be found full honour giving - To parents, and to those, - The honoured guests that gather in his house, - Let him due reverence show. - - - STROPHE IV - - And one who of his own free will is just, 520 - Not by enforced constraint, - He shall not be unblest, - Nor can he e'er be utterly o'erthrown; - But he that dareth, and transgresseth all, - In wild, confusèd deeds, - Where Justice is not seen, - I say that he perforce, as time wears on, - Will have to take in sail, - When trouble makes him hers, and each yard-arm - Is shivered by the blast. - - - ANTISTROPHE IV - - And then he calls on those who hear him not, - And struggles all in vain, - In the fierce waves' mid-whirl; - And God still mocks the man of fevered mood, 530 - When he sees him who bragged it ne'er would come, - With woes inextricable - Worn out, and failing still - To weather round the perilous promontory; - And for all time to come, - Wrecking on reefs of Vengeance bliss once high, - He dies unwept, unseen. - -_The scene changes to the Areopagos._ _Enter_ ATHENA, _followed by -Herald and twelve Athenian citizens_ - - _Athena._ Cry out, O herald; the great host hold back; - Then let Tyrrhenian trumpet,[513] piercing heaven, - Filled with man's breath, to all that host send forth - The full-toned notes, for while this council-hall 540 - Is filling, it is meet men hold their peace. - - [_Herald blows his trumpet_ - - And let the city for all time to come - Learn these my laws, and this accused one too, - That so the trial may be rightly judged.[514] - - [_As_ ATHENA _speaks_, APOLLO _enters_ - - _Chor._ O King Apollo, rule thou o'er thine own; - But what hast thou to do with this our cause? - - _Apol._ I am come both as witness,—for this man - Is here as suppliant, that on my hearth sat, - And I his cleanser am from guilt of blood,— - And to plead for him as his advocate: - I bear the blame of that his mother's death. - But thou, whoe'er dost act as president, - Open the suit in way well known to thee.[515] 550 - - _Athena._ [_to the Erinnyes._] 'Tis yours to speak; I thus the - pleadings open, - For so the accuser, speaking first, shall have, - Of right, the task to state the case to us. - - _Chor._ Many are we, but briefly will we speak; - And answer thou [_to_ ORESTES], in thy turn, word for word; - First tell us this, did'st thou thy mother slay? - - _Orest._ I slew her: of that fact is no denial. - - _Chor._ Here, then, is one of our three bouts[516] decided. - - _Orest._ Thou boastest this o'er one not yet thrown down. 560 - - _Chor._ This thou at least must tell, how thou did'st slay her. - - _Orest._ E'en so; her throat I cut with hand sword-armed. - - _Chor._ By whom persuaded, and with whose advice? - - _Orest._ [_Pointing to_ APOLLO.] By His divine command: He bears me - witness. - - _Chor._ The prophet-God prompt thee to matricide! - - _Orest._ Yea, and till now I do not blame my lot. - - _Chor._ Nay, when found guilty, soon thou'lt change thy tone. - - _Orest._ I trust my sire will send help from the tomb. - - _Chor._ Trust in the dead, thou murderer of thy mother! - - _Orest._ Yes; for in her two great pollutions met. 570 - - _Chor._ How so, I pray? Inform the court of this. - - _Orest._ She both her husband and my father slew. - - _Chor._ Nay then, thou liv'st, and she gets quit by death. - - _Orest._ Why, while she lived, did'st thou to chase her fail? - - _Chor._ The man she slew was not one of blood with her.[517] - - _Orest._ And does my mother's blood then flow in me? - - _Chor._ E'en so; how else, O murderer, reared she thee - Within her womb? Disown'st thou mother's blood? - - _Orest._ [_Turning to_ APOLLO.] Now bear thou witness, and declare to - me, - Apollo, if I slew her righteously; 580 - For I the deed, as fact, will not deny. - But whether right or wrong this deed of blood - Seem in thine eyes, judge thou that these may hear. - - _Apol._ I will to you, Athena's solemn council, - Speak truly, and as prophet will not lie. - Ne'er have I spoken on prophetic throne, - Of man, or woman, or of commonwealth, - But as great Zeus, Olympian Father, bade; - And that ye learn how much this plea avails, - I bid you [_turning to the court of jurymen_] follow out my Father's - will;590 - No oath can be of greater might than Zeus.[518] - - _Chor._ Zeus, then, thou say'st, did prompt the oracle - That this Orestes here, his father's blood - Avenging, should his mother's rights o'erthrow? - - _Apol._ 'Tis a quite other thing for hero-chief, - Bearing the honour of Zeus-given sceptre, - To die, and at a woman's hands, not e'en - By swift, strong dart, from Amazonian bow,[519] - But as thou, Pallas, now shalt hear, and those - Who sit to give their judgment in this cause; 600 - For when he came successful from the trade - Of war with largest gains, receiving him - With kindly words of praise, she spread a robe - Over the bath, yes, even o'er its edge, - As he was bathing, and entangling him - In endless folds of cloak of cunning work, - She strikes her lord down. Thus the tale is told - Of her lord's murder, chief whom all did honour, - The ships' great captain. So I tell it out, - E'en as it was, to thrill the people's hearts, - Who now are set to give their verdict here. - - _Chor._ Zeus then a father's death, as thou dost say, 610 - Of highest moment holds, yet He himself - Bound fast in chains his aged father, Cronos;[520] - Are not thy words at variance with the facts? - I call on you [_to the Court_] to witness what he says. - - _Apol._ O hateful creatures, loathèd of the Gods, - Those chains may be undone, that wrong be cured, - And many a means of rescue may be found: - But when the dust has drunk the blood of men, - No resurrection comes for one that's dead: - No charm for these things hath my sire devised; - But all things else he turneth up or down, 620 - And orders without toil or weariness.[521] - - _Chor._ Take heed how thou help this man to escape; - Shall he who stained earth with his mother's blood - Then dwell in Argos in his father's house? - What public altars can he visit now? - What lustral rite of clan or tribe admit him?[522] - - _Apol._ This too I'll say; judge thou if I speak right: - The mother is not parent of the child - That is called hers, but nurse of embryo sown. - He that begets is parent:[523] she, as stranger, 630 - For stranger rears the scion, if God mar not; - And of this fact I'll give thee proof full sure. - A father there may be without a mother: - Here nigh at hand, as witness, is the child - Of high Olympian Zeus, for she not e'en - Was nurtured in the darkness of the womb,[524] - Yet such a scion may no God beget. - I, both in all else, Pallas, as I know, - Will make thy city and thy people great, - And now this man have sent as suppliant - Upon thy hearth, that he may faithful prove 640 - Now and for ever, and that thou, O Goddess, - May'st gain him as ally, and all his race, - And that it last as law for evermore, - That these men's progeny our treaties own. - - _Athena._ [_To jurors._] I bid you give, according to your conscience, - A verdict just; enough has now been said. - - _Chor._ We have shot forth our every weapon now: - I wait to hear what way the strife is judged. - - _Athena._ [_To Chorus._] How shall I order this, unblamed by you? - - _Chor._ [_To jurors._] Ye heard what things ye heard, and in your - hearts - Reverence your oaths, and give your votes, O friends. 650 - - _Athena._ Hear ye my order, O ye Attic people, - In act to judge your first great murder-cause. - And henceforth shall the host of Ægeus' race[525] - For ever own this council-hall of judges: - And for this Ares' hill, the Amazons' seat - And camp when they, enraged with Theseus, came[526] - In hostile march, and built as counterwork - This citadel high-reared, a city new, - And sacrificed to Ares, whence 'tis named - As Ares' hill and fortress: in this, I say, 660 - The reverent awe its citizens shall own, - And fear, awe's kindred, shall restrain from wrong - By day, nor less by night, so long as they, - The burghers, alter not themselves their laws: - But if with drain of filth and tainted soil - Clear river thou pollute, no drink thou'lt find.[527] - I give my counsel to you, citizens, - To reverence and guard well that form of state - Which is not lawless, nor tyrannical, - And not to cast all fear from out the city;[528] - For what man lives devoid of fear and just? - But rightly shrinking, owning awe like this, 670 - Ye then would have a bulwark of your land, - A safeguard for your city, such as none - Boast or in Skythia's[529] or in Pelops' clime. - This council I establish pure from bribe, - Reverend, and keen to act, for those that sleep[530] - An ever-watchful sentry of the land. - This charge of mine I thus have lengthened out - For you, my people, for all time to come. - And now 'tis meet ye rise, and take your ballots,[531] - And so decide the cause, maintaining still - Your reverence for your oath. My speech is said. 680 - - _Chor._ And I advise you not to treat with scorn - A troop that can sit heavy on your land. - - _Apol._ And I do bid you dread my oracles, - And those of Zeus, nor rob them of their fruit. - - _Chor._ Uncalled thou com'st to take a murderer's part; - No longer pure the oracles thou'lt speak. - - _Apol._ And did my father then in purpose err, - Then the first murderer he received, Ixion?[532] - - _Chor._ Thou talk'st, but should I fail in this my cause, - I will again dwell here and vex this land. - - _Apol._ Alike among the new Gods and the old 690 - Art thou dishonoured: I shall win the day. - - _Chor._ This did'st thou also in the house of Pheres,[533] - Winning the Fates to make a man immortal. - - _Apol._ Was it not just a worshipper to bless - In any case,—then most, when he's in want? - - _Chor._ Thou did'st o'erthrow, yea, thou, laws hoar with age, - And drug with wine the ancient Goddesses.[534] - - _Apol._ Nay, thou, non-suited in this cause of thine, - Shall venom spit that nothing hurts thy foes. 700 - - _Chor._ Since thou, though young, dost ride me down, though old, - I wait to hear the issue of the cause, - Still wavering in my wrath against this city. - - _Athena._ 'Tis now my task to close proceedings here; - And this my vote I to Orestes add; - For I no mother own that brought me forth, - And saving that I wed not, I prefer - The male with all my heart, and make mine own - The father's cause, nor will above it place - A woman's death, who slew her own true lord, - The guardian of her house. Orestes wins, 710 - E'en though the votes be equal. Cast ye forth - With all your speed the lots from out the urns, - Ye jurors unto whom that office falls. - - _Orest._ Phœbos Apollo! what will be the judgment? - - _Chor._ Dark Night, my mother! dost thou look on this? - - _Orest._ My goal is now the noose, or full, clear day. - - _Chor._ Ours too to come to nought, or work on still. - - [_A pause. The jurors take out the voting tablets - from the two urns (one of bronze, the other of - wood) for acquittal or condemnation_ - - _Apol._ Now count ye up the votes thrown out, O friends, - And be ye honest, as ye reckon them; - One sentence lacking, sorrow great may come, 720 - And one vote given hath ofttimes saved a house. - - [_A pause, during which the urns are emptied and - the votes are counted_ - - _Athena._ The accused is found “not guilty” of the murder: - For lo! the numbers of the votes are equal.[535] - - _Orest._ O Pallas, thou who hast redeemed my house, - Thou, thou hast brought me back when I had been - Bereaved of fatherland, and Hellenes now - Will say, “The man's an Argive once again, - And dwells upon his father's heritage, - Because of Pallas and of Loxias, - And Zeus, the true third Saviour, all o'erruling, - Who, touched with pity for my father's fate, 730 - Saves me, beholding these my mother's pleaders.” - And I will now wend homeward, giving pledge - To this thy country and its valiant host, - To stand as firm for henceforth and for ever, - That no man henceforth, chief of Argive land, - Shall bring against it spearmen well equipped: - For we ourselves, though in our sepulchres, - On those who shall transgress these oaths of ours, - Will with inextricable evils work, - Making their paths disheartening, and their ways 740 - Ill-omened, that they may their toil repent. - But if these oaths be kept, to those who honour - This city of great Pallas, our ally, - Then we to them are more propitious yet. - Farewell then, Thou, and these who guard thy city. - Mayst thou so wrestle that thy foes escape not, - And so win victory and deliverance! - - - STROPHE - - _Chor._ Ah! ah! ye younger God! - Ye have ridden down the laws of ancient days, - And robbed me of my prey. - But I, dishonoured, wretched, full of wrath, 750 - Upon this land, ha! ha! - Will venom, venom from my heart let fall, - In vengeance for my grief, - A dropping which shall smite - The earth with barrenness! - And thence shall come, (O Vengeance!) on the plain - Down swooping, blight of leaves and murrain dire - That o'er the land flings taint of pestilence. 760 - Shall I then wail and groan? - Or what else shall I do? - Shall I become a woe intolerable - Unto these men for wrongs I have endured? - Great, very great are they, - Ye virgin daughters of dim Night, ill-doomed, - Born both to shame and woe! - - _Athena._ Nay, list to me, and be not over-grieved; - Ye have not been defeated, but the cause - Came fairly to a tie, no shame to thee. - But the clear evidence of Zeus was given, - And he who spake it bare his witness too - That, doing this, Orestes should not suffer. - Hurl ye not then fierce rage on this my land; - Nor be ye wroth, nor work ye barrenness, - *By letting fall the drops of evil Powers,[536] - The baleful influence that consumes all seed. 770 - For lo! I promise, promise faithfully, - That, seated on your hearths with shining thrones, - Ye shall find cavern homes in righteous land, - Honoured and worshipped by these citizens. - - - ANTISTROPHE - - _Chor._ Ah ah! ye younger Gods! - Ye have ridden down the laws of ancient days, - And robbed me of my prey. - And I, dishonoured, wretched, full of wrath, - Upon this land, ha! ha! - Will venom, venom from my heart let fall, - In vengeance for my grief, - A dropping which shall smite 780 - The earth with barrenness! - And thence shall come, (O Vengeance!) on the plain - Down-swooping, blight of leaves and murrain dire - That o'er the land flings taint of pestilence. - Shall I then wail and groan? - Or what else shall I do? - Shall I become a woe intolerable - Unto these men for wrongs I have endured? - Great, very great are they, - Ye virgin daughters of dim Night, ill-doomed, - Born both to shame and woe! - - _Athena._ Ye are not left unhonoured; be not hot - In wrath, ye Goddesses, to mar man's land, - I too, yes I, trust Zeus. Need I say more? 790 - I only of the high Gods know the keys - Of chambers where the sealed-up thunder lies; - But that I have no need of. List to me, - Nor cast upon the earth thy rash tongue's fruit, - That brings to all things failure and distress; - Lull thou the bitter storm of that dark surge, - As dwelling with me, honoured and revered; - And thou with first-fruits of this wide champaign, - Offerings for children's birth and wedlock-rites, - Shall praise these words of mine for evermore. 800 - - _Chor._ That I should suffer this, fie on it! fie! - That I, with thoughts of hoar antiquity,[537] - Should now in this land dwell, - Dishonoured, deemed a plague! - I breathe out rage, and every form of wrath. - Oh, Earth! fie on it! fie! - What pang is this that thrills through all my breast? - Hear thou, O mother Night, - Hear thou my vehement wrath! - For lo! deceits that none can wrestle with - Have thrust me out from honours old of Gods, - And made a thing of nought. - - _Athena._ Thy wrath I'll bear, for thou the elder art, 810 - [And wiser too in that respect than I;] - Yet to me too Zeus gave no wisdom poor; - And ye, if ye an alien country seek, - Shall yearn in love for this land. This I tell you; - For to this people Time, as it runs on, - Shall come with fuller honours, and if thou - Hast honoured seat hard by Erechtheus' home, - Thou shalt from men and women reap such gifts - As thou would'st never gain from other mortals; - But in these fields of mine be slow to cast 820 - Whetstones of murder's knife, to young hearts bale, - Frenzied with maddened passion, not of wine; - Nor, as transplanting hearts of fighting-cocks,[538] - Make Ares inmate with my citizens, - In evil discord, and intestine broils; - Let them have war without, not scantily, - For him who feels the passionate thirst of fame: - Battle of home-bred birds ... I name it not; - This it is thine to choose as gift from me; - Well-doing, well-entreated, and well-honoured, 830 - To share the land best loved of all the Gods. - - _Chor._ That I should suffer this, fie on it! fie! - That I, with thoughts of hoar antiquity, - Should now in this land dwell, - Dishonoured, deemed a plague, - I breathe out rage, and every form of wrath; - Ah, Earth! fie on it! fie! - What pang is this that thrills through all my breast? - Hear thou, O mother Night, - Hear thou my vehement wrath! - For lo! deceits that none can wrestle with - Have thrust me out from honours old of Gods, - And made a thing of nought. 840 - - _Athena._ I will not weary, telling thee of good, - That thou may'st never say that thou, being old, - Wert at the hands of me, a younger Goddess, - And those of men who in my city dwell, - Driven in dishonour, exiled from this plain. - But if the might of Suasion thou count holy, - And my tongue's blandishments have power to soothe, - Then thou wilt stay; but if thou wilt not stay, - Not justly would'st thou bring upon this city, - Or wrath, or grudge, or mischief for its host. - It rests with thee, as dweller in this spot,[539] 850 - To meet with all due honour evermore. - - _Chor._ Athena, Queen, what seat assign'st thou me? - - _Athena._ One void of touch of evil; take thou it. - - _Chor._ Say I accept. What honour then is mine? - - _Athena._ That no one house apart from thee shall prosper. - - _Chor._ And wilt thou work that I such might may have? - - _Athena._ His lot who worships thee we'll guide aright. - - _Chor._ And wilt thou give thy warrant for all time? - - _Athena._ What I work not I might refrain from speaking. - - _Chor._ It seems thou sooth'st me: I relax my wrath. 860 - - _Athena._ In this land dwelling thou new friends shalt gain. - - _Chor._ What hymn then for this land dost bid me raise? - - _Athena._ Such as is meet for no ill-victory.[540] - · · · · · - And pray that blessings upon men be sent. - And that, too, both from earth, and ocean's spray, - And out of heaven; and that the breezy winds, - In sunshine blowing, sweep upon the land, - And that o'erflowing fruit of field and flock - May never fail my citizens to bless, - Nor safe deliverance for the seed of men. - But for the godless, rather root them out: 870 - For I, like gardener shepherding his plants, - This race of just men freed from sorrow love. - So much for thee: and I will never fail - To give this city honour among men, - Victorious in the noble games of war. - - - STROPHE I - - _Chor._ I will accept this offered home with Pallas, - Nor will the city scorn, - Which e'en All-ruling Zeus - And Ares give as fortress of the Gods, - The altar-guarding pride of Gods of Hellas; 880 - And I upon her call, - With kindly auguries, - That so the glorious splendour of the sun - May cause life's fairest portion in thick growth - *To burgeon from the earth. - - _Athena._ Yea, I work with kindliest feeling - For these my townsmen, having settled - Powers great, and hard to soothe among them: - Unto them the lot is given, - All things human still to order; 890 - He who hath not felt their pressure - Knows not whence life's scourges smite him: - For the sin of generations - Past and gone;—a dumb destroyer,— - Leads him on into their presence, - And with mood of foe low bringeth - Him whose lips are speaking proudly. - - - ANTISTROPHE I - - _Chor._ Let no tree-blighting canker breathe on them, - (I tell of boon I give,) - Nor blaze of scorching heat, - That mars the budding eyes of nursling plants, 900 - And checks their spreading o'er their narrow bounds; - And may no dark, drear plague - Smite it with barrenness. - But may Earth feed fair flock in season due, - Blest with twin births, and earth's rich produce pay - To the high heavenly Powers, - Its gift for treasure found.[541] - - _Athena._ Hear ye then, ye city's guardians, - What she offers? Dread and mighty 910 - With the Undying is Erinnys; - And with Those beneath the earth too, - And full clearly and completely - Work they all things out for mortals, - Giving these the songs of gladness, - Those a life bedimmed with weeping. - - - STROPHE II - - _Chor._ Avaunt, all evil chance - That brings men low in death before their time! - And for the maidens lovely and beloved, - Give, ye whose work it is, - Life with a husband true, - And ye, O Powers of self-same mother born, 920 - Ye Fates who rule aright, - Partners in every house, - Awe-striking through all time, - With presence full of righteousness and truth, - Through all the universe - Most honoured of the Gods! - - _Athena._ Much I joy that thus ye promise - These boons to my land in kindness; - And I love the glance of Suasion, - That she guides my speech and accent - Unto these who gainsaid stoutly. 930 - But the victory is won by - Zeus, the agora's protector; - And our rivalry in blessings - Is the conqueror evermore. - - - ANTISTROPHE II - - _Chor._ For this too I will pray, - That Discord, never satiate with ill, - May never ravine in this commonwealth, - Nor dust that drinks dark blood - From veins of citizens, - Through eager thirst for vengeance, from the State - Snatch woes as penalty - For deeds of murderous guilt. - But may they give instead - With friendly purpose acts of kind intent, 940 - And if need be, may hate - With minds of one accord; - For this is healing found to mortal men - Of many a grievous woe. - - _Athena._ Are they not then waxing wiser, - And at last the path discerning - Of a speech more good and gentle? - Now from these strange forms and fearful, - See I to my townsmen coming, - E'en to these, great meed of profit; - For if ye, with kindly welcome, - Honour these as kind protectors, - Then shall ye be famed as keeping, - Just and upright in all dealings, - Land and city evermore. - - - STROPHE III - - _Chor._ Rejoice, rejoice ye in abounding wealth, - Rejoice, ye citizens, - Dwelling near Zeus himself,[542] 950 - Loved of the virgin Goddess whom ye loved, - In due time wise of heart, - You, 'neath the wings of Pallas ever staying,[543] - The Father honoureth. - - _Athena._ Rejoice ye also, but before you - I must march to show your chambers, - By your escorts' torches holy; - Go, and with these dread oblations 960 - Passing to the crypt cavernous, - Keep all harm from this our country, - Send all gain upon our city, - Cause it o'er its foes to triumph. - Lead ye on, ye sons of Cranaos,[544] - Lead, ye dwellers in the city, - Those who come to sojourn with you, - And may good gifts work good purpose - In my townsmen evermore! - - - ANTISTROPHE III - - _Chor._ Rejoice, rejoice once more, ye habitants! 970 - I say it yet again, - Ye Gods, and mortals too, - Who dwell in Pallas' city. Should ye treat - With reverence us who dwell - As sojourners among you, ye shall find - No cause to blame your lot. - - _Athena._ I praise these words of yours, the prayers ye offer, - And with the light of torches flashing fire, - Will I escort you to your dark abode,[545] - Low down beneath the earth, with my attendants, - Who with due honour guard my statue here, - For now shall issue forth the goodly eye - Of all the land of Theseus; fair-famed troop 980 - Of girls and women, band of matrons too, - In upper vestments purple-dyed arrayed: - *Now then advance ye; and the blaze of fire, - Let it go forth, that so this company - Stand forth propitious, henceforth and for aye, - In rearing race of noblest citizens, - - _Enter an array of women, young and old, in procession, leading the - Erinnyes—now, as propitiated, the Eumenides or Gentle Ones—to - their shrines_ - - - _Chorus of Athenian women_ - - - STROPHE I - - Go to your home, ye great and jealous Ones, - Children of Night, and yet no children ye;[546] - With escort of good-will, - Shout, shout, ye townsmen, shout. - - - ANTISTROPHE I - - There in the dark and gloomy caves of earth, - With worthy gifts and many a sacrifice 990 - Consumèd in the fire— - Shout, shout ye, one and all. - - - STROPHE II - - Come, come, with thought benign - Propitious to our land, - Ye dreaded Ones, yea, come, - While on your progress onward ye rejoice, - In the bright light of fire-devourèd torch; - Shout, shout ye to our songs. - - - ANTISTROPHE II - - Let the drink-offerings come, - In order meet behind, - While torches fling their light; - *Zeus the All-seeing thus hath joined in league - *With Destiny for Pallas' citizens; - Shout, shout ye to our songs. - - [_The procession winds its way_, ATHENA _at its head, then - the Eumenides, then the women, round the Areopagos - towards the ravine in which the dread Goddesses were - to find their sanctuary._ - ------ - -Footnote 466: - - The succession is, in part, accordant with that in the _Theogonia_ of - Hesiod (vv. 116-136), but the special characteristic of the Æschylean - form of the legend is that each change is a step in a due, rightful - succession, as by free gift, not accomplished (as in other narratives - of the same transition) by violence and wrong. - -Footnote 467: - - Phœbe, in the _Theogonia_, marries Coios, and becomes the mother of - Leto, or Latona, and so the grandmother of Apollo. The “birthday gift” - was commonly presented on the eighth day after birth, when the child - was named. The oracle is spoken of as such a gift to Apollo, as - bearing the name of Phœbos. - -Footnote 468: - - The sacred circular pool of Delos is the crater of an extinct volcano. - There Apollo was born, and thence he passed through Attica to - Parnassos, to take possession of the oracle, according to one form of - the myth, depriving Themis of it and slaying the dragon Python that - kept guard over it. - -Footnote 469: - - The people of Attica are thus named either as being mythically - descended from Erichthonios the son of Hephæstos, or as artificers, - who own him as their father. The words refer to the supposed origin of - the Sacred Road from Athens to Delphi, passing through Bœotia and - Phokis. When the Athenians sent envoys to consult the oracle they were - preceded by men bearing axes, in remembrance of the original - pioneering work which had been done for Apollo. The first work of - active civilisation was thus connected with the worship of the giver - of Light and Wisdom. - -Footnote 470: - - Delphos, the hero _Eponymos_ (name-giving) of Delphi, was honoured as - the son of Poseidon. Hence the Priestess invokes the latter as one of - the guardian deities of the shrine. - -Footnote 471: - - Pronaia, as having her shrine or statue in front of the temple of - Apollo. - -Footnote 472: - - The Korykian rock in Parnassos, as in Soph., _Antig._, v. 1128; known - also as the “Nymphs' cavern.” - -Footnote 473: - - Bromios, a name of Dionysos, embodying the special attributes of loud, - half-frenzied revelry. - -Footnote 474: - - In the legend which Euripides follows, Kithæron, not Parnassos, is the - scene of the death of Pentheus. He, it was said, opposed the wild or - frantic worship of the Pelasgic Bacchos, concealed himself that he - might behold the mysteries of the Mœnads, and was torn to pieces by - his mother and two others, on whose eyes the God had cast such glamour - that they took him for a wild beast. English readers may be referred - to Dean Milman's translation of the _Bacchanals_ of Euripides. - -Footnote 475: - - Pleistos, topographically, a river flowing through the vale of Delphi, - mythically the father of the nymphs of Korykos. - -Footnote 476: - - At one time the Oracle had been open to questioners once in the year - only, afterwards once a month. The pilgrims, after they had made their - offerings, cast lots, and the doors were opened to him to whom the lot - had fallen. Plutarch, _Qu. Græc._, p. 292. - -Footnote 477: - - The altar of the adytum, on the very centre, as men deemed, of the - whole earth. Zeus, it was said, had sent forth two eagles at the same - moment; one from the East and the other from the West, and here it was - that they had met. The stone was of white marble, and the two eagles - were sculptured on it. Strabo, ix. 3. - -Footnote 478: - - The priestess dwells upon the outward tokens, which showed that the - suppliant came as one whose need was specially urgent. On the ritual - of supplication generally comp. _Suppl._, vv. 22, 348, 641, Soph., - _Œd. King_, v. 3; _Œd. Col._, vv. 469-489. - -Footnote 479: - - Æschylos apparently follows the _Theogonia_ of Hesiod, (l. 278), who - describes the Gorgons as three in number, daughters of Phorkys and - Keto, and bearing the names of Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa. The last - enters into the Perseus cycle of myths, as one of the monsters whom he - conquered, with a face once beautiful, but with her hair turned to - serpents by the wrath of Athena, and so dreadful to look upon that - those who gazed on her were turned to stone. When Perseus had slain - her, Athena placed her head in her ægis, and thus became the terror of - all who were foes to herself or her people. A wild legendary account - of them meets us in the _Prom. Bound_, v. 812. As works of art, the - Gorgon images are traceable to the earliest or Kyclopian period. - -Footnote 480: - - Here also we have a reference to a familiar subject of early Greek - art, probably to some painting familiar to an Athenian audience. The - name of Phineus indicates that the monstrous forms spoken of are those - of the Harpies, birds with women's faces, or women with birds' wings, - who were sent to vex the blind seer for his cruelty to the children of - his first marriage. Comp. Soph. _Antig._, v. 973. In the _Æneid_ they - appear (iii. 225) as dwelling in the Strophades, and harassing Æneas - and his companions. - -Footnote 481: - - The old image of Pallas, carved in olive-wood, as distinguished from - later sculpture. - -Footnote 482: - - The early code of hospitality bound the host, who as such had once - received a guest under the shelter of his roof, not to desert him, - even though he might discover afterwards that he had been guilty of - great crimes, but to escort him safely to the boundary of his - territory. Thus Apollo, as the host with whom Orestes had taken - refuge, sends Hermes, the escort God, to guide and defend him on his - way to Athens. - -Footnote 483: - - The thought that the highest wisdom came to men rather in “visions of - the night, when deep sleep falleth on men,” than through the waking - senses, which we have already met with in _Agam._, v. 173, is - traceable to the mysticism of Pythagoras, more distinctly perhaps to - that of Epimenides. - -Footnote 484: - - Wine, as in Soph. _Œd. Col._, vv. 100, 481, was rigidly excluded from - the _cultus_ of the Eumenides, and to them only as daughters of Night - were midnight sacrifices offered. We must not lose sight of the - thought thus implied, that Clytæmnestra had herself lived, after her - deed of guilt, in perpetual terror of the Erinnyes, seeking to soothe - them by her sacrifices. - -Footnote 485: - - The common rendering “in a dream” gives a sufficient meaning, and is, - of course, tenable enough. But there is a force in the repetition of - the same word, as in v. 116, which is thus lost, and which I have - endeavoured to preserve. The Erinnyes, thus impotent in their rage, - are as much mere dreamlike spectres as is the ghost of Clytæmnestra. - -Footnote 486: - - Here, as throughout Æschylos, the Olympian divinities are thought of - as new comers, thrusting from their thrones the whole Chthonian and - Titanic dynasty, Gods of the conquering Hellenes superseding those of - the Pelasgi. - -Footnote 487: - - The accumulation of horrid forms of cruelty had, probably, a special - significance for the Athenians. These punishments belonged to their - enemies, the Persians, not to the Hellenic race, and the poet's - purpose was to rekindle patriotic feeling by dwelling on their - barbarity, as in _Agam._, v. 894, he points in like manner to their - haughtiness and luxury. - -Footnote 488: - - The argument of the Erinnyes is, to some extent, like that of the - Antigone of Sophocles (_Antig._, 909-913), and the wife of Intaphernes - (Herod. iii. 119). The tie which binds the husband to the wife is less - sacred than that between the mother and the son. This, therefore, - brings on the slayer the guilt of blood of kin, while murder in the - other case is reduced to simple homicide. Orestes therefore was not - justified in perpetrating the greater crime as a retribution for the - less. Apollo, in meeting this plea, asserts the sacredness of the - marriage bond as standing on the same level as that of consanguinity. - -Footnote 489: - - The ideal interval of time between the two parts of the drama is left - undefined, but it would seem from vv. 230, 274-6, and 429, to have - been long enough to have allowed of many wanderings to sacred places, - Orestes does not go straight from Delphi to Athens. He appears now, - not as before dripping and besmeared with blood, but with hands and - garments purified. - -Footnote 490: - - The story of Adrastos and Crœsos in Herod. i. 35, illustrates the - gradual purification of which Orestes speaks. The penitent who has the - stain of blood-guiltiness upon him comes to the king, and the king, as - his host, performs the lustral rites for him. Here Orestes urges that - he has been received at many homes, and gone through many such - lustrations. He has been cleansed from the pollution of sin: what he - now seeks, to use the terminology of a later system, is a forensic - justification. - -Footnote 491: - - _Sc._, the scent of blood, which, though no longer visible to the eyes - of men, still lingers round him and is perceptible to his pursuers. - -Footnote 492: - - Here, too, we trace the political bearing of the play. In the year - when it was produced (B.C. 458) an alliance with Argos was the - favourite measure of the more conservative party at Athens. - -Footnote 493: - - The names Triton and Tritonis, wherever found in classical geography - (Libya, Crete, Thessaly, Bœotia), are always connected with the legend - that Athena was born there. Probably both name and legend were carried - from Greece to Libya, and then amalgamated with the indigenous local - worship of a warlike goddess. Hesiod (iv. 180, 188) connects the - Libyan lake with the legend of Jason and Argonauts. - -Footnote 494: - - In the war with the giants fought in the Phlegræan plains (the - volcanic district of Campania) Athena had helped her father Zeus by - her wise counsel, and was honoured there as keeping in check the - destructive Titanic forces which had been so subdued, burying - Enkelados, _e.g._, in Sicily. The “friends” are her Libyan - worshippers. The passage is interesting, as showing the extent of - Æschylos's acquaintance with the African and Italian coasts of the - Mediterranean. - -Footnote 495: - - The Choral ode here is brought in as an incantation. This weapon is to - succeed where others have failed, and this too, the frenzy which - seizes the soul in the remembrance of its past transgression, is - soothed and banished by Athena. - -Footnote 496: - - White, as the special colour of festal joy, was not used in the - worship of the Erinnyes. - -Footnote 497: - - Another rendering gives— - - “To dim the bright hue of the fresh-shed blood.” - -Footnote 498: - - The thought which underlies the obscurity of a corrupt passage seems - to be that, as they relieve the Gods from the task of being avengers - of blood, all that the Gods on their side can legitimately do against - them is to render powerless the prayers for vengeance offered by the - kindred of the slain. Their very isolation, as Chthonian deities, from - the Gods of Olympos should protect them from open conflict. But an - alternative rendering of the second line gives, perhaps, a better - meaning— - - “And by the prayers men offer unto me - Work freedom for the Gods;” - - _i.e._, by being the appointed receivers of such prayers for - vengeance, they leave the Gods free for a higher and serener life. - -Footnote 499: - - Perhaps, “With torch of sunless gloom.” - -Footnote 500: - - The words contain an allusion to the dispute between Athens and - Mitylene in the time of Peisistratos, as to the possession of Sigeion. - Athena asserts that it had been given to her by the whole body of - Achæans at the time when they had taken Troïa. Comp. Herod. vv. 94, - 95. It probably entered into the political purposes of the play to - excite the Athenians to a war in this direction, so as to draw them - off from the constitutional changes proposed by Pericles and - Ephialtes. - -Footnote 501: - - Here, and throughout the trial, we have to bear in mind the - technicalities of Athenian judicial procedure. The prosecutor, in the - first instance, tendered to the accused an oath that he was not - guilty. This he might accept or refuse. In the latter case, the course - of the trial was at least stopped, and judgment might be recorded - against him. If he could bring himself to accept it, he was acquitted - of the special charge of which he was accused, but he was liable to a - prosecution afterwards for that perjury. If, on the other hand, he - tendered an oath affirming his guilt to the prosecutor, he placed - himself in his hands. Orestes, not being able to deny the fact, will - not declare on oath that he is “not guilty,” but neither will he place - himself in the power of his accusers. The peculiarities of this use of - oaths were: (1) That they were taken by the parties to the suit, not - by the witnesses. (2) That if both parties agreed to that mode of - decision, the oath was either way decisive. An allusion to the latter - practice is found in Heb. vi. 16, and traces of it are found in the - law-proceedings of Scotland. If either party refused, the cause had to - be tried in the usual way, and witnesses were called. - -Footnote 502: - - Æschylos seems here to attach himself to the principles of those who - were seeking to reform the practice described in the previous note as - being at once cumbrous and unjust, throwing its weight into the scale - of the least scrupulous conscience, and to urge a simpler, more - straightforward trial. The same objection is noticed by Aristotle in - his discussion of the subject. (_Rhet._ i. 15.) - -Footnote 503: - - Athena offers herself, not as arbitrator or sovereign judge, but as - presiding over the court of jurors whom she proceeds to appoint. - -Footnote 504: - - Ixion appeared in the mythical history of Greece as the prototype of - all suppliants for purification. When he had murdered Deioneus, Zeus - had had compassion to him, received him as a guest, cleansed him from - his guilt. His ingratitude for this service was the special guilt of - his attempted outrage upon Hera. The case is mentioned again in v. - 687. - -Footnote 505: - - In heathen, as in Jewish sacrifices, the blood was the very instrument - of purification. It was sprinkled or poured upon men, and they became - clean. But this could not be done by the criminal himself, nor by any - chance person. The service had to be rendered by a friend, who of very - love gave himself to this mediatorial work. - -Footnote 506: - - In the legend related by Pausanias (_Corinth._, c. 3), Trœzen was the - first place where Orestes was thus received, and in his time the - descendants of those who had thus helped held periodical feasts in - commemoration of it. - -Footnote 507: - - The course which Athena takes is: (1) to receive Orestes as a settler - with the rights which attached to such persons on Athenian soil, not a - criminal fugitive to be simply surrendered; (2) to offer to the - Erinnyes, as being too important to be put out of court, a fair and - open trial; (3) to acknowledge that he and they are equally - “blameless,” as far as she is concerned. She has no complaint to make - of them. - -Footnote 508: - - The red blight of vines and wheat was looked on as caused by drops of - blood which the Erinnyes had let fall. - -Footnote 509: - - Stress is laid on the fact that the judges of the Areopagos, in - contrast with those of the inferior tribunes of Athens, discharged - their duty under the sanction of an oath. - -Footnote 510: - - Perhaps - - “And each from each shall learn, as he predicts - His neighbour's ills, that he - Shares in the same and harbours them, and speaks, - Poor wretch, of cures that fail.” - -Footnote 511: - - At a more advanced period of human thought, Cicero (_Orat. pro - Roscio_, c. 24) could point to the “thoughts that accuse each other,” - the horror and remorse of the criminal, as the true Erinnyes, the - “assiduæ domesticæque Furiæ.” Æschylos clings to the mythical - symbolism as indispensable for the preservation of the truth which it - shadowed forth. - -Footnote 512: - - Once again we have the poet of constitutional conservatism keeping the - _via media_ between Peisistratos and Pericles. - -Footnote 513: - - The Tyrrhenian trumpet, with its bent and twisted tube, retained its - proverbial pre-eminence from the days of Æschylos and Sophocles - (_Aias_, 17) to those of Virgil (_Æn._, viii. 526). - -Footnote 514: - - The fondness of the Athenians for litigation, and the large share - which every citizen took in the administration of justice, would - probably make the scene which follows, with all its technicalities, - the part of the play into which they would most enter. - -Footnote 515: - - It was necessary that some one, sitting as President of the Court, - should formally open the pleadings, by calling on this side or that to - begin. Here Athena takes that office on herself, and calls on the - Erinnyes. - -Footnote 516: - - The technicalities of the Areopagos are still kept up. The three - points on which the Erinnyes, as prosecutors, lay stress are: (1) the - fact of the murder; (2) the mode; (3) the motive. “Three bouts,” as - referring to the rule of the arena, that three struggles for the - mastery should be decisive. - -Footnote 517: - - The pleas put in by the Erinnyes as prosecutors are: (1) That - Clytæmnestra had been adequately punished by her death, while Orestes - was still alive; and (2) when asked why they had not intervened to - bring about that punishment, that the relationship between husband and - wife was less close than that between mother and son. They drew, in - other words, a distinction between consanguinity and affinity, and - upon this the rest of the discussion turns. Orestes, and Apollo as his - counsel, on the other hand, meet this with the rejoinder, that there - is no blood-relationship between the mother and her offspring. - -Footnote 518: - - _Sc._ Their oath to give a verdict according to the evidence must - yield to the higher obligation of following the Divine will rather - than the letter of the law. - -Footnote 519: - - To have died in health by the arrows of a woman-warrior might have - been borne. To be slain by a wife treacherously in his bath was to - endure a far worse outrage. - -Footnote 520: - - In this new argument, and the answer to it, we may trace, as in the - _Prometheus_ and the _Agamemnon_, the struggles of the questioning - intellect against the more startling elements of the popular religious - belief. Zeus is worshipped as the supreme Lord, yet His dominion seems - founded on might as opposed to goodness, on the unrighteous expulsion - of another. Here, in Apollo's answer, there is a glimmer of a possible - reconciliation. The old and the new, the sovereignty of Cronos and - that of Zeus may be reconciled, and one supreme God be “all in all.” - -Footnote 521: - - Comp. the thought and language of the _Suppliants_, v. 93. - -Footnote 522: - - The last argument is, that the acquittal can be, at the best, partial - only, not complete; formal, not real. There would remain for ever the - pollution which would exclude Orestes from the _Phratria_, the - clan-brotherhood, by which, as by a sacramental bond, all the members - were held together. - -Footnote 523: - - The question seems to have been one of those which occupied men's - minds in their first gropings towards the mysteries of man's physical - life, and both popular metaphors and primary impressions were in - favour of the hypothesis here maintained. Euripides (_Orest._, v. 534) - puts the same argument into the mouth of Orestes. - -Footnote 524: - - The story of Athena's birth, full-grown, from the head of Zeus, is - next referred to as the leading case bearing on the point at issue. - -Footnote 525: - - Here, of course, the political interest of the whole drama reached its - highest point. What seems comparatively flat to us must, to the - thousands who sat as spectators, have been fraught with the most - intense excitement, showing itself in shouts of applause, or audible - tokens of clamorous dissent. The rivalry of Whigs and Tories over - Addison's _Cato_, the sensation produced in times of Papal aggression - by the king's answer to Pandulph in _King John_, presents analogies - which are worth remembering. - -Footnote 526: - - The story ran that the tribe of women warriors from the Caucasos, or - the Thermodon, known by this name, had invaded Attica under Oreithyia, - when Theseus was king, to revenge the wrongs he had done them, and to - recover her sister Hippolyta. Ares, the God of Thrakians, Skythians, - and nearly all the wilder barbaric tribes, was their special deity; - and when they occupied the hill which rose over against the Acropolis, - they sacrificed to him, and so it gained the name of the _Areopagos_, - or “hill of Ares.” - -Footnote 527: - - As in the _Agamemnon_ (v. 1010), so here we find the aristocratic - conservative poet showing his colours, protesting against the - admission to the Archonship, and therefore to the Areopagos, of men of - low birth or in undignified employments. - -Footnote 528: - - The words, like all political clap-trap, are somewhat vague; but, as - understood at the time, the “lawless” policy alluded to was that of - Pericles and Ephialtes, who sought to deface and to diminish the - jurisdiction of the Areopagos, and the “tyrannical,” that which had - crushed the independence of Athens under Peisistratos. Between the two - was the conservative party, of which Kimon had been the leader. - -Footnote 529: - - The Skythians may be named simply as representing all barbarous, - non-Hellenic races; but they appear, about this time, wild and nomadic - as their life was, to have impressed the minds of the Greeks somewhat - in the same way as the Germans did the minds of the Romans in the time - of Tacitus. Tales floated from travellers' lips of their wisdom and - their happiness—of sages like Zamolxis and Aristarchos, who rivalled - those of Hellas—of the Hyperborei, in the far north, who enjoyed a - perpetual and unequalled blessedness.—Comp. _Libation-Pourers_, v. - 366. - -Footnote 530: - - Two topics of praise are briefly touched on: (1) the lower, popular - courts of justice at Athens might be open to the suspicion of - corruption, but no breath of slander had ever tainted the fame of the - Areopagos; (2) it met by night, keeping its watch, that the citizens - might sleep in peace. - -Footnote 531: - - The first of the twelve jurymen rises and drops his voting-ballot into - one of the urns, and is followed by another at the end of each of the - short two-line speeches in the dialogue that follows. The two urns of - acquittal and condemnation stand in front of them. The plan of voting - with different coloured balls (black and white) in the same urn, was a - later usage. - -Footnote 532: - - Compare note on v. 419. - -Footnote 533: - - In the legend of Admetos son of Pheres, and king of Pheræ in - Thessalia, Apollo is represented as having first given wine to the - Destinies, and then persuaded them to allow Admetos, whenever the hour - of death should come, to be redeemed from Hades, if father, or mother, - or wife were willing to die for him. The self-surrender of his wife, - Alkestis, for this purpose, forms the subject of the noblest of the - tragedies of Euripides. - -Footnote 534: - - Partly as setting at nought the power of Erinnyes and the Destinies, - partly as giving wine to those whose libations were wineless.—Comp. - Sophocles, _Œd. Col._ v. 100. - -Footnote 535: - - The practice of the Areopagos is accurately reproduced. When the votes - of the judges were equal a casting vote was given in favour of the - accused, and was known as that of Athena. - -Footnote 536: - - Another reading gives— - - “By spurting from your throats those venom drops.” - -Footnote 537: - - The conservative poet enters his protest through the Erinnyes against - the innovating spirit that looked with contempt upon the principles of - a past age. - -Footnote 538: - - Cock-fighting took its place among the recognised sports of the - Athenians. Once a year there was a public performance in the theatre. - -Footnote 539: - - The Temple of the Eumenides or Semnæ (“venerable ones”) stood near the - Areopagos. - -Footnote 540: - - Some two or three lines have probably been lost here. - -Footnote 541: - - Probably an allusion to the silver-mine at Laureion, which about the - time formed a large element of the revenues of Athens, and of which a - tithe was consecrated to Athena. - -Footnote 542: - - Reference is made to another local sanctuary, the temple on the - Areopagos dedicated to the Olympian Zeus. - -Footnote 543: - - The figure of Athena, as identical with Victory, and so the tutelary - Goddess of Athens, was sculptured with out-spread wings. - -Footnote 544: - - Cranaos, the son of Kecrops, the mythical founder of Athens. - -Footnote 545: - - The sanctuaries of the Eumenides were crypt-like chapels, where they - were worshipped by the light of lamps or torches. - -Footnote 546: - - Perhaps, “Children of Night, yourselves all childless left.” - - - - - FRAGMENTS - - - 38 - APHRODITE _loquitur_ - - The pure, bright heaven still yearns to blend with earth, - And earth is filled with love for marriage-rites, - And from the kindly sky the rain-shower falls - And fertilises earth, and earth for men - Yields grass for sheep, and corn, Demêter's gift; - And from its wedlock with the South the fruit - Is ripened in its season; and of this, - All this, I am the cause accessory. - - - 123 - - So, in the Libyan fables, it is told - That once an eagle, stricken with a dart, - Said, when he saw the fashion of the shaft, - “With our own feathers, not by others' hands, - Are we now smitten.” - - - 147 - - Of all the Gods, Death only craves not gifts: - Nor sacrifice, nor yet drink-offering poured - Avails; no altars hath he, nor is soothed - By hymns of praise. From him alone of all - The powers of Heaven Persuasion holds aloof. - - - 151 - - When 'tis God's will to bring an utter doom - Upon a house, He first in mortal men - Implants what works it out. - - - 162 - - The words of Truth are ever simplest found. - - - 163 - - What good is found in life that still brings pain? - - - 174 - - To many mortals silence great gain brings. - - - 229 - - O Death the Healer, scorn thou not, I pray, - To come to me: of cureless ills thou art - The one physician. Pain lays not its touch - Upon a corpse. - - - 230 - - When the wind - Nor suffers us to leave the port, nor stay. - - - 243 - - And if thou wish to benefit the dead, - 'Tis all as one as if thou injured'st them, - And they nor sorrow nor delight can feel: - Yet higher than we are is Nemesis, - And Justice taketh vengeance for the dead. - - - 266 - - THETIS _on the death of Achilles_ - - Life free from sickness, and of many years, - And in a word a fortune like to theirs - Whom the Gods love, all this He spake to me - As pæan-hymn, and made my heart full glad: - And I full fondly trusted Phœbos' lips - As holy and from falsehood free, of art - Oracular an ever-flowing spring, - And He who sang this, He who at the feast - Being present, spake these things,—yea, He it is - That slew my son. - - - 267 - - The man who does ill, ill must suffer too. - - - 268 - - Evil on mortals comes full swift of foot, - And guilt on him who doth the right transgress. - - - 269 - - Thou see'st a vengeance voiceless and unseen - For one who sleeps or walks or sits at ease: - It takes its course obliquely, here to-day, - And there to-morrow. Nor does night conceal - Men's deeds of ill, but whatsoe'er thou dost, - Think that some God beholds it. - - - 270 - - “All have their chance:” good proverb for the rich. - - - 271 - - Wise is the man who knows what profiteth, - Not he who knoweth much. - - - 272 - - Full grievous burden is a prosperous fool. - - - 272A - - From a just fraud God turneth not away. - - - 273 - - There is a time when God doth falsehood prize. - - - 274 - - The polished brass is mirror of the form, - Wine of the soul. - - - 275 - - Words are the parents of a causeless wrath. - - - 276 - - Men credit gain for oaths, not oaths for them. - - - 277 - - God ever works with those that work with will. - - - 278 - - Wisdom to learn is e'en for old men good. - - - 281 - - The base who prosper are intolerable. - - - 282 - - The seed of mortals broods o'er passing things, - And hath nought surer than the smoke-cloud's shadow. - - - 283 - - Old age hath stronger sense of right than youth. - - - 286 - - Yet though a man gets many wounds in breast, - He dieth not, unless the appointed time, - The limit of his life's span, coincide; - Nor does the man who by the hearth at home - Sits still, escape the doom that Fate decrees. - - - 287 - - How far from just the hate men bear to death, - Which comes as safeguard against many ills. - - - 288 - - _To_ FORTUNE - - Thou did'st beget me; thou too, as it seems, - Wilt now destroy me. - - - 289 - - The fire-moth's silly death is that I fear. - - - 290 - - I by experience know the race full well - That dwells in Æthiop land, where seven-mouthed Nile - Rolls o'er the land with winds that bring the rain, - What time the fiery sun upon the earth - Pours its hot rays, and melts the snow till then - Hard as the rocks; and all the fertile soil - Of Egypt, filled with that pure-flowing stream, - Brings forth Demêter's ears that feed our life. - - - 291 - - This hoopoo, witness of its own dire ills, - He hath in varied garb set forth, and shows - In full array that bold bird of the rocks - Which, when the spring first comes, unfurls a wing - Like that of white-plumed kite; for on one breast - It shows two forms, its own and eke its child's, - And when the corn grows gold, in autumn's prime, - A dappled plumage all its form will clothe; - And ever in its hate of these 'twill go - Far off to lonely thickets or bare rocks. - - - 292 - - Still to the sufferer comes, as due from God, - A glory that to suffering owes its birth. - - - 293 - - The air is Zeus, Zeus earth, and Zeus the heaven, - Zeus all that is, and what transcends them all. - - - 294 - - Take courage; pain's extremity soon ends. - - - 298 - - When Strength and Justice are true yoke-fellows, - Where can be found a mightier pair than they? - - - - - RHYMED CHORUSES - - - AGAMEMNON - - - VERSES 40-248 - - Nine weary years are gone and spent - Since Menelaos' armament - Sped forth, on work of vengeance bent, - For Priam's guilty land; - And with him Agamemnon there - Throne, sceptre, army all did share; - And so from Zeus the Atreidæ bear, - Their twofold high command. - They a fleet of thousand sail, - Strong in battle to prevail, - Led from out our Argive coast, - Shouting war-cries to the host; - E'en as vultures do that utter - Shrillest screams as round they flutter, - Grieving for their nestlings lost, - Plying still their oary wings - In many lonely wanderings, - Robbed of all the sweet unrest - That bound them to their young ones' nest. - And One on high of solemn state, - Apollo, Pan, or Zeus the great, - When he hears that shrill wild cry - Of his clients in the sky, - On them, the godless who offend, - Erinnys slow and sure doth send. - So 'gainst Alexandros then - The sons of Atreus, chiefs of men, - Zeus sent to work his high behest, - True guardian of the host and guest. - He, for bride of many a groom, - On Danai, Troïans sendeth doom, - Many wrestlings, sinew-trying - Of the knee in dust down-lying, - Many a spear-shaft snapt asunder - In the prelude of war's thunder. - What shall be, shall, and still we see - Fulfilled is destiny's decree. - Nor by tears in secret shed, - Nor by offerings o'er the dead, - Will he soothe God's vengeful ire - For altar hearths despoiled of fire. - - And we with age outworn and spent - Are left behind that armament, - With head upon our staff low bent. - Weak our strength like that of boy; - Youth's life-blood, in its bounding joy, - For deeds of might is like to age, - And knows not yet war's heritage: - And the man whom many a year - Hath bowed in withered age and sere, - As with three feet creepeth on, - Like phantom form of day-dream gone - Not stronger than his infant son. - - And now, O Queen, who tak'st thy name - From Tyndareus of ancient fame, - Our Clytæmnestra whom we own - As rightly sharing Argos' throne! - What tidings joyous hast thou heard, - Token true or flattering word, - That thou send'st to every shrine - Solemn pomp in stately line,— - Shrines of Gods who reign in light, - Or those who dwell in central night, - Who in Heaven for aye abide, - Or o'er the Agora preside. - Lo, thy gifts on altars blaze, - And here and there through heaven's wide ways - The torches fling their fiery rays, - Fed by soft and suasive spell - Of the clear oil, flowing well - From the royal treasure-cell. - Telling what of this thou may, - All that's meet to us to say, - Do thou our haunting cares allay, - Cares which now bring sore distress, - While now bright hope, with power to bless, - From out the sacrifice appears, - And wardeth off our restless fears, - The boding sense of coming fate, - That makes the spirit desolate. - - - STROPHE I - - Yes, it is mine to tell - What omens to our leaders then befell, - Giving new strength for war, - (For still though travelled far - In life, by God's great gift to us belong - The suasive powers of song,) - To tell how those who bear - O'er all Achæans sway in equal share, - Ruling in one accord - The youth of Hellas that own each as lord, - Were sent with mighty host - By mighty birds against the Troïan coast, - Kings of the air to kings of men appearing - Near to the palace, on the right hand veering; - On spot seen far and near, - They with their talons tear - A pregnant hare with all her unborn young, - All her life's course in death's deep darkness flung. - Oh raise the bitter cry, the bitter wail; - Yet pray that good prevail! - - - ANTISTROPHE I - - And then the host's wise seer - Stood gazing on the Atreidæ standing near, - Of diverse mood, and knew - Those who the poor hare slew, - And those who led the host with shield and spear, - And spake his omens clear: - “One day this host shall go, - And Priam's city in the dust lay low, - And all the kine and sheep - Countless, which they before their high towers keep, - Fate shall with might destroy: - Only take heed that no curse mar your joy, - Nor blunt the edge of curb that Troïa waiteth, - Smitten too soon, for Artemis still hateth - The wingèd hounds that own - Her father on his throne, - Who slay the mother with the young unborn, - And looks upon the eagle's feast with scorn. - Ah! raise the bitter cry, the bitter wail; - Yet pray that good prevail. - - - EPODE - - For she, the Fair One, though her mercy shields - The lion's whelps, like dew-drops newly shed, - And yeanling young of beasts that roam the fields, - Yet prays her sire fulfil these omens dread, - The good, the evil too. - And now I call on him, our Healer true, - Lest she upon the Danai send delays - That keep our ships through many weary days, - Urging a new strange rite, - Unblest alike by man and God's high law, - Evil close clinging, working sore despite, - Marring a wife's true awe. - For still there lies in wait, - Fearful and ever new, - Watching the hour its eager thirst to sate, - Vengeance on those who helpless infants slew.” - Such things, ill mixed with good, great Calchas spake, - As destined by the birds' strange auguries; - And we too now our echoing answer make - In loud and woeful cries: - Oh raise the bitter cry, the bitter wail; - Yet pray that good prevail. - - - STROPHE II - - O Zeus, whoe'er Thou be, - If that name please thee well, - By that I call on Thee; - For weighing all things else I fail to tell - Of any name but Zeus; - If once for all I seek - Of all my haunting, troubled thoughts a truce, - That name I still must speak. - - - ANTISTROPHE II - - For He who once was great, - Full of the might to war, - Hath lost his high estate; - And He who followed now is driven afar, - Meeting his Master too: - But if one humbly pay - With 'bated breath to Zeus his honour due, - He walks in wisdom's way,— - - - STROPHE III - - To Zeus, who men in wisdom's path doth train, - Who to our mortal race - Hath given the fixèd law that pain is gain; - For still through his high grace - True counsel falleth on the heart like dew, - In deep sleep of the night, - The boding thoughts that out of ill deeds grew; - This too They work who sit enthronèd in their might. - - - ANTISTROPHE III - - And then the elder leader of great fame - Who ruled the Achæans' ships, - Not bold enough a holy seer to blame - With words from reckless lips, - But tempered to the fate that on him fell;— - And when the host was vexed - With tarryings long, scant stores, and surging swell, - Chalkis still far off seen, and baffled hopes perplexed; - - - STROPHE IV - - And stormy blasts that down from Strymon sweep, - And breed sore famine with the long delay, - Hurl forth our men upon the homeless deep - On many a wandering way, - Sparing nor ships, nor ropes, nor sailing gear, - Doubling the weary months, and vexing still - The Argive host with fear. - Then when as mightier charm for that dread ill, - Hard for our ships to bear, - From the seer's lips did “Artemis” resound, - The Atreidæ smote their staves upon the ground, - And with no power to check, shed many a bitter tear. - - - ANTISTROPHE IV - - And then the elder of the chiefs thus cried: - “Great woe it is the Gods to disobey; - Great woe if I my child, my home's fond pride, - With my own hands must slay, - Polluting with the streams of maiden's blood - A father's hands, the holy altar near. - Which course hath least of good? - How can I loss of ships and comrades bear? - Right well may men desire, - With craving strong, the blood of maiden pure - As charm to lull the winds and calm ensure; - Ah, may there come the good to which our hopes aspire!” - - - STROPHE V - - Then, when he his spirit proud - To the yoke of doom had bowed, - While the blasts of altered mood - O'er his soul swept like a flood, - Reckless, godless and unblest; - Thence new thoughts upon him pressed, - Thoughts of evil, frenzied daring, - (Still doth passion, base guile sharing, - Mother of all evil, hold - The power to make men bad and bold,) - And he brought himself to slay - His daughter, as on solemn day, - Victim slain the ship to save, - When for false wife fought the brave. - - - ANTISTROPHE V - - All her cries and loud acclaim, - Calling on her father's name,— - All her beauty fresh and fair, - They heeded not in their despair, - Their eager lust for conflict there. - And her sire the attendants bade - To lift her, when the prayer was said, - Above the altar like a kid, - Her face and form in thick veil hid; - Yea, with ruthless heart and bold, - O'er her gracious lips to hold - Their watch, and with the gag's dumb pain - From evil-boding words restrain. - - - STROPHE VI - - And then upon the ground - Pouring the golden streams of saffron veil, - She cast a glance around - That told its piteous tale, - At each of those who stood prepared to slay, - Fair as the form by skilful artist drawn, - And wishing, all in vain, her thoughts to say; - For oft of old in maiden youth's first dawn, - Within her father's hall, - Her voice to song did call, - To chant the praises of her sire's high state, - His fame, thrice blest of Heaven, to celebrate. - What then ensued mine eyes - Saw not, nor may I tell, but not in vain - The arts of Calchas wise; - For justice sends again, - The lesson “pain is gain” for them to learn: - But for our piteous fate since help is none, - With voice that bids “Good-bye,” we from it turn - Ere yet it come, and this is all as one - With weeping ere the hour, - For soon will come in power - To-morrow's dawn, and good luck with it come! - So speaks the guardian of this Apian home. - - - VERSES 346-471 - - O great and sovran Zeus, O Night, - Great in glory, great in might, - Who round Troïa's towers hast set, - Enclosing all, thy close-meshed net, - So that neither small nor great - Can o'erleap the bondslave's fate, - Or woe that maketh desolate; - Zeus, the God of host and guest, - Worker of all this confessed, - He by me shall still be blest. - Long since, 'gainst Alexandros He - Took aim with bow that none may flee, - That so his arrows onward driven, - Nor miss their mark, nor pierce the heaven. - - - STROPHE I - - Yes, they lie smitten low, - If so one dare to speak, by stroke of Zeus; - Well one may trace the blow; - The doom that He decreed their soul subdues. - And though there be that say - The Gods for mortal men care not at all, - Though they with reckless feet tread holiest way, - These none will godly call. - Now is it to the children's children clear - Of those who, overbold, - More than was meet, breathed Discord's spirit drear; - While yet their houses all rich store did hold - Beyond the perfect mean. - Ah! may my lot be free from all that harms, - My soul may nothing wean - From calm contentment with her tranquil charms; - For nought is there in wealth - That serves as bulwark 'gainst the subtle stealth - Of Destiny and Doom, - For one who, in the pride of wanton mood, - Spurns the great altar of the Right and Good. - - - ANTISTROPHE I - - Yea, a strange impulse wild - Urges him on, resistless in its might, - Atè's far-scheming child. - It knows no healing, is not hid in night, - That mischief lurid, dark; - Like bronze that will not stand the test of wear, - A tarnished blackness in its hue we mark; - And like a boy who doth a bird pursue - Swift-floating on the wing, - He to his country hopeless woe doth bring; - And no God hears their prayer, - But sendeth down the unrighteous to despair, - Whose hands are stained with sin. - So was it Paris came - His entrance to the Atreidæ's home to win, - And brought its queen to shame, - To shame that brand indelible hath set - Upon the board where host and guest were met. - - - STROPHE II - - And leaving to her countrymen to bear - Wild whirl of ships of war and shield and spear, - And bringing as her dower, - Death's doom to Ilion's tower, - She hath passed quickly through the palace gate, - Daring what none should dare; - And lo! the minstrel seers bewail the fate - That home must henceforth share; - “Woe for the kingly house and for its lord; - Woe for the marriage-bed and paths which still - A vanished love doth fill! - There stands he, wronged, yet speaking not a word - Of scorn from wrathful will, - Seeing with utter woe that he is left, - Of her fair form bereft; - And in his yearning love - For her who now is far beyond the sea, - A phantom queen through all the house shall rove; - And all the joy doth flee - The sculptured forms of beauty once did give; - And in the penury of eyes that live, - All Aphroditè's grace - Is lost in empty space. - - - ANTISTROPHE II - - And spectral forms in visions of the night - Come, bringing sorrow with their vain delight: - For vain it is when one - Thinks that great joy is near, - And, passing through his hands, the dream is gone - On gliding wings, that bear - The vision far away on paths of sleep.” - Such woes were felt at home - Upon the sacred altar of the hearth, - And worse than these remain for those who roam - From Hellas' parent earth: - In every house, in number measureless, - Is seen a sore distress: - Yea, sorrows pierce the heart: - For those who from his home he saw depart - Each knoweth all too well; - And now, instead of warrior's living frame, - There cometh to the home where each did dwell - The scanty ashes, relics of the flame, - The urns of bronze that keep - The dust of those that sleep. - - - STROPHE III - - For Ares, who from bodies of the slain - Reapeth a golden gain, - And holdeth, like a trafficker, his scales, - E'en where the torrent rush of war prevails, - From Ilion homeward sends - But little dust, yet burden sore for friends, - O'er which, smooth-lying in the brazen urn, - They sadly weep and mourn, - Now for this man as foremost in the strife, - And now for that who in the battle fell, - Slain for another's wife. - And muttered curses some in secret tell, - And jealous discontent - Against the Atreidæ who as champions led - The mighty armament; - And some around the wall, the goodly dead, - Have there in alien land their monument, - And in the soil of foes - Take in the sleep of death their last repose. - - - ANTISTROPHE III - - And lo! the murmurs which our country fill - Are as a solemn curse, - And boding anxious fear expecteth still - To hear of evil worse. - Not blind the Gods, but giving fullest heed - To those who cause a nation's wounds to bleed; - And the dark-robed Erinnyes in due time - By adverse chance and change - Plunge him who prospers though defiled by crime - In deepest gloom, and through its formless range - No gleams of help appear. - O'er-vaunted glory is a perilous thing; - For on it Zeus, whose glance fills all with fear, - His thunderbolts doth fling. - That fortune fair I praise - That rouseth not the Gods to jealousy. - May I ne'er tread the devastator's ways, - Nor as a prisoner see - My life wear out in drear captivity! - - - EPODE - - And now at bidding of the courier-flame, - Herald of great good news, - A murmur swift through all the city came; - But whether it with truth its course pursues, - Who knows? or whether God who dwells on high, - With it hath sent a lie? - Who is so childish, or of sense bereft, - As first to feel the glow - That message of the herald fire has left, - And then to sink down low, - Because the rumour changes in its sound? - It is a woman's mood - To accept a boon before the truth is found: - Too quickly she believes in tidings good, - And so the line exact - That marks the truth of fact - Is over-passed, and with quick doom of death - A rumour spread by woman perisheth. - - - VERSES 665-782 - - STROPHE I - - Who was it named her with such foresight clear? - Could it be One of might, - In strange prevision of her work of fear, - Guiding the tongue aright? - Who gave that war-wed, strife-upstirring one - The name of Helen, ominous of ill? - For 'twas through her that Hellas was undone, - That woes from Hell men, ships, and cities fill. - Out from the curtains, gorgeous in their fold, - Wafted by breeze of Zephyr, earth's strong child, - She her swift way doth hold; - And hosts of mighty men, as hunters bold - That bear the spear and shield, - Wait on the track of those who steered their way - Unseen where Simois flows by leafy field, - Urged by a strife that came with power to slay. - - - ANTISTROPHE I - - And so the wrath which doth its work fulfil - To Ilion brought, well-named, - A marriage marring all, avenging still - For friendship wronged and shamed, - And outrage foul on Zeus, of host and guest - The guardian God, from those who then did raise - The bridal hymn of marriage-feast unblest - Which called the bridegroom's kin to shouts of praise. - But now by woe oppressed - Priam's ancient city waileth very sore, - And calls on Paris unto dark doom wed, - Suffering yet more and more - For all the blood of heroes vainly shed, - And bearing through the long protracted years - A life of wailing grief and bitter tears. - - - STROPHE II - - One was there who did rear - A lion's whelp within his home to dwell, - A monster waking fear, - Weaned from the mother's milk it loved so well: - Then in life's dawning light, - Loved by the children, petted by the old, - Oft in his arms clasped tight, - As one an infant newly-born would hold, - With eye that gleamed beneath the fondling hand, - And fawning as at hunger's strong command. - - - ANTISTROPHE II - - But soon of age full grown, - It showed the inbred nature of its sire, - And wrought unasked, alone, - A feast to be that fostering nurture's hire; - Gorged full with slaughtered sheep, - The house was stained with blood as with a curse - No slaves away could keep, - A murderous mischief waxing worse and worse, - Sent as from God a priest from Atè fell, - And reared within the man's own house to dwell. - - - STROPHE III - - So I would say to Ilion then there came - Mood as of calm when every wind is still, - The gentle pride and joy of noble fame, - The eye's soft glance that all the soul doth thrill; - Love's full-blown flower that brings - The thorn that wounds and stings; - And yet she turned aside, - And of the marriage feast wrought bitter end, - Coming to dwell where Priam's sons abide, - Ill sojourner, ill friend, - Sent by great Zeus, the God of host and guest, - A true Erinnys, by all wives unblest. - - - ANTISTROPHE III - - There lives a saying framed of ancient days, - And in men's minds imprinted firm and fast, - That great good fortune never childless stays, - But brings forth issue,—that on fame at last - There rushes on apace - Great woe for all the race; - But I, apart, alone, - Hold a far other and a worthier creed: - The impious act is by ill issue known, - Most like the parent deed; - While still for all who love the Truth and Right, - Good fortune prospers, fairer and more bright. - - - STROPHE IV - - But wanton Outrage done in days of old - Another wanton Outrage still doth bear, - And mocks at human woes with scorn o'erbold, - Or soon or late as they their fortune share. - That other in its turn - Begets Satiety, - And lawless Might that doth all hindrance spurn, - And sacred right defy, - Two Atès fell within their dwelling-place, - Like to their parent race. - - - ANTISTROPHE IV - - Yet Justice still shines bright in dwellings murk - And dim with smoke, and honours calm content; - But gold-bespangled homes, where guilt doth lurk, - She leaves with glance in horror backward bent, - And draws with reverent fear - To places holier far, - And little recks the praise the prosperous hear, - Whose glories tarnished are; - But still towards its destined goal she brings - The whole wide course of things. - - Say then, son of Atreus, thou - Who com'st as Troïa's conqueror now, - What form of welcome right and meet, - What homage thy approach to greet, - Shall I now use in measure true, - Nor more nor less than that is due? - Many men there are, I wis, - Who in seeming place their bliss, - Caring less for that which is. - If one suffers, then their wail - Loudly doth the ear assail; - Yet have they nor lot nor part - In the grief that stirs the heart; - So too the joyous men will greet - With smileless faces counterfeit: - But shepherd who his own sheep knows - Will scan the lips that fawn and gloze, - Ready still to praise and bless - With weak and watery kindliness. - Thou when thou the host did'st guide - For Helen—truth I will not hide— - In mine eyes had'st features grim, - Such as unskilled art doth limn, - Not guiding well the helm of thought, - And giving souls with grief o'erwrought - False courage from fresh victims brought, - But with nought of surface zeal, - Now full glad of heart I feel, - And hail thy acts as deeds well done: - Thou too in time shall know each one, - And learn who wrongly, who aright - In house or city dwells in might. - - - VERSES 947-1001 - - STROPHE I - - Why thus continually - Do ever-haunting phantoms hover nigh - My hearth that bodeth ill? - Why doth the prophet's strain unbidden still, - Unbought, flow on and on? - Why on my mind's dear throne - Hath faith lost all her former power to fling - That terror from me as an idle thing? - Yet since the ropes were fastened in the sand - That moored the ships to land, - When the great naval host to Ilion went, - Time hath passed on to feeble age and spent. - - - ANTISTROPHE I - - And now as face to face, - Myself reporting to myself I trace - Their safe return; and yet - My mind, taught by itself, cannot forget - Erinnys' dolorous cry, - That lyreless melody, - And hath no strength of wonted confidence. - Not vain these pulses of the inward sense, - As my heart beateth in its wild unrest, - Within true-boding breast; - And hoping against hope, I yet will pray - My fears may all prove false and pass away. - - - STROPHE II - - Of high, o'erflowing health - There is no limit found that satisfies; - For soon by force or stealth, - As foe 'gainst whom but one poor wall doth rise, - Disease upon it presses, and the lot - Of fair good fortune onward moves until - It strikes on unseen reef where help is not. - But should fear move their will - For safety of their freight, - With measured sling a part they sacrifice, - And so avert their fate, - Lest the whole house should sink no more to rise, - O'erwhelmed with misery; - Nor does the good ship perish utterly: - So too abundant gift, - From Zeus in double plenty, from the earth, - Doth the worn soul from anxious care uplift, - And turns the famished wail to bounding joy and mirth. - - - ANTISTROPHE II - - But blood that once is shed - In purple stream of death upon the ground, - Who then, when life is fled, - A charm to call it back again hath found? - Else against him who raised the dead to life - Zeus had not sternly warred, as warning given - To all men; but if Fate were not at strife - With Fate that brings from Heaven - Help from the Gods, my heart, - Out-stripping speech, had given thought free vent. - But now in gloom apart - It sits and moans in sullen discontent, - And hath no hope that e'er - It shall an issue seasonably fair - From out the tangled skein - Of life's strange course unravel straight and clear, - While in the fever of continuing pain - My soul doth burden sore of troublous anguish bear. - - - - - THE LIBATION-POURERS - - - VERSES 20-75 - - - STROPHE I - - Lo, from the palace door - We wend our way to pour - Gifts on the dead; - And in our bitter woe, - Our hands with many a blow - Smite breast and head. - On each fair cheek the nail - Has ploughed full many a trail, - And all to tatters torn - The garments we have worn; - The foldings of the vest - O'er maiden's swelling breast - Are roughly rent; - For now on us the chance - That shuts out joy and dance - Our fate hath sent. - - - ANTISTROPHE I - - A spectral vision clear - Thrills every hair with fear, - In haunted sleep, - Breathing of dire distress, - From innermost recess - Its watch doth keep, - Breaking with cry of fright - The still deep hush of night: - All through the queenly bower - Sharp cry was heard that hour, - And they to whom 'twas given - To read decrees of Heaven, - In dream o'er-true, - By solemn pledges bound, - Declared that underground - The dead were wrathful found - 'Gainst those that slew. - - - STROPHE II - - And so the godless queen - In eager haste is seen,— - Sends me with gifts like this, - Full graceless grace, I wis, - As if (O mother Earth, - To whom we owe our birth!) - To banish dread. - And I would fain delay - This prayer of mine to pray: - What ransom can men pay - For blood once shed? - Oh, hearth and home of woe! - Oh, utter overthrow! - Foul mists brood o'er our halls: - No ray of sunlight falls; - Thick darkness from the tomb - Of heroes makes the gloom - Yet more intense. - - - ANTISTROPHE II - - And awe that once we knew, - Strong, mighty to subdue, - Falling on every ear, - Thrilling each soul with fear, - Is gone far hence. - There be that well may bow - In craven terror now, - For lo! Success enthroned - As more than God is owned. - But Vengeance will not fail - Ere long to turn the scale. - On some her strokes alight, - While yet their day is bright; - Some, as in twilight's gloom, - O'erflow with gathering doom; - Some endless night doth hold - In realm of darkness old. - - - STROPHE III - - And for the blood which Earth, - To whom it owed its birth, - Hath drunk, there still doth wait - A stern avenging Fate; - The stain of blood doth stay, - And will not pass away, - And nerves are thrilled with pain - In soul that sets in train - The plague that works amain - Its evil great. - - - ANTISTROPHE III - - All help from him hath fled - Who with adulterous tread - Denies another's bed. - Though many streams should pour - Their waters o'er and o'er, - Those waters evermore - Are poured in vain; - They cannot cleanse the guilt - Of blood that once is spilt, - Man's hand to stain. - - - EPODE - - But since to me by Heaven - The exile's life is given, - (Yea, far from home I know - The bondslave's cup of woe,) - I needs must yield assent - To good or ill intent, - Accepting their commands - Who rule with sceptred hands,— - Yea, I must hide my hate - In this my evil fate, - And under strong control - Keep my rebellious soul; - And now beneath my veil - I weep my woes' full tale; - For cares that vex and fret - My cheeks with tears are wet. - - - VERSES 576-639 - - STROPHE I - - Many dread forms of woe and fear the Earth - Doth breed; and Ocean's deep - Is full of foes men hate, of monstrous birth; - And Air's high pathways keep - Their flashing meteors; birds that wing their flight, - And things on earth that creep; - And one might tell the wrath of whirlwind's might, - When tempests wildly sweep. - - - ANTISTROPHE I - - But who can tell man's purpose overbold? - Or woman's, prompt to dare? - Or the strong loves that men in bondage hold, - And bring woe everywhere? - Or strange conjunctions of the hearth and home? - But still the palm they bear, - The loves unloved that women overcome, - And hold dominion there. - - - STROPHE II - - And one whose thoughts are not o'erswift of wing, - May learn and ponder well - What purpose Thestios' child to act did bring, - Purpose most dire and fell, - Her burning thought who did her own child slay, - Kindling the torch of death - That with her child's life kept its equal way, - Since coming from his mother's womb he cried, - To that predestined day on which at last he died. - - - ANTISTROPHE II - - And yet another must I in my song - Devote to hate and scorn, - The murderess Skylla, who to deeds of wrong - By Minos' gifts was borne, - And for her foes' sake slew a man she loved - For Cretan chains gold-wrought; - She with dog's heart the deathless lock removed - From him, in deep sleep sunk; yet Hermes' power - She too was taught at last at her appointed hour. - - - STROPHE III - - But since I tell my tale of loathly crime, - And of ill-omened marriage out of time, - Wedlock our house abhors, - The schemes and plots of women steeped in guile - Against a warrior chief, a chief erewhile - The dread of foes in wars, - The foremost place I give to altar-hearth - Where no wrath burns and woman knows the worth - Of mood from daring free. - - - ANTISTROPHE III - - Yet of all ills the Lemnian first may stand, - The cry of loathing rings through all the land, - And still each crime of dread - A man will liken to the Lemnian ill; - And now by woe that comes from God's stern will - The race is gone and fled, - Of all men scorned, for no man looks with love - On deeds that to the high Gods hateful prove; - Is not this clear to see? - - - STROPHE IV - - And lo! the sword sharp-pointed pierces deep, - E'en to the heart, the sword which Vengeance wields; - The lawless deed will not neglected sleep, - When men tread down what fear of high heaven shields; - - - ANTISTROPHE IV - - But still the block of Vengeance firm doth stand, - And Fate, as swordsmith, hammers blow on blow; - And then with thoughts that none can understand, - Erinnys comes far known, though working slow, - And to the old house brings the youthful heir, - That deeds of blood wrought out of olden time - May the due judgment bear - For each polluting crime. - - - VERSES 769-820 - - STROPHE I - - Oh, hear me, hear my prayer, thou mighty Lord! - Sire of all Gods that on Olympos dwell, - Hear Thou, and grant my longing heart's desire, - That those who wise of heart would fain do well - May see each prayer for right - Fulfilled in holiest might; - That prayer, O Zeus, I pray. - - - STROPHE II - - Do Thou protect him, yea, O Zeus, and bring - Before his foes on yonder secret way; - For if thou raise him high, then Thou, O king, - Shalt to thy heart's content - Receive a twofold, threefold recompence, - For that thine anger bent - Against each old offence. - - - ANTISTROPHE I - - Look on the son of one whom Thou did'st love, - Like orphan colt fast bound to car of woes; - Set Thou a mark that may as limit prove; - Ah, might one watch his footsteps as he goes, - In measured course and true, - This his own country through! - - - STROPHE III - - And ye who in our home - Stand in the shrine with plenteous wealth full stored, - Hear, O ye Gods, and come, - Yea, come with one accord, - Lead him on, wash away - With vengeance new the blood of crime of old; - Let not the old guilt stay - To breed fresh offspring where our home we hold. - - - MESODE - - But grant him good success, - O Thou who dost within the great cave dwell! - With upward glance of joy our chief's house bless, - And that he too, full well, - Freely and brightly with the dear, loved eyes, - May look from out the veil of cloudy skies. - - - ANTISTROPHE III - - And then may Maia's son - Assist him, as is meet, in this his task! - Through Him success is won, - The boon that now we ask: - And many secret things will He make clear, - If that should be His will; - But should He choose the truth should not appear, - Before men's eyes He still - Brings darkness and the blackness of the night, - Nor is He clearer in the day's full light. - - - STROPHE IV - - And then will we pour forth - All that our house contains of costliest worth, - Past evil to redeem, - And through the city we will raise the strain - Shrill-voiced of women's chant yet once again. - All this as good I deem; - This, this my gain increaseth more and more, - And far from those I love is sorrow's bitter stour. - - - ANTISTROPHE II - - But thou, take courage when the time is come, - The time to act indeed, - And when she calls thee “child,” do thou strike home, - And let thy father's name for vengeance plead; - Do thy dread taskwork to the uttermost. - - - ANTISTROPHE IV - - Let Perseus' heart within thy bosom dwell, - For thou dost work for each dear kindred ghost, - And those on high, a bitter boon and fell, - Completing there within - The deed of blood and sin, - And utterly destroying him whose hand - That crime of murder planned. - - - - - EUMENIDES - - - VERSES 297-374 - - Come then, and let us dance in solemn strain; - It is our will to chant our harsh refrain, - And tell how this our band - Works among men the tasks we take in hand. - In righteous vengeance find we full delight; - On him who putteth forth clean hands and pure - No wrath from us doth light; - Unhurt shall he through all his life endure; - But whoso, as this man, hath evil wrought, - And hides hands stained with blood, - On him we come, with power prevailing fraught, - True witnesses and good, - For those whom he has slain, and bent to win - Full forfeit-price for that his deed of sin. - - - STROPHE I - - O Mother, Mother Night! - Who did'st bear me a penalty and curse - To those who see and those who see not light, - Hear thou; for Leto's son, in mood perverse, - Puts me to foulest shame, - In that he robs me of my trembling prey, - The victim whom we claim, - That we his mother's blood may wash away; - And over him as slain - Sing we this dolorous, frenzied, maddening strain, - The song that we, the Erinnyes, love so well, - That binds the soul as with enchanter's spell, - Without one note from out the sweet-voiced lyre, - Withering the strength of men as with a blast of fire. - - - ANTISTROPHE I - - For this our task hath Fate - Spun without fail to last for ever sure, - That we on man weighed down with deeds of hate - Should follow till the earth his life immure. - Nor when he dies can he - Boast of being truly free; - And over him as slain - Sing we this dolorous, frenzied, maddening strain, - The song that we, the Erinnyes, love so well, - That binds the soul as with enchanter's spell, - Without one note from out the sweet-voiced lyre, - Withering the strength of men as with a blast of fire. - - - STROPHE II - - Yea, at our birth this lot to us was given, - And from the immortal Ones who dwell in Heaven - We still must hold aloof; - None sits with us at banquets of delight, - Or shares a common roof, - Nor part nor lot have I in garments white; - My choice was made a race to overthrow, - When murder, home-reared, lays a loved one low; - Strong though he be, upon his track we tread, - And drain his blood till all his strength is fled. - - - ANTISTROPHE II - - Yea, 'tis our work to set another free - From tasks like this, and by my service due - To give the Gods their perfect liberty, - Relieved from task of meting judgment true; - For this our tribe from out his fellowship - Zeus hath cast out as worthy of all hate, - And from our limbs the purple blood-drops drip; - So with a mighty leap and grievous weight - My foot I bring upon my quivering prey, - With power to make the swift and strong give way, - An evil and intolerable fate. - - - STROPHE III - - And all the glory and the pride of men, - Though high exalted in the light of day, - Wither and fade away, - Of little honour then, - When in the darkness of the grave they stay, - By our attack brought low, - The loathèd dance through which in raiment black we go: - - - ANTISTROPHE III - - And through the ill that leaves him dazed and blind, - He still is all unconscious that he falls, - So thick a cloud enthrals - The vision of his mind: - And Rumour with a voice of wailing calls, - And tells of gathering gloom - That doth the ancient halls in darkness thick entomb. - - - STROPHE IV - - So it abideth still; - Ready and prompt are we to work our will, - The dreaded Ones who bring - The dire remembrance of each deed of ill, - Whom mortals may not soothe with offering, - Working a task with little honour fraught, - Yea, all dishonoured, task the Gods detest, - In sunless midnight wrought, - By which alike are pressed - Those who yet live, and those who lie in gloom unblest. - - - ANTISTROPHE IV - - What mortal man then will not crouch in fear, - As he my work shall hear, - The task to me by destiny from Heaven - As from the high Gods given? - Yea, a time-honoured lot is mine I trow, - No shame in it I see, - Though deep beneath the earth my station be, - In gloom that never feels the sunlight's quickening glow. - - - VERSES 468-537 - - STROPHE I - - Now is there utter fall and overthrow, - Which new-made laws begin; - If he who struck the matricidal blow, - His right—not so, his utter wrong shall win, - This baseness will the minds of all men lead - To wanton, reckless thought, - And now for parents waits there woe, and deed - Of parricidal guilt by children wrought. - - - ANTISTROPHE I - - For then no more shall wrath from this our band, - The Mænad troop that watch the deeds of men, - Come for these crimes; but lo! on either hand - I will let slip all evil fate, and then, - Telling his neighbours' grief, - Shall this man seek from that, and seek in vain, - Remission and relief, - Nor is there any certain cure for pain. - And lo! the wretched man all fruitlessly - For grace and help shall cry. - - - STROPHE II - - Henceforth let no man in his anguish call, - When he sore-smitten by ill-chance shall fall, - Uttering with groan and moan, - “O mighty Justice, O Erinnyes' throne!” - So may a father or a mother wail, - Struck by new woe, and tell their sorrow's tale; - For low on earth doth lie - The home where Justice once her dwelling had on high. - - - ANTISTROPHE II - - Yea, there are times when reverent Awe should stay - As guardian of the soul; - It profits much to learn through suffering - The bliss of self-control. - Who that within the heart's full daylight bears - No touch of holy awe, - Be it or man or State that casts out fear, - Will still own reverence for the might of law? - - - STROPHE III - - Nor life that will no sovran rule obey, - Nor one down-crushed beneath a despot's sway, - Shalt thou approve; - God still gives power and strength for victory - To all that in the golden mean doth lie. - All else, as they in diverse order move, - He scans with watchful eye. - With this I speak a word in harmony, - That of irreverence still - Outrage is offspring ill, - While from the soul's true health - Comes the much-loved, much-prayed-for joy and wealth. - - - ANTISTROPHE III - - Yes, this I bid thee know; - Bow thou before the altar of the Right, - And let no wandering glance - That looks at gain askance - Lead thee with godless foot to scorn or slight. - Know well the appointed penalty shall come; - The doom remaineth sure and will at last strike home. - Wherefore let each man pay the reverence due - To those who call him son; - By each to thronging guests let honour true - In loyal faith be done. - - - STROPHE IV - - But one who with no pressure of constraint - Of his free will draws back from evil taint, - He shall not be unblest, - Nor ever sink by utter woe oppressed. - But this I still aver, - That he whose daring leads him to transgress, - The chaos wild of evil deeds to stir, - In sharp and sore distress, - Against his will will slacken sail ere long, - When, as his timbers crash before the blast, - He feels the tempest strong. - - - ANTISTROPHE IV - - Then in the midst of peril he at last - Shall call on those who then will hear him not. - Yea, God still laughs to scorn - The man by evil tide of passions borne, - Swayed by thoughts wild and hot, - When he beholdeth one whose boast was high - He ne'er should know it, sunk in misery, - And all unable round the point to steer; - And so his former pride of prosperous days - He wrecks upon the reefs of Vengeance drear, - And dies with none to weep him or to praise. - - - - - THE END - - - - - TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES - - - 1. Added missing target for footnote on p. 17. - 2. Silently corrected typographical errors. - 3. Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed. - 4. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: Æschylos Tragedies and Fragments - -Author: Æschylos - -Translator: E. H. Plumptre - -Release Date: September 30, 2016 [EBook #53174] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ÆSCHYLOS TRAGEDIES AND FRAGMENTS *** - - - - -Produced by Richard Tonsing, Eric Eldred and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class='tnotes covernote'> - -<p class='c000'><strong>Transcriber's Note:</strong></p> - -<p class='c000'>The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.</p> - -</div> - -<div> - <h1 class='c001'>ÆSCHYLOS<br /> <span class='xlarge'>TRAGEDIES</span><br /> <span class='large'>AND</span><br /> <span class='xlarge'>FRAGMENTS</span></h1> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='small'><em>Translated by the late</em></span></div> - <div class='c003'><span class='large'>E. H. PLUMPTRE D.D.</span></div> - <div class='c003'><span class='small'><em>Dean of Wells</em></span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c000'>WITH NOTES AND -RHYMED CHORAL ODES</p> - -<div class='c004'><span class='small'>IN TWO PARTS</span></div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>BOSTON U.S.A.</div> - <div class='c003'><span class='large'>D. C. HEATH & CO. PUBLISHERS</span></div> - <div class='c003'><span class='small'>1901</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_7'>7</span> - <h2 class='c005'>PUBLISHER'S NOTE</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c006'><em>The reception accorded to the pocket edition of Dean -Plumptre's “Dante” has encouraged the publishers to -issue in the same</em> format <em>the Dean's masterly translation -of the Tragedies of Æschylos.</em></p> - -<p class='c000'><em>In preparing the present issue they have followed the -carefully revised text of the second edition, and have -included the scholarly and suggestive annotations with -which the Dean invariably delighted to enrich his work -as a translator.</em></p> - -<p class='c000'><em>The seven Plays, which are all that remain of the -seventy or eighty with which Æschylos is credited, are -presented in their chronological order. Passages in which -the reading or the rendering is more or less conjectural, -and in which, accordingly, the aid of the commentator is -advisable, are marked by an asterisk<a id='asterisk'></a>; and passages -which are regarded as spurious by editors of authority -have been placed in brackets.</em></p> - -<p class='c000'><em>In translating the Choral Odes the Dean used such -unrhymed metres—observing the strophic and antistrophic -<span class='pageno' id='Page_8'>8</span>arrangement—as seemed to him most analogous in their -general rhythmical effect to those of the original. He -added in an appendix, however, for the sake of those who -preferred the rhymed form with which they were familiar, -a rhymed version of the chief Odes of the Oresteian -trilogy. Those in the other dramas did not appear to him -to be of equal interest, or to lend themselves with equal -facility to a like attempt. The Greek text on which the -translation is based is, for the most part, that of Mr. -Paley's edition of 1861.</em></p> - -<p class='c000'><em>A translation was also given of the Fragments which -have survived the wreck of the lost plays, so that the -work contains all that has been left to us associated -with the name of Æschylos.</em></p> - -<p class='c000'><em>In the present edition a chronological outline has been -substituted for the biographical sketch of the poet, who -from his daring enlargement of the scope of the drama, -the magnificence of his spectacular effects and the -splendour of his genius, was rightly honoured as “the -Father of Tragedy.”</em></p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c005'>PART I</h2> -</div> - -<table class='table0' summary='PART I'> -<colgroup> -<col width='91%' /> -<col width='8%' /> -</colgroup> - <tr> - <th class='c007'></th> - <th class='c008'><em>Page</em></th> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Chronological Outline of the Life of Æschylos</span></td> - <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_11'>11</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>The Persians</span></td> - <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_17'>17</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>The Seven who Fought against Thebes</span></td> - <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_65'>65</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Prometheus Bound</span></td> - <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_113'>113</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>The Suppliants</span></td> - <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_161'>161</a></td> - </tr> -</table> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c005'>PART II</h2> -</div> - -<table class='table0' summary='PART II'> -<colgroup> -<col width='91%' /> -<col width='8%' /> -</colgroup> - <tr> - <th class='c007'></th> - <th class='c008'><em>Page</em></th> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Agamemnon</span></td> - <td class='c008'><a href='#p1009'>9</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>The Libation-Pourers</span></td> - <td class='c008'><a href='#p1087'>87</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Eumenides</span></td> - <td class='c008'><a href='#p1137'>137</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Fragments</span></td> - <td class='c008'><a href='#p1185'>185</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c007'><span class='sc'>Rhymed Choruses</span></td> - <td class='c008'> </td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c007'>  <em>From</em> Agamemnon</td> - <td class='c008'><a href='#p1191'>191</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c007'>  <em>From</em> The Libation-Pourers</td> - <td class='c008'><a href='#p1210'>210</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c007'>  <em>From</em> Eumenides</td> - <td class='c008'><a href='#p1219'>219</a></td> - </tr> -</table> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_11'>11</span> - <h2 class='c005'>CHRONOLOGICAL OUTLINE OF THE LIFE OF ÆSCHYLOS</h2> -</div> - -<table class='table1' summary='THE LIFE OF ÆSCHYLOS'> - <tr> - <th class='c009'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></th> - <th class='c010'> </th> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c009'>527</td> - <td class='c010'>Peisistratos died.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c009'>525</td> - <td class='c010'>Birth at Eleusis, in Attica, of Æschylos, son of Euphorion.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c009'>510</td> - <td class='c010'>Expulsion of the Peisistratidæ. Democratic constitution of Cleisthenes.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c009'> </td> - <td class='c010'>Approximate date of incident in the legend that Æschylos was set to watch grapes as they were ripening for the vintage, and fell asleep; and lo! as he slept Dionysos appeared to him and bade him give himself to write tragedies for the great festival of the god. And when he awoke, he found himself invested with new powers of thought and utterance, and the work was as easy to him as if he had been trained to it for many years (Pausan, <cite>Att.</cite> i. 21, § 3).<a id='r1' /><a href='#f1' class='c011'><sup>[1]</sup></a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c009'>500</td> - <td class='c010'>Birth of Anaxagoras.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c009'>499</td> - <td class='c010'>Æschylos exhibited his first tragedy, in unsuccessful competition with Pratinas and Chœrilos.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c009'><span class='pageno' id='Page_12'>12</span> </td> - <td class='c010'>The wooden scaffolding broke beneath the crowd of spectators, and the accident led the Athenians to build their first stone theatre for the Dionysiac festivals.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c009'> </td> - <td class='c010'>Partly out of annoyance at his defeat, it is said, and partly in a spirit of adventure, Æschylos sailed for Sicily.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c009'>497</td> - <td class='c010'>Death of Pythagoras (?).</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c009'>495</td> - <td class='c010'>Birth of Sophocles at Colonos.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c009'>491</td> - <td class='c010'>Æschylos at Athens.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c009'>490</td> - <td class='c010'>The Battle of Marathon. Æschylos and his brothers, Kynægeiros and Ameinias, so distinguished themselves, that the Athenians ordered their heroic deeds to be commemorated in a picture.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c009'> </td> - <td class='c010'>Death of Theognis (?).</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c009'>488</td> - <td class='c010'>Prize awarded to Simonides for an elegy on Marathon. Æschylos, piqued, it is said, at his failure in the competition, again departed to Sicily.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c009'>485</td> - <td class='c010'>Xerxes succeeded Dareios.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c009'>484</td> - <td class='c010'>Æschylos won, in a dramatic contest with Pratinas, Chœrilos, and Phrynichos, the first of a series of thirteen successes.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c009'> </td> - <td class='c010'>Birth of Herodotos.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c009'>480</td> - <td class='c010'>Athens burnt by Xerxes.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c009'> </td> - <td class='c010'>Æschylos fought at Artemisium and Salamis. At Salamis his brother Ameinias lost his hand, and was awarded the prize of valour.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c009'> </td> - <td class='c010'>Sophocles led the Chorus of Victory.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c009'> </td> - <td class='c010'>Birth of Euripides.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c009'><span class='pageno' id='Page_13'>13</span>479</td> - <td class='c010'>Æschylos at the Battle of Platæa.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c009'>477</td> - <td class='c010'>Commencement of Athenian supremacy.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c009'>473</td> - <td class='c010'>Æschylos carried off the first prize with <cite>The Persians</cite> (the first of the extant plays), which belonged to a tetralogy that included two tragedies, <cite>Phineus</cite> and <cite>Glaucos</cite>, and a satyric drama, <cite>Prometheus the Fire-stealer</cite>.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c009'> </td> - <td class='c010'><cite>The Persians</cite> has the interest of being a contemporary record of the great sea-fight at Salamis by an eye-witness.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c009'>471</td> - <td class='c010'>Æschylos appears to have produced this year his next tetralogy, of which <cite>The Seven against Thebes</cite> survives.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c009'> </td> - <td class='c010'>The play was directed against the policy of aiming at the supremacy of Athens by attacking other Greek States, and, in brief, maintained the policy of Aristeides as against that of Themistocles.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c009'> </td> - <td class='c010'>Birth of Thucydides.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c009'>468</td> - <td class='c010'>Sophocles gained his first victory in tragedy with his <cite>Triptolemos</cite>; Æschylos defeated.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c009'> </td> - <td class='c010'>Æschylos charged with impiety, on the ground that he had profaned the Mysteries by introducing on the stage rites known only to the initiated; tried and acquitted; departure for Syracuse.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c009'>467</td> - <td class='c010'>Æschylos at the court of Hieron at Syracuse, where he is said to have composed dramas on local legends, such as <cite>The Women of Ætna</cite>.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c009'> </td> - <td class='c010'>Death of Simonides.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c009'>461</td> - <td class='c010'>Ostracism of Kimon; ascendency of Pericles.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c009'><span class='pageno' id='Page_14'>14</span>460-59</td> - <td class='c010'>Probable date of <cite>The Suppliants</cite>, if the play be connected with the alliance between Argos and Athens (<span class='fss'>B.C.</span> 461), and the war with the Persian forces in Egypt, upon which the Athenians had entered as allies of the Libyan Prince Inaros. (<span class='fss'>B.C.</span> 460.)</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c009'> </td> - <td class='c010'>The date of <cite>Prometheus Bound</cite> has been referred to <span class='fss'>B.C.</span> 470 on the strength of a description of Ætna (vv. 370-380), which is supposed to be a reference to the eruption of B.C. 477. Internal evidence, however, seems to warrant the view that <cite>The Suppliants</cite> and the <cite>Prometheus Bound</cite> were separated by only a brief interval of time.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c009'>458</td> - <td class='c010'>Æschylos in Athens. He found new men and new methods; institutions, held most sacred as the safeguard of Athenian religion, were being criticised and attacked; the Court of Areiopagos was threatened with abolition under pretence of reform.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c009'> </td> - <td class='c010'>Production of the Oresteian Trilogy (or, rather, tetralogy, as in addition to the <cite>Agamemnon</cite>, the <cite>Libation-pourers</cite>, and the <cite>Eumenides</cite>, there was a satyric drama, <cite>Proteus</cite>).</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c009'> </td> - <td class='c010'>This trilogy was a conservative protest, religious, social, and political, which culminated in the assertion of the divine authority of the Areiopagos.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c009'> </td> - <td class='c010'>Popular feeling was once more excited against the poet, who left Athens never to return, and settled at Gela, in Sicily, under the patronage of Hieron.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c009'>456</td> - <td class='c010'>Death of Æschylos, aged 69.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c009'><span class='pageno' id='Page_15'>15</span> </td> - <td class='c010'>An oracle foretold that he was to die by a blow from heaven, and according to the legend, an eagle, mistaking the poet's head for a stone as he sat writing, dropped a tortoise on it to break the shell.</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c009'> </td> - <td class='c010'>He was buried at Gela, and his epitaph, ascribed to himself, ran: “Beneath this stone lies Æschylos, son of Euphorion. At fertile Gela he died. Marathon can tell of his tested manhood, and the Persians who there felt his mettle.”</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c009'> </td> - <td class='c010'>He is said to have produced between seventy and eighty plays, of which only seven survive.</td> - </tr> -</table> - -<hr class='c012' /> - -<div class='footnote' id='f1'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r1'>1</a>. </span><span class='pageno' id='Page_16'>16</span><i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Cf.</span></i>, the legend of Caedmon, “the Father of English -Song.”</p> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_17'>17</span> - <h2 class='c005'>THE PERSIANS<a id='r2' /><a href='#f2' class='c011'><sup>[2]</sup></a><a id='p17'></a></h2> -</div> - -<h3 class='c013'>DRAMATIS PERSONÆ</h3> - -<div class='lg-container-b c003'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Atossa</span></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ghost of</em> <span class='sc'>Dareios</span></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Messenger</em></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Xerxes</span></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chorus of Persian Elders</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c006'><em>ARGUMENT.—When Xerxes came to the throne of -Persia, remembering how his father Dareios had sought -to subdue the land of the Hellenes, and seeking to avenge -the defeat of Datis and Artaphernes on the field of -Marathon, he gathered together a mighty host of all -nations under his dominion, and led them against Hellas. -And at first he prospered and prevailed, crossed the -Hellespont, and defeated the Spartans at Thermopylæ, -and took the city of Athens, from which the greater part -of its citizens had fled. But at last he and his armament -met with utter overthrow at Salamis. Meanwhile Atossa, -the mother of Xerxes, with her handmaids and the elders -of the Persians, waited anxiously at Susa, where was the -palace of the great king, for tidings of her son.</em></p> -<hr class='c012' /> - -<div class='footnote' id='f2'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r2'>2</a>. </span><span class='pageno' id='Page_18'>18</span><em>Note.</em>—Within two years after the battle of Salamis, the -feeling of natural exultation was met by Phrynichos in a -tragedy bearing the title of <cite>The Phœnikians</cite>, and having for its -subject the defeat of Xerxes. As he had come under the displeasure -of the Athenian <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">demos</span></i> for having brought on the stage -the sufferings of their Ionian kinsmen in his <cite>Capture of Miletos</cite>, -he was apparently anxious to regain his popularity by a -“sensation” drama of another kind; and his success seems to -have prompted Æschylos to a like attempt five years later, B.C. -473. The Tetralogy to which the play belonged, and which -gained the first prize on its representation, included the two -tragedies (unconnected in subject) of <cite>Phineus</cite> and <cite>Glaucos</cite>, and -the satyric drama of <cite>Prometheus the Fire-stealer</cite>.</p> - -<p class='c000'>The play has, therefore, the interest of being strictly a contemporary -narrative of the battle of Salamis and its immediate -consequences, by one who may himself have been present at it, -and whose brother Ameinias (Herod, viii. 93) distinguished himself -in it by a special act of heroism. As such, making all -allowance for the influence of dramatic exigencies, and the -tendency to colour history so as to meet the tastes of patriotic -Athenians, it may claim, where it differs from the story told by -Herodotos, to be a more trustworthy record. And it has, we -must remember, the interest of being the only extant drama of -its class, the only tragedy the subject of which is not taken from -the cycle of heroic myths, but from the national history of the -time. Far below the Oresteian Trilogy as it may seem to us as -a work of art, having more the character of a spectacle than a -poem, it was, we may well believe, unusually successful at the -time, and it is said to have been chosen by Hiero for reproduction -in Syracuse after Æschylos had settled there under his patronage.</p> -</div> - -<div><span class='pageno' id='Page_19'>19</span></div> -<div class='ph2'> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div>THE PERSIANS</div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Scene.</span>—<span class='sc'>Susa</span>, <em>in front of the palace of</em> <span class='sc'>Xerxes</span>, <em>the tomb</em></div> - <div><em>of</em> <span class='sc'>Dareios</span> <em>occupying the position of the thymele</em></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><em>Enter Chorus of</em> Persian Elders.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>We the title bear of Faithful,<a id='r3' /><a href='#f3' class='c011'><sup>[3]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Friends of Persians gone to Hellas,</div> - <div class='line'>Watchers left of treasure city,<a id='r4' /><a href='#f4' class='c011'><sup>[4]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Gold-abounding, whom, as oldest,</div> - <div class='line'>Xerxes hath himself appointed,</div> - <div class='line'>He, the offspring of Dareios,</div> - <div class='line'>As the warders of his country.</div> - <div class='line'>And about our king's returning,</div> - <div class='line'>And our army's, gold-abounding,</div> - <div class='line'>Over-much, and boding evil,</div><div class='lnum'>10</div> - <div class='line'>Does my mind within me shudder</div> - <div class='line'>(For our whole force, Asia's offspring,</div> - <div class='line'>Now is gone), and for our young chief</div> - <div class='line'>Sorely frets: nor courier cometh,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor any horseman, bringing tidings</div> - <div class='line'>To the city of the Persians.</div> - <div class='line'>From Ecbatana departing,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_20'>20</span>Susa, or the Kissian fortress,<a id='r5' /><a href='#f5' class='c011'><sup>[5]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Forth they sped upon their journey,</div> - <div class='line'>Some in ships, and some on horses,</div> - <div class='line'>Some on foot, still onward marching,</div> - <div class='line'>In their close array presenting</div> - <div class='line'>Squadrons duly armed for battle:</div><div class='lnum'>20</div> - <div class='line'>Then Armistres, Artaphernes,</div> - <div class='line'>Megabazes, and Astaspes,</div> - <div class='line'>Mighty leaders of the Persians,</div> - <div class='line'>Kings, and of the great King servants,<a id='r6' /><a href='#f6' class='c011'><sup>[6]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>March, the chiefs of mighty army.</div> - <div class='line'>Archers they and mounted horsemen.</div> - <div class='line'>Dread to look on, fierce in battle,</div> - <div class='line'>Artembares proud, on horseback,</div> - <div class='line'>And Masistres, and Imæos,</div><div class='lnum'>30</div> - <div class='line'>Archer famed, and Pharandakes,</div> - <div class='line'>And the charioteer Sosthanes.</div> - <div class='line'>Neilos mighty and prolific</div> - <div class='line'>Sent forth others, Susikanes,</div> - <div class='line'>Pegastagon, Egypt's offspring,</div> - <div class='line'>And the chief of sacred Memphis;</div> - <div class='line'>Great Arsames, Ariomardos,</div> - <div class='line'>Ruler of primeval Thebæ,</div> - <div class='line'>And the marsh-men,<a id='r7' /><a href='#f7' class='c011'><sup>[7]</sup></a> and the rowers,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_21'>21</span>Dread, and in their number countless.</div><div class='lnum'>40</div> - <div class='line'>And there follow crowds of Lydians,</div> - <div class='line'>Very delicate and stately,<a id='r8' /><a href='#f8' class='c011'><sup>[8]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Who the people of the mainland</div> - <div class='line'>Rule throughout—whom Mitragathes</div> - <div class='line'>And brave Arkteus, kingly chieftains,</div> - <div class='line'>Led, from Sardis, gold-abounding,</div> - <div class='line'>Riding on their many chariots,</div> - <div class='line'>Three or four a-breast their horses,</div> - <div class='line'>Sight to look upon all dreadful.</div> - <div class='line'>And the men of sacred Tmôlos<a id='r9' /><a href='#f9' class='c011'><sup>[9]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Rush to place the yoke of bondage</div> - <div class='line'>On the neck of conquered Hellas.</div><div class='lnum'>50</div> - <div class='line'>Mardon, Tharabis, spear-anvils,<a id='r10' /><a href='#f10' class='c011'><sup>[10]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>And the Mysians, javelin-darting;<a id='r11' /><a href='#f11' class='c011'><sup>[11]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Babylôn too, gold-abounding,</div> - <div class='line'>Sends a mingled cloud, swept onward,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_22'>22</span>Both the troops who man the vessels,</div> - <div class='line'>And the skilled and trustful bowmen;</div> - <div class='line'>And the race the sword that beareth,</div> - <div class='line'>Follows from each clime of Asia,</div> - <div class='line'>At the great King's dread commandment.</div> - <div class='line'>These, the bloom of Persia's greatness,</div> - <div class='line'>Now are gone forth to the battle;</div><div class='lnum'>60</div> - <div class='line'>And for these, their mother country,</div> - <div class='line'>Asia, mourns with mighty yearning;</div> - <div class='line'>Wives and mothers faint with trembling</div> - <div class='line'>Through the hours that slowly linger,</div> - <div class='line'>Counting each day as it passes.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>The king's great host, destroying cities mighty,</div> - <div class='line'>Hath to the land beyond the sea passed over,</div> - <div class='line'>Crossing the straits of Athamantid Helle,<a id='r12' /><a href='#f12' class='c011'><sup>[12]</sup></a></div><div class='lnum'>70</div> - <div class='line in4'>On raft by ropes secured,</div> - <div class='line'>And thrown his path, compact of many a vessel,</div> - <div class='line'>As yoke upon the neck of mighty ocean.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Of populous Asia thus the mighty ruler</div> - <div class='line'>'Gainst all the land his God-sent host directeth</div> - <div class='line'>In two divisions, both by land and water,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Trusting the chieftains stern,</div> - <div class='line'>The men who drive the host to fight, relentless—</div> - <div class='line'>He, sprung from gold-born race, a hero godlike.<a id='r13' /><a href='#f13' class='c011'><sup>[13]</sup></a></div><div class='lnum'>80</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_23'>23</span><span class='sc'>Strophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Glancing with darkling look, and eyes as of ravening dragon,</div> - <div class='line'>With many a hand, and many a ship, and Syrian chariot driving,<a id='r14' /><a href='#f14' class='c011'><sup>[14]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>He upon spearmen renowned brings battle of conquering arrows.<a id='r15' /><a href='#f15' class='c011'><sup>[15]</sup></a></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Yea, there is none so tried as, withstanding the flood of the mighty,</div><div class='lnum'>90</div> - <div class='line'>To keep within steadfast bounds that wave of ocean resistless;</div> - <div class='line'>Hard to fight is the host of the Persians, the people stout-hearted.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Mesode</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Yet ah! what mortal can ward the craft of the God all-deceiving?</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Who, with a nimble foot, of one leap is easily sovereign?</div> - <div class='line'>For Atè, fawning and kind, at first a mortal betraying,</div><div class='lnum'>100</div> - <div class='line'>Then in snares and meshes decoys him,</div> - <div class='line'>Whence one who is but man in vain doth struggle to 'scape from.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_24'>24</span><span class='sc'>Strophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>For Fate of old, by the high Gods' decree,</div> - <div class='line'>Prevailed, and on the Persians laid this task,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Wars with the crash of towers,</div> - <div class='line'>And set the surge of horsemen in array,</div> - <div class='line'>And the fierce sack that lays a city low.</div><div class='lnum'>110</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>But now they learnt to look on ocean plains,<a id='r16' /><a href='#f16' class='c011'><sup>[16]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>The wide sea hoary with the violent blast,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Waxing o'er confident</div> - <div class='line'>In cables formed of many a slender strand,</div> - <div class='line'>And rare device of transport for the host.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe IV</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in4'>So now my soul is torn,</div> - <div class='line'>As clad in mourning, in its sore affright,</div> - <div class='line'>Ah me! ah me! for all the Persian host!</div><div class='lnum'>120</div> - <div class='line in4'>Lest soon our country learn</div> - <div class='line'>That Susa's mighty fort is void of men.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe IV</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in4'>And through the Kissians' town</div> - <div class='line'>Shall echo heavy thud of hands on breast.</div> - <div class='line'>Woe! woe! when all the crowd of women speak</div> - <div class='line in4'>This utterance of great grief,</div> - <div class='line'>And byssine robes are rent in agony.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe V</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in4'>For all the horses strong,</div> - <div class='line in4'>And host that march on foot,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_25'>25</span>Like swarm of bees, have gone with him who led</div><div class='lnum'>130</div> - <div class='line in2'>The vanguard of the host.</div> - <div class='line'>Crossing the sea-washed, bridge-built promontory</div> - <div class='line'>That joins the shores of either continent.<a id='r17' /><a href='#f17' class='c011'><sup>[17]</sup></a></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe V</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in2'>And beds with tears are wet</div> - <div class='line in2'>In grief for husbands gone,</div> - <div class='line'>And Persian wives are delicate in grief,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Each yearning for her lord;</div> - <div class='line'>And each who sent her warrior-spouse to battle</div><div class='lnum'>140</div> - <div class='line'>Now mourns at home in dreary solitude.</div> - <div class='line in2'>But come, ye Persians now,</div> - <div class='line'>And sitting in this ancient hall of ours,</div> - <div class='line'>Let us take thought deep-counselling and wise,</div> - <div class='line in2'>(Sore need is there of that,)</div> - <div class='line'>How fareth now the great king Xerxes, he</div> - <div class='line in2'>Who calls Dareios sire,</div> - <div class='line'>Bearing the name our father bore of old?</div> - <div class='line'>Is it the archers' bow that wins the day?</div> - <div class='line in2'>Or does the strength prevail</div><div class='lnum'>150</div> - <div class='line'>Of iron point that heads the spear's strong shaft?</div> - <div class='line'>But lo! in glory like the face of gods,</div> - <div class='line'>The mother of my king, my queen, appears:</div> - <div class='line'>Let us do reverent homage at her feet;</div> - <div class='line in2'>Yea, it is meet that all</div> - <div class='line'>Should speak to her with words of greeting kind.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><em>Enter</em> <span class='sc'>Atossa</span> <em>in a chariot of state</em></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> O sovereign queen of Persian wives deep-zoned,</div> - <div class='line'>Mother of Xerxes, reverend in thine age,</div> - <div class='line in2'><span class='pageno' id='Page_26'>26</span>Wife of Dareios! hail!</div> - <div class='line'>'Twas thine to join in wedlock with a spouse</div> - <div class='line in2'>Whom Persians owned as God,<a id='r18' /><a href='#f18' class='c011'><sup>[18]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>And of a God thou art the mother too,</div> - <div class='line'>Unless its ancient Fortune fails our host.</div><div class='lnum'>160</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Atoss.</em> Yes, thus I come, our gold-decked palace leaving,</div> - <div class='line'>The bridal bower Dareios with me slept in.</div> - <div class='line'>Care gnaws my heart, but now I tell you plainly</div> - <div class='line'>A tale, my friends, which may not leave me fearless,</div> - <div class='line'>Lest boastful wealth should stumble at the threshold,</div> - <div class='line'>And with his foot o'erturn the prosperous fortune</div> - <div class='line'>That great Dareios raised with Heaven's high blessing.</div> - <div class='line'>And twofold care untold my bosom haunteth:</div> - <div class='line'>We may not honour wealth that has no warriors,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor on the poor shines light to strength proportioned;</div> - <div class='line'>Wealth without stint we have, yet for our eye we tremble;</div><div class='lnum'>170</div> - <div class='line'>For as the eye of home I deem a master's presence.</div> - <div class='line'>Wherefore, ye Persians, aid me now in counsel;</div> - <div class='line'>Trusty and old, in you lies hope of wisdom.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Queen of our land! be sure thou need'st not utter</div> - <div class='line'>Or thing or word twice o'er, which power may point to;</div> - <div class='line'>Thou bid'st us counsel give who fain would serve thee.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Atoss.</em> Ever with many visions of the night<a id='r19' /><a href='#f19' class='c011'><sup>[19]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_27'>27</span>Am I encompassed, since my son went forth,</div> - <div class='line'>Leading a mighty host, with aim to sack</div> - <div class='line'>The land of the Ionians. But ne'er yet</div><div class='lnum'>180</div> - <div class='line'>Have I beheld a dream so manifest</div> - <div class='line'>As in the night just past. And this I'll tell thee:</div> - <div class='line'>There stood by me two women in fair robes;</div> - <div class='line'>And this in Persian garments was arrayed,</div> - <div class='line'>And that in Dorian came before mine eyes;</div> - <div class='line'>In stature both of tallest, comeliest size;</div> - <div class='line'>And both of faultless beauty, sisters twain</div> - <div class='line'>Of the same stock.<a id='r20' /><a href='#f20' class='c011'><sup>[20]</sup></a> And they twain had their homes,</div> - <div class='line'>One in the Hellenic, one in alien land.</div> - <div class='line'>And these two, as I dreamt I saw, were set</div><div class='lnum'>190</div> - <div class='line'>At variance with each other. And my son</div> - <div class='line'>Learnt it, and checked and mollified their wrath,</div> - <div class='line'>And yokes them to his chariot, and his collar</div> - <div class='line'>He places on their necks. And one was proud</div> - <div class='line'>Of that equipment,<a id='r21' /><a href='#f21' class='c011'><sup>[21]</sup></a> and in harness gave</div> - <div class='line'>Her mouth obedient; but the other kicked,</div> - <div class='line'>And tears the chariot's trappings with her hands,</div> - <div class='line'>And rushes off uncurbed, and breaks its yoke</div> - <div class='line'>Asunder. And my son falls low, and then</div> - <div class='line'>His father comes, Dareios, pitying him.</div> - <div class='line'>And lo! when Xerxes sees him, he his clothes</div><div class='lnum'>200</div> - <div class='line'>Rends round his limbs. These things I say I saw</div> - <div class='line'>In visions of the night; and when I rose,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_28'>28</span>And dipped my hands in fountain flowing clear,<a id='r22' /><a href='#f22' class='c011'><sup>[22]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>I at the altar stood with hand that bore</div> - <div class='line'>Sweet incense, wishing holy chrism to pour</div> - <div class='line'>To the averting Gods whom thus men worship.</div> - <div class='line'>And I beheld an eagle in full flight</div> - <div class='line'>To Phœbos' altar-hearth; and then, my friends,</div><div class='lnum'>210</div> - <div class='line'>I stood, struck dumb with fear; and next I saw</div> - <div class='line'>A kite pursuing, in her wingèd course,</div> - <div class='line'>And with his claws tearing the eagle's head,</div> - <div class='line'>Which did nought else but crouch and yield itself.</div> - <div class='line'>Such terrors it has been my lot to see,</div> - <div class='line'>And yours to hear: For be ye sure, my son,</div> - <div class='line'>If he succeed, will wonder-worthy prove;</div> - <div class='line'>But if he fail, still irresponsible</div> - <div class='line'>He to the people, and in either case,</div> - <div class='line'>He, should he but return, is sovereign still.<a id='r23' /><a href='#f23' class='c011'><sup>[23]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> We neither wish, O Lady, thee to frighten</div> - <div class='line'>O'ermuch with what we say, nor yet encourage:</div> - <div class='line'>But thou, the Gods adoring with entreaties,</div> - <div class='line'>If thou hast seen aught ill, bid them avert it,</div> - <div class='line'>And that all good things may receive fulfilment</div> - <div class='line'>For thee, thy children, and thy friends and country.</div><div class='lnum'>220</div> - <div class='line'>And next 'tis meet libations due to offer</div> - <div class='line'>To Earth and to the dead. And ask thy husband,</div> - <div class='line'>Dareios, whom thou say'st by night thou sawest,</div> - <div class='line'>With kindly mood from 'neath the Earth to send thee</div> - <div class='line'>Good things to light for thee and for thine offspring,</div> - <div class='line'>While adverse things shall fade away in darkness.</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_29'>29</span>Such things do I, a self-taught seer, advise thee</div> - <div class='line'>In kindly mood, and any way we reckon</div> - <div class='line'>That good will come to thee from out these omens.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Atoss.</em> Well, with kind heart, hast thou, as first expounder,</div> - <div class='line'>Out of my dreams brought out a welcome meaning</div> - <div class='line'>For me, and for my sons; and thy good wishes,</div> - <div class='line'>May they receive fulfilment! And this also,</div> - <div class='line'>As thou dost bid, we to the Gods will offer</div><div class='lnum'>230</div> - <div class='line'>And to our friends below, when we go homeward.</div> - <div class='line'>But first, my friends, I wish to hear of Athens,</div> - <div class='line'>Where in the world do men report it standeth?<a id='r24' /><a href='#f24' class='c011'><sup>[24]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Far to the West, where sets our king the Sun-God.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Atoss.</em> Was it this city my son wished to capture?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Aye, then would Hellas to our king be subject.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Atoss.</em> And have they any multitude of soldiers?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> A mighty host, that wrought the Medes much mischief.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Atoss.</em> And what besides? Have they too wealth sufficing?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> A fount of silver have they, their land's treasure.<a id='r25' /><a href='#f25' class='c011'><sup>[25]</sup></a></div><div class='lnum'>240</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Atoss.</em> Have they a host in archers' skill excelling?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Not so, they wield the spear and shield and bucklers.<a id='r26' /><a href='#f26' class='c011'><sup>[26]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_30'>30</span><em>Atoss.</em> What shepherd rules and lords it o'er their people?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Of no man are they called the slaves or subjects.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Atoss.</em> How then can they sustain a foe invading?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> So that they spoiled Dareios' goodly army.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Atoss.</em> Dread news is thine for sires of those who're marching.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Nay, but I think thou soon wilt know the whole truth;</div> - <div class='line'>This running one may know is that of Persian:<a id='r27' /><a href='#f27' class='c011'><sup>[27]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>For good or evil some clear news he bringeth.</div><div class='lnum'>250</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><em>Enter</em> Messenger</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Mess.</em> O cities of the whole wide land of Asia!</div> - <div class='line'>O soil of Persia, haven of great wealth!</div> - <div class='line'>How at one stroke is brought to nothingness</div> - <div class='line'>Our great prosperity, and all the flower</div> - <div class='line'>Of Persia's strength is fallen! Woe is me!</div> - <div class='line'>'Tis ill to be the first to bring ill news;</div> - <div class='line'>Yet needs must I the whole woe tell, ye Persians:</div> - <div class='line'>All our barbaric mighty host is lost.<a id='r28' /><a href='#f28' class='c011'><sup>[28]</sup></a></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> O piteous, piteous woe!</div><div class='lnum'>260</div> - <div class='line in6'>O strange and dread event!</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_31'>31</span>Weep, O ye Persians, hearing this great grief!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Mess.</em> Yea, all things there are ruined utterly;</div> - <div class='line'>And I myself beyond all hopes behold</div> - <div class='line in6'>The light of day at home.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> O'er-long doth life appear</div> - <div class='line in6'>To me, bowed down with years,</div> - <div class='line'>On hearing this unlooked-for misery.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Mess.</em> And I, indeed, being present and not hearing</div> - <div class='line'>The tales of others, can report, ye Persians,</div> - <div class='line in6'>What ills were brought to pass.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Alas, alas! in vain</div> - <div class='line'>The many-weaponed and commingled host</div><div class='lnum'>270</div> - <div class='line'>Went from the land of Asia to invade</div> - <div class='line in6'>The soil divine of Hellas.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Mess.</em> Full of the dead, slain foully, are the coasts</div> - <div class='line'>Of Salamis, and all the neighbouring shore.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Alas, alas! sea-tossed</div> - <div class='line'>The bodies of our friends, and much disstained:</div> - <div class='line'>Thou say'st that they are drifted to and fro</div> - <div class='line in6'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>In far out-floating garments.<a id='r29' /><a href='#f29' class='c011'><sup>[29]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Mess.</em> E'en so; our bows availed not, but the host</div> - <div class='line'>Has perished, conquered by the clash of ships.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Wail, raise a bitter cry</div><div class='lnum'>280</div> - <div class='line'>And full of woe, for those who died in fight.</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_32'>32</span>How every way the Gods have wrought out ill,</div> - <div class='line'>Ah me! ah me, our army all destroyed.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Mess.</em> O name of Salamis that most I loathe!</div> - <div class='line'>Ah, how I groan, remembering Athens too!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Yea, to her enemies</div> - <div class='line'>Athens may well be hateful, and our minds</div> - <div class='line'>Remember how full many a Persian wife</div><div class='lnum'>290</div> - <div class='line'>She, for no cause, made widows and bereaved.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Atoss.</em> Long time I have been silent in my woe,</div> - <div class='line'>Crushed down with grief; for this calamity</div> - <div class='line'>Exceeds all power to tell the woe, or ask.</div> - <div class='line'>Yet still we mortals needs must bear the griefs</div> - <div class='line'>The Gods send on us. Clearly tell thy tale,</div> - <div class='line'>Unfolding the whole mischief, even though</div> - <div class='line'>Thou groan'st at evils, who there is not dead,</div> - <div class='line'>And which of our chief captains we must mourn,</div> - <div class='line'>And who, being set in office o'er the host,</div> - <div class='line'>Left by their death their office desolate.</div><div class='lnum'>300</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Mess.</em> Xerxes still lives and sees the light of day.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Atoss.</em> To my house, then, great light thy words have brought,</div> - <div class='line'>Bright dawn of morning after murky night.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Mess.</em> Artembares, the lord of myriad horse,</div> - <div class='line'>On the hard flinty coasts of the Sileni</div> - <div class='line'>Is now being dashed; and valiant Dadakes,</div> - <div class='line'>Captain of thousands, smitten with the spear,</div> - <div class='line'>Leapt wildly from his ship. And Tenagon,</div> - <div class='line'>Best of the true old Bactrians, haunts the soil</div> - <div class='line'>Of Aias' isle; Lilaios, Arsames,</div><div class='lnum'>310</div> - <div class='line'>And with them too Argestes, there defeated,</div> - <div class='line'>Hard by the island where the doves abound,<a id='r30' /><a href='#f30' class='c011'><sup>[30]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_33'>33</span>Beat here and there upon the rocky shore.</div> - <div class='line'>[And from the springs of Neilos, Ægypt's stream,</div> - <div class='line'>Arkteus, Adeues, Pheresseues too,</div> - <div class='line'>These with Pharnuchos in one ship were lost;]</div> - <div class='line'>Matallos, Chrysa-born, the captain bold</div> - <div class='line'>Of myriads, leader he of swarthy horse</div> - <div class='line'>Some thrice ten thousand strong, has fallen low,</div> - <div class='line'>His red beard, hanging all its shaggy length,</div> - <div class='line'>Deep dyed with blood, and purpled all his skin.</div> - <div class='line'>Arabian Magos, Bactrian Artames,</div><div class='lnum'>320</div> - <div class='line'>They perished, settlers in a land full rough.</div> - <div class='line'>[Amistris and Amphistreus, guiding well</div> - <div class='line'>The spear of many a conflict, and the noble</div> - <div class='line'>Ariomardos, leaving bitter grief</div> - <div class='line'>For Sardis; and the Mysian Seisames.]</div> - <div class='line'>With twelve score ships and ten came Tharybis;</div> - <div class='line'>Lyrnæan he in birth, once fair in form,</div> - <div class='line'>He lies, poor wretch, a death inglorious dying:</div> - <div class='line'>And, first in valour proved, Syennesis,</div> - <div class='line'>Kilikian satrap, who, for one man, gave</div> - <div class='line'>Most trouble to his foes, and nobly died.</div><div class='lnum'>330</div> - <div class='line'>Of leaders such as these I mention make,</div> - <div class='line'>And out of many evils tell but few.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Atoss.</em> Woe, woe! I hear the very worst of ills,</div> - <div class='line'>Shame to the Persians, cause of bitter wail;</div> - <div class='line'>But tell me, going o'er the ground again,</div> - <div class='line'>How great the number of the Hellenes' navy,</div> - <div class='line'>That they presumed with Persia's armament</div> - <div class='line'>To wage their warfare in the clash of ships.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Mess.</em> As far as numbers went, be sure the ships</div> - <div class='line'>Of Persia had the better, for the Hellenes</div><div class='lnum'>340</div> - <div class='line'>Had, as their total, ships but fifteen score,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_34'>34</span>And other ten selected as reserve.<a id='r31' /><a href='#f31' class='c011'><sup>[31]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>And Xerxes (well I know it) had a thousand</div> - <div class='line'>Which he commanded—those that most excelled<a id='r32' /><a href='#f32' class='c011'><sup>[32]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>In speed were twice five score and seven in number;</div> - <div class='line'>So stands the account. Deem'st thou our forces less</div> - <div class='line'>In that encounter? Nay, some Power above</div> - <div class='line'>Destroyed our host, and pressed the balance down</div> - <div class='line'>With most unequal fortune, and the Gods</div> - <div class='line'>Preserve the city of the Goddess Pallas.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Atoss.</em> Is the Athenians' city then unsacked?</div><div class='lnum'>350</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Mess.</em> Their men are left, and that is bulwark strong.<a id='r33' /><a href='#f33' class='c011'><sup>[33]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Atoss.</em> Next tell me how the fight of ships began.</div> - <div class='line'>Who led the attack? Were those Hellenes the first,</div> - <div class='line'>Or was't my son, exulting in his strength?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Mess.</em> The author of the mischief, O my mistress,</div> - <div class='line'>Was some foul fiend or Power on evil bent;</div> - <div class='line'>For lo! a Hellene from the Athenian host<a id='r34' /><a href='#f34' class='c011'><sup>[34]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Came to thy son, to Xerxes, and spake thus,</div> - <div class='line'>That should the shadow of the dark night come,</div> - <div class='line'>The Hellenes would not wait him, but would leap</div><div class='lnum'>360</div> - <div class='line'>Into their rowers' benches, here and there,</div> - <div class='line'>And save their lives in secret, hasty flight.</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_35'>35</span>And he forthwith, this hearing, knowing not</div> - <div class='line'>The Hellene's guile, nor yet the Gods' great wrath,</div> - <div class='line'>Gives this command to all his admirals,</div> - <div class='line'>Soon as the sun should cease to burn the earth</div> - <div class='line'>With his bright rays, and darkness thick invade</div> - <div class='line'>The firmament of heaven, to set their ships</div> - <div class='line'>In threefold lines, to hinder all escape,</div> - <div class='line'>And guard the billowy straits, and others place</div><div class='lnum'>370</div> - <div class='line'>In circuit round about the isle of Aias:</div> - <div class='line'>For if the Hellenes 'scaped an evil doom,</div> - <div class='line'>And found a way of secret, hasty flight,</div> - <div class='line'>It was ordained that all should lose their heads.<a id='r35' /><a href='#f35' class='c011'><sup>[35]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Such things he spake from soul o'erwrought with pride,</div> - <div class='line'>For he knew not what fate the Gods would send;</div> - <div class='line'>And they, not mutinous, but prompt to serve,</div> - <div class='line'>Then made their supper ready, and each sailor</div> - <div class='line'>Fastened his oar around true-fitting thole;</div> - <div class='line'>And when the sunlight vanished, and the night</div> - <div class='line'>Had come, then each man, master of an oar,</div><div class='lnum'>380</div> - <div class='line'>Went to his ship, and all men bearing arms,</div> - <div class='line'>And through the long ships rank cheered loud to rank;</div> - <div class='line'>And so they sail, as 'twas appointed each,</div> - <div class='line'>And all night long the captains of the fleet</div> - <div class='line'>Kept their men working, rowing to and fro;</div> - <div class='line'>Night then came on, and the Hellenic host</div> - <div class='line'>In no wise sought to take to secret flight.</div> - <div class='line'>And when day, bright to look on with white steeds,</div> - <div class='line'>O'erspread the earth, then rose from the Hellenes</div><div class='lnum'>390</div> - <div class='line'>Loud chant of cry of battle, and forthwith</div> - <div class='line'>Echo gave answer from each island rock;</div> - <div class='line'>And terror then on all the Persians fell,</div> - <div class='line'>Of fond hopes disappointed. Not in flight</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_36'>36</span>The Hellenes then their solemn pæans sang:</div> - <div class='line'>But with brave spirit hasting on to battle.</div> - <div class='line'>With martial sound the trumpet fired those ranks;</div> - <div class='line'>And straight with sweep of oars that flew through foam,</div> - <div class='line'>They smote the loud waves at the boatswain's call;</div> - <div class='line'>And swiftly all were manifest to sight.</div><div class='lnum'>400</div> - <div class='line'>Then first their right wing moved in order meet;<a id='r36' /><a href='#f36' class='c011'><sup>[36]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Next the whole line its forward course began,</div> - <div class='line'>And all at once we heard a mighty shout,—</div> - <div class='line'>“O sons of Hellenes, forward, free your country;</div> - <div class='line'>Free too your wives, your children, and the shrines</div> - <div class='line'>Built to your fathers' Gods, and holy tombs</div> - <div class='line'>Your ancestors now rest in. Now the fight</div> - <div class='line'>Is for our all.” And on our side indeed</div> - <div class='line'>Arose in answer din of Persian speech,</div> - <div class='line'>And time to wait was over; ship on ship</div><div class='lnum'>410</div> - <div class='line'>Dashed its bronze-pointed beak, and first a barque</div> - <div class='line'>Of Hellas did the encounter fierce begin,<a id='r37' /><a href='#f37' class='c011'><sup>[37]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>And from Phœnikian vessel crashes off</div> - <div class='line'>Her carved prow. And each against his neighbour</div> - <div class='line'>Steers his own ship: and first the mighty flood</div> - <div class='line'>Of Persian host held out. But when the ships</div> - <div class='line'>Were crowded in the straits,<a id='r38' /><a href='#f38' class='c011'><sup>[38]</sup></a> nor could they give</div> - <div class='line'>Help to each other, they with mutual shocks,</div> - <div class='line'>With beaks of bronze went crushing each the other,</div> - <div class='line'>Shivering their rowers' benches. And the ships</div> - <div class='line'>Of Hellas, with manœuvring not unskilful,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_37'>37</span>Charged circling round them. And the hulls of ships</div><div class='lnum'>420</div> - <div class='line'>Floated capsized, nor could the sea be seen,</div> - <div class='line'>Strown, as it was, with wrecks and carcases;</div> - <div class='line'>And all the shores and rocks were full of corpses.</div> - <div class='line'>And every ship was wildly rowed in fight,</div> - <div class='line'>All that composed the Persian armament.</div> - <div class='line'>And they, as men spear tunnies,<a id='r39' /><a href='#f39' class='c011'><sup>[39]</sup></a> or a haul</div> - <div class='line'>Of other fishes, with the shafts of oars,</div> - <div class='line'>Or spars of wrecks went smiting, cleaving down;</div> - <div class='line'>And bitter groans and wailings overspread</div> - <div class='line'>The wide sea-waves, till eye of swarthy night</div><div class='lnum'>430</div> - <div class='line'>Bade it all cease: and for the mass of ills,</div> - <div class='line'>Not, though my tale should run for ten full days,</div> - <div class='line'>Could I in full recount them. Be assured</div> - <div class='line'>That never yet so great a multitude</div> - <div class='line'>Died in a single day as died in this.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Atoss.</em> Ah, me! Great then the sea of ills that breaks</div> - <div class='line'>On Persia and the whole barbaric host.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Mess.</em> Be sure our evil fate is but half o'er:</div> - <div class='line'>On this has supervened such bulk of woe,</div> - <div class='line'>As more than twice to outweigh what I've told.</div><div class='lnum'>440</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Atoss.</em> And yet what fortune could be worse than this?</div> - <div class='line'>Say, what is this disaster which thou tell'st,</div> - <div class='line'>That turns the scale to greater evils still?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Mess.</em> Those Persians that were in the bloom of life,</div> - <div class='line'>Bravest in heart and noblest in their blood,</div> - <div class='line'>And by the king himself deemed worthiest trust,</div> - <div class='line'>Basely and by most shameful death have died.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Atoss.</em> Ah! woe is me, my friends, for our ill fate!</div> - <div class='line'>What was the death by which thou say'st they perished?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_38'>38</span><em>Mess.</em> There is an isle that lies off Salamis,<a id='r40' /><a href='#f40' class='c011'><sup>[40]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Small, with bad anchorage for ships, where Pan,</div><div class='lnum'>450</div> - <div class='line'>Pan the dance-loving, haunts the sea-washed coast.</div> - <div class='line'>There Xerxes sends these men, that when their foes,</div> - <div class='line'>Being wrecked, should to the islands safely swim,</div> - <div class='line'>They might with ease destroy th' Hellenic host,</div> - <div class='line'>And save their friends from out the deep sea's paths;</div> - <div class='line'>But ill the future guessing: for when God</div> - <div class='line'>Gave the Hellenes the glory of the battle,</div> - <div class='line'>In that same hour, with arms well wrought in bronze</div> - <div class='line'>Shielding their bodies, from their ships they leapt,</div> - <div class='line'>And the whole isle encircled, so that we</div><div class='lnum'>460</div> - <div class='line'>Were sore distressed,<a id='r41' /><a href='#f41' class='c011'><sup>[41]</sup></a> and knew not where to turn;</div> - <div class='line'>For here men's hands hurled many a stone at them;</div> - <div class='line'>And there the arrows from the archer's bow</div> - <div class='line'>Smote and destroyed them; and with one great rush,</div> - <div class='line'>At last advancing, they upon them dash</div> - <div class='line'>And smite, and hew the limbs of these poor wretches,</div> - <div class='line'>Till they each foe had utterly destroyed.</div> - <div class='line'>[And Xerxes when he saw how deep the ill,<a id='r42' /><a href='#f42' class='c011'><sup>[42]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Groaned out aloud, for he had ta'en his seat,</div> - <div class='line'>With clear, wide view of all the army round,</div> - <div class='line'>On a high cliff hard by the open sea;</div> - <div class='line'>And tearing then his robes with bitter cry,</div><div class='lnum'>470</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_39'>39</span>And giving orders to his troops on shore,</div> - <div class='line'>He sends them off in foul retreat. This grief</div> - <div class='line'>'Tis thine to mourn besides the former ills.]</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Atoss.</em> O hateful Power, how thou of all their hopes</div> - <div class='line'>Hast robbed the Persians! Bitter doom my son</div> - <div class='line'>Devised for glorious Athens, nor did they,</div> - <div class='line'>The invading host who fell at Marathon,</div> - <div class='line'>Suffice; but my son, counting it his task</div> - <div class='line'>To exact requital for it, brought on him</div> - <div class='line'>So great a crowd of sorrows. But I pray,</div> - <div class='line'>As to those ships that have this fate escaped,</div><div class='lnum'>480</div> - <div class='line'>Where did'st thou leave them? Can'st thou clearly tell?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Mess.</em> The captains of the vessels that were left,</div> - <div class='line'>With a fair wind, but not in meet array,</div> - <div class='line'>Took flight: and all the remnant of the army</div> - <div class='line'>Fell in Bœotia—some for stress of thirst</div> - <div class='line'>About the fountain clear, and some of us,</div> - <div class='line'>Panting for breath, cross to the Phokians' land,</div> - <div class='line'>The soil of Doris, and the Melian gulf,</div> - <div class='line'>Where fair Spercheios waters all the plains</div> - <div class='line'>With kindly flood, and then the Achæan fields</div><div class='lnum'>490</div> - <div class='line'>And city of the Thessali received us,</div> - <div class='line'>Famished for lack of food;<a id='r43' /><a href='#f43' class='c011'><sup>[43]</sup></a> and many died</div> - <div class='line'>Of thirst and hunger, for both ills we bore;</div> - <div class='line'>And then to the Magnetian land we came,</div> - <div class='line'>And that of Macedonians, to the stream</div> - <div class='line'>Of Axios, and Bolbe's reed-grown marsh,</div> - <div class='line'>And Mount Pangaios and the Edonian land.</div> - <div class='line'>And on that night God sent a mighty frost,</div> - <div class='line'>Unwonted at that season, sealing up</div> - <div class='line'>The whole course of the Strymon's pure, clear flood;<a id='r44' /><a href='#f44' class='c011'><sup>[44]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_40'>40</span>And they who erst had deemed the Gods as nought,</div><div class='lnum'>500</div> - <div class='line'>Then prayed with hot entreaties, worshipping</div> - <div class='line'>Both earth and heaven. And after that the host</div> - <div class='line'>Ceased from its instant calling on the Gods,</div> - <div class='line'>It crosses o'er the glassy, frozen stream;</div> - <div class='line'>And whosoe'er set forth before the rays</div> - <div class='line'>Of the bright God were shed abroad, was saved;</div> - <div class='line'>For soon the glorious sun with burning blaze</div> - <div class='line'>Reached the mid-stream and warmed it with its flame,</div> - <div class='line'>And they, confused, each on the other fell.</div> - <div class='line'>Blest then was he whose soul most speedily</div> - <div class='line'>Breathed out its life. And those who yet survived</div> - <div class='line'>And gained deliverance, crossing with great toil</div><div class='lnum'>510</div> - <div class='line'>And many a pang through Thrakè, now are come,</div> - <div class='line'>Escaped from perils, no great number they,</div> - <div class='line'>To this our sacred land, and so it groans,</div> - <div class='line'>This city of the Persians, missing much</div> - <div class='line'>Our country's dear-loved youth. Too true my tale,</div> - <div class='line'>And many things I from my speech omit,</div> - <div class='line'>Ills which the Persians suffer at God's hand.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> O Power resistless, with what weight of woe</div> - <div class='line'>On all the Persian race have thy feet leapt!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Atoss.</em> Ah! woe is me for that our army lost!</div> - <div class='line'>O vision of the night that cam'st in dreams,</div><div class='lnum'>520</div> - <div class='line'>Too clearly did'st thou show me of these ills!</div> - <div class='line'>But ye (<em>to Chorus</em>) did judge them far too carelessly;</div> - <div class='line'>Yet since your counsel pointed to that course,</div> - <div class='line'>I to the Gods will first my prayer address.</div> - <div class='line'>And then with gifts to Earth and to the Dead,</div> - <div class='line'>Bringing the chrism from my store, I'll come.</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_41'>41</span>For our past ills, I know, 'tis all too late,</div> - <div class='line'>But for the future, I may hope, will dawn</div> - <div class='line'>A better fortune! But 'tis now your part</div> - <div class='line'>In these our present ills, in counsel faithful</div> - <div class='line'>To commune with the Faithful; and my son,</div><div class='lnum'>530</div> - <div class='line'>Should he come here before me, comfort him,</div> - <div class='line'>And home escort him, lest he add fresh ill</div> - <div class='line'>To all these evils that we suffer now. [<em>Exit</em></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Zeus our king, who now to nothing</div> - <div class='line'>Bring'st the army of the Persians,</div> - <div class='line'>Multitudinous, much boasting;</div> - <div class='line'>And with gloomy woe hast shrouded</div> - <div class='line'>Both Ecbatana and Susa;</div> - <div class='line'>Many maidens now are tearing</div> - <div class='line'>With their tender hands their mantles,</div><div class='lnum'>540</div> - <div class='line'>And with tear-floods wet their bosoms,</div> - <div class='line'>In the common grief partaking;</div> - <div class='line'>And the brides of Persian warriors,</div> - <div class='line'>Dainty even in their wailing,</div> - <div class='line'>Longing for their new-wed husbands,</div> - <div class='line'>Reft of bridal couch luxurious,</div> - <div class='line'>With its coverlet so dainty,</div> - <div class='line'>Losing joy of wanton youth-time,</div> - <div class='line'>Mourn in never-sated wailings.</div> - <div class='line'>And I too in fullest measure</div> - <div class='line'>Raise again meet cry of sorrow,</div> - <div class='line'>Weeping for the loved and lost ones.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>For now the land of Asia mourneth sore,</div><div class='lnum'>550</div> - <div class='line in10'>Left desolate of men,</div> - <div class='line in6'>'Twas Xerxes led them forth, woe! woe!</div> - <div class='line in6'>'Twas Xerxes lost them all, woe! woe!</div> - <div class='line'>'Twas Xerxes who with evil counsels sped</div> - <div class='line in6'>Their course in sea-borne barques.</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_42'>42</span>Why was Dareios erst so free from harm,</div> - <div class='line in6'>First bowman of the state,</div> - <div class='line'>The leader whom the men of Susa loved,</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>While those who fought as soldiers or at sea,</div><div class='lnum'>560</div> - <div class='line in8'>These ships, dark-hulled, well-rowed,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Their own ships bore them on, woe! woe!</div> - <div class='line in4'>Their own ships lost them all, woe! woe!</div> - <div class='line'>Their own ships, in the crash of ruin urged,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And by Ionian hands?<a id='r45' /><a href='#f45' class='c011'><sup>[45]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>The king himself, we hear, but hardly 'scapes,</div> - <div class='line in6'>Through Thrakè's widespread steppes,</div> - <div class='line'>And paths o'er which the tempests wildly sweep.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>And they who perished first, ah me!</div><div class='lnum'>570</div> - <div class='line in8'>Perforce unburied left, alas!</div> - <div class='line'>Are scattered round Kychreia's shore,<a id='r46' /><a href='#f46' class='c011'><sup>[46]</sup></a> woe! woe!</div> - <div class='line'>Lament, mourn sore, and raise a bitter cry,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Grievous, the sky to pierce, woe! woe!</div> - <div class='line'>And let thy mourning voice uplift its strain</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of loud and full lament.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>Torn by the whirling flood, ah me!</div> - <div class='line in8'>Their carcases are gnawed, alas!</div> - <div class='line'>By the dumb brood of stainless sea, woe! woe!</div><div class='lnum'>580</div> - <div class='line'>And each house mourneth for its vanished lord;</div> - <div class='line in8'>And childless sires, woe! woe!</div> - <div class='line'>Mourning in age o'er griefs the Gods have sent,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Now hear their utter loss.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_43'>43</span><span class='sc'>Strophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>And throughout all Asia's borders</div> - <div class='line in8'>None now own the sway of Persia,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Nor bring any more their tribute,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Owning sway of sovereign master.</div> - <div class='line in8'>Low upon the Earth, laid prostrate,</div><div class='lnum'>590</div> - <div class='line in8'>Is the strength of our great monarch</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>No more need men keep in silence</div> - <div class='line in8'>Tongues fast bound: for now the people</div> - <div class='line in8'>May with freedom speak at pleasure;</div> - <div class='line in8'>For the yoke of power is broken;</div> - <div class='line in8'>And blood-stained in all its meadows</div> - <div class='line in8'>Holds the sea-washed isle of Aias</div> - <div class='line in8'>What was once the host of Persia.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><em>Re-enter</em> <span class='sc'>Atossa</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Atoss.</em> Whoe'er, my friends, is vexed in troublous times,</div><div class='lnum'>600</div> - <div class='line'>Knows that when once a tide of woe sets in,</div> - <div class='line'>A man is wont to fear in everything;</div> - <div class='line'>But when Fate flows on smoothly, then to trust</div> - <div class='line'>That the same Fate will ever send fair gales.</div> - <div class='line'>So now all these disasters from the Gods</div> - <div class='line'>Seem in mine eyes filled full of fear and dread,</div> - <div class='line'>And in mine ears rings cry unpæanlike,</div> - <div class='line'>So great a dread of all has seized my soul:</div> - <div class='line'>And therefore now, without or chariot's state</div> - <div class='line'>Or wonted pomp, have I thus issued forth</div><div class='lnum'>610</div> - <div class='line'>From out my palace, to my son's sire bringing</div> - <div class='line'>Libations loving, gifts propitiatory,</div> - <div class='line'>Meet for the dead; milk pure and white from cow</div> - <div class='line'>Unblemished, and bright honey that distils</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_44'>44</span>From the flower-working bee, and water drawn</div> - <div class='line'>From virgin fountain, and the draught unmarred</div> - <div class='line'>From mother wild, bright child of ancient vine;</div> - <div class='line'>And here too of the tree that evermore</div> - <div class='line'>Keeps its fresh life in foliage, the pale olive,</div> - <div class='line'>Is the sweet-smelling fruit, and twinèd wreaths</div> - <div class='line'>Of flowers, the children of all-bearing earth.<a id='r47' /><a href='#f47' class='c011'><sup>[47]</sup></a></div><div class='lnum'>620</div> - <div class='line'>But ye, my friends, o'er these libations poured</div> - <div class='line'>In honour of the dead, chant forth your hymns,</div> - <div class='line'>And call upon Dareios as a God:</div> - <div class='line'>While I will send unto the Gods below</div> - <div class='line'>These votive offerings which the earth shall drink.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<em>Goes to the tomb of</em> <span class='sc'>Dareios</span> <em>in the centre</em></div> - <div class='line in4'><em>of the stage</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> O royal lady, honoured of the Persians,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Do thou libations pour</div> - <div class='line'>To the dark chambers of the dead below;</div> - <div class='line in8'>And we with hymns will pray</div> - <div class='line'>The Powers that act as escorts of the dead</div> - <div class='line'>To give us kindly help beneath the earth.</div> - <div class='line'>But oh, ye holy Ones in darkness dwelling,</div><div class='lnum'>630</div> - <div class='line'>Hermes and Earth, and thou, the Lord of Hell,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Send from beneath a soul</div> - <div class='line in8'>Up to the light of earth;</div> - <div class='line'>For should he know a cure for these our ills,</div> - <div class='line'>He, he alone of men, their end may tell.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>Doth he, the blest one hear,</div> - <div class='line in8'>The king, like Gods in power,</div> - <div class='line in8'><span class='pageno' id='Page_45'>45</span>Hear me, as I send forth</div> - <div class='line in8'>My cries in barbarous speech,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Yet very clear to him,—</div> - <div class='line in8'>Sad, varied, broken cries</div> - <div class='line in8'>So as to tell aloud</div> - <div class='line in8'>Our troubles terrible?</div><div class='lnum'>640</div> - <div class='line in8'>Ah, doth he hear below?</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>But thou, O Earth, and ye,</div> - <div class='line in8'>The other Lords of those</div> - <div class='line in8'>Beneath the grave that dwell;</div> - <div class='line in8'>Grant that the godlike one</div> - <div class='line in8'>May come from out your home,</div> - <div class='line in8'>The Persians' mighty God,</div> - <div class='line in8'>In Susa's palace born;</div> - <div class='line in8'>Send him, I pray you, up,</div> - <div class='line in8'>The like of whom the soil</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of Persia never hid.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Dear was our chief, and dear to us his tomb,</div> - <div class='line in8'>For dear the life it hides;</div><div class='lnum'>650</div> - <div class='line'>Aidoneus, O Aidoneus, send him forth,</div> - <div class='line'>Thou who dost lead the dead to Earth again,</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Yea, send Dareios.... What a king was he!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>For never did he in war's bloody woe</div> - <div class='line in8'>Lose all his warrior-host,</div> - <div class='line'>But Heaven-taught Counsellor the Persians called him,</div> - <div class='line'>And Heaven-taught Counsellor in truth he proved,</div> - <div class='line'>Since he still ruled his hosts of subjects well.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_46'>46</span><span class='sc'>Strophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Monarch, O ancient monarch, come, oh, come,</div> - <div class='line'>Come to the summit of sepulchral mound,</div><div class='lnum'>660</div> - <div class='line in8'>Lifting thy foot encased</div> - <div class='line in8'>In slipper saffron-dyed,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And giving to our view</div> - <div class='line in8'>Thy royal tiara's crest:<a id='r48' /><a href='#f48' class='c011'><sup>[48]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Speak, O Dareios, faultless father, speak.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Yea, come, that thou, O Lord, may'st hear the woes,</div> - <div class='line'>Woes new and strange, our lord has now endured;</div> - <div class='line in8'>For on us now has fallen</div> - <div class='line in8'>A dark and Stygian mist,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Since all the armed youth</div> - <div class='line in8'>Has perished utterly;</div> - <div class='line'>Speak, O Dareios, faultless father, speak.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Epode</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>O thou, whose death thy friends</div> - <div class='line in8'>Bewail with many tears,</div><div class='lnum'>670</div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Why thus, O Lord of lords,</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>In double error of wild frenzy born,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Have all our triremes good</div> - <div class='line in8'>Been lost to this our land,</div> - <div class='line'>Ships that are ships no more, yea, ships no more?</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><em>The</em> Ghost <em>of</em> <span class='sc'>Dareios</span> <em>appears on the summit of the</em></div> - <div class='c015'><em>mound</em></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Dar.</em> O faithful of the Faithful, ye who were</div> - <div class='line'>Companions of my youth, ye Persian elders,</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_47'>47</span>What troubles is't my country toils beneath?</div> - <div class='line'>The whole plain groans, cut up and furrowed o'er,<a id='r49' /><a href='#f49' class='c011'><sup>[49]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>And I, beholding now my queen beloved</div> - <div class='line'>Standing hard by my sepulchre, feared much,</div><div class='lnum'>680</div> - <div class='line'>And her libations graciously received;</div> - <div class='line'>But ye wail loud near this my sepulchre,</div> - <div class='line'>And shouting shrill with cries that raise the dead,</div> - <div class='line'>Ye call me with your plaints. No easy task</div> - <div class='line'>Is it to come, for this cause above all,</div> - <div class='line'>That the great Gods who reign below are apter</div> - <div class='line'>To seize men than release: yet natheless I,</div> - <div class='line'>Being great in power among them, now am come.</div> - <div class='line'>Be quick then, that none blame me as too late;<a id='r50' /><a href='#f50' class='c011'><sup>[50]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>What new dire evils on the Persians weigh?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> I fear to look on thee,</div><div class='lnum'>690</div> - <div class='line in2'>Fear before thee to speak,</div> - <div class='line'>With all the awe of thee I felt of old.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Dar.</em> But since I came by thy complaints persuaded,</div> - <div class='line'>From below rising, spin no lengthened tale;</div> - <div class='line'>But shortly, clearly speak, and tell thy story,</div> - <div class='line'>And leave awhile thine awe and fear of me.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> I dread thy wish to grant,</div> - <div class='line in2'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>I dread to say thee nay,<a id='r51' /><a href='#f51' class='c011'><sup>[51]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Saying things that it is hard for friends to speak.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Dar.</em> Nay, then, since that old dread of thine prevents thee,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_48'>48</span>Do thou [<em>to</em> <span class='sc'>Atossa</span>], the ancient partner of my bed,</div><div class='lnum'>700</div> - <div class='line'>My noble queen, from these thy plaints and moanings</div> - <div class='line'>Cease, and say something clearly. Human sorrows</div> - <div class='line'>May well on mortals fall; for many evils,</div> - <div class='line'>Some on the sea, and some on dry land also,</div> - <div class='line'>Happen to men if life be far prolongèd.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Atoss.</em> O thou, who in the fate of fair good fortune</div> - <div class='line'>Excelled'st all men, who, while yet thou sawest</div> - <div class='line'>The sun's bright rays, did'st lead a life all blessed,</div> - <div class='line'>Admired, yea, worshipped as a God by Persians,</div> - <div class='line'>Now, too, I count thee blest in that thou died'st</div> - <div class='line'>Before thou saw'st the depth of these our evils.</div> - <div class='line'>For now, Dareios, thou shalt hear a story</div> - <div class='line'>Full, yet in briefest moment. Utter ruin,</div> - <div class='line'>To sum up all, is come upon the Persians.</div><div class='lnum'>710</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Dar.</em> How so? Hath plague or discord seized my country?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Atoss.</em> Not so, but all the host is lost near Athens.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Dar.</em> What son of mine led that host hither, tell me?<a id='r52' /><a href='#f52' class='c011'><sup>[52]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Atoss.</em> Xerxes o'er-hasty, emptying all the mainland.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Dar.</em> Made he this mad attempt by land or water?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Atoss.</em> By both; two lines there were of two great armies.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Dar.</em> How did so great a host effect its passage?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Atoss.</em> He bridged the straits of Helle, and found transit.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Dar.</em> Did he prevail to close the mighty Bosporos?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Atoss.</em> So was it; yet some God, it may be, helped him.</div><div class='lnum'>720</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Dar.</em> Alas! some great God came and stole his wisdom.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Atoss.</em> Yea, the end shows what evil he accomplished.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_49'>49</span><em>Dar.</em> And how have they fared, that ye thus bewail them?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Atoss.</em> The naval host, o'ercome, wrecked all the land-force.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Dar.</em> What! Is the whole host by the spear laid prostrate?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Atoss.</em> For this doth Susa's city mourn her losses.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Dar.</em> Alas, for that brave force and mighty army!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Atoss.</em> The Bactrians all are lost, not old men merely.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Dar.</em> Poor fool! how he hath lost his host's fresh vigour!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Atoss.</em> Xerxes, they say, alone, with but few others....</div><div class='lnum'>730</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Dar.</em> What is his end, and where? Is there no safety?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Atoss.</em> Was glad to gain the bridge that joins two mainlands.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Dar.</em> And has he reached this mainland? Is that certain?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Atoss.</em> Yea, the report holds good. Here is no discord.<a id='r53' /><a href='#f53' class='c011'><sup>[53]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Dar.</em> Ah me! Full swift the oracles' fulfilment!</div> - <div class='line'>And on my son hath Zeus their end directed.</div> - <div class='line'>I hoped the Gods would work them out more slowly;</div> - <div class='line'>But when man hastens, God too with him worketh.</div> - <div class='line'>And now for all my friends a fount of evils</div> - <div class='line'>Seems to be found. And this my son, not knowing,</div><div class='lnum'>740</div> - <div class='line'>In youth's rash mood, hath wrought; for he did purpose</div> - <div class='line'>To curb the sacred Hellespont with fetters,</div> - <div class='line'>As though it were his slave, and sought to alter</div> - <div class='line'>The stream of God, the Bosporos, full-flowing,</div> - <div class='line'>And his well-hammered chains around it casting,</div> - <div class='line'>Prevailed to make his mighty host a highway;</div> - <div class='line'>And though a mortal, thought, with no good counsel,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_50'>50</span>To master all the Gods, yea, e'en Poseidon.</div> - <div class='line'>Nay, was not my poor son oppressed with madness?</div> - <div class='line'>And much I fear lest all my heaped-up treasure</div> - <div class='line'>Become the spoil and prey of the first comer.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Atoss.</em> Such things the o'er-hasty Xerxes learns from others,</div><div class='lnum'>750</div> - <div class='line'>By intercourse with men of evil counsel;<a id='r54' /><a href='#f54' class='c011'><sup>[54]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Who say that thou great wealth for thy son gained'st</div> - <div class='line'>By thy spear's might, while he with coward spirit</div> - <div class='line'>Does his spear-work indoors, and nothing addeth</div> - <div class='line'>Unto his father's glory. Such reproaches</div> - <div class='line'>Hearing full oft from men of evil counsel,</div> - <div class='line'>He planned this expedition against Hellas.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Dar.</em> Thus then a deed portentous hath been wrought,</div> - <div class='line'>Ever to be remembered, such as ne'er</div> - <div class='line'>Falling on Susa made it desolate,</div> - <div class='line'>Since Zeus our king ordained this dignity,</div> - <div class='line'>That one man should be lord of Asia's plains.</div> - <div class='line'>Where feed her thousand flocks, and hold the rod</div><div class='lnum'>760</div> - <div class='line'>Of sovran guidance: for the Median first<a id='r55' /><a href='#f55' class='c011'><sup>[55]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Ruled o'er the host, and then his son in turn</div> - <div class='line'>Finished the work, for reason steered his soul;</div> - <div class='line'>And Kyros came as third, full richly blest,</div> - <div class='line'>And ruled, and gained great peace for all his friends;</div> - <div class='line'>And he won o'er the Lydians and the Phrygians,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_51'>51</span>And conquered all the wide Ionian land;<a id='r56' /><a href='#f56' class='c011'><sup>[56]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>For such his wisdom, he provoked not God.</div> - <div class='line'>And Kyros' son came fourth, and ruled the host;</div> - <div class='line'>And Mardos fifth held sway, his country's shame,<a id='r57' /><a href='#f57' class='c011'><sup>[57]</sup></a></div><div class='lnum'>770</div> - <div class='line'>Shame to the ancient throne; and him with guile</div> - <div class='line'>Artaphrenes<a id='r58' /><a href='#f58' class='c011'><sup>[58]</sup></a> the brave smote down, close leagued</div> - <div class='line'>With men, his friends, to whom the work was given.</div> - <div class='line'>[Sixth, Maraphis and seventh Artaphrenes,]</div> - <div class='line'>And I obtained this post that I desired,</div> - <div class='line'>And with a mighty host great victories won.</div> - <div class='line'>Yet no such evil brought I on the state;</div> - <div class='line'>But my son Xerxes, young, thinks like a youth,</div> - <div class='line'>And all my solemn charge remembers not;</div> - <div class='line'>For know this well, my old companions true,</div><div class='lnum'>780</div> - <div class='line'>That none of us who swayed the realm of old,</div> - <div class='line'>Did e'er appear as working ills like these.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> What then, O King Dareios? To what end</div> - <div class='line'>Lead'st thou thy speech? And how, in this our plight,</div> - <div class='line'>Could we, the Persian people, prosper best?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Dar.</em> If ye no more attack the Hellenes' land,</div> - <div class='line'>E'en though the Median host outnumbers theirs.</div> - <div class='line'>To them the very land is true ally.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> What meanest thou? How fights the land for them?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Dar.</em> <a href='#asterisk'>*</a>It slays with famine those vast multitudes.</div><div class='lnum'>790</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_52'>52</span><em>Chor.</em> We then a host, select, compact, will raise.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Dar.</em> Nay, e'en the host which now in Hellas stays<a id='r59' /><a href='#f59' class='c011'><sup>[59]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Will ne'er return in peace and safety home.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> How say'st thou? Does not all the barbarous host</div> - <div class='line'>Cross from Europa o'er the straits of Hellè?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Dar.</em> But few of many; if 'tis meet for one</div> - <div class='line'>Who looks upon the things already done</div> - <div class='line'>To trust the oracles of Gods; for they,</div> - <div class='line'>Not these or those, but all, are brought to pass:</div> - <div class='line'>If this be so, then, resting on vain hopes,<a id='r60' /><a href='#f60' class='c011'><sup>[60]</sup></a></div><div class='lnum'>800</div> - <div class='line'>He leaves a chosen portion of his host:</div> - <div class='line'>And they abide where, watering all the plain,</div> - <div class='line'>Asôpos pours his fertilising stream</div> - <div class='line'>Dear to Bœotian land; and there of ills</div> - <div class='line'>The topmost crown awaits them, penalty</div> - <div class='line'>Of wanton outrage and of godless thoughts;</div> - <div class='line'>For they to Hellas coming, held not back</div> - <div class='line'>In awe from plundering sculptured forms of Gods<a id='r61' /><a href='#f61' class='c011'><sup>[61]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>And burning down their temples; and laid low</div> - <div class='line'>Are altars, and the shrines of Gods o'erthrown,</div> - <div class='line'>E'en from their base. They therefore having wrought</div> - <div class='line'>Deeds evil, now are suffering, and will suffer</div> - <div class='line'>Evil not less, and not as yet is seen</div><div class='lnum'>810</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_53'>53</span><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>E'en the bare groundwork of the ills, but still</div> - <div class='line'>They grow up to completeness. Such a stream</div> - <div class='line'>Of blood and slaughter soon shall flow from them</div> - <div class='line'>By Dorian spear upon Platæan ground,<a id='r62' /><a href='#f62' class='c011'><sup>[62]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>And heaps of corpses shall to children's children,</div> - <div class='line'>Though speechless, witness to the eyes of men</div> - <div class='line'>That mortal man should not wax overproud;</div> - <div class='line'>For wanton pride from blossom grows to fruit,</div> - <div class='line'>The full corn in the ear, of utter woe,</div> - <div class='line'>And reaps a tear-fraught harvest. Seeing then,</div> - <div class='line'>Such recompense of these things, cherish well</div> - <div class='line'>The memory of Athens and of Hellas;</div><div class='lnum'>820</div> - <div class='line'>Let no man in his scorn of present fortune,</div> - <div class='line'>And thirst for other, mar his good estate;</div> - <div class='line'>Zeus is the avenger of o'er-lofty thoughts,</div> - <div class='line'>A terrible controller. Therefore now,</div> - <div class='line'>Since voice of God bids him be wise of heart,</div> - <div class='line'>Admonish him with counsel true and good</div> - <div class='line'>To cease his daring sacrilegious pride;</div> - <div class='line'>And thou, O Xerxes' mother, old and dear,</div> - <div class='line'>Go to thy home, and taking what apparel</div> - <div class='line'>Is fitting, go to meet thy son; for all</div><div class='lnum'>830</div> - <div class='line'>The costly robes around his limbs are torn</div> - <div class='line'>To rags and shreds in grief's wild agony.</div> - <div class='line'>But do thou gently soothe his soul with words;</div> - <div class='line'>For he to thee alone will deign to hearken;</div> - <div class='line'>But I must leave the earth for darkness deep:</div> - <div class='line'>And ye, old men, farewell, although in woe,</div> - <div class='line'>And give your soul its daily bread of joy;</div> - <div class='line'>For to the dead no profit bringeth wealth.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<em>Exit, disappearing in the earth.</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_54'>54</span><em>Chor.</em> I shudder as I hear the many woes</div> - <div class='line'>Both past and present that on Persians fall.</div><div class='lnum'>840</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Atoss.</em> [O God, how many evils fall on me!<a id='r63' /><a href='#f63' class='c011'><sup>[63]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>And yet this one woe biteth more than all,</div> - <div class='line'>Hearing my son's shame in the rags of robes</div> - <div class='line'>That clothe his limbs. But I will go and take</div> - <div class='line'>A fit adornment from my house, and try</div> - <div class='line'>To meet my son. We will not in his troubles</div> - <div class='line'>Basely abandon him whom most we love.]</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Ah me! a glorious and a blessed life</div> - <div class='line in2'>Had we as subjects once,</div> - <div class='line'>When our old king, Dareios, ruled the land,</div><div class='lnum'>850</div> - <div class='line'>Meeting all wants, dispassionate, supreme,</div> - <div class='line in2'>A monarch like a God.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>For first we showed the world our noble hosts;</div> - <div class='line in2'>And laws of tower-like strength</div> - <div class='line'>Directed all things; and our backward march</div> - <div class='line'>After our wars unhurt, unsuffering led</div> - <div class='line in2'>Our prospering armies home.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>How many towns he took,</div> - <div class='line'>Not crossing Halys' stream<a id='r64' /><a href='#f64' class='c011'><sup>[64]</sup></a></div><div class='lnum'>860</div> - <div class='line'>Nor issuing from his home,</div> - <div class='line in8'><span class='pageno' id='Page_55'>55</span>There where in Strymon's sea,</div> - <div class='line in8'>The Acheloian Isles<a id='r65' /><a href='#f65' class='c011'><sup>[65]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Lie near the coasts of Thrakian colonies.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And those that lie outside the Ægæan main,</div> - <div class='line in8'>The cities girt with towers,</div> - <div class='line in8'>They hearkened to our king;</div> - <div class='line in8'>And those who boast their site</div> - <div class='line in8'>By Hellè's full, wide stream,</div> - <div class='line'>Propontis with its bays, and mouth of Pontos broad.</div><div class='lnum'>870</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>And all the isles that lie</div> - <div class='line'>Facing the headland jutting in the sea,<a id='r66' /><a href='#f66' class='c011'><sup>[66]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>Close bound to this our coast;</div> - <div class='line'>Lesbos, and Samos with its olive groves;</div> - <div class='line in8'>Chios and Paros too;</div> - <div class='line'>Naxos and Myconos, and Andros too</div> - <div class='line in8'>On Tenos bordering.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>And so he ruled the isles</div> - <div class='line'>That lie midway between the continents,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Lemnos, and Icaros,</div> - <div class='line'>Rhodes and Cnidos and the Kyprian towns,</div><div class='lnum'>880</div> - <div class='line in2'><span class='pageno' id='Page_56'>56</span>Paphos and Soli famed,</div> - <div class='line in2'>And with them Salamis,</div> - <div class='line'>Whose parent city now our groans doth cause;<a id='r67' /><a href='#f67' class='c011'><sup>[67]</sup></a></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Epode</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And many a wealthy town and populous,</div> - <div class='line'>Of Hellenes in the Ionian region dwelling,</div> - <div class='line in2'>He by his counsel ruled;</div> - <div class='line'>His was the unconquered strength of warrior host,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Allies of mingled race.</div> - <div class='line in2'>And now, beyond all doubt,</div> - <div class='line'>In strife of war defeated utterly,</div> - <div class='line in2'>We find this high estate</div> - <div class='line in2'>Through wrath of God o'erturned,</div><div class='lnum'>890</div> - <div class='line in2'>And we are smitten low,</div> - <div class='line in2'>By bitter loss at sea.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><em>Enter</em> <span class='sc'>Xerxes</span> <em>in kingly apparel, but with his robes rent,</em></div> - <div><em>with</em> Attendants.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Xer.</em> Oh, miserable me!</div> - <div class='line'>Who this dark hateful doom</div> - <div class='line'>That I expected least</div> - <div class='line'>Have met with as my lot,</div> - <div class='line'>With what stern mood and fierce</div> - <div class='line'>Towards the Persian race</div> - <div class='line'>Is God's hand laid on us!</div> - <div class='line'>What woe will come on me?</div> - <div class='line'>Gone is my strength of limb,</div> - <div class='line'>As I these elders see.</div> - <div class='line'>Ah, would to Heaven, O Zeus,</div> - <div class='line'>That with the men who fell</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_57'>57</span>Death's doom had covered me!</div><div class='lnum'>900</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in2'><em>Chor.</em> Ah, woe, O King, woe! woe!</div> - <div class='line in2'>For the army brave in fight,</div> - <div class='line in2'>And our goodly Persian name,</div> - <div class='line in2'>And the fair array of men,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Whom God hath now cut off!</div> - <div class='line in2'>And the land bewails its youth</div> - <div class='line in2'>Who for our Xerxes fell,</div> - <div class='line in2'>For him whose deeds have filled</div> - <div class='line in2'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Hades with Persian souls;</div> - <div class='line in2'>For many heroes now</div> - <div class='line in2'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Are Hades-travellers,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Our country's chosen flower,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Mighty with darts and bow;</div> - <div class='line in2'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>For lo! the myriad mass</div><div class='lnum'>910</div> - <div class='line in2'>Of men has perished quite.</div> - <div class='line in2'>Woe, woe for our fair fame!</div> - <div class='line in2'>And Asia's land, O King,</div> - <div class='line'>Is terribly, most terribly, o'erthrown.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in2'><em>Xer.</em> I then, oh misery!</div> - <div class='line in2'>Have to my curse been proved</div> - <div class='line'>Sore evil to my country and my race.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Yea, and on thy return</div> - <div class='line'>I will lift up my voice in wailing loud,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Cry of sore-troubled thought,</div> - <div class='line in2'>As of a mourner born</div> - <div class='line in2'>In Mariandynian land,<a id='r68' /><a href='#f68' class='c011'><sup>[68]</sup></a></div><div class='lnum'>920</div> - <div class='line in2'>Lament of many tears.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Xer.</em> Yea, utter ye a wail</div> - <div class='line in2'>Dreary and full of grief;</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_58'>58</span>For lo! the face of Fate</div> - <div class='line'>Against me now is turned.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Yea, I will raise a cry</div> - <div class='line'>Dreary and full of grief,</div> - <div class='line'>Giving this tribute due</div> - <div class='line'>To all the people's woes,</div> - <div class='line'>And all our loss at sea,</div> - <div class='line'>Troubles of this our State</div> - <div class='line'>That mourneth for her sons;</div> - <div class='line'>Yea, I will wail full sore,</div> - <div class='line'>With flood of bitter tears.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Xer.</em> For Ares, he whose might</div> - <div class='line'>Was in our ships' array,</div> - <div class='line'>Giving victory to our foes,</div> - <div class='line'>Has in Ionians, yea,</div> - <div class='line'>Ionians, found his match,</div> - <div class='line'>And from the dark sea's plain,</div> - <div class='line'>And that ill-omened shore,</div> - <div class='line'>Has a fell harvest reaped.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Yea, wail, search out the whole;</div> - <div class='line'>Where are our other friends?</div> - <div class='line'>Where thy companions true,</div> - <div class='line'>Such as Pharandakes,</div> - <div class='line'>Susas, Pelagon, Psammis, Dotamas,</div> - <div class='line'>Agdabatas, Susiskanes,</div> - <div class='line'>From Ecbatana who started?</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Xer.</em> I left them low in death,</div> - <div class='line'>Falling from Tyrian ship,</div> - <div class='line'>On Salaminian shores,</div> - <div class='line'>Beating now here, now there,</div> - <div class='line'>On the hard rock-girt coast.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_59'>59</span><em>Chor.</em> Ah, where Pharnuchos then,</div> - <div class='line in6'>And Ariomardos brave?</div> - <div class='line in6'>And where Sevalkes king,</div> - <div class='line in6'>Lilæos proud of race,</div> - <div class='line in6'>Memphis and Tharybis,</div> - <div class='line in6'>Masistras, and Artembares,</div><div class='lnum'>950</div> - <div class='line in6'>Hystæchmas? This I ask.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Xer.</em> Woe! woe is me!</div> - <div class='line'>They have looked on at Athens' ancient towers,</div> - <div class='line in6'>Her hated towers, ah me!</div> - <div class='line in6'>All, as by one fell stroke,</div> - <div class='line in6'>Unhappy in their fate</div> - <div class='line in6'>Lie gasping on the shore.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> And he, thy faithful Eye,<a id='r69' /><a href='#f69' class='c011'><sup>[69]</sup></a></div><div class='lnum'>960</div> - <div class='line in6'>Who told the Persian host,</div> - <div class='line in6'>Myriads on myriads o'er,<a id='r70' /><a href='#f70' class='c011'><sup>[70]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in6'>Alpistos, son and heir</div> - <div class='line in6'>Of Batanôchos old</div> - <div class='line'>       ·       ·       ·       ·       ·</div> - <div class='line in6'>And the son of brave Sesames,</div> - <div class='line in6'>Son himself of Megabates?</div> - <div class='line in6'>Parthos, and the great Œbares,</div> - <div class='line'>Did'st thou leave them, did'st thou leave them?</div> - <div class='line in6'>Ah, woe! ah, woe is me,</div> - <div class='line in6'>For those unhappy ones!</div> - <div class='line in6'>Thou to the Persians brave</div> - <div class='line in6'>Tellest of ills on ills.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_60'>60</span><span class='sc'>Antistrophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Xer.</em> Ah, thou dost wake in me</div> - <div class='line'>The memory of the spell of yearning love</div> - <div class='line in6'>For comrades brave and true,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Telling of cursed ills,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Yea, cursed, hateful doom;</div><div class='lnum'>970</div> - <div class='line in4'>And lo, within my frame</div> - <div class='line in4'>My heart cries out, cries out.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Yea, another too we long for,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Xanthes, captain of ten thousand</div> - <div class='line in4'>Mardian warriors, and Anchares</div> - <div class='line in4'>Arian born, and great Arsakes</div> - <div class='line in4'>And Diæxis, lords of horsemen,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Kigdagatas and Lythimnas,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Tolmos, longing for the battle:</div><div class='lnum'>980</div> - <div class='line in4'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Much I marvel, much I marvel,<a id='r71' /><a href='#f71' class='c011'><sup>[71]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in4'>For they come not, as the rear-guard</div> - <div class='line in4'>Of thy tent on chariot mounted.<a id='r72' /><a href='#f72' class='c011'><sup>[72]</sup></a></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe IV</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Xer.</em> Gone those rulers of the army.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Gone are they in death inglorious.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Xer.</em> Ah woe! ah woe! Alas! alas!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Ah! the Gods have sent upon us</div> - <div class='line in4'>Ill we never thought to look on,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Eminent above all others;</div> - <div class='line in4'>Ne'er hath Atè seen its equal.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_61'>61</span><span class='sc'>Antistrophe IV</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Smitten we by many sorrows,</div><div class='lnum'>990</div> - <div class='line'>Such as come on men but seldom.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Smitten we, 'tis all too certain....</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Xer.</em> Fresh woes! fresh woes! ah me!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Now with adverse turn of fortune,</div> - <div class='line'>With Ionian seamen meeting,</div> - <div class='line'>Fails in war the race of Persians.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe V</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Xer.</em> Too true. Yea I and that vast host of mine</div> - <div class='line'>Are smitten down.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Too true—the Persians' majesty and might</div> - <div class='line'>Have perished utterly.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Xer.</em> See'st thou this remnant of my armament?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> I see it, yea, I see.</div><div class='lnum'>1000</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Xer.</em> (<em>pointing to his quiver.</em>) Dost see thou that</div> - <div class='line'>which arrows wont to hold?...</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> What speak'st thou of as saved?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Xer.</em> This treasure-store for darts.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Few, few of many left!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Xer.</em> Thus we all helpers lack.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Ionian soldiers flee not from the spear.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe V</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Xer.</em> Yea, very brave are they, and I have seen</div> - <div class='line'>Unlooked-for woe.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Wilt tell of squadron of our sea-borne ships</div> - <div class='line'>Defeated utterly?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Xer.</em> I tore my robes at this calamity.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Ah me, ah me, ah me.</div><div class='lnum'>1010</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Xer.</em> Ay, more than all 'ah me's'!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Twofold and threefold ills!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Xer.</em> Grievous to us—but joy,</div> - <div class='line'>Great joy, to all our foes!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_62'>62</span><em>Chor.</em> Lopped off is all our strength.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Xer.</em> Stripped bare of escort I!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Yea, by sore loss at sea</div> - <div class='line in4'>Disastrous to thy friends.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe VI</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Xer.</em> Weep for our sorrow, weep,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Yea, go ye to the house.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Woe for our griefs, woe, woe!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Xer.</em> Cry out an echoing cry.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Ill gift of ills on ills.</div><div class='lnum'>1020</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Xer.</em> Weep on in wailing chant.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Oh! ah! Oh! ah!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Xer.</em> Grievous our bitter woes.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Ah me, I mourn them sore.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe VI</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Xer.</em> Ply, ply your hands and groan;</div> - <div class='line in4'>Yea, for my sake bewail.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> I weep in bitter grief.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Xer.</em> Cry out an echoing cry.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Yea, we may raise our voice,</div> - <div class='line in4'>O Lord and King, in wail.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Xer.</em> Raise now shrill cry of woe.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Ah me! Ah! Woe is me!</div><div class='lnum'>1030</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Xer.</em> Yea, with it mingle dark....</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> And bitter, grievous blows.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe VII</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Xer.</em> Yea, beat thy breast, and cry</div> - <div class='line in4'>After the Mysian type.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Oh, misery! oh, misery!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Xer.</em> Yea, tear the white hair off thy flowing beard.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_63'>63</span><em>Chor.</em> Yea; with clenched hands, with clenchèd hands, I say,</div> - <div class='line in4'>In very piteous guise.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Xer.</em> Cry out, cry out aloud.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> That also will I do.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe VII</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Xer.</em> And with thy fingers tear</div> - <div class='line in4'>Thy bosom's folded robe.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Oh, misery! oh, misery!</div><div class='lnum'>1040</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Xer.</em> Yea, tear thy hair in wailing for our host.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Yea, with clenched hands, I say, with clenchèd hands,</div> - <div class='line in4'>In very piteous guise.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Xer.</em> Be thine eyes wet with tears.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Behold the tears stream down.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Epode</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Xer.</em> Raise a re-echoing cry.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Ah woe! ah woe!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Xer.</em> Go to thy home with wailing loud and long.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> O land of Persia, full of lamentations!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Xer.</em> Through the town raise your cries.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> We raise them, yea, we raise.</div><div class='lnum'>1050</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Xer.</em> Wail, wail, ye men that walked so daintily.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> O land of Persia, full of lamentations!</div> - <div class='line in4'>Woe; woe!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Xer.</em> Alas for those who in the triremes perished!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> With broken cries of woe will I escort thee.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<em><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Exeunt</span> in procession, wailing, and</em></div> - <div class='line in4'><em>rending their robes.</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class='c012' /> - -<div class='footnote' id='f3'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r3'>3</a>. </span><span class='pageno' id='Page_64'>64</span>“The Faithful,” or “trusty,” seems to have been a special -title of honour given to the veteran councillors of the king -(Xenoph. <cite>Anab.</cite> i. 15), just as that of the “Immortals” was -chosen for his body-guard (Herod, vii. 83).</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f4'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r4'>4</a>. </span>Susa was pre-eminently the treasury of the Persian kings -(Herod, v. 49; Strabo, xv. p. 731), their favourite residence in -spring, as Ecbatana in Media was in summer and Babylon in -winter.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f5'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r5'>5</a>. </span>Kissia was properly the name of the district in which Susa -stood; but here, and in v. 123, it is treated as if it belonged to -a separate city. Throughout the play there is, indeed, a lavish -use of Persian barbaric names of persons and places, without a -very minute regard to historical accuracy.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f6'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r6'>6</a>. </span>Here, as in Herodotos and Greek writers generally, the -title, “the King,” or “the great King,” was enough. It could -be understood only of the Persian. The latter name had been -borne by the kings of Assyria (2 Kings xviii. 28). A little later -it passed into the fuller, more boastful form of “The King of -kings.”</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f7'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r7'>7</a>. </span>The inhabitants of the Delta of the Nile, especially those of -the marshy districts near the Heracleotic mouth, were famed as -supplying the best and bravest soldiers of any part of Egypt.—Comp. -Thucyd. i. 110.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f8'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r8'>8</a>. </span>The epithet was applied probably by Æschylos to the -Lydians properly so called, the barbaric race with whom the -Hellenes had little or nothing in common. They, in dress, diet, -mode of life, their distaste for the contests of the arena, seemed -to the Greeks the very type of effeminacy. The Ionian Greeks, -however, were brought under the same influence, and gradually -acquired the same character. The suppression of the name of -the Ionians in the list of the Persian forces may be noticed as -characteristic. The Athenian poet would not bring before an -Athenian audience the shame of their Asiatic kinsmen.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f9'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r9'>9</a>. </span>Tmôlos, sacred as being the mythical birth-place of -Dionysos.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f10'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r10'>10</a>. </span>“Spear-anvils,” <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">sc.</span></i>, meeting the spear of their foes as the -anvils would meet it, turning its point, themselves steadfast and -immovable.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f11'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r11'>11</a>. </span>So Herodotos (vii. 74) in his account of the army of Xerxes -describes the Mysians as using for their weapons those darts or -“javelins” made by hardening the ends in the fire.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f12'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r12'>12</a>. </span>Helle the daughter of Athamas, from whom the Hellespont -took its name. For the description of the pontoons formed by -boats, which were moored together with cables and finally -covered with faggots, comp. Herod, vii. 36.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f13'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r13'>13</a>. </span>“Gold-born,” <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">sc.</span></i>, descended from Perseus, the child of -Danaë.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f14'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r14'>14</a>. </span>Syrian, either in the vague sense in which it became almost -synonymous with Assyrian, or else showing that Syria, properly -so called, retained the fame for chariots which it had had at a -period as early as the time of the Hebrew Judges (Judg. v. 3). -Herodotos (vii. 140) gives an Oracle of Delphi in which the same -epithet appears.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f15'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r15'>15</a>. </span>The description, though put into the mouth of Persians, is -meant to flatter Hellenic pride. The Persians and their army -were for the most part light-armed troops only, barbarians -equipped with javelins or bows. In the sculptures of Persepolis, -as in those of Nineveh and Khorsabad, this mode of warfare is -throughout the most conspicuous. They, the Hellenes, were -the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">hoplites</span></i>, warriors of the spear and the shield, the cuirass and -the greaves.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f16'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r16'>16</a>. </span>A touch of Athenian exultation in their life as seamen. To -them the sea was almost a home. They were familiar with it -from childhood. To the Persians it was new and untried. They -had a new lesson to learn, late in the history of the nation, late -in the lives of individual soldiers.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f17'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r17'>17</a>. </span>The bridge of boats, with the embankment raised upon it, is -thought of as a new headland putting out from the one shore -and reaching to the other.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f18'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r18'>18</a>. </span>Stress is laid by the Hellenic poet, as in the <cite>Agamemnon</cite> -(v. 895), and in v. 707 of this play, on the tendency of the East -to give to its kings the names and the signs of homage which -were due only to the Gods. The Hellenes might deify a dead -hero, but not a living sovereign. On different grounds the -Jews shrank, as in the stories of Nebuchadnezzar and Dareios -(Dan. iii. 6), from all such acts.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f19'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r19'>19</a>. </span>In the Greek, as in the translation, there is a change of -metre, intended apparently to represent the transition from the -tone of eager excitement to the ordinary level of discourse.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f20'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r20'>20</a>. </span>With reference either to the <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">mythos</span></i> that Asia and Europa -were both daughters of Okeanos, or to the historical fact that -the Asiatic Ionians and the Dorians of Europe were both of the -same Hellenic stock. The contrast between the long flowing -robes of the Asiatic women, and the short, scanty kilt-like dress -of those of Sparta must be borne in mind if we would see the -picture in its completeness.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f21'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r21'>21</a>. </span>Athenian pride is flattered with the thought that they had -resisted while the Ionian Greeks had submitted all too willingly -to the yoke of the Barbarian.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f22'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r22'>22</a>. </span>Lustrations of this kind, besides their general significance in -cleansing from defilement, had a special force as charms to turn -aside dangers threatened by foreboding dreams. Comp. -Aristoph. <cite>Frogs</cite>, v. 1264; Persius, <cite>Sat.</cite> ii. 16.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f23'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r23'>23</a>. </span>The political bearing of the passage as contrasting this -characteristic of the despotism of Persia with the strict account -to which all Athenian generals were subject, is, of course, -unmistakable.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f24'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r24'>24</a>. </span>The question, which seems to have rankled in the minds of -the Athenians, is recorded as an historical fact, and put into the -mouth of Dareios by Herodotos (v. 101). He had asked it on -hearing that Sardis had been attacked and burnt by them.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f25'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r25'>25</a>. </span>The words point to the silver mines of Laureion, which had -been worked under Peisistratos, and of which this is the first -mention in Greek literature.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f26'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r26'>26</a>. </span>Once more the contrast between the Greek <em>hoplite</em> and the -light-armed archers of the invaders is dwelt upon. The next -answer of the Chorus dwells upon the deeper contrast, then -prominent in the minds of all Athenians, between their democratic -freedom and the despotism of Persia. Comp. Herod. -v. 78.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f27'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r27'>27</a>. </span>The system of postal communications by means of couriers -which Dareios had organised had made their speed in running -proverbial (Herod. vii. 97).</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f28'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r28'>28</a>. </span>With the characteristic contempt of a Greek for other -races, Æschylos makes the Persians speak of themselves -throughout as 'barbarians,' 'barbaric.'</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f29'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r29'>29</a>. </span></p> -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Perhaps— “On planks that floated onward,”</div> - <div class='line in2'>or— “On land and sea far spreading.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f30'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r30'>30</a>. </span>Possibly Salamis itself, as famed for the doves which were -reared there as sacred to Aphrodite, but possibly also one of the -smaller islands in the Saronic gulf, which the epithet would be -enough to designate for an Athenian audience. The “coasts of -the Sileni” in v. 305 are identified by scholiasts with Salamis.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f31'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r31'>31</a>. </span>Perhaps—“And ten of these selected as reserve.”</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f32'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r32'>32</a>. </span>As regards the number of the Persian ships, 1000 of average, -and 207 of special swiftness. Æschylos agrees with Herodotos, -who gives the total of 1207. The latter, however, reckons the -Greek ships not at 310, but 378 (vii. 89, viii. 48).</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f33'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r33'>33</a>. </span>The fact that Athens had actually been taken, and its chief -buildings plundered and laid waste, was, of course, not a pleasant -one for the poet to dwell on. It could hardly, however, be -entirely passed over, and this is the one allusion to it. In the -truest sense it was still “unsacked:” it had not lost its most -effective defence, its most precious treasure.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f34'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r34'>34</a>. </span>As the story is told by Herodotos (vii. 75), this was Sikinnos, -the slave of Themistocles, and the stratagem was the device of -that commander to save the Greeks from the disgrace and ruin -of a <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">sauve qui peut</span></i> flight in all directions.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f35'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r35'>35</a>. </span>The Greeks never beheaded their criminals, and the punishment -is mentioned as being specially characteristic of the barbaric -Persians.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f36'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r36'>36</a>. </span>The Æginetans and Megarians, according to the account -preserved by Diodoros (xi. 18), or the Lacedæmonians, according -to Herodotos (viii. 65).</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f37'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r37'>37</a>. </span>This may be meant to refer to the achievements of Ameinias -of Pallene, who appears in the traditional life of Œschylos as -his youngest brother.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f38'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r38'>38</a>. </span><i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Sc.</span></i>, in Herod. viii. 60, the strait between Salamis and the -mainland.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f39'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r39'>39</a>. </span>Tunny-fishing has always been prominent in the occupations -on the Mediterranean coasts, and the sailors who formed so -large a part of every Athenian audience would be familiar with -the process here described, of striking or harpooning them. -Aristophanes (<cite>Wasps</cite>, 1087) coins (or uses) the word “to tunny” -(<span lang="el" xml:lang="el">θυννάζω</span>) to express the act. Comp. Herod. i. 62.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f40'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r40'>40</a>. </span><i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Sc.</span></i>, Psyttaleia, lying between Salamis and the mainland. -Pausanias (i. 36-82) describes it in his time as having no artistic -shrine or statue, but full everywhere of roughly carved images of -Pan, to whom the island was sacred. It lay just opposite the -entrance to the Peiræos. The connexion of Pan with Salamis -and its adjacent islands seems implied in Sophocles, <cite>Aias</cite>, 695.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f41'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r41'>41</a>. </span>The manœuvre was, we learn from Herodotos (viii. 95), the -work of Aristeides, the personal friend of Æschylos, and the -statesman with whose policy he had most sympathy.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f42'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r42'>42</a>. </span>The lines are noted as probably a spurious addition, by a -weaker hand, to the text, as introducing surplusage, as inconsistent -with Herodotos, and as faulty in their metrical structure.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f43'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r43'>43</a>. </span>So Herodotos (viii. 115) describes them as driven by hunger -to eat even grass and leaves.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f44'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r44'>44</a>. </span>No trace of this passage over the frozen Strymon appears -in Herodotos, who leaves the reader to imagine that it was -crossed, as before, by a bridge. It is hardly, indeed, consistent -with dramatic probability that the courier should have remained -to watch the whole retreat of the defeated army; and on this and -other grounds, the latter part of the speech has been rejected by -some critics as a later addition.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f45'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r45'>45</a>. </span>The Ionians, not of the Asiatic Ionia, but of Attica.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f46'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r46'>46</a>. </span>Kychreia, the archaic name of Salamis.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f47'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r47'>47</a>. </span>The ritual described is Hellenic rather than Persian, and -takes its place (Soph. <cite>Electr.</cite> 836; Eurip. <cite>Iphig. Taur.</cite> 583; -Homer, <cite>Il.</cite> xxiii. 219) as showing what offerings were employed -to soothe or call up the spirits of the dead. Comp. Pliny, <cite>Hist. -Nat.</cite> xxx.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f48'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r48'>48</a>. </span>The description obviously gives the state dress of the Persian -kings. They alone wore the tiara erect. Xen. <cite>Kyrop.</cite> viii. 3, 13.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f49'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r49'>49</a>. </span>Either that he has felt the measured tread of the mourners -round his tomb, as they went wailing round and round, or that -he has heard the rush of armies, and seen the plain tracked by -chariot-wheels, and comes, not knowing all these things, to learn -what it means.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f50'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r50'>50</a>. </span>The words point to the widespread belief that when the -souls of the dead were permitted to return to the earth, it was -with strict limitations as to the time of their leave of absence.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f51'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r51'>51</a>. </span>Perhaps—“I dread to speak the truth.”</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f52'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r52'>52</a>. </span>According to Herodotos (vii. 225) two brothers of Xerxes -fell at Thermopylæ.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f53'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r53'>53</a>. </span>As Herodotos (viii. 117) tells the story, the bridge had been -broken by the tempest before Xerxes reached it.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f54'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r54'>54</a>. </span>Probably Mardonios and Onomacritos the Athenian soothsayer -are referred to, who, according to Herodotos (vii. 6, viii. -99) were the chief instigators of the expedition.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f55'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r55'>55</a>. </span>Astyages, the father-in-law of Kyaxares and grandfather of -Kyros. In this case Æschylos must be supposed to accept -Xenophon's statement that Kyaxares succeeded to Astyages. -Possibly, however, the Median may be Kyaxares I., the father -of Astyages, and so the succession here would harmonise with -that of Herodotos. The whole succession must be looked on as -embodying the loose, floating notions of the Athenians as to the -history of their great enemy, rather than as the result of inquiry.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f56'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r56'>56</a>. </span>Stress is laid on the violence to which the Asiatic Ionians -had succumbed, and their resistance to which distinguished -them from the Lydians or Phrygians, whose submission had -been voluntary.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f57'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r57'>57</a>. </span>Mardos. Under this name we recognise the Pseudo-Smerdis -of Herodotos (iii. 67), who, by restoring the dominion of the -Median Magi, the caste to which he himself belonged, brought -shame upon the Persians.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f58'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r58'>58</a>. </span>Possibly another form of Intaphernes, who appears in -Herodotos (iii. 70) as one of the seven conspirators against the -Magian Pseudo-Smerdis.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f59'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r59'>59</a>. </span>The force of 300,000 men left in Greece under Mardonios -(Herod. viii. 113), afterwards defeated at Platæa.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f60'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r60'>60</a>. </span>Comp. the speech of Mardonios urging his plan on Xerxes -(Herod. viii. 100).</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f61'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r61'>61</a>. </span>This was of course a popular topic with the Athenians, -whose own temples had been outraged. But other sanctuaries -also, the temples at Delphi and Abæ, had shared the same fate, -and these sins against the Gods of Hellas were naturally connected -in the thoughts of the Greeks with the subsequent -disasters of the Persians. In Egypt these outrages had an -iconoclastic character. In Athens they were a retaliation for -the destruction of the temple at Sardis (Herod. v. 102).</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f62'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r62'>62</a>. </span>The reference to the prominent part taken by the Peloponnesian -forces in the battle of Platæa is probably due to the -political sympathies of the dramatist.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f63'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r63'>63</a>. </span>The speech of Atossa is rejected by Paley, on internal -grounds, as spurious.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f64'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r64'>64</a>. </span>Apparently an allusion to the oracle given to Crœsos, that he, -if he crossed the Halys, should destroy a great kingdom.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f65'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r65'>65</a>. </span>The name originally given to the Echinades, a group of -islands at the mouth of the Acheloös, was applied generically -to all islands lying near the mouth of all great rivers, and here, -probably, includes Imbros, Thasos, and Samothrakè.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f66'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r66'>66</a>. </span>The geography is somewhat obscure, but the words seem -to refer to the portion of the islands that are named as opposite -(in a southerly direction) to the promontory of the Troad.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f67'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r67'>67</a>. </span>Salamis in Kypros had been colonised by Teukros, the son -of Aias, and had received its name in remembrance of the island -in the Saronic Gulf.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f68'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r68'>68</a>. </span>The Mariandynoi, a Paphlagonian tribe, conspicuous for their -orgiastic worship of Adonis, had become proverbial for the -wildness of their plaintive dirges.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f69'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r69'>69</a>. </span>The name seems to have been an official title for some -Inspector-General of the Army. Comp. Aristoph. <cite>Acharn.</cite> v. 92.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f70'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r70'>70</a>. </span>As in the account which Herodotos gives (vii. 60) of the way -in which the army of Xerxes was numbered, <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">sc.</span></i>, by enclosing -10,000 men in a given space, and then filling it again and again -till the whole army had passed through.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f71'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r71'>71</a>. </span>Another reading gives—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“They are buried, they are buried.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f72'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r72'>72</a>. </span>Perhaps referring to the waggon-chariots in which the rider -reclines at ease, either protected by a canopy, or, as in the -Assyrian sculptures and perhaps in the East generally, overshadowed -by a large umbrella which an eunuch holds over -him.</p> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_65'>65</span> - <h2 class='c005'>THE SEVEN WHO FOUGHT AGAINST THEBES</h2> -</div> - -<h3 class='c013'>DRAMATIS PERSONÆ</h3> - -<div class='lg-container-b c003'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Eteocles</span></div> - <div class='line'><em>Scout</em></div> - <div class='line'><em>Herald</em></div> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Ismene</span></div> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Antigone</span></div> - <div class='line'><em>Chorus of Theban Maidens</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c006'>ARGUMENT.—<em>When Œdipus king of Thebes discovered -that he had unknowingly been the murderer of -his father, and had lived in incest with his mother, he -blinded himself. And his two sons, Eteocles and -Polyneikes, wishing to banish the remembrance of these -horrors from the eyes of men, at first kept him in confinement. -And he, being wroth with them, prayed that they -might divide their inheritance with the sword. And they, -in fear lest the prayer should be accomplished, agreed to -reign in turn, each for a year, and Eteocles, as the elder -of the two, took the first turn. But when at the end of -the year Polyneikes came to ask for the kingdom, Eteocles -refused to give way, and sent him away empty. So -Polyneikes went to Argos and married the daughter of -Adrastos the king of that country, and gathered together -a great army under six great captains, himself going as -the seventh, and led it against Thebes. And so they -compassed it about, and at each of the seven gates of the -city was stationed one of the divisions of the army.</em></p> - -<p class='c000'><em>Note.</em>—<em>The Seven against Thebes</em> appears to have been produced -<span class='fss'>B.C.</span> 472, the year after <em>The Persians</em>.</p> - -<div><span class='pageno' id='Page_67'>67</span></div> -<div class='ph2'> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div>THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES</div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<h3 class='c013'><span class='sc'>Scene.</span>—<span class='sc'>Thebes</span> <em>in front of the Acropolis</em></h3> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c003'> - <div><em>Enter</em> <span class='sc'>Eteocles</span>, <em>and crowd of</em> Theban Citizens.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Eteoc.</em> Ye citizens of Cadmos, it behoves</div> - <div class='line'>That one who standeth at the stern of State</div> - <div class='line'>Guiding the helm, with eyes unclosed in sleep,</div> - <div class='line'>Should speak the things that meet occasion's need.</div> - <div class='line'>For should we prosper, God gets all the praise:</div> - <div class='line'>But if (which God forbid!) disaster falls,</div> - <div class='line'>Eteocles, much blame on one head falling,</div> - <div class='line'>Would find his name the by-word of the State,<a id='r73' /><a href='#f73' class='c011'><sup>[73]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Sung in the slanderous ballads of the town;</div> - <div class='line'>Yes, and with groanings, which may Zeus the Averter,</div> - <div class='line'>True to his name, from us Cadmeians turn!</div> - <div class='line'>But now 'tis meet for all, both him who fails</div><div class='lnum'>10</div> - <div class='line'>Of full-grown age, and him advanced in years,</div> - <div class='line'>Yet boasting still a stalwart strength of frame,</div> - <div class='line'>And each in life's full prime, as it is fit,</div> - <div class='line'>The State to succour and the altars here</div> - <div class='line'>Of these our country's Gods, that never more</div> - <div class='line'>Their votive honours cease,—to help our sons,</div> - <div class='line'>And Earth, our dearest mother and kind nurse;</div> - <div class='line'>For she, when young ye crept her kindly plain,</div> - <div class='line'>Bearing the whole charge of your nourishment,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_68'>68</span>Reared you as denizens that bear the shield,</div> - <div class='line'>That ye should trusty prove in this her need.</div><div class='lnum'>20</div> - <div class='line'>And now thus far God turns the scale for us;</div> - <div class='line'>For unto us, beleaguered these long days,</div> - <div class='line'>War doth in most things with God's help speed well,</div> - <div class='line'>But now, as saith the seer, the augur skilled,<a id='r74' /><a href='#f74' class='c011'><sup>[74]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Watching with ear and mind, apart from fire,</div> - <div class='line'>The birds oracular with mind unerring,</div> - <div class='line'>He, lord and master of these prophet-arts,</div> - <div class='line'>Says that the great attack of the Achæans</div> - <div class='line'>This very night is talked of, and their plots</div> - <div class='line'>Devised against the town. But ye, haste all</div> - <div class='line'>Unto the walls and gateways of the forts;</div><div class='lnum'>30</div> - <div class='line'>Rush ye full-armed, and fill the outer space,</div> - <div class='line'>And stand upon the platforms of the towers,</div> - <div class='line'>And at the entrance of the gates abiding</div> - <div class='line'>Be of good cheer, nor fear ye overmuch</div> - <div class='line'>The host of aliens. Well will God work all.</div> - <div class='line'>And I have sent my scouts and watchers forth,</div> - <div class='line'>And trust their errand is no fruitless one.</div> - <div class='line'>I shall not, hearing them, be caught with guile.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Exeunt</span></i> Citizens.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><em>Enter one of the</em> Scouts.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Mess.</em> King of Cadmeians, great Eteocles,</div> - <div class='line'>I from the army come with tidings clear,</div><div class='lnum'>40</div> - <div class='line'>And am myself eye-witness of its acts;</div> - <div class='line'>For seven brave warriors, leading armèd bands,</div> - <div class='line'>Cutting a bull's throat o'er a black-rimmed shield,</div> - <div class='line'>And dipping in the bull's blood with their hands,</div> - <div class='line'>Swore before Ares, Enyo,<a id='r75' /><a href='#f75' class='c011'><sup>[75]</sup></a> murderous Fear,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_69'>69</span>That they would bring destruction on our town,</div> - <div class='line'>And trample under foot the tower of Cadmos,</div> - <div class='line'>Or dying, with their own blood stain our soil;</div> - <div class='line'>And they memorials for their sires at home</div> - <div class='line'>Placed with their hands upon Adrastos' car,<a id='r76' /><a href='#f76' class='c011'><sup>[76]</sup></a></div><div class='lnum'>50</div> - <div class='line'>Weeping, but no wail uttering with their lips,</div> - <div class='line'>For courage iron-hearted breathed out fire</div> - <div class='line'>In manliness unconquered, as when lions</div> - <div class='line'>Flash battle from their eyeballs. And report</div> - <div class='line'>Of these things does not linger on the way.</div> - <div class='line'>I left them casting lots, that each might take,</div> - <div class='line'>As the lot fell, his station at the gate.</div> - <div class='line'>Wherefore do thou our city's chosen ones</div> - <div class='line'>Array with speed at entrance of the gates;</div> - <div class='line'>For near already is the Argive host,</div> - <div class='line'>Marching through clouds of dust, and whitening foam</div><div class='lnum'>60</div> - <div class='line'>Spots all the plain with drops from horses' mouths.</div> - <div class='line'>And thou, as prudent helmsman of the ship,</div> - <div class='line'>Guard thou our fortress ere the blasts of Ares</div> - <div class='line'>Swoop on it wildly; for there comes the roar</div> - <div class='line'>Of the land-wave of armies. And do thou</div> - <div class='line'>Seize for these things the swiftest tide and time;</div> - <div class='line'>And I, in all that comes, will keep my eye</div> - <div class='line'>As faithful sentry; so through speech full clear,</div> - <div class='line'>Thou, knowing all things yonder, shalt be safe.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<em>Exit.</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Eteoc.</em> O Zeus and Earth, and all ye guardian Gods!</div> - <div class='line'>Thou Curse and strong Erinnys of my sire!</div><div class='lnum'>70</div> - <div class='line'>Destroy ye not my city root and branch,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_70'>70</span>With sore destruction smitten, one whose voice</div> - <div class='line'>Is that of Hellas, nor our hearths and homes;<a id='r77' /><a href='#f77' class='c011'><sup>[77]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Grant that they never hold in yoke of bondage</div> - <div class='line'>Our country free, and town of Cadmos named;</div> - <div class='line'>But be ye our defence. I deem I speak</div> - <div class='line'>Of what concerns us both; for still 'tis true,</div> - <div class='line'>A prosperous city honours well the Gods. [<em>Exit.</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><em>Enter Chorus of</em> Theban Maidens <em>in solemn procession</em></div> - <div><em>as suppliants</em></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> I in wild terror utter cries of woe;</div> - <div class='line'>An army leaves its camp and is let loose:</div> - <div class='line'>Hither the vanguard of the horsemen flows,</div><div class='lnum'>80</div> - <div class='line in6'>And the thick cloud of dust,</div> - <div class='line in6'>That suddenly is seen,</div> - <div class='line in6'>Dumb herald, yet full clear,</div> - <div class='line in6'>Constrains me to believe;</div> - <div class='line'>And smitten with the horses' hoofs, the plain</div> - <div class='line'>Of this my country rings with noise of war;</div> - <div class='line in6'>It floats and echoes round,</div> - <div class='line'>Like voice of mountain torrent dashing down</div> - <div class='line in6'>Resistless in its might.</div> - <div class='line in6'>Ah Gods! Ah Goddesses!</div> - <div class='line in6'>Ward off the coming woe.</div> - <div class='line'>With battle-shout that rises o'er the walls,</div> - <div class='line in6'>The host whose shields are white<a id='r78' /><a href='#f78' class='c011'><sup>[78]</sup></a></div><div class='lnum'>90</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_71'>71</span>Marches in full array against our city.</div> - <div class='line in6'>Who then, of all the Gods</div> - <div class='line'>Or Goddesses, will come to help and save?</div> - <div class='line'>Say, shall I fall before the shrines of Gods?</div> - <div class='line in6'>O blessed Ones firm fixed!</div> - <div class='line'>'Tis time to clasp your sacred images.</div> - <div class='line'>Why linger we in wailing overmuch?</div> - <div class='line'>Hear ye, or hear ye not, the din of shields?</div> - <div class='line in6'>When, if not now, shall we</div> - <div class='line'>Engage in prayer with peplos and with boughs?<a id='r79' /><a href='#f79' class='c011'><sup>[79]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>I hear a mighty sound; it is the din</div><div class='lnum'>100</div> - <div class='line in6'>Not of a single spear.</div> - <div class='line'>O Ares! ancient guardian of our land!</div> - <div class='line'>What wilt thou do? Wilt thou betray thy land?</div> - <div class='line in6'>O God of golden casque,</div> - <div class='line'>Look on our city, yea, with favour look,</div> - <div class='line in6'>The city thou did'st love.</div> - <div class='line'>And ye, ye Gods who o'er the city rule,</div> - <div class='line in6'>Come all of you, come all.</div> - <div class='line'>Behold the band of maidens suppliant,</div> - <div class='line in6'>In fear of bondage foul;</div> - <div class='line in6'>For now around the town</div> - <div class='line'>The wave of warriors bearing slopèd crests,</div> - <div class='line'>With blasts of Ares rushing, hoarsely sounds:</div><div class='lnum'>110</div> - <div class='line'>But thou, O Zeus! true father of us all,</div> - <div class='line'>Ward off, ward off our capture by the foe.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>For Argives now surround the town of Cadmos,</div> - <div class='line'>And dread of Ares' weapons falls on us;</div> - <div class='line in6'>And, bound to horses' mouths,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_72'>72</span>The bits and curbs ring music as of death;</div> - <div class='line'>And seven chief rulers of the mighty host,</div> - <div class='line'>With warriors' arms, at each of seven tall gates,</div> - <div class='line in6'>Spear-armed and harnessed all,</div> - <div class='line in6'>Stand, having cast their lots.</div> - <div class='line'>       ·       ·       ·       ·       ·</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Mesode</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And thou, O Zeus-born power in war delighting,</div><div class='lnum'>120</div> - <div class='line'>O Pallas! be our city's saviour now;</div> - <div class='line in6'>And Thou who curb'st the steed,</div> - <div class='line in6'>Great King of Ocean's waves,</div> - <div class='line'>Poseidon, with thy trident fish-spear armed,<a id='r80' /><a href='#f80' class='c011'><sup>[80]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Give respite from our troubles, respite give!</div> - <div class='line'>And Thou, O Ares, guard the town that takes</div> - <div class='line in6'>Its name from Cadmos old,<a id='r81' /><a href='#f81' class='c011'><sup>[81]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in6'>Watch o'er it visibly.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And thou, O Kypris, of our race the mother,</div> - <div class='line'>Ward off these ills, for we are thine by blood:</div> - <div class='line in6'>To thee in many a prayer,</div><div class='lnum'>130</div> - <div class='line'>With voice that calls upon the Gods we cry,</div> - <div class='line'>And unto thee draw near as suppliants:</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_73'>73</span>And Thou, Lykeian king, Lykeian be,<a id='r82' /><a href='#f82' class='c011'><sup>[82]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in6'>Foe of our hated foes,</div> - <div class='line in6'>For this our wailing cry;</div> - <div class='line'>And Thou, O child of Leto, Artemis,</div> - <div class='line in6'>Make ready now thy bow.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Ah! ah! I hear a din of chariot wheels</div> - <div class='line in6'>Around the city walls;</div> - <div class='line in6'>O Hera great and dread!</div> - <div class='line'>The heavy axles of the chariots groan,</div><div class='lnum'>140</div> - <div class='line in6'>O Artemis beloved!</div> - <div class='line'>And the air maddens with the clash of spears;</div> - <div class='line in6'>What must our city bear?</div> - <div class='line in6'>What now shall come on us?</div> - <div class='line in6'>When will God give the end?</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Ah! ah! a voice of stones is falling fast</div> - <div class='line in6'>On battlements attacked;<a id='r83' /><a href='#f83' class='c011'><sup>[83]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in6'>O Lord, Apollo loved,</div> - <div class='line'>A din of bronze-bound shields is in the gates;</div> - <div class='line in6'>And oh! that Zeus may give</div><div class='lnum'>150</div> - <div class='line'>A faultless issue of this war we wage!</div> - <div class='line in6'>And Thou, O blessed queen,</div> - <div class='line in6'>As Guardian Onca known,<a id='r84' /><a href='#f84' class='c011'><sup>[84]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in6'>Save thy seven-gated seat.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_74'>74</span><span class='sc'>Strophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And ye, all-working Gods,</div> - <div class='line'>Of either sex divine,</div> - <div class='line'>Protectors of our towers,</div> - <div class='line'>Give not our city, captured by the spear,</div> - <div class='line'>To host of alien speech.<a id='r85' /><a href='#f85' class='c011'><sup>[85]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Hear ye our maidens; hear,</div><div class='lnum'>160</div> - <div class='line'>As is most meet, our prayers with outstretched hands.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>O all ye loving Powers,</div> - <div class='line'>Compass our State to save;</div> - <div class='line'>Show how that State ye love;</div> - <div class='line'>Think on our public votive offerings,</div> - <div class='line'>And as ye think, oh, help:</div> - <div class='line'>Be mindful ye, I pray,</div> - <div class='line'>Of all our city's rites of sacrifice.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><em>Re-enter</em> <span class='sc'>Eteocles</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Eteoc.</em> (<em>to the Chorus</em>) I ask you, O ye brood intolerable,</div> - <div class='line'>Is this course best and safest for our city?</div><div class='lnum'>170</div> - <div class='line'>Will it give heart to our beleaguered host,</div> - <div class='line'>That ye before the forms of guardian Gods</div> - <div class='line'>Should wail and howl, ye loathèd of the wise;<a id='r86' /><a href='#f86' class='c011'><sup>[86]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_75'>75</span>Ne'er be it mine, in ill estate or good,</div> - <div class='line'>To dwell together with the race of women;</div> - <div class='line'>For when they rule, their daring bars approach,</div> - <div class='line'>And when they fear, alike to house and State</div> - <div class='line'>Comes greater ill; and now with these your rushings</div> - <div class='line'>Hither and thither, ye have troubled sore</div> - <div class='line'>Our subjects with a coward want of heart;</div> - <div class='line'>And do your best for those our foes without;</div><div class='lnum'>180</div> - <div class='line'>And we are harassed by ourselves within.</div> - <div class='line'>This comes to one who dwells with womankind.</div> - <div class='line'>And if there be that will not own my sway,</div> - <div class='line'>Or man or woman in their prime, or those</div> - <div class='line'>Who can be classed with neither, they shall take</div> - <div class='line'>Their trial for their life, nor shall they 'scape</div> - <div class='line'>The fate of stoning. Things outdoors are still</div> - <div class='line'>The man's to look to: let not woman counsel.</div> - <div class='line'>Stay thou within, and do no mischief more.</div> - <div class='line'>Hear'st thou, or no? or speak I to the deaf?</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Dear son of Œdipus,</div><div class='lnum'>190</div> - <div class='line'>I shuddered as I heard the din, the din</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of many a chariot's noise,</div> - <div class='line'>When on the axles creaked the whirling wheels,</div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>And when I heard the sound</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Of fire-wrought curbs within the horses' mouths.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Eteoc.</em> What then? Did ever yet the sailor flee</div> - <div class='line'>From stern to stem, and find deliverance so,</div> - <div class='line'>While his ship laboured in the ocean's wave?<a id='r87' /><a href='#f87' class='c011'><sup>[87]</sup></a></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_76'>76</span><span class='sc'>Antistrophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Nay, to the ancient forms</div> - <div class='line'>Of mighty Powers I rushed, as trusting Gods;</div> - <div class='line in8'>And when behind the gates</div> - <div class='line'>Was heard the crash of fierce and pelting storm,</div><div class='lnum'>200</div> - <div class='line in8'>Then was it, in my fear,</div> - <div class='line'>I prayed the Blessed Ones to guard our city.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Eteoc.</em> Pray that our towns hold out 'gainst spear of foes.<a id='r88' /><a href='#f88' class='c011'><sup>[88]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Do not the Gods grant these things?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Eteoc.</em> Nay the Gods,</div> - <div class='line'>So say they, leave the captured city's walls.<a id='r89' /><a href='#f89' class='c011'><sup>[89]</sup></a></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Ah! never in my life</div> - <div class='line'>May all this goodly company of Gods</div> - <div class='line in8'>Depart; nor may I see</div> - <div class='line'>This city scene of rushings to and fro,</div><div class='lnum'>210</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>And hostile army burning it with fire!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Eteoc.</em> Nay, call not on the Gods with counsel base;</div> - <div class='line'>Obedience is the mother of success,</div> - <div class='line'>Child strong to save. 'Tis thus the saying runs.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_77'>77</span><span class='sc'>Antistrophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> True is it; but the Gods</div> - <div class='line'>Have yet a mightier power, and oftentimes,</div> - <div class='line'>In pressure of sore ill,</div> - <div class='line'>It raises one perplexed from direst woe,</div> - <div class='line'>When dark clouds gather thickly o'er his eyes.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Eteoc.</em> 'Tis work of men to offer sacrifice</div> - <div class='line'>And victims to the Gods, when foes press hard;</div><div class='lnum'>220</div> - <div class='line'>Thine to be dumb and keep within the house.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> 'Tis through the Gods we live</div> - <div class='line'>In city unsubdued, and that our towers</div> - <div class='line'>Ward off the multitude of jealous foes.</div> - <div class='line'>What Power will grudge us this?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Eteoc.</em> I grudge not your devotion to the Gods;</div> - <div class='line'>But lest you make my citizens faint-hearted</div> - <div class='line'>Be tranquil, nor to fear's excess give way.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Hearing but now a din</div> - <div class='line'>Strange, wildly mingled, I with shrinking fear</div> - <div class='line'>Here to our city's high Acropolis,</div> - <div class='line'>Time-hallowed spot, have come.</div><div class='lnum'>230</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Eteoc.</em> Nay, if ye hear of wounded men or dying,</div> - <div class='line'>Bear them not swiftly off with wailing loud;</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>For blood of men is Ares' chosen food.<a id='r90' /><a href='#f90' class='c011'><sup>[90]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Hark! now I hear the panting of the steeds.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Eteoc.</em> Clear though thou hear, yet hear not overmuch.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Lo! from its depths the fortress groans, beleaguered.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_78'>78</span><em>Eteoc.</em> It is enough that I provide for this.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> I fear: the din increases at the gates.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Eteoc.</em> Be still, say nought of these things in the city.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> O holy Band!<a id='r91' /><a href='#f91' class='c011'><sup>[91]</sup></a> desert ye not our towers.</div><div class='lnum'>240</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Eteoc.</em> A curse fall on thee! wilt thou not be still?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Gods of my city, from the slave's lot save me!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Eteoc.</em> 'Tis thou enslav'st thyself and all thy city.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Oh, turn thy darts, great Zeus, against our foes!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Eteoc.</em> Oh, Zeus, what race of women thou hast given us!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> A sorry race, like men whose city falls.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Eteoc.</em> What? Cling to these statues, yet speak words of ill?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Fear hurries on my tongue in want of courage.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Eteoc.</em> Could'st thou but grant one small boon at my prayer!</div><div class='lnum'>250</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Speak it out quickly, and I soon shall know.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Eteoc.</em> Be still, poor fool, and frighten not thy friends.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Still am I, and with others bear our fate.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Eteoc.</em> These words of thine I much prefer to those:</div> - <div class='line'>And further, though no longer at the shrines,</div> - <div class='line'>Pray thou for victory, that the Gods fight with us.</div> - <div class='line'>And when my prayers thou hearest, then do thou</div> - <div class='line'>Raise a loud, welcome, holy pæan-shout,</div> - <div class='line'>The Hellenes' wonted cry at sacrifice;</div> - <div class='line'>So cheer thy friends, and check their fear of foes;</div> - <div class='line'>And I unto our country's guardian Gods,</div><div class='lnum'>260</div> - <div class='line'>Who hold the plain or watch the agora,</div> - <div class='line'>The springs of Dirkè, and Ismenos' stream;—</div> - <div class='line'>If things go well, and this our city's saved,—</div> - <div class='line'>I vow that staining with the blood of sheep</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_79'>79</span>The altar-hearths of Gods, or slaying bulls,</div> - <div class='line'>We'll fix our trophies, and our foemen's robes</div> - <div class='line'>On the spear's point on consecrated walls,</div> - <div class='line'>Before the shrines I'll hang.<a id='r92' /><a href='#f92' class='c011'><sup>[92]</sup></a> Pray thou this prayer,</div> - <div class='line'>Not weakly wailing, nor with vain wild sobs,</div> - <div class='line'>For no whit more thou'lt 'scape thy destined lot:</div><div class='lnum'>270</div> - <div class='line'>And I six warriors, with myself as seventh,</div> - <div class='line'>Against our foes in full state like their own,</div> - <div class='line'>Will station at the seven gates' entrances,</div> - <div class='line'>Ere hurrying heralds and swift-rushing words</div> - <div class='line'>Come and inflame them in the stress of need. [<em>Exit</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> My heart is full of care and knows not sleep,</div> - <div class='line in6'>By panic fear o'ercome;</div> - <div class='line in6'>And troubles throng my soul,</div> - <div class='line in6'>And set a-glow my dread</div> - <div class='line'>Of the great host encamped around our walls,</div> - <div class='line in6'>As when a trembling dove</div> - <div class='line in6'>Fears, for her callow brood,</div><div class='lnum'>280</div> - <div class='line'>The snakes that come, ill mates for her soft nest;</div> - <div class='line in6'>For some upon our towers</div> - <div class='line'>March in full strength of mingled multitude;</div> - <div class='line in6'>And what will me befall?</div> - <div class='line'>And others on our men on either hand</div> - <div class='line in6'>Hurl rugged blocks of stone.</div> - <div class='line'>In every way, ye Zeus-born Gods, defend</div><div class='lnum'>290</div> - <div class='line in6'>The city and the host</div> - <div class='line in6'>That Cadmos claim as sire.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_80'>80</span><span class='sc'>Antistrophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>What better land will ye receive for this,</div> - <div class='line in8'>If ye to foes resign</div> - <div class='line in8'>This rich and fertile clime,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And that Dirkæan stream,</div> - <div class='line'>Goodliest of founts by great Poseidon sent,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Who circleth earth, or those</div> - <div class='line in8'>Who Tethys parent call?<a id='r93' /><a href='#f93' class='c011'><sup>[93]</sup></a></div><div class='lnum'>300</div> - <div class='line'>And therefore, O ye Gods that guard our city,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Sending on those without</div> - <div class='line'>Our towers a woe that robs men of their life,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And makes them lose their shield,</div> - <div class='line'>Gain glory for these countrymen of mine;</div> - <div class='line in8'>And take your standing-ground,</div> - <div class='line'>As saviours of the city, firm and true,</div> - <div class='line in8'>In answer to our cry</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of wailing and of prayer.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>For sad it were to hurl to Hades dark</div> - <div class='line in8'>A city of old fame,</div><div class='lnum'>310</div> - <div class='line in8'>The spoil and prey of war,</div> - <div class='line'>With foulest shame in dust and ashes laid,</div> - <div class='line'>By an Achæan foe at God's decree;</div> - <div class='line'>And that our women, old and young alike,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Be dragged away, ah me!</div> - <div class='line in8'>Like horses, by their hair</div> - <div class='line in8'>Their robes torn off from them.</div> - <div class='line'>And lo, the city wails, made desolate,</div> - <div class='line in8'>While with confusèd cry</div><div class='lnum'>320</div> - <div class='line'>The wretched prisoners meet doom worse than death.</div> - <div class='line in8'>Ah, at this grievous fate</div> - <div class='line in8'>I shudder ere it comes.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_81'>81</span><span class='sc'>Antistrophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And piteous 'tis for those whose youth is fresh</div> - <div class='line in8'>Before the rites that cull</div> - <div class='line in8'>Their fair and first-ripe fruit,</div> - <div class='line'>To take a hateful journey from their homes.</div> - <div class='line'>Nay, but I say the dead far better fare</div> - <div class='line'>Than these, for when a city is subdued</div> - <div class='line in8'>It bears full many an ill.</div> - <div class='line in8'>This man takes prisoner that,</div><div class='lnum'>330</div> - <div class='line in8'>Or slays, or burns with fire;</div> - <div class='line'>And all the city is defiled with smoke,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And Ares fans the flame</div> - <div class='line'>In wildest rage, and laying many low,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Tramples with foot unclean</div> - <div class='line in8'>On all men sacred hold.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And hollow din is heard throughout the town,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Hemmed in by net of towers;</div> - <div class='line'>And man by man is slaughtered with the spear,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And cries of bleeding babes,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of children at the breast,</div><div class='lnum'>340</div> - <div class='line in8'>Are heard in piteous wail,</div> - <div class='line'>And rapine, sister of the plunderer's rush,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Spoiler with spoiler meets,</div> - <div class='line'>And empty-handed empty-handed calls,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Wishing for share of gain,</div> - <div class='line'>Both eager for a portion no whit less,</div> - <div class='line in8'>For more than equal lot</div> - <div class='line'>With what they deem the others' hands have found.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And all earth's fruits cast wildly on the ground,</div><div class='lnum'>350</div> - <div class='line in8'>Meeting the cheerless eye</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_82'>82</span>Of frugal housewives, give them pain of heart;</div> - <div class='line in8'>And many a gift of earth</div> - <div class='line in8'>In formless heaps is whirled</div> - <div class='line in8'>In waves of nothingness;</div> - <div class='line'>And the young maidens know a sorrow new;</div> - <div class='line in8'>For now the foe prevails,</div> - <div class='line'>And gains rich prize of wretched captive's bed;</div><div class='lnum'>360</div> - <div class='line in8'>And now their only hope</div> - <div class='line'>Is that the night of death will come at last,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Their truest, best ally,</div> - <div class='line'>To rescue them from sorrow fraught with tears.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><em>Enter</em> <span class='sc'>Eteocles</span>, <em>followed by his</em> Chief Captains,</div> - <div><em>and by the</em> Scout</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Semi-Chor. A.</em> The army scout, so deem I, brings to us,</div> - <div class='line'>Dear friends, some tidings new, with quickest speed</div> - <div class='line'>Plying the nimble axles of his feet.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Semi-Chor. B.</em> Yea, the king's self, the son of Œdipus,</div> - <div class='line'>Is nigh to hear the scout's exact report;</div> - <div class='line'>And haste denies him too an even step.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Mess.</em> I knowing well, will our foes' state report,</div><div class='lnum'>370</div> - <div class='line'>How each his lot hath stationed at the gates.</div> - <div class='line'>At those of Prœtos, Tydeus thunders loud,</div> - <div class='line'>And him the prophet suffers not to cross</div> - <div class='line'>Ismenos' fords, the victims boding ill.<a id='r94' /><a href='#f94' class='c011'><sup>[94]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>And Tydeus, raging eager for the fight,</div> - <div class='line'>Shouts like a serpent in its noontide scream,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_83'>83</span>And on the prophet, Œcleus' son, heaps shame,</div> - <div class='line'>That he, in coward fear, doth crouch and fawn</div> - <div class='line'>Before the doom and peril of the fight.</div> - <div class='line'>And with such speech he shakes his triple crest,</div> - <div class='line'>O'ershadowing all his helm, and 'neath his shield</div><div class='lnum'>380</div> - <div class='line'>Bells wrought in bronze ring out their chimes of fear;</div> - <div class='line'>And on his shield he bears this proud device,—</div> - <div class='line'>A firmament enchased, all bright with stars;<a id='r95' /><a href='#f95' class='c011'><sup>[95]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>And in the midst the full moon's glittering orb,</div> - <div class='line'>Sovran of stars and eye of Night, shines forth.</div> - <div class='line'>And thus exulting in o'er boastful arms,</div> - <div class='line'>By the stream's bank he shouts in lust of war,</div> - <div class='line'>[E'en as a war-horse panting in his strength</div> - <div class='line'>Against the curb that galls him, who at sound</div> - <div class='line'>Of trumpet's clang chafes hotly.] Whom wilt thou</div> - <div class='line'>Set against him? Who is there strong enough</div> - <div class='line'>When the bolts yield, to guard the Prœtan gates?</div><div class='lnum'>390</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Eteoc.</em> No fear have I of any man's array;</div> - <div class='line'>Devices have no power to pierce or wound,</div> - <div class='line'>And crest and bells bite not without a spear;</div> - <div class='line'>And for this picture of the heavens at night,</div> - <div class='line'>Of which thou tellest, glittering on his shield,</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Perchance his madness may a prophet prove;</div> - <div class='line'>For if night fall upon his dying eyes,</div> - <div class='line'>Then for the man who bears that boastful sign</div> - <div class='line'>It may right well be all too truly named,</div><div class='lnum'>400</div> - <div class='line'>And his own pride shall prophet be of ill.</div> - <div class='line'>And against Tydeus, to defend the gates,</div> - <div class='line'>I'll set this valiant son of Astacos;</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_84'>84</span>Noble is he, and honouring well the throne</div> - <div class='line'>Of Reverence, and hating vaunting speech,</div> - <div class='line'>Slow to all baseness, unattuned to ill:</div> - <div class='line'>And of the dragon-race that Ares spared<a id='r96' /><a href='#f96' class='c011'><sup>[96]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>He as a scion grows, a native true,</div> - <div class='line'>E'en Melanippos; Ares soon will test</div> - <div class='line'>His valour in the hazard of the die:</div> - <div class='line'>And kindred Justice sends him forth to war,</div> - <div class='line'>For her that bore him foeman's spear to check.</div><div class='lnum'>410</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> May the Gods grant my champion good success!</div> - <div class='line in8'>For justly he goes forth</div> - <div class='line in8'>For this our State to fight;</div> - <div class='line in8'>But yet I quake with fear</div> - <div class='line'>To see the deaths of those who die for friends.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Mess.</em> Yea, may the Gods give good success to him!</div> - <div class='line'>The Electran gates have fallen to Capaneus,</div> - <div class='line'>A second giant, taller far than he</div> - <div class='line'>Just named, with boast above a mortal's bounds;</div> - <div class='line'>And dread his threats against our towers (O Fortune,</div><div class='lnum'>420</div> - <div class='line'>Turn them aside!)—for whether God doth will,</div> - <div class='line'>Or willeth not, he says that he will sack<a id='r97' /><a href='#f97' class='c011'><sup>[97]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>The city, nor shall e'en the wrath of Zeus,</div> - <div class='line'>On the plain swooping, turn him from his will;</div> - <div class='line'>And the dread lightnings and hot thunderbolts</div> - <div class='line'>He likens to the heat of noon-day sun.</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_85'>85</span>And his device, the naked form of one</div> - <div class='line'>Who bears a torch; and bright the blaze shines forth</div> - <div class='line'>And in gold characters he speaks the words,</div> - <div class='line'>“<span class='sc'>The city I will burn</span>.” Against this man</div> - <div class='line'>Send forth ... but who will meet him in the fight?</div><div class='lnum'>430</div> - <div class='line'>Who, without fear, await this warrior proud?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Eteoc.</em> Herein, too, profit upon profit comes;</div> - <div class='line'>And 'gainst the vain and boastful thoughts of men,</div> - <div class='line'>Their tongue itself is found accuser true.</div> - <div class='line'>Threatening, equipped for work is Capaneus,</div> - <div class='line'>Scorning the Gods: and giving speech full play,</div> - <div class='line'>And in wild joy, though mortal, vents at Zeus,</div> - <div class='line'>High in the heavens, loud-spoken foaming words.</div> - <div class='line'>And well I trust on him shall rightly come</div> - <div class='line'>Fire-bearing thunder, nothing likened then</div> - <div class='line'>To heat of noon-day sun. And so 'gainst him,</div><div class='lnum'>440</div> - <div class='line'>Though very bold of speech, a man is set</div> - <div class='line'>Of fiery temper, Polyphontes strong,</div> - <div class='line'>A trusty bulwark, by the loving grace</div> - <div class='line'>Of guardian Artemis<a id='r98' /><a href='#f98' class='c011'><sup>[98]</sup></a> and other Gods.</div> - <div class='line'>Describe another, placed at other gates.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> A curse on him who 'gainst our city boasts!</div> - <div class='line in8'>May thunder smite him down</div><div class='lnum'>450</div> - <div class='line in8'>Before he force his way</div> - <div class='line in8'>Into my home, and drive</div> - <div class='line'>Me from my maiden bower with haughty spear?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Mess.</em> And now I'll tell of him who by the gates</div> - <div class='line'>Stands next; for to Eteocles, as third,</div> - <div class='line'>To march his cohort to Neïstian gates,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_86'>86</span>Leaped the third lot from upturned brazen helm:</div> - <div class='line'>And he his mares, in head-gear snorting, whirls,</div> - <div class='line'>Full eager at the gates to fall and die;</div> - <div class='line'>Their whistling nozzles of barbaric mode,</div> - <div class='line'>Are filled with loud blast of the panting nostrils.<a id='r99' /><a href='#f99' class='c011'><sup>[99]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>In no poor fashion is his shield devised;</div><div class='lnum'>460</div> - <div class='line'>A full-armed warrior climbs a ladder's rungs,</div> - <div class='line'>And mounts his foeman's towers as bent to sack;</div> - <div class='line'>And he too cries, in words of written speech,</div> - <div class='line'>That “<span class='sc'>Not e'en Ares from the towers shall drive him</span>.”</div> - <div class='line'>Send thou against him some defender true,</div> - <div class='line'>To ward the yoke of bondage from our State.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Eteoc.</em> Such would I send now; by good luck indeed</div> - <div class='line'>He has been sent, his vaunting in his deeds,</div> - <div class='line'>Megareus, Creon's son, who claims descent</div> - <div class='line'>From those as Sparti known, and not by noise</div> - <div class='line'>Of neighings loud of warlike steeds dismayed,</div><div class='lnum'>470</div> - <div class='line'>Will he the gates abandon, but in death</div> - <div class='line'>Will pay our land his nurture's debt in full,<a id='r100' /><a href='#f100' class='c011'><sup>[100]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Or taking two men, and a town to boot,</div> - <div class='line'>(That on the shield,) will deck his father's house</div> - <div class='line'>With those his trophies. Of another tell</div> - <div class='line'>The bragging tale, nor grudge thy words to me.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Him I wish good success,</div> - <div class='line'>O guardian of my home, and for his foes</div> - <div class='line in8'>All ill success I pray;</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_87'>87</span>And since against our land their haughty words</div> - <div class='line'>With maddened soul they speak,</div> - <div class='line'>May Zeus, the sovran judge,</div> - <div class='line'>With fiery, hot displeasure look on them!</div><div class='lnum'>480</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Mess.</em> Another stands as fourth at gates hard by,</div> - <div class='line'>Onca-Athenà's, with a shout of war,</div> - <div class='line'>Hippomedon's great form and massive limbs;</div> - <div class='line'>And as he whirled his orb, his vast shield's disk,</div> - <div class='line'>I shuddered; yea, no idle words I speak.</div> - <div class='line'>No cheap and common draughtsman sure was he</div> - <div class='line'>Who wrought this cunning ensign on his shield:</div> - <div class='line'>Typhon emitting from his lips hot blast</div> - <div class='line'>Of darkling smoke, the flickering twin of fire:</div> - <div class='line'>And round the belly of the hollow shield</div> - <div class='line'>A rim was made with wreaths of twisted snakes.</div><div class='lnum'>490</div> - <div class='line'>And he too shouts his war-cry, and in frenzy,</div> - <div class='line'>As man possessed by Ares, hastes to battle,</div> - <div class='line'>Like Thyiad, darting terror from his eyes.<a id='r101' /><a href='#f101' class='c011'><sup>[101]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>'Gainst such a hero's might we well may guard;</div> - <div class='line'>Already at the gates men brag of rout.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Eteoc.</em> First, the great Onca-Pallas, dwelling nigh</div> - <div class='line'>Our city's gates, and hating man's bold pride,</div> - <div class='line'>Shall ward him from her nestlings like a snake</div> - <div class='line'>Of venom dread; and next Hyperbios,</div> - <div class='line'>The stalwart son of Œnops, has been chosen,</div><div class='lnum'>500</div> - <div class='line'>A hero 'gainst this hero, willing found</div> - <div class='line'>To try his destiny at Fortune's hest.</div> - <div class='line'>No fault has he in form, or heart, or arms;</div> - <div class='line'>And Hermes with good reason pairs them off;</div> - <div class='line'>For man with man will fight as enemy,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_88'>88</span>And on their shields they'll bring opposing Gods;</div> - <div class='line'>For this man beareth Typhon, breathing fire,</div> - <div class='line'>And on Hyperbios' shield sits father Zeus,</div> - <div class='line'>Full firm, with burning thunderbolt in hand;</div> - <div class='line'>And never yet has man seen Zeus, I trow,</div> - <div class='line'>O'ercome. Such then the favour of the Gods,</div><div class='lnum'>510</div> - <div class='line'>We with the winners, they with losers are:<a id='r102' /><a href='#f102' class='c011'><sup>[102]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Good reason then the rivals so should fare,</div> - <div class='line'>If Zeus than Typhon stronger be in fight,</div> - <div class='line'>And to Hyperbios Zeus will saviour prove,</div> - <div class='line'>As that device upon his shield presents him.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Now do I trust that he</div> - <div class='line'>Who bears upon his shield the hated form</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of Power whom Earth doth shroud,</div> - <div class='line'>Antagonist to Zeus, unloved by men</div> - <div class='line in8'>And by the ageless Gods,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Before those gates of ours</div> - <div class='line'>To his own hurt may dash his haughty head.</div><div class='lnum'>520</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Mess.</em> So may it be! And now the fifth I tell,</div> - <div class='line'>Who the fifth gates, the Northern, occupies,</div> - <div class='line'>Hard by Amphion's tomb, the son of Zeus;</div> - <div class='line'>And by his spear he swears, (which he is bold</div> - <div class='line'>To honour more than God or his own eyes,)</div> - <div class='line'>That he will sack the fort of the Cadmeians</div> - <div class='line'>With that spear's might. So speaks the offspring fair</div> - <div class='line'>Of mother mountain-bred, a stripling hero;</div> - <div class='line'>And the soft down is creeping o'er his cheeks,</div><div class='lnum'>530</div> - <div class='line'>Youth's growth, and hair that floweth full and thick;</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_89'>89</span>And he with soul, not maiden's like his name,<a id='r103' /><a href='#f103' class='c011'><sup>[103]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>But stern, with flashing eye, is standing there.</div> - <div class='line'>Nor stands he at the gate without a vaunt;</div> - <div class='line'>For on his brass-wrought buckler, strong defence,</div> - <div class='line'>Full-orbed, his body guarding, he the shame</div> - <div class='line'>Of this our city bears, the ravenous Sphinx,</div> - <div class='line'>With rivets fixed, all burnished and embossed;<a id='r104' /><a href='#f104' class='c011'><sup>[104]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>And under her she holdeth a Cadmeian,</div> - <div class='line'>That so on him most arrows might be shot.</div> - <div class='line'>No chance that he will fight a peddling fight,</div><div class='lnum'>540</div> - <div class='line'>Nor shame the long, long journey he hath come,</div> - <div class='line'>Parthenopæos, in Arcadia born:</div> - <div class='line'>This man did Argos welcome as a guest,</div> - <div class='line'>And now he pays her for her goodly rearing,</div> - <div class='line'>And threatens these our towers with ... God avert it!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Eteoc.</em> Should the Gods give them what they plan 'gainst us,</div> - <div class='line'>Then they, with those their godless boastings high,</div> - <div class='line'>Would perish shamefully and utterly.</div> - <div class='line'>And for this man of Arcady thou tell'st of,</div> - <div class='line'>We have a man who boasts not, but his hand</div> - <div class='line'>Sees the right thing to do;—Actôr, of him</div><div class='lnum'>550</div> - <div class='line'>I named but now the brother,—who no tongue</div> - <div class='line'>Divorced from deeds will ever let within</div> - <div class='line'>Our gates, to spread and multiply our ills,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor him who bears upon his foeman's shield</div> - <div class='line'>The image of the hateful venomed beast;</div> - <div class='line'>But she without shall blame him as he tries</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_90'>90</span>To take her in, when she beneath our walls</div> - <div class='line'>Gets sorely bruised and battered.<a id='r105' /><a href='#f105' class='c011'><sup>[105]</sup></a> And herein,</div> - <div class='line'>If the Gods will, I prophet true shall prove.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Thy words thrill through my breast;</div> - <div class='line in8'>My hair stands all on end,</div> - <div class='line in8'>To hear the boastings great</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of those who speak great things</div><div class='lnum'>560</div> - <div class='line in8'>Unholy. May the Gods</div> - <div class='line in8'>Destroy them in our land!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Mess.</em> A sixth I tell of, one of noblest mood,</div> - <div class='line'>Amphiaraos, seer and warrior famed;</div> - <div class='line'>He, stationed at the Homolôian gates,</div> - <div class='line'>Reproves the mighty Tydeus with sharp words</div> - <div class='line'>As 'murderer,' and 'troubler of the State,'<a id='r106' /><a href='#f106' class='c011'><sup>[106]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>'To Argos teacher of all direst ills,</div> - <div class='line'>Erinnys' sumpnour,'<a id='r107' /><a href='#f107' class='c011'><sup>[107]</sup></a> 'murder's minister,'</div><div class='lnum'>570</div> - <div class='line'>Whose counsels led Adrastos to these ills.</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>And at thy brother Polyneikes glancing</div> - <div class='line'>With eyes uplifted for his father's fate,</div> - <div class='line'>And ending, twice he syllabled his name,<a id='r108' /><a href='#f108' class='c011'><sup>[108]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>And called him, and thus speaketh with his lips:—</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_91'>91</span>“A goodly deed, and pleasant to the Gods,</div> - <div class='line'>Noble for after age to hear and tell,</div> - <div class='line'>Thy father's city and thy country's Gods</div> - <div class='line'>To waste through might of mercenary host!</div> - <div class='line'>And how shall Justice stay thy mother's tears?<a id='r109' /><a href='#f109' class='c011'><sup>[109]</sup></a></div><div class='lnum'>580</div> - <div class='line'>And how, when conquered, shall thy fatherland,</div> - <div class='line'>Laid waste, become a true ally to thee?</div> - <div class='line'>As for myself, I shall that land make rich,<a id='r110' /><a href='#f110' class='c011'><sup>[110]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>A prophet buried in a foeman's soil:</div> - <div class='line'>To arms! I look for no inglorious death.”</div> - <div class='line'>So spake the prophet, bearing full-orbed shield</div> - <div class='line'>Wrought all of bronze, no ensign on that orb.</div> - <div class='line'>He wishes to be just, and not to seem,<a id='r111' /><a href='#f111' class='c011'><sup>[111]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Reaping full harvest from his soul's deep furrows,</div> - <div class='line'>Whence ever new and noble counsels spring.</div><div class='lnum'>590</div> - <div class='line'>I bid thee send defenders wise and brave</div> - <div class='line'>Against him. Dread is he who fears the Gods.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Eteoc.</em> Fie on the chance that brings the righteous man</div> - <div class='line'>Close-mated with the ungodly! In all deeds</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_92'>92</span>Nought is there worse than evil fellowship,</div> - <div class='line'>A crop men should not reap. Death still is found</div> - <div class='line'>The harvest of the field of frenzied pride;</div> - <div class='line'>For either hath the godly man embarked</div> - <div class='line'>With sailors hot in insolence and guile,<a id='r112' /><a href='#f112' class='c011'><sup>[112]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>And perished with the race the Gods did loathe;</div><div class='lnum'>600</div> - <div class='line'>Or just himself, with citizens who wrong</div> - <div class='line'>The stranger and are heedless of the Gods,</div> - <div class='line'>Falling most justly in the self-same snare,</div> - <div class='line'>By God's scourge smitten, shares the common doom.</div> - <div class='line'>And thus this seer I speak of, Œcleus' son,</div> - <div class='line'>Righteous, and wise, and good, and reverent,</div> - <div class='line'>A mighty prophet, mingling with the godless</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>And men full bold of speech in reason's spite,</div> - <div class='line'>Who take long march to reach a far-off city,<a id='r113' /><a href='#f113' class='c011'><sup>[113]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>If Zeus so will, shall be hurled down with them.</div><div class='lnum'>610</div> - <div class='line'>And he, I trow, shall not draw nigh the gates,</div> - <div class='line'>Not through faint-heart or any vice of mood,</div> - <div class='line'>But well he knows this war shall bring his death,</div> - <div class='line'>If any fruit is found in Loxias' words;</div> - <div class='line'>And He or holds his speech or speaks in season.</div> - <div class='line'>Yet against him the hero Lasthenes,</div> - <div class='line'>A foe of strangers, at the gates we'll set;</div> - <div class='line'>Old in his mind, his body in its prime,</div> - <div class='line'>His eye swift-footed, and his hand not slow</div> - <div class='line'>To grasp the spear from 'neath the shield laid bare:<a id='r114' /><a href='#f114' class='c011'><sup>[114]</sup></a></div><div class='lnum'>620</div> - <div class='line'>Yet 'tis by God's gift men must win success.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_93'>93</span><span class='sc'>Antistrophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Hear, O ye Gods! our prayers,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Our just entreaties grant,</div> - <div class='line in8'>That so our State be blest.</div> - <div class='line in8'>Turn ye the toils of war</div> - <div class='line in8'>Upon the invading host.</div> - <div class='line in8'>Outside the walls may Zeus</div> - <div class='line in8'>With thunder smite them low!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Mess.</em> The seventh chief then who at the seventh gate stands,</div> - <div class='line'>Thine own, own brother, I will speak of now,</div> - <div class='line'>What curses on our State he pours, and prays</div><div class='lnum'>630</div> - <div class='line'>That he the towers ascending, and proclaimed</div> - <div class='line'>By herald's voice to all the territory,</div> - <div class='line'>And shouting out the captor's pæan-cry,</div> - <div class='line'>May so fight with thee, slay, and with thee die;</div> - <div class='line'>Or driving thee alive, who did'st him wrong,</div> - <div class='line'>May on thee a vengeance wreak like in kind.</div> - <div class='line'>So clamours he, and bids his father's Gods,</div> - <div class='line'>His country's guardians, look upon his prayers,</div> - <div class='line'>[And grant them all. So Polyneikes prays.]</div> - <div class='line'>And he a new and well-wrought shield doth bear,</div> - <div class='line'>And twofold sign upon it riveted;</div><div class='lnum'>640</div> - <div class='line'>For there a woman with a stately tread</div> - <div class='line'>Leads one who seems a warrior wrought in gold:</div> - <div class='line'>Justice she calls herself, and thus she speaks:</div> - <div class='line'>“<span class='sc'>I will bring back this man, and he shall have</span></div> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>The city and his father's dwelling-place</span>.”</div> - <div class='line'>Such are the signs and mottoes of those men;</div> - <div class='line'>And thou, know well whom thou dost mean to send:</div> - <div class='line'>So thou shalt never blame my heraldings;</div> - <div class='line'>And thou thyself know how to steer the State.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Eteoc.</em> O frenzy-stricken, hated sore of Gods!</div><div class='lnum'>650</div> - <div class='line'>O woe-fraught race (my race!) of Œdipus!</div> - <div class='line'>Ah me! my father's curse is now fulfilled;</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_94'>94</span>But neither is it meet to weep or wail,</div> - <div class='line'>Lest cry more grievous on the issue come.</div> - <div class='line'>Of Polyneikes, name and omen true,</div> - <div class='line'>We soon shall know what way his badge shall end,</div> - <div class='line'>Whether his gold-wrought letters shall restore him,</div> - <div class='line'>His shield's great swelling words with frenzied soul.</div> - <div class='line'>An if great Justice, Zeus's virgin child,</div> - <div class='line'>Ruled o'er his words and acts, this might have been;</div><div class='lnum'>660</div> - <div class='line'>But neither when he left his mother's womb,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor in his youth, nor yet in ripening age,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor when his beard was gathered on his chin,</div> - <div class='line'>Did Justice count him meet for fellowship;</div> - <div class='line'>Nor do I think that she befriends him now</div> - <div class='line'>In this great outrage on his father's land.</div> - <div class='line'>Yea, justly Justice would as falsely named</div> - <div class='line'>Be known, if she with one all-daring joined.</div> - <div class='line'>In this I trust, and I myself will face him:</div> - <div class='line'>Who else could claim a greater right than I?</div><div class='lnum'>670</div> - <div class='line'>Brother with brother fighting, king with king,</div> - <div class='line'>And foe with foe, I'll stand. Come, quickly fetch</div> - <div class='line'>My greaves that guard against the spear and stones.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Nay, dearest friend, thou son of Œdipus,</div> - <div class='line'>Be ye not like to him with that ill name.</div> - <div class='line'>It is enough Cadmeian men should fight</div> - <div class='line'>Against the Argives. That blood may be cleansed;</div> - <div class='line'>But death so murderous of two brothers born,</div> - <div class='line'>This is pollution that will ne'er wax old.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Eteoc.</em> If a man must bear evil, let him still</div><div class='lnum'>680</div> - <div class='line'>Be without shame—sole profit that in death.</div> - <div class='line'>[No glory comes of base and evil deeds].</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> What dost thou crave, my son? Let no ill fate,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Frenzied and hot for war,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Carry thee headlong on;</div> - <div class='line'>Check the first onset of an evil lust.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_95'>95</span><em>Eteoc.</em> Since God so hotly urges on the matter,</div> - <div class='line'>Let all of Laios' race whom Phœbos hates,</div> - <div class='line'>Drift with the breeze upon Cokytos' wave.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> An over-fierce and passionate desire</div> - <div class='line in8'>Stirs thee and pricks thee on</div> - <div class='line in8'>To work an evil deed</div> - <div class='line'>Of guilt of blood thy hand should never shed.</div><div class='lnum'>690</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Eteoc.</em> Nay, my dear father's curse, in full-grown hate,</div> - <div class='line'>Dwells on dry eyes that cannot shed a tear,</div> - <div class='line'>And speaks of gain before the after-doom.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> But be not thou urged on. The coward's name</div> - <div class='line in8'>Shall not be thine, for thou</div> - <div class='line in8'>Hast ordered well thy life.</div> - <div class='line'>Dark-robed Erinnys enters not the house,</div> - <div class='line in8'>When at men's hands the Gods</div> - <div class='line in8'>Accept their sacrifice.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Eteoc.</em> As for the Gods, they scorned us long ago,</div> - <div class='line'>And smile but on the offering of our deaths;</div><div class='lnum'>700</div> - <div class='line'>What boots it then on death's doom still to fawn?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Nay do it now, while yet 'tis in thy power;<a id='r115' /><a href='#f115' class='c011'><sup>[115]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>Perchance may fortune shift</div> - <div class='line in8'>With tardy change of mood,</div> - <div class='line'>And come with spirit less implacable:</div> - <div class='line in8'>At present fierce and hot</div> - <div class='line in8'>She waxeth in her rage.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Eteoc.</em> Yea, fierce and hot the Curse of Œdipus;</div> - <div class='line'>And all too true the visions of the night,</div> - <div class='line'>My father's treasured store distributing.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Yield to us women, though thou lov'st us not.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Eteoc.</em> Speak then what may be done, and be not long.</div><div class='lnum'>710</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Tread not the path that to the seventh gate leads.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_96'>96</span><em>Eteoc.</em> Thou shall not blunt my sharpened edge with words.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> And yet God loves the victory that submits.<a id='r116' /><a href='#f116' class='c011'><sup>[116]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Eteoc.</em> That word a warrior must not tolerate.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Dost thou then haste thy brother's blood to shed?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Eteoc.</em> If the Gods grant it, he shall not 'scape harm.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Exeunt</span></i> <span class='sc'>Eteocles</span>, Scout, <em>and</em> Captains</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> I fear her might who doth this whole house wreck,</div> - <div class='line in8'>The Goddess unlike Gods,</div> - <div class='line'>The prophetess of evil all too true,</div> - <div class='line'>The Erinnys of thy father's imprecations,</div><div class='lnum'>720</div> - <div class='line in8'>Lest she fulfil the curse,</div> - <div class='line in8'>O'er-wrathful, frenzy-fraught,</div> - <div class='line in8'>The curse of Œdipus,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Laying his children low.</div> - <div class='line in8'>This Strife doth urge them on.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And now a stranger doth divide the lots,</div> - <div class='line'>The Chalyb,<a id='r117' /><a href='#f117' class='c011'><sup>[117]</sup></a> from the Skythians emigrant,</div> - <div class='line'>The stern distributor of heaped-up wealth,</div> - <div class='line'>The iron that hath assigned them just so much</div> - <div class='line in8'><span class='pageno' id='Page_97'>97</span>Of land as theirs, no more,</div> - <div class='line in8'>As may suffice for them</div> - <div class='line in8'>As grave when they shall fall,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Without or part or lot</div> - <div class='line in8'>In the broad-spreading plains.</div><div class='lnum'>730</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>And when the hands of each</div> - <div class='line in8'>The other's blood have shed,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And the earth's dust shall drink</div> - <div class='line in8'>The black and clotted gore,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Who then can purify?</div> - <div class='line in8'>Who cleanse thee from the guilt?</div> - <div class='line in8'>Ah me! O sorrows new,</div> - <div class='line'>That mingle with the old woes of our house!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>I tell the ancient tale</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of sin that brought swift doom;</div><div class='lnum'>740</div> - <div class='line in8'>Till the third age it waits,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Since Laios, heeding not</div> - <div class='line in8'>Apollo's oracle,</div> - <div class='line in8'>(Though spoken thrice to him</div> - <div class='line in4'>In Pythia's central shrine,)</div> - <div class='line'>That dying childless, he should save the State.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>But he by those he loved full rashly swayed,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Doom for himself begat,</div> - <div class='line in8'>His murderer Œdipus,</div><div class='lnum'>750</div> - <div class='line in8'>Who dared to sow in field</div> - <div class='line in8'>Unholy, whence he sprang,</div> - <div class='line in8'>A root of blood-flecked woe.</div> - <div class='line in8'>Madness together brought</div> - <div class='line in8'>Bridegroom and bride accursed.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_98'>98</span><span class='sc'>Antistrophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And now the sea of evil pours its flood:</div> - <div class='line in8'>This falling, others rise,</div> - <div class='line in8'>As with a triple crest,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Which round the State's stern roars:</div> - <div class='line in8'>And but a bulwark slight,</div> - <div class='line in8'>A tower's poor breadth, defends:</div><div class='lnum'>760</div> - <div class='line in8'>And lest the city fall</div> - <div class='line in8'>With its two kings I fear.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe IV</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>And that atonement of the ancient curse</div> - <div class='line in8'>Receives fulfilment now;<a id='r118' /><a href='#f118' class='c011'><sup>[118]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>And when they come, the evils pass not by.</div> - <div class='line'>E'en so the wealth of sea-adventurers,</div> - <div class='line in8'>When heaped up in excess,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Leads but to cargo from the stern thrown out.<a id='r119' /><a href='#f119' class='c011'><sup>[119]</sup></a></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe IV</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>For whom of mortals did the Gods so praise,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And fellow-worshippers,</div><div class='lnum'>770</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>And race of those who feed their flocks and herds<a id='r120' /><a href='#f120' class='c011'><sup>[120]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>As much as then they honoured Œdipus,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Who from our country's bounds</div> - <div class='line'>Had driven the monster, murderess of men?</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_99'>99</span><span class='sc'>Strophe V</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>And when too late he knew,</div> - <div class='line'>Ah, miserable man! his wedlock dire,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Vexed sore with that dread shame,</div> - <div class='line in8'>With heart to madness driven,</div> - <div class='line in8'>He wrought a twofold ill,</div> - <div class='line'>And with the hand that smote his father's life</div><div class='lnum'>780</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Blinded the eyes that might his sons have seen.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe V</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>And with a mind provoked</div> - <div class='line'>By nurture scant, he at his sons did hurl<a id='r121' /><a href='#f121' class='c011'><sup>[121]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>His curses dire and dark,</div> - <div class='line in8'>(Ah, bitter curses those!)</div> - <div class='line in8'>That they with spear in hand</div> - <div class='line'>Should one day share their father's wealth; and I</div> - <div class='line'>Fear now lest swift Erinnys should fulfil them.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><em>Enter</em> Messenger</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Mess.</em> Be of good cheer, ye maidens, mother-reared;</div> - <div class='line'>Our city has escaped the yoke of bondage,</div><div class='lnum'>790</div> - <div class='line'>The boasts of mighty men are fallen low,</div> - <div class='line'>And this our city in calm waters floats,</div> - <div class='line'>And, though by waves lashed, springs not any leak.</div> - <div class='line'>Our fortress still holds out, and we did guard</div> - <div class='line'>The gates with champions who redeemed their pledge.</div> - <div class='line'>In the six gateways almost all goes well;</div> - <div class='line'>But the seventh gate did King Apollo choose,<a id='r122' /><a href='#f122' class='c011'><sup>[122]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_100'>100</span>Seventh mighty chief, avenging Laios' want</div> - <div class='line'>Of counsel on the sons of Œdipus.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> What new disaster happens to our city?<a id='r123' /><a href='#f123' class='c011'><sup>[123]</sup></a></div><div class='lnum'>800</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Mess.</em> The city's saved, but both the royal brothers,...</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Who? and what of them? I'm distraught with fear.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Mess.</em> Be calm, and hear: the sons of Œdipus,...</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Oh wretched me! a prophet I of ill!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Mess.</em> Slain by each other, earth has drunk their blood.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Came they to that? 'Tis dire; yet tell it me.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Mess.</em> Too true, by brother's hand our chiefs are slain.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> What, did the brother's hands the brother lay?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Mess.</em> No doubt is there that they are laid in dust.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Thus was there then a common fate for both?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Mess.</em> <a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Yea, it lays low the whole ill-fated race.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> These things give cause for gladness and for tears,</div><div class='lnum'>810</div> - <div class='line'>Seeing that our city prospers, and our lords,</div> - <div class='line'>The generals twain, with well-wrought Skythian steel,</div> - <div class='line'>Have shared between them all their store of goods,</div> - <div class='line'>And now shall have their portion in a grave,</div> - <div class='line'>Borne on, as spake their father's grievous curse.<a id='r124' /><a href='#f124' class='c011'><sup>[124]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Mess.</em> [The city's saved, but of the brother-kings</div> - <div class='line'>The earth has drunk the blood, each slain by each.]</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Great Zeus! and ye, O Gods!</div> - <div class='line'>Guardians of this our town,</div> - <div class='line'>Who save in very deed</div> - <div class='line'>The towers of Cadmos old,</div><div class='lnum'>820</div> - <div class='line in8'><span class='pageno' id='Page_101'>101</span>Shall I rejoice and shout</div> - <div class='line in8'>Over the happy chance</div> - <div class='line in8'>That frees our State from harm;</div> - <div class='line in8'>Or weep that ill-starred pair,</div> - <div class='line'>The war-chiefs, childless and most miserable,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Who, true to that ill name</div> - <div class='line'>Of Polyneikes, died in impious mood,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Contending overmuch?</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>Oh dark, and all too true</div> - <div class='line'>That curse of Œdipus and all his race,<a id='r125' /><a href='#f125' class='c011'><sup>[125]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>An evil chill is falling on my heart,</div><div class='lnum'>830</div> - <div class='line in8'>And, like a Thyiad wild,</div> - <div class='line'>Over his grave I sing a dirge of grief,</div> - <div class='line'>Hearing the dead have died by evil fate,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Each in foul bloodshed steeped;</div> - <div class='line'>Ah me! Ill-omened is the spear's accord.<a id='r126' /><a href='#f126' class='c011'><sup>[126]</sup></a></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>It hath wrought out its end,</div> - <div class='line'>And hath not failed, that prayer the father poured;</div> - <div class='line'>And Laios' reckless counsels work till now:</div> - <div class='line in8'>I fear me for the State;</div> - <div class='line'>The oracles have not yet lost their edge;</div><div class='lnum'>840</div> - <div class='line'>O men of many sorrows, ye have wrought</div> - <div class='line'>This deed incredible;</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_102'>102</span>Not now in word come woes most lamentable.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<em>As the Chorus are speaking, the bodies of</em> <span class='sc'>Eteocles</span></div> - <div class='line in4'><em>and</em> <span class='sc'>Polyneikes</span> <em>are brought in solemn procession</em></div> - <div class='line in4'><em>by</em> Theban Citizens</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Epode</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>Yea, it is all too clear,</div> - <div class='line'>The herald's tale of woe comes full in sight;</div> - <div class='line'>Twofold our cares, twin evils born of pride,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Murderous, with double doom,</div> - <div class='line'>Wrought unto full completeness all these ills.</div> - <div class='line in8'>What shall I say? What else</div> - <div class='line'>Are they than woes that make this house their home?</div> - <div class='line'>But oh! my friends, ply, ply with swift, strong gale,</div> - <div class='line'>That even stroke of hands upon your head,<a id='r127' /><a href='#f127' class='c011'><sup>[127]</sup></a></div><div class='lnum'>850</div> - <div class='line'>In funeral order, such as evermore</div> - <div class='line in8'>O'er Acheron sends on</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>That bark of State, dark-rigged, accursed its voyage,</div> - <div class='line'>Which nor Apollo visits nor the sun,<a id='r128' /><a href='#f128' class='c011'><sup>[128]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>On to the shore unseen,</div> - <div class='line in8'>The resting-place of all.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<span class='sc'>Ismene</span> <em>and</em> <span class='sc'>Antigone</span> <em>are seen approaching in</em></div> - <div class='line in4'><em>mourning garments, followed by a procession of</em></div> - <div class='line in4'><em>women wailing and lamenting</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>For see, they come to bitter deed called forth,</div> - <div class='line'>Ismene and the maid Antigone,</div> - <div class='line in8'>To wail their brothers' fall;</div> - <div class='line in8'>With little doubt I deem,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_103'>103</span>That they will pour from fond, deep-bosomed breasts</div> - <div class='line in8'>A worthy strain of grief:</div> - <div class='line in8'>But it is meet that we,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Before we hear their cry,</div><div class='lnum'>860</div> - <div class='line'>Should utter the harsh hymn Erinnys loves,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And sing to Hades dark</div> - <div class='line in8'>The Pæan of distress.</div> - <div class='line'>O ye, most evil-fated in your kin,</div> - <div class='line'>Of all who guard their robes with maiden's band,</div> - <div class='line'>I weep and wail, and feigning know I none,</div> - <div class='line in8'>That I should fail to speak</div> - <div class='line in8'>My sorrow from my heart.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Semi-Chor. A.</em> Alas! alas!</div> - <div class='line'>Men of stern mood, who would not list to friends,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Unwearied in all ills,</div><div class='lnum'>870</div> - <div class='line'>Seizing your father's house, O wretched ones</div> - <div class='line in8'>With the spear's murderous point.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Semi-Chor. B.</em> Yea, wretched they who found a wretched doom,</div> - <div class='line in8'>With havoc of the house.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Semi-Chor. A.</em> Alas! alas!</div> - <div class='line'>Ye who laid low the ancient walls of home,</div> - <div class='line in8'>On sovereignty, ill won,</div> - <div class='line'>Your eyes have looked, and ye at last are brought</div> - <div class='line in8'>To concord by the sword.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_104'>104</span><em>Semi-Chor. B.</em> Yea, of a truth, the curse of Œdipus</div><div class='lnum'>880</div> - <div class='line in8'>Erinnys dread fulfils.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Semi-Chor. A.</em> Yea, smitten through the heart,</div> - <div class='line'>Smitten through sides where flowed the blood of brothers.</div> - <div class='line in8'>Ah me! ye doomed of God!</div> - <div class='line in8'>Ah me! the curses dire</div> - <div class='line'>Of deaths ye met with each at other's hands!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Semi-Chor. B.</em> Thou tell'st of men death-smitten through and through,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Both in their homes and lives,</div> - <div class='line in8'>With wrath beyond all speech,</div><div class='lnum'>890</div> - <div class='line in8'>And doom of discord fell,</div> - <div class='line'>That sprang from out the curse their father spake.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Semi-Chor. A.</em> Yea, through the city runs</div> - <div class='line'>A wailing cry. The high towers wail aloud;</div> - <div class='line'>Wails all the plain that loves her heroes well;</div> - <div class='line in8'>And to their children's sons</div> - <div class='line in8'>The wealth will go for which</div> - <div class='line'>The strife of those ill-starred ones brought forth death.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Semi-Chor. B.</em> Quick to resent, they shared their fortune so,</div> - <div class='line in8'>That each like portion won;</div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Nor can their friends regard</div> - <div class='line in8'>Their umpire without blame;</div><div class='lnum'>900</div> - <div class='line'>Nor is our voice in thanks to Ares raised.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Semi-Chor. A.</em> By the sword smitten low,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Thus are they now;</div> - <div class='line in8'>By the sword smitten low,</div> - <div class='line in8'><span class='pageno' id='Page_105'>105</span>There wait them ... Nay,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Doth one perchance ask what?</div> - <div class='line'>Shares in their old ancestral sepulchres.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Semi-Chor. B.</em> <a href='#asterisk'>*</a>The sorrow of the house is borne to them</div> - <div class='line in8'>By my heart-rending wail.</div> - <div class='line in8'>Mine own the cries I pour;</div> - <div class='line in8'>Mine own the woes I weep,</div> - <div class='line'>Bitter and joyless, shedding truest tears</div><div class='lnum'>910</div> - <div class='line'>From heart that faileth, even as they fall,</div> - <div class='line'>For these two kingly chiefs.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Semi-Chor. A.</em> Yes; one may say of them,</div> - <div class='line in8'>That wretched pair,</div> - <div class='line in8'>That they much ill have wrought</div> - <div class='line in8'>To their own host;</div> - <div class='line in8'>Yea, and to alien ranks</div> - <div class='line'>Of many nations fallen in the fray.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Semi-Chor.</em> B. Ah! miserable she who bare those twain,</div> - <div class='line in8'>'Bove all of women born</div> - <div class='line in8'>Who boast a mother's name!</div><div class='lnum'>920</div> - <div class='line in8'>Taking her son, her own,</div> - <div class='line in8'>As spouse, she bare these children, and they both,</div> - <div class='line'>By mutual slaughter and by brothers' hands,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Have found their end in death.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe IV</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Semi-Chor. A.</em> Yes; of the same womb born, and doomèd both,</div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Not as friends part, they fell,</div> - <div class='line in8'>In strife to madness pushed</div> - <div class='line in8'>In this their quarrel's end.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_106'>106</span><em>Semi-Chor. B.</em> The quarrel now is hushed,</div> - <div class='line'>And in the ensanguined earth their lives are blent;</div><div class='lnum'>930</div> - <div class='line in8'>Full near in blood are they.</div> - <div class='line in8'>Stern umpire of their strifes</div> - <div class='line'>Has been the stranger from beyond the sea,<a id='r129' /><a href='#f129' class='c011'><sup>[129]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Fresh from the furnace, keen and sharpened steel.</div> - <div class='line in8'>Stern, too, is Ares found,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Distributing their goods,</div> - <div class='line'>Making their father's curses all too true.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe IV</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Semi-Chor. A.</em> At last they have their share, ah, wretched ones!</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of burdens sent from God.</div><div class='lnum'>940</div> - <div class='line in8'>And now beneath them lies</div> - <div class='line in8'>A boundless wealth of——earth.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Semi-Chor. B.</em> O ye who your own race</div> - <div class='line'>Have made to burgeon out with many woes!</div> - <div class='line in8'>Over the end at last</div> - <div class='line in8'>The brood of Curses raise</div> - <div class='line'>Their shrill, sharp cry of lamentation loud,</div> - <div class='line'>The race being put to flight of utmost rout,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And Atè's trophy stands,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Where in the gates they fell;</div> - <div class='line'>And Fate, now both are conquered, rests at last.</div><div class='lnum'>950</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><em>Enter</em> <span class='sc'>Antigone</span> <em>and</em> <span class='sc'>Ismene</span>, <em>followed by mourning</em></div> - <div><em>maidens</em><a id='r130' /><a href='#f130' class='c011'><sup>[130]</sup></a></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ant.</em> Thou wast smitten, and thou smotest.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ism.</em> Thou did'st slaughter, and wast slaughtered.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_107'>107</span><em>Ant.</em> Thou with spear to death did'st smite him.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ism.</em> Thou with spear to death wast smitten.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ant.</em> Oh, the woe of all your labours!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ism.</em> Oh, the woe of all ye suffered!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ant.</em> Pour the cry of lamentation.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ism.</em> Pour the tears of bitter weeping.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ant.</em> There in death thou liest prostrate.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ism.</em> Having wrought a great destruction.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ant.</em> Ah! my mind is crazed with wailing.</div><div class='lnum'>960</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ism.</em> Yea, my heart within me groaneth.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ant.</em> Thou for whom the city weepeth!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ism.</em> Thou too, doomed to all ill-fortune!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ant.</em> By a loved hand thou hast perished.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ism.</em> And a loved form thou hast slaughtered.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ant.</em> Double woes are ours to tell of.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ism.</em> Double woes too ours to look on.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ant.</em> <a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Twofold sorrows from near kindred.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ism.</em> <a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Sisters we by brothers standing.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ant.</em> Terrible are they to tell of.</div><div class='lnum'>970</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ism.</em> Terrible are they to look on.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Ah me, thou Destiny,</div> - <div class='line'>Giver of evil gifts, and working woe,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_108'>108</span>And thou dread spectral form of Œdipus,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And swarth Erinnys too,</div> - <div class='line in8'>A mighty one art thou.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ant.</em> Ah me! ah me! woes dread to look on....</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ism.</em> Ye showed to me, returned from exile.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ant.</em> Not, when he had slain, returned he.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ism.</em> Nay, he, saved from exile, perished.</div><div class='lnum'>980</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ant.</em> Yea, I trow too well, he perished.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ism.</em> And his brother, too, he murdered.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ant.</em> Woeful, piteous, are those brothers!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ism.</em> Woeful, piteous, all they suffered!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ant.</em> Woes of kindred wrath enkindling!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ism.</em> Saturate with threefold horrors!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ant.</em> Terrible are they to tell of.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ism.</em> Terrible are they to look on.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Ah me, thou Destiny,</div> - <div class='line'>Giver of evil gifts, and stern of soul,</div> - <div class='line'>And thou dread spectral form of Œdipus,</div><div class='lnum'>990</div> - <div class='line in8'>And swarth Erinnys too,</div> - <div class='line in8'>A mighty one art thou.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Epode</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ant.</em> Thou, then, by full trial knowest....</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ism.</em> Thou, too, no whit later learning....</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ant.</em> When thou cam'st back to this city<a id='r131' /><a href='#f131' class='c011'><sup>[131]</sup></a>....</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ism.</em> Rival to our chief in warfare.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ant.</em> Woe, alas! for all our troubles!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ism.</em> Woe, alas! for all our evils!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ant.</em> Evils fallen on our houses!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_109'>109</span><em>Ism.</em> Evils fallen on our country!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ant.</em> And on me before all others....</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ism.</em> And to me the future waiting....</div><div class='lnum'>1000</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ant.</em> Woe for those two brothers luckless!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ism.</em> King Eteocles, our leader!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ant.</em> Oh, before all others wretched!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ism.</em> . . . . .</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ant.</em> Ah, by Atè frenzy-stricken!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ism.</em> Ah, where now shall they be buried?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ant.</em> There where grave is highest honour.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ism.</em> Ah, the woe my father wedded!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><em>Enter a</em> Herald</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Her.</em> 'Tis mine the judgment and decrees to publish</div> - <div class='line'>Of this Cadmeian city's counsellors:</div> - <div class='line'>It is decreed Eteocles to honour,</div> - <div class='line'>For his good-will towards this land of ours,</div><div class='lnum'>1010</div> - <div class='line'>With seemly burial, such as friend may claim;</div> - <div class='line'>For warding off our foes he courted death;</div> - <div class='line'>Pure as regards his country's holy things,</div> - <div class='line'>Blameless he died where death the young beseems;</div> - <div class='line'>This then I'm ordered to proclaim of him.</div> - <div class='line'>But for his brother's, Polyneikes' corpse,</div> - <div class='line'>To cast it out unburied, prey for dogs,</div> - <div class='line'>As working havoc on Cadmeian land,</div> - <div class='line'>Unless some God had hindered by the spear</div> - <div class='line'>Of this our prince;<a id='r132' /><a href='#f132' class='c011'><sup>[132]</sup></a> and he, though, dead, shall gain</div><div class='lnum'>1020</div> - <div class='line'>The curse of all his father's Gods, whom he</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<em>Pointing to</em> <span class='sc'>Polyneikes</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>With alien host dishonouring, sought to take</div> - <div class='line'>Our city. Him by ravenous birds interred</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_110'>110</span>Ingloriously, they sentence to receive</div> - <div class='line'>His full deserts; and none may take in hand</div> - <div class='line'>To heap up there a tomb, nor honour him</div> - <div class='line'>With shrill-voiced wailings; but he still must lie,</div> - <div class='line'>Without the meed of burial by his friends.</div> - <div class='line'>So do the high Cadmeian powers decree.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ant.</em> And I those rulers of Cadmeians tell,<a id='r133' /><a href='#f133' class='c011'><sup>[133]</sup></a></div><div class='lnum'>1030</div> - <div class='line'>That if no other care to bury him,</div> - <div class='line'>I will inter him, facing all the risk,</div> - <div class='line'>Burying my brother: nor am I ashamed</div> - <div class='line'>To thwart the State in rank disloyalty;</div> - <div class='line'>Strange power there is in ties of blood, that we,</div> - <div class='line'>Born of woe-laden mother, sire ill-starred,</div> - <div class='line'>Are bound by: therefore of thy full free-will,</div> - <div class='line'>Share thou, my soul, in woes he did not will,</div> - <div class='line'>Thou living, he being dead, with sister's heart.</div> - <div class='line'>And this I say, no wolves with ravening maw,</div> - <div class='line'>Shall tear his flesh—No! no! let none think that!</div> - <div class='line'>For tomb and burial I will scheme for him,</div><div class='lnum'>1040</div> - <div class='line'>Though I be but weak woman, bringing earth</div> - <div class='line'>Within my byssine raiment's fold, and so</div> - <div class='line'>Myself will bury him; let no man think</div> - <div class='line'>(I say't again) aught else. Take heart, my soul!</div> - <div class='line'>There shall not fail the means effectual.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Her.</em> I bid thee not defy the State in this.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ant.</em> I bid thee not proclaim vain words to me.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Her.</em> Stern is the people now, with victory flushed.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ant.</em> Stern let them be, he shall not tombless lie.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Her.</em> And wilt thou honour whom the State doth loathe?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_111'>111</span><em>Ant.</em> <a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Yea, from the Gods he gets an honour due.<a id='r134' /><a href='#f134' class='c011'><sup>[134]</sup></a></div><div class='lnum'>1050</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Her.</em> It was not so till he this land attacked.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ant.</em> He, suffering evil, evil would repay.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Her.</em> Not against one his arms were turned, but all.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ant.</em> Strife is the last of Gods to end disputes:</div> - <div class='line'>Him I will bury; talk no more of it.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Her.</em> Choose for thyself then, I forbid the deed.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Alas! alas! alas!</div> - <div class='line in8'>Ye haughty boasters, race-destroying,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Now Fates and now Erinnyes, smiting</div> - <div class='line in8'>The sons of Œdipus, ye slew them,</div> - <div class='line in8'>With a root-and-branch destruction.</div><div class='lnum'>1060</div> - <div class='line in8'>What shall I then do, what suffer?</div> - <div class='line in8'>What shall I devise in counsel?</div> - <div class='line in8'>How should I dare nor to weep thee,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Nor escort thee to the burial?</div> - <div class='line in8'>But I tremble and I shrink from</div> - <div class='line in8'>All the terrors which they threatened,</div> - <div class='line in8'>They who are my fellow-townsmen.</div> - <div class='line in8'>Many mourners thou (<em>looking to the bier of</em> <span class='sc'>Eteocles</span>) shalt meet with;</div> - <div class='line in8'>But he, lost one, unlamented,</div> - <div class='line in8'>With his sister's wailing only</div> - <div class='line in8'>Passeth. Who with this complieth?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Semi-Chor. A</em>. Let the city doom or not doom</div> - <div class='line in8'>Those who weep for Polyneikes;</div> - <div class='line in8'><span class='pageno' id='Page_112'>112</span>We will go, and we will bury,</div><div class='lnum'>1070</div> - <div class='line in8'>Maidens we in sad procession;</div> - <div class='line in8'>For the woe to all is common,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And our State with voice uncertain,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of the claims of Right and Justice;</div> - <div class='line in8'>Hither, thither, shifts its praises.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Semi-Chor. B.</em> We will thus, our chief attending,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Speak, as speaks the State, our praises:</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of the claims of Right and Justice;<a id='r135' /><a href='#f135' class='c011'><sup>[135]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>For next those the Blessed Rulers,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And the strength of Zeus, he chiefly</div> - <div class='line in8'>Saved the city of Cadmeians</div> - <div class='line in8'>From the doom of fell destruction,</div> - <div class='line in8'>From the doom of whelming utter,</div> - <div class='line in8'>In the flood of alien warriors.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Exeunt</span></i> <span class='sc'>Antigone</span> <em>and Semi-Chorus A., following</em></div> - <div class='line in4'><em>the corpse of</em> <span class='sc'>Polyneikes</span>; <span class='sc'>Ismene</span></div> - <div class='line in4'><em>and Semi-Chorus B. that of</em> <span class='sc'>Eteocles</span>.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class='c012' /> - -<div class='footnote' id='f73'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r73'>73</a>. </span>Probably directed against the tendency of the Athenians, as -shown in their treatment of Miltiades, and later in that of -Thukydides, to punish their unsuccessful generals, “<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">pour encourager -les autres</span></i>.”</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f74'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r74'>74</a>. </span>Teiresias, as in Sophocles (<cite>Antig.</cite> v. 1005), sitting, though -blind, and listening, as the birds flit by him, and the flames burn -steadily or fitfully; a various reading gives “apart from sight.”</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f75'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r75'>75</a>. </span>Enyo, the goddess of war, and companion of Ares.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f76'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r76'>76</a>. </span>Amphiaraos the seer had prophesied that Adrastos alone -should return home in safety. On his car, therefore, the other -chieftains hung the clasps, or locks of hair, or other memorials -which in the event of their death were to be taken to -their parents.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f77'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r77'>77</a>. </span>The Hellenic feeling, such as the Platæans appealed to in -the Peloponnesian war (Thuc. iii. 58, 59), that it was noble and -right for Hellenes to destroy a city of the barbarians, but that -they should spare one belonging to a people of their own stock.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f78'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r78'>78</a>. </span>The characteristic feature of the Argive soldiers was, that -they bore a shield painted white (comp. Sophocles, <cite>Antig.</cite> v. -114). The leaders alone appear to have embellished this with -devices and mottoes.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f79'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r79'>79</a>. </span>In solemn supplications, the litanies of the ancient world, -especially in those to Pallas, the suppliants carried with them in -procession the shawl or <i>peplos</i> of the Goddess, and with it -enwrapt her statue. To carry boughs of trees in the hands was -one of the uniform, probably indispensable, accompaniments of -such processions.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f80'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r80'>80</a>. </span>The words recall our thoughts to the original use of the trident, -which became afterwards a symbol of Poseidon, as -employed by the sailors of Hellas to spear or harpoon the -larger fish of the Archipelago. Comp. <cite>Pers.</cite> v. 426, where the -slaughter of a defeated army is compared to tunny-fishing.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f81'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r81'>81</a>. </span>Cadmos, probably “the man from the East,” the Phœnikian -who had founded Thebes, and sown the dragon's seed, and -taught men a Semitic alphabet for the non-Semitic speech of -Hellas.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f82'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r82'>82</a>. </span>Worthy of his name as the Wolf-destroyer, mighty to destroy -his foes.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f83'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r83'>83</a>. </span>Possibly “<em>from</em> battlements attacked.” In the primitive -sieges of Greek warfare stones were used as missiles alike by -besieged and besiegers.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f84'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r84'>84</a>. </span>The name of Onca belonged especially to the Theban worship -of Pallas, and was said to have been of Phœnikian origin, -introduced by Cadmos. There seems, however, to have been a -town Onkæ in Bœotia, with which the name was doubtless -connected.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f85'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r85'>85</a>. </span>“Alien,” on account of the difference of dialect between the -speech of Argos and that of Bœotia, though both were Hellenic.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f86'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r86'>86</a>. </span>The vehemence with which Eteocles reproves the wild -frenzied wailing of the Chorus may be taken as an element of -the higher culture showing itself in Athenian life, which led -Solon to restrain such lamentations by special laws (Plutarch, -<cite>Solon</cite>, c. 20). Here, too, we note in Æschylos an echo of the -teaching of Epimenides.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f87'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r87'>87</a>. </span>As now the sailor of the Mediterranean turns to the image -of his patron saint, so of old he ran in his distress to the figure -of his God upon the prow of his ship (often, as in Acts xxviii. -II, that of the <em>Dioscuri</em>), and called to it for deliverance (comp. -Jonah i. 8).</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f88'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r88'>88</a>. </span>Eteocles seems to wish for a short, plain prayer for deliverance, -instead of the cries and supplications and vain repetitions -of the Chorus.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f89'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r89'>89</a>. </span>The thought thus expressed was, that the Gods, yielding to -the mightier law of destiny, or in their wrath at the guilt of men, -left the city before its capture. The feeling was all but universal. -Its two representative instances are found in Virgil, <cite>Æn.</cite> 351—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in2'>“<span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Excessere omnes adytis arisque relictis</span></div> - <div class='line in2'><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Di quibus imperium hoc steterat;</span>”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c000'>and the narrative given alike by Tacitus (<cite>Hist.</cite> v. 13), and -Josephus (<cite>Bell. Jud.</cite> vi. 5, 3), that the cry “Let us depart hence,” -was heard at midnight through the courts of the Temple, before -the destruction of Jerusalem.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f90'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r90'>90</a>. </span><i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Sc.</span></i> Blood must be shed in war. Ares would not be Ares -without it. It is better to take it as it comes.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f91'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r91'>91</a>. </span><i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Sc.</span></i>, the company of Gods, Pallas, Hera and the others whom -the Chorus had invoked.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f92'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r92'>92</a>. </span>Reference to this custom, which has passed from Pagan -temples into Christian churches, is found in the <cite>Agamemnon</cite>, v. -562. It was connected, of course, with the general practice of -offering as <i>ex votos</i> any personal ornaments or clothing as a token -of thanksgiving for special mercies.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f93'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r93'>93</a>. </span>Rivers and streams as the children of Tethys and Okeanos.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f94'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r94'>94</a>. </span>Here, as in v. 571, Tydeus appears as the real leader of the -expedition, who had persuaded Adrastos and the other chiefs to -join in it, and Amphiaraos, the prophet, the son of Œcleus, as -having all along foreseen its disastrous issue. The account of the -expedition in the <cite>Œdipus at Colonos</cite> (1300-1330) may be compared -with this.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f95'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r95'>95</a>. </span>The legend of the Medusa's head on the shield of Athena -shows the practice of thus decorating shields to have been of remote -date. In Homer it does not appear as common, and the account -given of the shield of Achilles lays stress upon the work of the -artist (Hephæstos) who wrought the shield in relief, not, as here, -upon painted insignia. They were obviously common in the -time of Æschylos.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f96'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r96'>96</a>. </span>The older families of Thebes boasted that they sprang from -the survivors of the Sparti, who, sprung from the Dragon's teeth, -waged deadly war against each other, till all but five were slain. -The later settlers, who were said to have come with Cadmos, -stood to these as the “greater” to the “lesser <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">gentes</span></i>” at Rome.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f97'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r97'>97</a>. </span>So in the <cite>Antigone</cite> of Sophocles (v. 134), Capaneus appears -as the special representative of boastful, reckless impiety.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f98'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r98'>98</a>. </span>Artemis, as one of the special Deities to whom Thebes was -consecrated.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f99'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r99'>99</a>. </span>Apparently an Asiatic invention, to increase the terror of an -attack of war-chariots.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f100'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r100'>100</a>. </span>The phrase and thought were almost proverbial in Athens. -Men, as citizens, were thought of as fed at a common table, -bound to contribute their gifts to the common stock. When -they offered up their lives in battle, they were giving, as Pericles -says (Thucyd. ii. 43), their noblest “contribution,” paying in -full their subscription to the society of which they were members.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f101'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r101'>101</a>. </span>Thyiad, another name for the Mænads, the frenzied attendants -on Dionysos.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f102'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r102'>102</a>. </span><i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Sc.</span></i>, in the legends of Typhon, not he, but Zeus, had proved -the conqueror. The warrior, therefore, who chose Typhon for -his badge was identifying himself with the losing, not the winning -side.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f103'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r103'>103</a>. </span>The name, as we are told in v. 542, is Parthenopæos, the -maiden-faced.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f104'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r104'>104</a>. </span>The Sphinx, besides its general character as an emblem of -terror, had, of course, a special meaning as directed to the -Thebans. The warrior who bore it threatened to renew the old -days when the monster whom Œdipus had overcome had laid -waste their city.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f105'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r105'>105</a>. </span><i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Sc.</span></i>, the Sphinx on his shield will not be allowed to enter the -city. It will only serve as a mark, attracting men to attack both -it and the warrior who bears it.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f106'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r106'>106</a>. </span>The quarrel between Tydeus and the seer Amphiaraos had -been already touched upon.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f107'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r107'>107</a>. </span>I have used the old English word to express a term of like -technical use in Athenian law processes. As the “sumpnour” -called witnesses or parties to a suit into court, so Tydeus had -summoned the Erinnys to do her work of destruction.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f108'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r108'>108</a>. </span><i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Sc.</span></i>, so pronounced his name as to emphasise the significance -of its two component parts, as indicating that he who bore -it was a man of much contention.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f109'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r109'>109</a>. </span>The words are obscure, but seem to refer to the badge of -Polyneikes, the figure of Justice described in v. 643 as on his -shield. How shall that Justice, the seer asks, console Jocasta for -her son's death? Another rendering gives,</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“And how shall Justice quench a mother's life?”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c000'>the “mother” being the country against which Polyneikes -wars.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f110'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r110'>110</a>. </span>The words had a twofold fulfilment (1) in the burial of -Amphiaraos, in the Theban soil; and (2) in the honour which -accrued to Thebes after his death, through the fame of the -oracle at his shrine.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f111'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r111'>111</a>. </span>The passage cannot be passed over without noticing the old -tradition (Plutarch, <cite>Aristeid.</cite> c. 3), that when the actor uttered -these words, he and the whole audience looked to Aristeides, -surnamed the Just, as recognising that the words were true of -him as they were of no one else. “Best,” instead of “just,” is, -however, a very old various reading.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f112'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r112'>112</a>. </span>If the former reference to Aristeides be admitted, we can -scarcely avoid seeing in this passage an allusion to Themistocles, -as one with whose reckless and democratic policy it was dangerous -for the more conservative leader to associate himself.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f113'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r113'>113</a>. </span>The far-off city, not of Thebes, but of Hades. In the legend -of Thebes, the earth opened and swallowed up Amphiaraos, as -in 583.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f114'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r114'>114</a>. </span>The short spear was usually carried under the shelter of the -shield; when brought into action it was, of course, laid bare.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f115'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r115'>115</a>. </span>Perhaps “since death is at nigh hand.”</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f116'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r116'>116</a>. </span>The Chorus means that if Eteocles would allow himself to -be overcome in this contest of his wishes with their prayers the -Gods would honour that defeat as if it were indeed a victory. -He makes answer that the very thought of being overcome implied -in the word “defeat” in anything is one which the true -warrior cannot bear.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f117'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r117'>117</a>. </span>The “Chalyb stranger” is the sword, thought of as taking -its name from the Skythian tribe of the Chalybes, between -Colchis and Armenia, and passing through the Thrakians into -Greece.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f118'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r118'>118</a>. </span>The two brothers, <em>i.e.</em>, are set at one again, but it is not in -the bonds of friendship, but in those of death.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f119'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r119'>119</a>. </span>The image meets us again in <cite>Agam.</cite> 980. Here the thought -is, that a man too prosperous is like a ship too heavily freighted. -He must part with a portion of his possession in order to save -the rest. Not to part with them leads, when the storm rages, -to an enforced abandonment and utter loss.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f120'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r120'>120</a>. </span>Another reading gives—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>“And race of those who crowd the Agora.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f121'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r121'>121</a>. </span>This seems to have been one form of the legends as to the -cause of the curse which Œdipus had launched upon his sons, -An alternative rendering is—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>And with a mind enraged</div> - <div class='line'>At thought of what they were whom he had reared,</div> - <div class='line in8'>He at his sons did hurl</div> - <div class='line in8'>His curses dire and dark.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f122'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r122'>122</a>. </span><i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Sc.</span></i>, when Eteocles fell, Apollo took his place at the seventh -gate, and turned the tide of war in favour of the Thebans.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f123'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r123'>123</a>. </span>I follow in this dialogue the arrangement which Paley -adopts from Hermann.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f124'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r124'>124</a>. </span>There seems an intentional ambiguity. They are “borne -on,” but it is as the corpses of the dead are borne to the -sepulchre.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f125'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r125'>125</a>. </span>Not here the curse uttered by Œdipus, but that which -rested on him and all his kin. There is possibly an allusion to -the curse which Pelops is said to have uttered against Laios -when he stole his son Chrysippos. Comp. v. 837.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f126'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r126'>126</a>. </span>As in v. 763 we read of the brothers as made one in death, -so now of the concord which is wrought out by conflict, the -concord, <em>i.e.</em>, of the grave.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f127'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r127'>127</a>. </span>The Chorus are called on to change their character, and to -pass from the attitude of suppliants, with outstretched arms, to -that of mourners at a funeral, beating on their breasts. But, -perhaps, the call is addressed to the mourners who are seen approaching -with Ismene and Antigone.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f128'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r128'>128</a>. </span>The thought is drawn from the <i>theoris</i> or pilgrim-ship, -which went with snow-white sails, and accompanied by joyful -pæans, on a solemn mission from Athens to Delos. In contrast -with this type of joy, Æschylos draws the picture of the boat of -Charon, which passes over the gloomy pool accompanied by the -sighs and gestures of bitter lamentation. So, in the old Attic -legend, the ship that annually carried seven youths and maidens -to the Minotaur of Crete was conspicuous for its black sails.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f129'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r129'>129</a>. </span>The “Chalyb,” or iron sword, which the Hellenes had -imported from the Skythians. Comp. vv. 70. 86.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f130'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r130'>130</a>. </span>The lyrical, operative character of Greek tragedies has to be -borne in mind as we read passages like that which follows. They -were not meant to be <em>read</em>. Uttered in a passionate recitative, -accompanied by expressive action, they probably formed a very -effective element in the actual representation of the tragedy. We -may look on it as the only extant specimen of the kind of wailing -which was characteristic of Eastern burials, and which was -slowly passing away in Greece under the influence of a higher -culture. The early fondness of Æschylos for a <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">finale</span></i> of this -nature is seen also in <cite>The Persians</cite>, and in a more solemn and -subdued form, in the <cite>Eumenides</cite>. The feeling that there was -something barbaric in these untoward displays of grief, showed -itself alike in the legislation of Solon, and the eloquence of -Pericles.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f131'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r131'>131</a>. </span>Here, and perhaps throughout, we must think of Antigone -as addressing and looking on the corpse of Polyneikes, Ismene -on that of Eteocles.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f132'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r132'>132</a>. </span>Perhaps</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in2'>“Unless some God had stood against the spear</div> - <div class='line in2'>This chief did wield.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f133'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r133'>133</a>. </span>The speech of the Antigone becomes the starting-point, in -the hands of Sophocles, of the noblest of his tragedies. The -denial of burial, it will be remembered, was looked on as not -merely an indignity and outrage against the feelings of the -living, but as depriving the souls of the dead of all rest and -peace. As such it was the punishment of parricides and traitors.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f134'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r134'>134</a>. </span>The words are obscure enough, the point lying, it may be, -in their ambiguity. Antigone here, as in the tragedy of -Sophocles, pleads that the Gods have pardoned; they still command -and love the reverence for the dead, which she is about to -show. The herald catches up her words and takes them in -another sense, as though all the honour he had met with from -the Gods had been defeat, and death, and shame, as the reward -of his sacrilege. Another rendering, however, gives—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Yes, so the Gods have done with honouring him.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f135'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r135'>135</a>. </span>The words are probably a protest against the changeableness -of the Athenian <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">demos</span></i>, as seen especially in their treatment -of Aristeides.</p> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_113'>113</span> - <h2 class='c005'>PROMETHEUS BOUND</h2> -</div> - -<h3 class='c013'>DRAMATIS PERSONÆ</h3> - -<div class='lg-container-b c003'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Prometheus</span></div> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Hermes</span></div> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Okeanos</span></div> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Strength</span></div> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Hephæstos</span></div> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Force</span></div> - <div class='line'><em>Chorus of Ocean Nymphs</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c006'><em>ARGUMENT.—In the old time, when Cronos was -sovereign of the Gods, Zeus, whom he had begotten, rose -up against him, and the Gods were divided in their counsels, -some, the Titans chiefly, siding with the father, and -some with the son. And Prometheus, the son of Earth or -Themis, though one of the Titans, supported Zeus, as did -also Okeanos, and by his counsels Zeus obtained the -victory, and Cronos was chained in Tartaros, and the -Titans buried under mountains, or kept in bonds in -Hades. And then Prometheus, seeing the miseries of the -race of men, of whom Zeus took little heed, stole the fire -which till then had belonged to none but Hephæstos and -was used only for the Gods, and gave it to mankind, and -taught them many arts whereby their wretchedness was -lessened. But Zeus being wroth with Prometheus for -this deed, sent Hephæstos, with his two helpers, Strength -and Force, to fetter him to a rock on Caucasos.</em></p> - -<p class='c000'><em>And in yet another story was the cruelty of the Gods -made known. For Zeus loved Io, the daughter of Inachos, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_114'>114</span>king of Argos, and she was haunted by visions of the -night, telling her of his passion, and she told her father -thereof. And Inachos, sending to the God at Delphi, -was told to drive Io forth from her home. And Zeus -gave her the horns of a cow, and Hera, who hated her -because she was dear to Zeus, sent with her a gadfly that -stung her, and gave her no rest, and drove her over many -lands.</em></p> - -<p class='c000'><em>Note.</em>—The play is believed to have been the second of a -Trilogy, of which the first was <em>Prometheus the Fire-giver</em>, and -the third <em>Prometheus Unbound</em>.</p> - -<div><span class='pageno' id='Page_115'>115</span></div> -<div class='ph2'> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div>PROMETHEUS BOUND</div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Scene.</span>—<span class='sc'>Skythia</span>, <em>on the heights of Caucasos. The Euxine</em></div> - <div><em>seen in the distance</em></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><em>Enter</em> <span class='sc'>Hephæstos</span>, <span class='sc'>Strength</span>, <em>and</em> <span class='sc'>Force</span>, <em>leading</em></div> - <div><span class='sc'>Prometheus</span> <em>in chains</em><a id='r136' /><a href='#f136' class='c011'><sup>[136]</sup></a></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Strength.</em> Lo! to a plain, earth's boundary remote,</div> - <div class='line'>We now are come,—the tract as Skythian known,</div> - <div class='line'>A desert inaccessible: and now,</div> - <div class='line'>Hephæstos, it is thine to do the hests</div> - <div class='line'>The Father gave thee, to these lofty crags</div> - <div class='line'>To bind this crafty trickster fast in chains</div> - <div class='line'>Of adamantine bonds that none can break;</div> - <div class='line'>For he thy choice flower stealing, the bright glory</div> - <div class='line'>Of fire that all arts spring from, hath bestowed it</div> - <div class='line'>On mortal men. And so for fault like this</div> - <div class='line'>He now must pay the Gods due penalty,</div> - <div class='line'>That he may learn to bear the sovereign rule</div><div class='lnum'>10</div> - <div class='line'>Of Zeus, and cease from his philanthropy.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Heph.</em> O Strength, and thou, O Force, the hest of Zeus,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_116'>116</span>As far as touches you, attains its end,</div> - <div class='line'>And nothing hinders. Yet my courage fails</div> - <div class='line'>To bind a God of mine own kin by force</div> - <div class='line'>To this bare rock where tempests wildly sweep;</div> - <div class='line'>And yet I needs must muster courage for it:</div> - <div class='line'>'Tis no slight thing the Father's words to scorn.</div> - <div class='line'>O thou of Themis [<em>to</em> <span class='sc'>Prometheus</span>] wise in counsel son,</div> - <div class='line'>Full deep of purpose, lo! against my will,<a id='r137' /><a href='#f137' class='c011'><sup>[137]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>I fetter thee against thy will with bonds</div> - <div class='line'>Of bronze that none can loose, to this lone height,</div><div class='lnum'>20</div> - <div class='line'>Where thou shalt know nor voice nor face of man,</div> - <div class='line'>But scorching in the hot blaze of the sun,</div> - <div class='line'>Shalt lose thy skin's fair beauty. Thou shalt long</div> - <div class='line'>For starry-mantled night to hide day's sheen,</div> - <div class='line'>For sun to melt the rime of early dawn;</div> - <div class='line'>And evermore the weight of present ill</div> - <div class='line'>Shall wear thee down. Unborn as yet is he</div> - <div class='line'>Who shall release thee: this the fate thou gain'st</div> - <div class='line'>As due reward for thy philanthropy.</div> - <div class='line'>For thou, a God not fearing wrath of Gods,</div> - <div class='line'>In thy transgression gav'st their power to men;</div><div class='lnum'>30</div> - <div class='line'>And therefore on this rock of little ease</div> - <div class='line'>Thou still shalt keep thy watch, nor lying down,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor knowing sleep, nor ever bending knee;</div> - <div class='line'>And many groans and wailings profitless</div> - <div class='line'>Thy lips shall utter; for the mind of Zeus</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_117'>117</span>Remains inexorable. Who holds a power</div> - <div class='line'>But newly gained<a id='r138' /><a href='#f138' class='c011'><sup>[138]</sup></a> is ever stern of mood.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Strength.</em> Let be! Why linger in this idle pity?</div> - <div class='line'>Why dost not hate a God to Gods a foe,</div> - <div class='line'>Who gave thy choicest prize to mortal men?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Heph.</em> Strange is the power of kin and intercourse.<a id='r139' /><a href='#f139' class='c011'><sup>[139]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Strength.</em> I own it; yet to slight the Father's words,</div><div class='lnum'>40</div> - <div class='line'>How may that be? Is not that fear the worse?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Heph.</em> Still art thou ruthless, full of savagery.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Strength.</em> There is no help in weeping over him:</div> - <div class='line'>Spend not thy toil on things that profit not.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Heph.</em> O handicraft to me intolerable!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Strength.</em> Why loath'st thou it? Of these thy present griefs</div> - <div class='line'>That craft of thine is not one whit the cause.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Heph.</em> And yet I would some other had that skill.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Strength.</em> <a href='#asterisk'>*</a>All things bring toil except for Gods to reign;<a id='r140' /><a href='#f140' class='c011'><sup>[140]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>For none but Zeus can boast of freedom true.</div><div class='lnum'>50</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Heph.</em> Too well I see the proof, and gainsay not.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Strength.</em> Wilt thou not speed to fix the chains on him,</div> - <div class='line'>Lest He, the Father, see thee loitering here?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Heph.</em> Well, here the handcuffs thou may'st see prepared.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Strength.</em> In thine hands take him. Then with all thy might</div> - <div class='line'>Strike with thine hammer; nail him to the rocks.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Heph.</em> The work goes on, I ween, and not in vain.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_118'>118</span><em>Strength.</em> Strike harder, rivet, give no whit of ease:</div> - <div class='line'>A wondrous knack has he to find resource,</div> - <div class='line'>Even where all might seem to baffle him.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Heph.</em> Lo! this his arm is fixed inextricably.</div><div class='lnum'>60</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Strength.</em> Now rivet thou this other fast, that he</div> - <div class='line'>May learn, though sharp, that he than Zeus is duller.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Heph.</em> No one but he could justly blame my work.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Strength.</em> Now drive the stern jaw of the adamant wedge</div> - <div class='line'>Right through his chest with all the strength thou hast.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Heph.</em> Ah me! Prometheus, for thy woes I groan.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Strength.</em> Again, thou'rt loth, and for the foes of Zeus</div> - <div class='line'>Thou groanest: take good heed to it lest thou</div> - <div class='line'>Ere long with cause thyself commiserate.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Heph.</em> Thou see'st a sight unsightly to our eyes.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Strength.</em> I see this man obtaining his deserts:</div><div class='lnum'>70</div> - <div class='line'>Nay, cast thy breast-chains round about his ribs.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Heph.</em> I must needs do it. Spare thine o'er much bidding;</div> - <div class='line'>Go thou below and rivet both his legs.<a id='r141' /><a href='#f141' class='c011'><sup>[141]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Strength.</em> Nay, I will bid thee, urge thee to thy work.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Heph.</em> There, it is done, and that with no long toil.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Strength.</em> Now with thy full power fix the galling fetters:</div> - <div class='line'>Thou hast a stern o'erlooker of thy work.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Heph.</em> Thy tongue but utters words that match thy form.<a id='r142' /><a href='#f142' class='c011'><sup>[142]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Strength.</em> Choose thou the melting mood; but chide not me</div> - <div class='line'>For my self-will and wrath and ruthlessness.</div><div class='lnum'>80</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_119'>119</span><em>Heph.</em> Now let us go, his limbs are bound in chains.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Strength.</em> Here then wax proud, and stealing what belongs</div> - <div class='line'>To the Gods, to mortals give it. What can they</div> - <div class='line'>Avail to rescue thee from these thy woes?</div> - <div class='line'>Falsely the Gods have given thee thy name,</div> - <div class='line'>Prometheus, Forethought; forethought thou dost need</div> - <div class='line'>To free thyself from this rare handiwork.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Exeunt</span></i> <span class='sc'>Hephæstos</span>, <span class='sc'>Strength</span>, <em>and</em> <span class='sc'>Force</span>,</div> - <div class='line in4'><em>leaving</em> <span class='sc'>Prometheus</span> <em>on the rock</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em><a id='r143' /><a href='#f143' class='c011'><sup>[143]</sup></a> Thou firmament of God, and swift-winged winds,</div> - <div class='line'>Ye springs of rivers, and of ocean waves</div> - <div class='line'>That smile innumerous! Mother of us all,</div><div class='lnum'>90</div> - <div class='line'>O Earth, and Sun's all-seeing eye, behold,</div> - <div class='line'>I pray, what I a God from Gods endure.</div> - <div class='line in8'>Behold in what foul case</div> - <div class='line in8'>I for ten thousand years</div> - <div class='line in8'>Shall struggle in my woe,</div> - <div class='line in8'>In these unseemly chains.</div> - <div class='line'>Such doom the new-made Monarch of the Blest</div> - <div class='line in8'>Hath now devised for me.</div> - <div class='line'>Woe, woe! The present and the oncoming pang</div> - <div class='line in8'>I wail, as I search out</div> - <div class='line'>The place and hour when end of all these ills</div> - <div class='line in8'>Shall dawn on me at last.</div><div class='lnum'>100</div> - <div class='line'>What say I? All too clearly I foresee</div> - <div class='line'>The things that come, and nought of pain shall be</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_120'>120</span>By me unlooked-for; but I needs must bear</div> - <div class='line'>My destiny as best I may, knowing well</div> - <div class='line'>The might resistless of Necessity.</div> - <div class='line'>And neither may I speak of this my fate,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor hold my peace. For I, poor I, through giving</div> - <div class='line'>Great gifts to mortal men, am prisoner made</div> - <div class='line'>In these fast fetters; yea, in fennel stalk<a id='r144' /><a href='#f144' class='c011'><sup>[144]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>I snatched the hidden spring of stolen fire,</div> - <div class='line'>Which is to men a teacher of all arts,</div><div class='lnum'>110</div> - <div class='line'>Their chief resource. And now this penalty</div> - <div class='line'>Of that offence I pay, fast riveted</div> - <div class='line'>In chains beneath the open firmament.</div> - <div class='line in8'>Ha! ha! What now?</div> - <div class='line'>What sound, what odour floats invisibly?<a id='r145' /><a href='#f145' class='c011'><sup>[145]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Is it of God or man, or blending both?</div> - <div class='line'>And has one come to the remotest rock</div> - <div class='line'>To look upon my woes? Or what wills he?</div> - <div class='line'>Behold me bound, a God to evil doomed,</div> - <div class='line in8'>The foe of Zeus, and held</div> - <div class='line in8'>In hatred by all Gods</div><div class='lnum'>120</div> - <div class='line in8'>Who tread the courts of Zeus:</div> - <div class='line in8'>And this for my great love,</div> - <div class='line in8'><span class='pageno' id='Page_121'>121</span>Too great, for mortal men.</div> - <div class='line in8'>Ah me! what rustling sounds</div> - <div class='line in8'>Hear I of birds not far?</div> - <div class='line in8'>With the light whirr of wings</div> - <div class='line in8'>The air re-echoeth:</div> - <div class='line'>All that draws nigh to me is cause of fear.<a id='r146' /><a href='#f146' class='c011'><sup>[146]</sup></a></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><em>Enter Chorus of</em> Ocean Nymphs, <em>with wings,</em></div> - <div><em>floating in the air</em><a id='r147' /><a href='#f147' class='c011'><sup>[147]</sup></a></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Nay, fear thou nought: in love</div> - <div class='line in8'>All our array of wings</div> - <div class='line in8'>In eager race hath come</div><div class='lnum'>130</div> - <div class='line'>To this high peak, full hardly gaining o'er</div> - <div class='line in8'>Our Father's mind and will;</div> - <div class='line'>And the swift-rushing breezes bore me on:</div> - <div class='line'>For lo! the echoing sound of blows on iron</div> - <div class='line'>Pierced to our cave's recess, and put to flight</div> - <div class='line in8'>My shamefast modesty,</div> - <div class='line'>And I in unshod haste, on winged car,</div> - <div class='line in8'>To thee rushed hitherward.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> Ah me! ah me!</div> - <div class='line'>Offspring of Tethys blest with many a child,</div><div class='lnum'>140</div> - <div class='line'>Daughters of Old Okeanos that rolls</div> - <div class='line'>Round all the earth with never-sleeping stream,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Behold ye me, and see</div> - <div class='line in8'>With what chains fettered fast,</div> - <div class='line'>I on the topmost crags of this ravine</div> - <div class='line'>Shall keep my sentry-post unenviable.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_122'>122</span><em>Chor.</em> I see it, O Prometheus, and a mist</div> - <div class='line'>Of fear and full of tears comes o'er mine eyes,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Thy frame beholding thus,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Writhing on these high rocks</div><div class='lnum'>150</div> - <div class='line in8'>In adamantine ills.</div> - <div class='line'>New pilots now o'er high Olympos rule,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And with new-fashioned laws</div> - <div class='line in8'>Zeus reigns, down-trampling right,</div> - <div class='line'>And all the ancient powers He sweeps away.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> Ah! would that 'neath the Earth, 'neath Hades too,</div> - <div class='line'>Home of the dead, far down to Tartaros</div><div class='lnum'>160</div> - <div class='line'>Unfathomable He in fetters fast</div> - <div class='line in8'>In wrath had hurled me down:</div> - <div class='line in8'>So neither had a God</div> - <div class='line'>Nor any other mocked at these my woes;</div> - <div class='line'>But now, the wretched plaything of the winds,</div> - <div class='line'>I suffer ills at which my foes rejoice.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Nay, which of all the Gods</div> - <div class='line'>Is so hard-hearted as to joy in this?</div> - <div class='line'>Who, Zeus excepted, doth not pity thee</div> - <div class='line in8'>In these thine ills? But He,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Ruthless, with soul unbent,</div> - <div class='line'>Subdues the heavenly host, nor will He cease<a id='r148' /><a href='#f148' class='c011'><sup>[148]</sup></a></div><div class='lnum'>170</div> - <div class='line'>Until his heart be satiate with power,</div> - <div class='line'>Or some one seize with subtle stratagem</div> - <div class='line'>The sovran might that so resistless seemed.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> Nay, of a truth, though put to evil shame,</div> - <div class='line in8'><span class='pageno' id='Page_123'>123</span>In massive fetters bound,</div> - <div class='line in8'>The Ruler of the Gods</div> - <div class='line'>Shall yet have need of me, yes, e'en of me,</div> - <div class='line in8'>To tell the counsel new</div> - <div class='line in8'>That seeks to strip from him</div> - <div class='line'>His sceptre and his might of sovereignty.</div> - <div class='line in8'>In vain will He with words</div> - <div class='line in8'>Or suasion's honeyed charms</div><div class='lnum'>180</div> - <div class='line in8'>Soothe me, nor will I tell</div> - <div class='line in8'>Through fear of his stern threats,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Ere He shall set me free</div> - <div class='line in8'>From these my bonds, and make,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of his own choice, amends</div> - <div class='line in8'>For all these outrages.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Full rash art thou, and yield'st</div> - <div class='line'>In not a jot to bitterest form of woe;</div> - <div class='line'>Thou art o'er-free and reckless in thy speech:</div> - <div class='line in8'>But piercing fear hath stirred</div> - <div class='line in8'>My inmost soul to strife;</div> - <div class='line'>For I fear greatly touching thy distress,</div> - <div class='line'>As to what haven of these woes of thine</div><div class='lnum'>190</div> - <div class='line'>Thou now must steer: the son of Cronos hath</div> - <div class='line in8'>A stubborn mood and heart inexorable.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> I know that Zeus is hard,</div> - <div class='line'>And keeps the Right supremely to himself;</div> - <div class='line in8'>But then, I trow, He'll be</div> - <div class='line in8'>Full pliant in his will,</div> - <div class='line in8'>When He is thus crushed down.</div> - <div class='line in8'>Then, calming down his mood</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of hard and bitter wrath,</div> - <div class='line in8'>He'll hasten unto me,</div> - <div class='line in8'>As I to him shall haste,</div><div class='lnum'>200</div> - <div class='line in8'>For friendship and for peace.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Hide it not from us, tell us all the tale:</div> - <div class='line'>For what offence Zeus, having seized thee thus,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_124'>124</span>So wantonly and bitterly insults thee:</div> - <div class='line'>If the tale hurt thee not, inform thou us.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> Painful are these things to me e'en to speak:</div> - <div class='line'>Painful is silence; everywhere is woe.</div> - <div class='line'>For when the high Gods fell on mood of wrath,</div> - <div class='line'>And hot debate of mutual strife was stirred,</div> - <div class='line'>Some wishing to hurl Cronos from his throne,</div> - <div class='line'>That Zeus, forsooth, might reign; while others strove,</div> - <div class='line'>Eager that Zeus might never rule the Gods:</div><div class='lnum'>210</div> - <div class='line'>Then I, full strongly seeking to persuade</div> - <div class='line'>The Titans, yea, the sons of Heaven and Earth,</div> - <div class='line'>Failed of my purpose. Scorning subtle arts,</div> - <div class='line'>With counsels violent, they thought that they</div> - <div class='line'>By force would gain full easy mastery.</div> - <div class='line'>But then not once or twice my mother Themis</div> - <div class='line'>And Earth, one form though bearing many names,<a id='r149' /><a href='#f149' class='c011'><sup>[149]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Had prophesied the future, how 'twould run,</div> - <div class='line'>That not by strength nor yet by violence,</div><div class='lnum'>220</div> - <div class='line'>But guile, should those who prospered gain the day.</div> - <div class='line'>And when in my words I this counsel gave,</div> - <div class='line'>They deigned not e'en to glance at it at all.</div> - <div class='line'>And then of all that offered, it seemed best</div> - <div class='line'>To join my mother, and of mine own will,</div> - <div class='line'>Not against his will, take my side with Zeus,</div> - <div class='line'>And by my counsels, mine, the dark deep pit</div> - <div class='line'>Of Tartaros the ancient Cronos holds,</div> - <div class='line'>Himself and his allies. Thus profiting</div> - <div class='line'>By me, the mighty ruler of the Gods</div><div class='lnum'>230</div> - <div class='line'>Repays me with these evil penalties:</div> - <div class='line'>For somehow this disease in sovereignty</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_125'>125</span>Inheres, of never trusting to one's friends.<a id='r150' /><a href='#f150' class='c011'><sup>[150]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>And since ye ask me under what pretence</div> - <div class='line'>He thus maltreats me, I will show it you:</div> - <div class='line'>For soon as He upon his father's throne</div> - <div class='line'>Had sat secure, forthwith to divers Gods</div> - <div class='line'>He divers gifts distributed, and his realm</div> - <div class='line'>Began to order. But of mortal men</div> - <div class='line'>He took no heed, but purposed utterly</div><div class='lnum'>240</div> - <div class='line'>To crush their race and plant another new;</div> - <div class='line'>And, I excepted, none dared cross his will;</div> - <div class='line'>But I did dare, and mortal men I freed</div> - <div class='line'>From passing on to Hades thunder-stricken;</div> - <div class='line'>And therefore am I bound beneath these woes,</div> - <div class='line'>Dreadful to suffer, pitiable to see:</div> - <div class='line'>And I, who in my pity thought of men</div> - <div class='line'>More than myself, have not been worthy deemed</div> - <div class='line'>To gain like favour, but all ruthlessly</div> - <div class='line'>I thus am chained, foul shame this sight to Zeus.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Iron-hearted must he be and made of rock</div><div class='lnum'>250</div> - <div class='line'>Who is not moved, Prometheus, by thy woes:</div> - <div class='line'>Fain could I wish I ne'er had seen such things,</div> - <div class='line'>And, seeing them, am wounded to the heart.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> Yea, I am piteous for my friends to see.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Did'st thou not go to farther lengths than this?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> I made men cease from contemplating death.<a id='r151' /><a href='#f151' class='c011'><sup>[151]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> What medicine did'st thou find for that disease?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_126'>126</span><em>Prom.</em> Blind hopes I gave to live and dwell with them.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Great service that thou did'st for mortal men!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> And more than that, I gave them fire, yes I.</div><div class='lnum'>260</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Do short-lived men the flaming fire possess?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> Yea, and full many an art they'll learn from it.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> And is it then on charges such as these</div> - <div class='line'>That Zeus maltreats thee, and no respite gives</div> - <div class='line'>Of many woes? And has thy pain no end?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> End there is none, except as pleases Him.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> How shall it please? What hope hast thou? See'st not</div> - <div class='line'>That thou hast sinned? Yet to say how thou sinned'st</div> - <div class='line'>Gives me no pleasure, and is pain to thee.</div> - <div class='line'>Well! let us leave these things, and, if we may,</div> - <div class='line'>Seek out some means to 'scape from this thy woe.</div><div class='lnum'>270</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> 'Tis a light thing for one who has his foot</div> - <div class='line'>Beyond the reach of evil to exhort</div> - <div class='line'>And counsel him who suffers. This to me</div> - <div class='line'>Was all well known. Yea, willing, willingly</div> - <div class='line'>I sinned, nor will deny it. Helping men,</div> - <div class='line'>I for myself found trouble: yet I thought not</div> - <div class='line'>That I with such dread penalties as these</div> - <div class='line'>Should wither here on these high-towering crags,</div> - <div class='line'>Lighting on this lone hill and neighbourless.</div> - <div class='line'>Wherefore wail not for these my present woes,</div> - <div class='line'>But, drawing nigh, my coming fortunes hear,</div><div class='lnum'>280</div> - <div class='line'>That ye may learn the whole tale to the end.</div> - <div class='line'>Nay, hearken, hearken; show your sympathy</div> - <div class='line'>With him who suffers now. 'Tis thus that woe,</div> - <div class='line'>Wandering, now falls on this one, now on that.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Not to unwilling hearers hast thou uttered,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Prometheus, thy request,</div> - <div class='line'>And now with nimble foot abounding</div> - <div class='line in8'>My swiftly rushing car,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_127'>127</span>And the pure æther, path of birds of heaven,</div><div class='lnum'>290</div> - <div class='line'>I will draw near this rough and rocky land,</div> - <div class='line in8'>For much do I desire</div> - <div class='line'>To hear this tale, full measure, of thy woes.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><em>Enter</em> <span class='sc'>Okeanos</span>, <em>on a car drawn by a winged gryphon</em></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Okean.</em> Lo, I come to thee, Prometheus,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Reaching goal of distant journey,<a id='r152' /><a href='#f152' class='c011'><sup>[152]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>Guiding this my winged courser</div> - <div class='line in8'>By my will, without a bridle;</div> - <div class='line in8'>And thy sorrows move my pity.</div> - <div class='line in8'>Force, in part, I deem, of kindred</div> - <div class='line in8'>Leads me on, nor know I any,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Whom, apart from kin, I honour</div><div class='lnum'>300</div> - <div class='line in8'>More than thee, in fuller measure.</div> - <div class='line in8'>This thou shall own true and earnest:</div> - <div class='line in8'>I deal not in glozing speeches.</div> - <div class='line in8'>Come then, tell me how to help thee;</div> - <div class='line in8'>Ne'er shalt thou say that one more friendly</div> - <div class='line in8'>Is found than unto thee is Okean.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> Let be. What boots it? Thou then too art come</div> - <div class='line'>To gaze upon my sufferings. How did'st dare</div> - <div class='line'>Leaving the stream that bears thy name, and caves</div> - <div class='line'>Hewn in the living rock, this land to visit,</div> - <div class='line'>Mother of iron? What then, art thou come</div> - <div class='line'>To gaze upon my fall and offer pity?</div><div class='lnum'>310</div> - <div class='line'>Behold this sight: see here the friend of Zeus,</div> - <div class='line'>Who helped to seat him in his sovereignty,</div> - <div class='line'>With what foul outrage I am crushed by him!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Okean.</em> I see, Prometheus, and I wish to give thee</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_128'>128</span>My best advice, all subtle though thou be.</div> - <div class='line'>Know thou thyself,<a id='r153' /><a href='#f153' class='c011'><sup>[153]</sup></a> and fit thy soul to moods</div> - <div class='line'>To thee full new. New king the Gods have now;</div> - <div class='line'>But if thou utter words thus rough and sharp,</div> - <div class='line'>Perchance, though sitting far away on high,</div><div class='lnum'>320</div> - <div class='line'>Zeus yet may hear thee, and his present wrath</div> - <div class='line'>Seem to thee but as child's play of distress.</div> - <div class='line'>Nay, thou poor sufferer, quit the rage thou hast,</div> - <div class='line'>And seek a remedy for these thine ills.</div> - <div class='line'>A tale thrice-told, perchance I seem to speak:</div> - <div class='line'>Lo! this, Prometheus, is the punishment</div> - <div class='line'>Of thine o'er lofty speech, nor art thou yet</div> - <div class='line'>Humbled, nor yieldest to thy miseries,</div> - <div class='line'>And fain would'st add fresh evils unto these.</div> - <div class='line'>But thou, if thou wilt take me as thy teacher,</div><div class='lnum'>330</div> - <div class='line'>Wilt not kick out against the pricks;<a id='r154' /><a href='#f154' class='c011'><sup>[154]</sup></a> seeing well</div> - <div class='line'>A monarch reigns who gives account to none.</div> - <div class='line'>And now I go, and will an effort make,</div> - <div class='line'>If I, perchance, may free thee from thy woes;</div> - <div class='line'>Be still then, hush thy petulance of speech,</div> - <div class='line'>Or knowest thou not, o'er-clever as thou art,</div> - <div class='line'>That idle tongues must still their forfeit pay?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> I envy thee, seeing thou art free from blame</div> - <div class='line'>Though thou shared'st all, and in my cause wast bold;<a id='r155' /><a href='#f155' class='c011'><sup>[155]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Nay, let me be, nor trouble thou thyself;</div><div class='lnum'>340</div> - <div class='line'>Thou wilt not, canst not soothe Him; very hard</div> - <div class='line'>Is He of soothing. Look to it thyself,</div> - <div class='line'>Lest thou some mischief meet with in the way.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_129'>129</span><em>Okean.</em> It is thy wont thy neighbours' minds to school</div> - <div class='line'>Far better than thine own. From deeds, not words,</div> - <div class='line'>I draw my proof. But do not draw me back</div> - <div class='line'>When I am hasting on, for lo, I deem,</div> - <div class='line'>I deem that Zeus will grant this boon to me,</div> - <div class='line'>That I should free thee from these woes of thine.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> I thank thee much, yea, ne'er will cease to thank;</div> - <div class='line'>For thou no whit of zeal dost lack; yet take,</div> - <div class='line'>I pray, no trouble for me; all in vain</div> - <div class='line'>Thy trouble, nothing helping, e'en if thou</div><div class='lnum'>350</div> - <div class='line'>Should'st care to take the trouble. Nay, be still;</div> - <div class='line'>Keep out of harm's way; sufferer though I be,</div> - <div class='line'>I would not therefore wish to give my woes</div> - <div class='line'>A wider range o'er others. No, not so:</div> - <div class='line'>For lo! my mind is wearied with the grief</div> - <div class='line'>Of that my kinsman Atlas,<a id='r156' /><a href='#f156' class='c011'><sup>[156]</sup></a> who doth stand</div> - <div class='line'>In the far West, supporting on his shoulders</div> - <div class='line'>The pillars of the earth and heaven, a burden</div> - <div class='line'>His arms can ill but hold: I pity too</div> - <div class='line'>The giant dweller of Kilikian caves,</div><div class='lnum'>360</div> - <div class='line'>Dread portent, with his hundred hands, subdued</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_130'>130</span>By force, the mighty Typhon,<a id='r157' /><a href='#f157' class='c011'><sup>[157]</sup></a> who arose</div> - <div class='line'>'Gainst all the Gods, with sharp and dreadful jaws</div> - <div class='line'>Hissing out slaughter, and from out his eyes</div> - <div class='line'>There flashed the terrible brightness as of one</div> - <div class='line'>Who would lay low the sovereignty of Zeus.</div> - <div class='line'>But the unsleeping dart of Zeus came on him,</div> - <div class='line'>Down-swooping thunderbolt that breathes out flame,</div> - <div class='line'>Which from his lofty boastings startled him,</div> - <div class='line'>For he i' the heart was struck, to ashes burnt,</div><div class='lnum'>370</div> - <div class='line'>His strength all thunder-shattered; and he lies</div> - <div class='line'>A helpless, powerless carcase, near the strait</div> - <div class='line'>Of the great sea, fast pressed beneath the roots</div> - <div class='line'>Of ancient Ætna, where on highest peak</div> - <div class='line'>Hephæstos sits and smites his iron red-hot,</div> - <div class='line'>From whence hereafter streams of fire shall burst,<a id='r158' /><a href='#f158' class='c011'><sup>[158]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Devouring with fierce jaws the golden plains</div> - <div class='line'>Of fruitful, fair Sikelia. Such the wrath</div> - <div class='line'>That Typhon shall belch forth with bursts of storm,</div> - <div class='line'>Hot, breathing fire, and unapproachable,</div> - <div class='line'>Though burnt and charred by thunderbolts of Zeus.</div><div class='lnum'>380</div> - <div class='line'>Not inexperienced art thou, nor dost need</div> - <div class='line'>My teaching: save thyself, as thou know'st how;</div> - <div class='line'>And I will drink my fortune to the dregs,</div> - <div class='line'>Till from his wrath the mind of Zeus shall rest.<a id='r159' /><a href='#f159' class='c011'><sup>[159]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_131'>131</span><em>Okean.</em> Know'st thou not this, Prometheus, even this,</div> - <div class='line'>Of wrath's disease wise words the healers are?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> Yea, could one soothe the troubled heart in time,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor seek by force to tame the soul's proud flesh.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Okean.</em> But in due forethought with bold daring blent,</div> - <div class='line'>What mischief see'st thou lurking? Tell me this.</div><div class='lnum'>390</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> Toil bootless, and simplicity full fond.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Okean.</em> Let me, I pray, that sickness suffer, since</div> - <div class='line'>'Tis best being wise to have not wisdom's show.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> Nay, but this error shall be deemed as mine.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Okean.</em> Thy word then clearly sends me home at once.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> Yea, lest thy pity for me make a foe....</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Okean.</em> What! of that new king on his mighty throne?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> Look to it, lest his heart be vexed with thee.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Okean.</em> Thy fate, Prometheus, teaches me that lesson.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> Away, withdraw! keep thou the mind thou hast.</div><div class='lnum'>400</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Okean.</em> Thou urgest me who am in act to haste;</div> - <div class='line'>For this my bird four-footed flaps with wings</div> - <div class='line'>The clear path of the æther; and full fain</div> - <div class='line'>Would he bend knee in his own stall at home. [<em>Exit</em>.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> I grieve, Prometheus, for thy dreary fate,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Shedding from tender eyes</div> - <div class='line in8'>The dew of plenteous tears;</div> - <div class='line'>With streams, as when the watery south wind blows,</div> - <div class='line in8'>My cheek is wet;</div><div class='lnum'>410</div> - <div class='line'>For lo! these things are all unenviable,</div> - <div class='line'>And Zeus, by his own laws his sway maintaining,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Shows to the elder Gods</div> - <div class='line in8'>A mood of haughtiness.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_132'>132</span><span class='sc'>Antistrophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And all the country echoeth with the moan,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And poureth many a tear</div> - <div class='line in8'>For that magnific power</div> - <div class='line'>Of ancient days far-seen that thou did'st share</div> - <div class='line in8'>With those of one blood sprung;</div> - <div class='line'>And all the mortal men who hold the plain</div><div class='lnum'>420</div> - <div class='line'>Of holy Asia as their land of sojourn,</div> - <div class='line in8'>They grieve in sympathy</div> - <div class='line in8'>For thy woes lamentable.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And they, the maiden band who find their home</div> - <div class='line in8'>On distant Colchian coasts,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Fearless of fight,<a id='r160' /><a href='#f160' class='c011'><sup>[160]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Or Skythian horde in earth's remotest clime,</div> - <div class='line in8'>By far Mæotic lake;<a id='r161' /><a href='#f161' class='c011'><sup>[161]</sup></a></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>And warlike glory of Arabia's tribes,<a id='r162' /><a href='#f162' class='c011'><sup>[162]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>Who nigh to Caucasos</div><div class='lnum'>430</div> - <div class='line in8'>In rock-fort dwell,</div> - <div class='line'>An army fearful, with sharp-pointed spear</div> - <div class='line in8'>Raging in war's array.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_133'>133</span><span class='sc'>Strophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>One other Titan only have I seen,</div> - <div class='line in8'>One other of the Gods,</div> - <div class='line'>Thus bound in woes of adamantine strength—</div> - <div class='line in8'>Atlas, who ever groans</div> - <div class='line'>Beneath the burden of a crushing might,</div> - <div class='line in8'>The out-spread vault of heaven.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And lo! the ocean billows murmur loud</div><div class='lnum'>440</div> - <div class='line in8'>In one accord with him;<a id='r163' /><a href='#f163' class='c011'><sup>[163]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>The sea-depths groan, and Hades' swarthy pit</div> - <div class='line in8'>Re-echoeth the sound,</div> - <div class='line'>And fountains of clear rivers, as they flow,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Bewail his bitter griefs.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> Think not it is through pride or stiff self-will</div> - <div class='line'>That I am silent. But my heart is worn,</div> - <div class='line'>Self-contemplating, as I see myself</div> - <div class='line'>Thus outraged. Yet what other hand than mine</div> - <div class='line'>Gave these young Gods in fulness all their gifts?</div> - <div class='line'>But these I speak not of; for I should tell</div> - <div class='line'>To you that know them. But those woes of men,<a id='r164' /><a href='#f164' class='c011'><sup>[164]</sup></a></div><div class='lnum'>450</div> - <div class='line'>List ye to them,—how they, before as babes,</div> - <div class='line'>By me were roused to reason, taught to think;</div> - <div class='line'>And this I say, not finding fault with men,</div> - <div class='line'>But showing my good-will in all I gave.</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_134'>134</span>For first, though seeing, all in vain they saw,</div> - <div class='line'>And hearing, heard not rightly. But, like forms</div> - <div class='line'>Of phantom-dreams, throughout their life's whole length</div> - <div class='line'>They muddled all at random; did not know</div> - <div class='line'>Houses of brick that catch the sunlight's warmth,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor yet the work of carpentry. They dwelt</div> - <div class='line'>In hollowed holes, like swarms of tiny ants,</div><div class='lnum'>460</div> - <div class='line'>In sunless depths of caverns; and they had</div> - <div class='line'>No certain signs of winter, nor of spring</div> - <div class='line'>Flower-laden, nor of summer with her fruits;</div> - <div class='line'>But without counsel fared their whole life long,</div> - <div class='line'>Until I showed the risings of the stars,</div> - <div class='line'>And settings hard to recognise.<a id='r165' /><a href='#f165' class='c011'><sup>[165]</sup></a> And I</div> - <div class='line'>Found Number for them, chief device of all,</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Groupings of letters, Memory's handmaid that,</div> - <div class='line'>And mother of the Muses.<a id='r166' /><a href='#f166' class='c011'><sup>[166]</sup></a> And I first</div> - <div class='line'>Bound in the yoke wild steeds, submissive made</div><div class='lnum'>470</div> - <div class='line'>Or to the collar or men's limbs, that so</div> - <div class='line'>They might in man's place bear his greatest toils;</div> - <div class='line'>And horses trained to love the rein I yoked</div> - <div class='line'>To chariots, glory of wealth's pride of state;<a id='r167' /><a href='#f167' class='c011'><sup>[167]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Nor was it any one but I that found</div> - <div class='line'>Sea-crossing, canvas-wingèd cars of ships:</div> - <div class='line'>Such rare designs inventing (wretched me!)</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_135'>135</span>For mortal men, I yet have no device</div> - <div class='line'>By which to free myself from this my woe.<a id='r168' /><a href='#f168' class='c011'><sup>[168]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Foul shame thou sufferest: of thy sense bereaved,</div><div class='lnum'>480</div> - <div class='line'>Thou errest greatly: and, like leech unskilled,</div> - <div class='line'>Thou losest heart when smitten with disease,</div> - <div class='line'>And know'st not how to find the remedies</div> - <div class='line'>Wherewith to heal thine own soul's sicknesses.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> Hearing what yet remains thou'lt wonder more,</div> - <div class='line'>What arts and what resources I devised:</div> - <div class='line'>And this the chief: if any one fell ill,</div> - <div class='line'>There was no help for him, nor healing food,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor unguent, nor yet potion; but for want</div> - <div class='line'>Of drugs they wasted, till I showed to them</div> - <div class='line'>The blendings of all mild medicaments,<a id='r169' /><a href='#f169' class='c011'><sup>[169]</sup></a></div><div class='lnum'>490</div> - <div class='line'>Wherewith they ward the attacks of sickness sore.</div> - <div class='line'>I gave them many modes of prophecy;<a id='r170' /><a href='#f170' class='c011'><sup>[170]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>And I first taught them what dreams needs must prove</div> - <div class='line'>True visions, and made known the ominous sounds</div> - <div class='line'>Full hard to know; and tokens by the way,</div> - <div class='line'>And flights of taloned birds I clearly marked,—</div> - <div class='line'>Those on the right propitious to mankind,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_136'>136</span>And those sinister,—and what form of life</div> - <div class='line'>They each maintain, and what their enmities</div> - <div class='line'>Each with the other, and their loves and friendships;</div><div class='lnum'>500</div> - <div class='line'>And of the inward parts the plumpness smooth.</div> - <div class='line'>And with what colour they the Gods would please,</div> - <div class='line'>And the streaked comeliness of gall and liver:</div> - <div class='line'>And with burnt limbs enwrapt in fat, and chine,</div> - <div class='line'>I led men on to art full difficult:</div> - <div class='line'>And I gave eyes to omens drawn from fire,</div> - <div class='line'>Till then dim-visioned. So far then for this.</div> - <div class='line'>And 'neath the earth the hidden boons for men,</div> - <div class='line'>Bronze, iron, silver, gold, who else could say</div><div class='lnum'>510</div> - <div class='line'>That he, ere I did, found them? None, I know,</div> - <div class='line'>Unless he fain would babble idle words.</div> - <div class='line'>In one short word, then, learn the truth condensed,—</div> - <div class='line'>Allarts of mortals from Prometheus spring.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Nay, be not thou to men so over-kind,</div> - <div class='line'>While thou thyself art in sore evil case;</div> - <div class='line'>For I am sanguine that thou too, released</div> - <div class='line'>From bonds, shall be as strong as Zeus himself.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> It is not thus that Fate's decree is fixed;</div> - <div class='line'>But I, long crushed with twice ten thousand woes</div><div class='lnum'>520</div> - <div class='line'>And bitter pains, shall then escape my bonds;</div> - <div class='line'>Art is far weaker than Necessity.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Who guides the helm, then, of Necessity?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> Fates triple-formed, Errinyes unforgetting.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Is Zeus, then, weaker in his might than these?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> Not even He can 'scape the thing decreed.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> What is decreed for Zeus but still to reign?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> Thou may'st no further learn, ask thou no more.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> 'Tis doubtless some dread secret which thou hidest.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> Of other theme make mention, for the time</div><div class='lnum'>530</div> - <div class='line'>Is not yet come to utter this, but still</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_137'>137</span>It must be hidden to the uttermost;</div> - <div class='line'>For by thus keeping it it is that I</div> - <div class='line'>Escape my bondage foul, and these my pains.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Ah! ne'er may Zeus the Lord,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Whose sovran sway rules all,</div> - <div class='line in8'>His strength in conflict set</div> - <div class='line in8'>Against my feeble will!</div> - <div class='line in8'>Nor may I fail to serve</div> - <div class='line in8'>The Gods with holy feast</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of whole burnt-offerings,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Where the stream ever flows</div> - <div class='line in8'>That bears my father's name,</div> - <div class='line in8'>The great Okeanos!</div> - <div class='line in8'>Nor may I sin in speech!</div><div class='lnum'>540</div> - <div class='line in8'>May this grace more and more</div> - <div class='line in8'>Sink deep into my soul</div> - <div class='line in8'>And never fade away!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>Sweet is it in strong hope</div> - <div class='line in8'>To spend long years of life,</div> - <div class='line in8'>With bright and cheering joy</div> - <div class='line in8'>Our heart's thoughts nourishing.</div> - <div class='line in8'>I shudder, seeing thee</div> - <div class='line in8'>Thus vexed and harassed sore.</div> - <div class='line in8'>By twice ten thousand woes;</div> - <div class='line in8'>For thou in pride of heart,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Having no fear of Zeus,</div><div class='lnum'>550</div> - <div class='line in8'>In thine own obstinacy,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Dost show for mortal men,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Prometheus, love o'ermuch.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_138'>138</span><span class='sc'>Strophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>See how that boon, dear friends,</div> - <div class='line in8'>For thee is bootless found.</div> - <div class='line in8'>Say, where is any help?</div> - <div class='line in8'>What aid from mortals comes?</div> - <div class='line'>Hast thou not seen this brief and powerless life,</div> - <div class='line'>Fleeting as dreams, with which man's purblind race</div> - <div class='line in8'>Is fast in fetters bound?</div><div class='lnum'>560</div> - <div class='line in8'>Never shall counsels vain</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of mortal men break through</div> - <div class='line in8'>The harmony of Zeus.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>This lesson have I learnt</div> - <div class='line in8'>Beholding thy sad fate,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Prometheus! Other strains</div> - <div class='line in8'>Come back upon my mind,</div> - <div class='line'>When I sang wedding hymns around thy bath,</div> - <div class='line'>And at thy bridal bed, when thou did'st take</div> - <div class='line in8'>In wedlock's holy bands</div> - <div class='line in8'>One of the same sire born,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Our own Hesione,</div><div class='lnum'>570</div> - <div class='line in8'>Persuading her with gifts</div> - <div class='line in8'>As wife to share thy couch.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><em>Enter</em> <span class='sc'>Io</span> <em>in form like a fair woman with a heifer's</em></div> - <div><em>horns</em>,<a id='r171' /><a href='#f171' class='c011'><sup>[171]</sup></a> <em>followed by the Spectre of</em> <span class='sc'>Argos</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Io.</em> What land is this? What people? Whom shall I</div> - <div class='line in8'><span class='pageno' id='Page_139'>139</span>Say that I see thus vexed</div> - <div class='line in8'>With bit and curb of rock?</div> - <div class='line in8'>For what offence dost thou</div> - <div class='line in8'>Bear fatal punishment?</div> - <div class='line in8'>Tell me to what far land</div> - <div class='line in8'>I've wandered here in woe.</div> - <div class='line in10'>Ah me! ah me!</div> - <div class='line'>Again the gadfly stings me miserable.</div> - <div class='line in8'>Spectre of Argos, thou, the earth-born one—</div> - <div class='line in8'>Ah, keep him off, O Earth!</div> - <div class='line'>I fear to look upon that herdsman dread,</div><div class='lnum'>580</div> - <div class='line in8'>Him with ten thousand eyes:</div> - <div class='line'>Ah lo! he cometh with his crafty look,</div> - <div class='line'>Whom Earth refuses even dead to hold;<a id='r172' /><a href='#f172' class='c011'><sup>[172]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>But coming from beneath</div> - <div class='line in8'>He hunts me miserable,</div> - <div class='line'>And drives me famished o'er the sea-beach sand.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And still his waxened reed-pipe soundeth clear</div> - <div class='line in8'>A soft and slumberous strain;</div> - <div class='line in8'>O heavens! O ye Gods!</div><div class='lnum'>590</div> - <div class='line'>Whither do these long wanderings lead me on?</div> - <div class='line'>For what offence, O son of Cronos, what,</div> - <div class='line in8'><span class='pageno' id='Page_140'>140</span>Hast thou thus bound me fast</div> - <div class='line in8'>In these great miseries?</div> - <div class='line in10'>Ah me! ah me!</div> - <div class='line'>And why with terror of the gadfly's sting</div> - <div class='line'>Dost thou thus vex me, frenzied in my soul?</div> - <div class='line'>Burn me with fire, or bury me in earth,</div> - <div class='line'>Or to wild sea-beasts give me as a prey:</div> - <div class='line in8'>Nay, grudge me not, O King,</div> - <div class='line in8'>An answer to my prayers:</div><div class='lnum'>600</div> - <div class='line'>Enough my many-wandered wanderings</div> - <div class='line in8'>Have exercised my soul,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Nor have I power to learn</div> - <div class='line in8'>How to avert the woe.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>(<em>To Prometheus</em>.) Hear'st thou the voice of maiden crowned with horns?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> Surely I heard the maid by gadfly driven,</div> - <div class='line'>Daughter of Inachos, who warmed the heart</div> - <div class='line'>Of Zeus with love, and now through Hera's hate</div> - <div class='line'>Is tried, perforce, with wanderings over-long?</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Io.</em> How is it that thou speak'st my father's name?</div> - <div class='line in8'>Tell me, the suffering one,</div><div class='lnum'>610</div> - <div class='line in8'>Who art thou, who, poor wretch,</div> - <div class='line'>Who thus so truly nam'st me miserable,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And tell'st the plague from Heaven,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Which with its haunting stings</div> - <div class='line in8'>Wears me to death? Ah woe!</div> - <div class='line'>And I with famished and unseemly bounds</div> - <div class='line'>Rush madly, driven by Hera's jealous craft.</div> - <div class='line'>Ah, who of all that suffer, born to woe,</div><div class='lnum'>620</div> - <div class='line'>Have trouble like the pain that I endure?</div> - <div class='line in8'>But thou, make clear to me,</div> - <div class='line in8'>What yet for me remains,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_141'>141</span>What remedy, what healing for my pangs.</div> - <div class='line in8'>Show me, if thou dost know:</div> - <div class='line in8'>Speak out and tell to me,</div> - <div class='line in8'>The maid by wanderings vexed.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> I will say plainly all thou seek'st to know;</div> - <div class='line'>Not in dark tangled riddles, but plain speech,</div> - <div class='line'>As it is meet that friends to friends should speak;</div> - <div class='line'>Thou see'st Prometheus who gave fire to men.</div><div class='lnum'>630</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Io.</em> O thou to men as benefactor known,</div> - <div class='line'>Why, poor Prometheus, sufferest thou this pain?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> I have but now mine own woes ceased to wail.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Io.</em> Wilt thou not then bestow this boon on me?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> Say what thou seek'st, for I will tell thee all.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Io.</em> Tell me, who fettered thee in this ravine?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> The counsel was of Zeus, the hand Hephæstos'.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Io.</em> Of what offence dost thou the forfeit pay?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> Thus much alone am I content to tell.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Io.</em> Tell me, at least, besides, what end shall come</div><div class='lnum'>640</div> - <div class='line'>To my drear wanderings; when the time shall be.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> Not to know this is better than to know.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Io.</em> Nay, hide not from me what I have to bear.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> It is not that I grudge the boon to thee.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Io.</em> Why then delayest thou to tell the whole?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> Not from ill will, but loth to vex thy soul.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Io.</em> Nay, care thou not beyond what pleases me.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> If thou desire it I must speak. Hear then.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Not yet though; grant me share of pleasure too.</div> - <div class='line'>Let us first ask the tale of her great woe,</div><div class='lnum'>650</div> - <div class='line'>While she unfolds her life's consuming chances;</div> - <div class='line'>Her future sufferings let her learn from thee.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> 'Tis thy work, Io, to grant these their wish,</div> - <div class='line'>On other grounds and as thy father's kin:<a id='r173' /><a href='#f173' class='c011'><sup>[173]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_142'>142</span>For to bewail and moan one's evil chance,</div> - <div class='line'>Here where one trusts to gain a pitying tear</div> - <div class='line'>From those who hear,—this is not labour lost.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Io.</em> I know not how to disobey your wish;</div> - <div class='line'>So ye shall learn the whole that ye desire</div> - <div class='line'>In speech full clear. And yet I blush to tell</div><div class='lnum'>660</div> - <div class='line'>The storm that came from God, and brought the loss</div> - <div class='line'>Of maiden face, what way it seized on me.</div> - <div class='line'>For nightly visions coming evermore</div> - <div class='line'>Into my virgin bower, sought to woo me</div> - <div class='line'>With glozing words. “O virgin greatly blest,</div> - <div class='line'>Why art thou still a virgin when thou might'st</div> - <div class='line'>Attain to highest wedlock? For with dart</div> - <div class='line'>Of passion for thee Zeus doth glow, and fain</div> - <div class='line'>Would make thee his. And thou, O child, spurn not</div> - <div class='line'>The bed of Zeus, but go to Lerna's field,</div><div class='lnum'>670</div> - <div class='line'>Where feed thy father's flocks and herds,</div> - <div class='line'>That so the eye of Zeus may find repose</div> - <div class='line'>From this his craving.” With such visions I</div> - <div class='line'>Was haunted every evening, till I dared</div> - <div class='line'>To tell my father all these dreams of night,</div> - <div class='line'>And he to Pytho and Dodona sent</div> - <div class='line'>Full many to consult the Gods, that he,</div> - <div class='line'>Might learn what deeds and words would please Heaven's lords.</div> - <div class='line'>And they came bringing speech of oracles</div> - <div class='line'>Shot with dark sayings, dim and hard to know.</div><div class='lnum'>680</div> - <div class='line'>At last a clear word came to Inachos</div> - <div class='line'>Charging him plainly, and commanding him</div> - <div class='line'>To thrust me from my country and my home,</div> - <div class='line'>To stray at large<a id='r174' /><a href='#f174' class='c011'><sup>[174]</sup></a> to utmost bounds of earth;</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_143'>143</span>And, should he gainsay, that the fiery bolt</div> - <div class='line'>Of Zeus should come and sweep away his race.</div> - <div class='line'>And he, by Loxias' oracles induced,</div> - <div class='line'>Thrust me, against his will, against mine too,</div> - <div class='line'>And drove me from my home; but spite of all,</div> - <div class='line'>The curb of Zeus constrained him this to do.</div><div class='lnum'>690</div> - <div class='line'>And then forthwith my face and mind were changed;</div> - <div class='line'>And hornèd, as ye see me, stung to the quick</div> - <div class='line'>By biting gadfly, I with maddened leap</div> - <div class='line'>Rushed to Kerchneia's fair and limpid stream,</div> - <div class='line'>And fount of Lerna.<a id='r175' /><a href='#f175' class='c011'><sup>[175]</sup></a> And a giant herdsman,</div> - <div class='line'>Argos, full rough of temper, followed me,</div> - <div class='line'>With many an eye beholding, on my track:</div> - <div class='line'>And him a sudden and unlooked-for doom</div> - <div class='line'>Deprived of life. And I, by gadfly stung,</div> - <div class='line'>By scourge from Heaven am driven from land to land.</div><div class='lnum'>700</div> - <div class='line'>What has been done thou hearest. And if thou</div> - <div class='line'>Can'st tell what yet remains of woe, declare it;</div> - <div class='line'>Nor in thy pity soothe me with false words;</div> - <div class='line'>For hollow words, I deem, are worst of ills.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Away, away, let be:</div> - <div class='line in8'>Ne'er thought I that such tales</div> - <div class='line'>Would ever, ever come unto mine ears;</div> - <div class='line'>Nor that such terrors, woes and outrages,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Hard to look on, hard to bear,</div><div class='lnum'>710</div> - <div class='line'>Would chill my soul with sharp goad, double-edged.</div> - <div class='line in8'>Ah fate! Ah fate!</div> - <div class='line'>I shudder, seeing Io's fortune strange.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> Thou art too quick in groaning, full of fear:</div> - <div class='line'>Wait thou a while until thou hear the rest.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Speak thou and tell. Unto the sick 'tis sweet</div> - <div class='line'>Clearly to know what yet remains of pain.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_144'>144</span><em>Prom.</em> Your former wish ye gained full easily.</div> - <div class='line'>Your first desire was to learn of her</div><div class='lnum'>720</div> - <div class='line'>The tale she tells of her own sufferings;</div> - <div class='line'>Now therefore hear the woes that yet remain</div> - <div class='line'>For this poor maid to bear at Hera's hands.</div> - <div class='line'>And thou, O child of Inachos! take heed</div> - <div class='line'>To these my words, that thou may'st hear the goal</div> - <div class='line'>Of all thy wanderings. First then, turning hence</div> - <div class='line'>Towards the sunrise, tread the untilled plains,</div> - <div class='line'>And thou shalt reach the Skythian nomads, those<a id='r176' /><a href='#f176' class='c011'><sup>[176]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Who on smooth-rolling waggons dwell aloft</div> - <div class='line'>In wicker houses, with far-darting bows</div><div class='lnum'>730</div> - <div class='line'>Duly equipped. Approach thou not to these,</div> - <div class='line'>But trending round the coasts on which the surf</div> - <div class='line'>Beats with loud murmurs,<a id='r177' /><a href='#f177' class='c011'><sup>[177]</sup></a> traverse thou that clime.</div> - <div class='line'>On the left hand there dwell the Chalybes,<a id='r178' /><a href='#f178' class='c011'><sup>[178]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Who work in iron. Of these do thou beware,</div> - <div class='line'>For fierce are they and most inhospitable;</div> - <div class='line'>And thou wilt reach the river fierce and strong,</div> - <div class='line'>True to its name.<a id='r179' /><a href='#f179' class='c011'><sup>[179]</sup></a> This seek not thou to cross,</div> - <div class='line'>For it is hard to ford, until thou come</div> - <div class='line'>To Caucasos itself, of all high hills</div> - <div class='line'>The highest, where a river pours its strength</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_145'>145</span>From the high peaks themselves. And thou must cross</div><div class='lnum'>740</div> - <div class='line'>Those summits near the stars, must onward go</div> - <div class='line'>Towards the south, where thou shalt find the host</div> - <div class='line'>Of the Amâzons, hating men, whose home</div> - <div class='line'>Shall one day be around Thermôdon's bank,</div> - <div class='line'>By Themiskyra,<a id='r180' /><a href='#f180' class='c011'><sup>[180]</sup></a> where the ravenous jaws</div> - <div class='line'>Of Salmydessos ope upon the sea,</div> - <div class='line'>Treacherous to sailors, stepdame stern to ships.<a id='r181' /><a href='#f181' class='c011'><sup>[181]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>And they with right good-will shall be thy guides;</div> - <div class='line'>And thou, hard by a broad pool's narrow gates,</div> - <div class='line'>Wilt pass to the Kimmerian isthmus. Leaving</div> - <div class='line'>This boldly, thou must cross Mæotic channel;<a id='r182' /><a href='#f182' class='c011'><sup>[182]</sup></a></div><div class='lnum'>750</div> - <div class='line'>And there shall be great fame 'mong mortal men</div> - <div class='line'>Of this thy journey, and the Bosporos<a id='r183' /><a href='#f183' class='c011'><sup>[183]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Shall take its name from thee. And Europe's plain</div> - <div class='line'>Then quitting, thou shalt gain the Asian coast.</div> - <div class='line'>Doth not the all-ruling monarch of the Gods</div> - <div class='line'>Seem all ways cruel? For, although a God,</div> - <div class='line'>He, seeking to embrace this mortal maid,</div> - <div class='line'>Imposed these wanderings on her. Thou hast found,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_146'>146</span>O maiden! bitter suitor for thy hand;</div> - <div class='line'>For great as are the ills thou now hast heard,</div> - <div class='line'>Know that as yet not e'en the prelude's known.</div><div class='lnum'>760</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Io.</em> Ah woe! woe! woe!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> Again thou groan'st and criest. What wilt do</div> - <div class='line'>When thou shall learn the evils yet to come?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> What! are there troubles still to come for her?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> Yea, stormy sea of woe most lamentable.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Io.</em> What gain is it to live? Why cast I not</div> - <div class='line'>Myself at once from this high precipice,</div> - <div class='line'>And, dashed to earth, be free from all my woes?</div> - <div class='line'>Far better were it once for all to die</div> - <div class='line'>Than all one's days to suffer pain and grief.</div><div class='lnum'>770</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> My struggles then full hardly thou would'st bear,</div> - <div class='line'>For whom there is no destiny of death;</div> - <div class='line'>For that might bring a respite from my woes:</div> - <div class='line'>But now there is no limit to my pangs</div> - <div class='line'>Till Zeus be hurled out from his sovereignty.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Io.</em> What! shall Zeus e'er be hurled from his high state?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> Thou would'st rejoice, I trow, to see that fall.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Io.</em> How should I not, when Zeus so foully wrongs me?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> That this is so thou now may'st hear from me.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Io.</em> Who then shall rob him of his sceptred sway?</div><div class='lnum'>780</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> Himself shall do it by his own rash plans.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Io.</em> But how? Tell this, unless it bringeth harm.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> He shall wed one for whom one day he'll grieve.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Io.</em> Heaven-born or mortal? Tell, if tell thou may'st.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> Why ask'st thou who? I may not tell thee that.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Io.</em> Shall his bride hurl him from his throne of might?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> Yea; she shall bear child mightier than his sire.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Io.</em> Has he no way to turn aside that doom?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_147'>147</span><em>Prom.</em> No, none; unless I from my bonds be loosed.<a id='r184' /><a href='#f184' class='c011'><sup>[184]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Io.</em> Who then shall loose thee 'gainst the will of Zeus?</div><div class='lnum'>790</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> It must be one of thy posterity.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Io.</em> What, shall a child of mine free thee from ills?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> Yea, the third generation after ten.<a id='r185' /><a href='#f185' class='c011'><sup>[185]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Io.</em> No more thine oracles are clear to me.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a><em>Prom.</em> Nay, seek not thou thine own drear fate to know.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Io.</em> Do not, a boon presenting, then withdraw it.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> Of two alternatives, I'll give thee choice.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Io.</em> Tell me of what, then give me leave to choose.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> I give it then. Choose, or that I should tell</div> - <div class='line'>Thy woes to come, or who shall set me free.</div><div class='lnum'>800</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Of these be willing one request to grant</div> - <div class='line'>To her, and one to me; nor scorn my words:</div> - <div class='line'>Tell her what yet of wanderings she must bear,</div> - <div class='line'>And me who shall release thee. This I crave.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> Since ye are eager, I will not refuse</div> - <div class='line'>To utter fully all that ye desire.</div> - <div class='line'>Thee, Io, first I'll tell thy wanderings wild,</div> - <div class='line'>Thou, write it in the tablets of thy mind.</div> - <div class='line'>When thou shalt cross the straits, of continents</div> - <div class='line'>The boundary,<a id='r186' /><a href='#f186' class='c011'><sup>[186]</sup></a> take thou the onward path</div> - <div class='line'>On to the fiery-hued and sun-tracked East.</div><div class='lnum'>810</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_148'>148</span>[And first of all, to frozen Northern blasts</div> - <div class='line'>Thou'lt come, and there beware the rushing whirl,</div> - <div class='line'>Lest it should come upon thee suddenly,</div> - <div class='line'>And sweep thee onward with the cloud-rack wild;]<a id='r187' /><a href='#f187' class='c011'><sup>[187]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Crossing the sea-surf till thou come at last</div> - <div class='line'>Unto Kisthene's Gorgoneian plains,</div> - <div class='line'>Where dwell the grey-haired virgin Phorkides,<a id='r188' /><a href='#f188' class='c011'><sup>[188]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Three, swan-shaped, with one eye between them all</div> - <div class='line'>And but one tooth; whom nor the sun beholds</div> - <div class='line'>With radiant beams, nor yet the moon by night:</div> - <div class='line'>And near them are their wingèd sisters three,</div> - <div class='line'>The Gorgons, serpent-tressed, and hating men,</div> - <div class='line'>Whom mortal wight may not behold and live.</div><div class='lnum'>820</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Such is one ill I bid thee guard against;</div> - <div class='line'>Now hear another monstrous sight: Beware</div> - <div class='line'>The sharp-beaked hounds of Zeus that never bark,<a id='r189' /><a href='#f189' class='c011'><sup>[189]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>The Gryphons, and the one-eyed, mounted host</div> - <div class='line'>Of Arimaspians, who around the stream</div> - <div class='line'>That flows o'er gold, the ford of Pluto, dwell:<a id='r190' /><a href='#f190' class='c011'><sup>[190]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_149'>149</span>Draw not thou nigh to them. But distant land</div> - <div class='line'>Thou shalt approach, the swarthy tribes who dwell</div> - <div class='line'>By the sun's fountain,<a id='r191' /><a href='#f191' class='c011'><sup>[191]</sup></a> Æthiopia's stream:</div> - <div class='line'>By its banks wend thy way until thou come</div> - <div class='line'>To that great fall where from the Bybline hills</div><div class='lnum'>830</div> - <div class='line'>The Neilos pours its pure and holy flood;</div> - <div class='line'>And it shall guide thee to Neilotic land,</div> - <div class='line'>Three-angled, where, O Io, 'tis decreed</div> - <div class='line'>For thee and for thy progeny to found</div> - <div class='line'>A far-off colony. And if of this</div> - <div class='line'>Aught seem to thee as stammering speech obscure,</div> - <div class='line'>Ask yet again and learn it thoroughly:</div> - <div class='line'>Far more of leisure have I than I like.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> If thou hast aught to add, aught left untold</div> - <div class='line'>Of her sore-wasting wanderings, speak it out;</div><div class='lnum'>840</div> - <div class='line'>But if thou hast said all, then grant to us</div> - <div class='line'>The boon we asked. Thou dost not, sure, forget it.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> The whole course of her journeying she hath heard,</div> - <div class='line'>And that she know she hath not heard in vain</div> - <div class='line'>I will tell out what troubles she hath borne</div> - <div class='line'>Before she came here, giving her sure proof</div> - <div class='line'>Of these my words. The greater bulk of things</div> - <div class='line'>I will pass o'er, and to the very goal</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_150'>150</span>Of all thy wanderings go. For when thou cam'st</div> - <div class='line'>To the Molossian plains, and by the grove<a id='r192' /><a href='#f192' class='c011'><sup>[192]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Of lofty-ridged Dodona, and the shrine</div> - <div class='line'>Oracular of Zeus Thesprotian,</div><div class='lnum'>850</div> - <div class='line'>And the strange portent of the talking oaks,</div> - <div class='line'>By which full clearly, not in riddle dark,</div> - <div class='line'>Thou wast addressed as noble spouse of Zeus,—</div> - <div class='line'>If aught of pleasure such things give to thee,—</div> - <div class='line'>Thence strung to frenzy, thou did'st rush along</div> - <div class='line'>The sea-coast's path to Rhea's mighty gulf,<a id='r193' /><a href='#f193' class='c011'><sup>[193]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>In backward way from whence thou now art vexed,</div> - <div class='line'>And for all time to come that reach of sea,</div> - <div class='line'>Know well, from thee Ionian shall be called,</div> - <div class='line'>To all men record of thy journeyings.</div><div class='lnum'>860</div> - <div class='line'>These then are tokens to thee that my mind</div> - <div class='line'>Sees somewhat more than that is manifest.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>What follows (<em>to the Chorus</em>) I will speak to you and her</div> - <div class='line'>In common, on the track of former words</div> - <div class='line'>Returning once again. A city stands,</div> - <div class='line'>Canôbos, at its country's furthest bound,</div> - <div class='line'>Hard by the mouth and silt-bank of the Nile;</div> - <div class='line'>There Zeus shall give thee back thy mind again,<a id='r194' /><a href='#f194' class='c011'><sup>[194]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>With hand that works no terror touching thee,—</div> - <div class='line'>Touch only—and thou then shalt bear a child</div> - <div class='line'>Of Zeus begotten, Epaphos, “Touch-born,”</div><div class='lnum'>870</div> - <div class='line'>Swarthy of hue, whose lot shall be to reap</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_151'>151</span>The whole plain watered by the broad-streamed Neilos:</div> - <div class='line'>And in the generation fifth from him</div> - <div class='line'>A household numbering fifty shall return</div> - <div class='line'>Against their will to Argos, in their flight</div> - <div class='line'>From wedlock with their cousins.<a id='r195' /><a href='#f195' class='c011'><sup>[195]</sup></a> And they too,</div> - <div class='line'>(Kites but a little space behind the doves)</div> - <div class='line'>With eager hopes pursuing marriage rites</div> - <div class='line'>Beyond pursuit shall come; and God shall grudge</div> - <div class='line'>To give up their sweet bodies. And the land</div> - <div class='line'>Pelasgian<a id='r196' /><a href='#f196' class='c011'><sup>[196]</sup></a> shall receive them, when by stroke</div> - <div class='line'>Of woman's murderous hand these men shall lie</div> - <div class='line'>Smitten to death by daring deed of night:</div><div class='lnum'>880</div> - <div class='line'>For every bride shall take her husband's life,</div> - <div class='line'>And dip in blood the sharp two-edgèd sword</div> - <div class='line'>(So to my foes may Kypris show herself!)<a id='r197' /><a href='#f197' class='c011'><sup>[197]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Yet one of that fair band shall love persuade</div> - <div class='line'>Her husband not to slaughter, and her will</div> - <div class='line'>Shall lose its edge; and she shall make her choice</div> - <div class='line'>Rather as weak than murderous to be known.</div> - <div class='line'>And she at Argos shall a royal seed</div> - <div class='line'>Bring forth (long speech 'twould take to tell this clear)</div><div class='lnum'>890</div> - <div class='line'>Famed for his arrows, who shall set me free<a id='r198' /><a href='#f198' class='c011'><sup>[198]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>From these my woes. Such was the oracle</div> - <div class='line'>Mine ancient mother Themis, Titan-born,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_152'>152</span>Gave to me; but the manner and the means,—</div> - <div class='line'>That needs a lengthy tale to tell the whole,</div> - <div class='line'>And thou can'st nothing gain by learning it.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Io.</em> Eleleu! Oh, Eleleu!<a id='r199' /><a href='#f199' class='c011'><sup>[199]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>The throbbing pain inflames me, and the mood</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of frenzy-smitten rage;</div> - <div class='line in8'>The gadfly's pointed sting,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Not forged with fire, attacks,</div> - <div class='line'>And my heart beats against my breast with fear.</div><div class='lnum'>900</div> - <div class='line in8'>Mine eyes whirl round and round:</div> - <div class='line in8'>Out of my course I'm borne</div> - <div class='line'>By the wild spirit of fierce agony,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And cannot curb my lips,</div> - <div class='line'>And turbid speech at random dashes on</div> - <div class='line'>Upon the waves of dread calamity.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Wise, very wise was he</div> - <div class='line'>Who first in thought conceived this maxim sage,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And spread it with his speech,<a id='r200' /><a href='#f200' class='c011'><sup>[200]</sup></a>—</div> - <div class='line'>That the best wedlock is with equals found,</div> - <div class='line'>And that a craftsman, born to work with hands,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Should not desire to wed</div> - <div class='line'>Or with the soft luxurious heirs of wealth,</div><div class='lnum'>910</div> - <div class='line'>Or with the race that boast their lineage high.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>Oh ne'er, oh ne'er, dread Fates,</div> - <div class='line'>May ye behold me as the bride of Zeus,</div> - <div class='line in8'>The partner of his couch,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_153'>153</span>Nor may I wed with any heaven-born spouse!</div> - <div class='line'>For I shrink back, beholding Io's lot</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of loveless maidenhood,</div> - <div class='line'>Consumed and smitten low exceedingly</div> - <div class='line'>By the wild wanderings from great Hera sent!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>To me, when wedlock is on equal terms,</div><div class='lnum'>920</div> - <div class='line in8'>It gives no cause to fear:</div> - <div class='line'>Ne'er may the love of any of the Gods,</div> - <div class='line in8'>The strong Gods, look on me</div> - <div class='line in8'>With glance I cannot 'scape!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>That fate is war that none can war against,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Source of resourceless ill;</div> - <div class='line'>Nor know I what might then become of me:</div> - <div class='line in8'>I see not how to 'scape</div> - <div class='line in8'>The counsel deep of Zeus.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> Yea, of a truth shall Zeus, though stiff of will,</div> - <div class='line'>Be brought full low. Such bed of wedlock now</div> - <div class='line'>Is he preparing, one to cast him forth</div><div class='lnum'>930</div> - <div class='line'>In darkness from his sovereignty and throne.</div> - <div class='line'>And then the curse his father Cronos spake</div> - <div class='line'>Shall have its dread completion, even that</div> - <div class='line'>He uttered when he left his ancient throne;</div> - <div class='line'>And from these troubles no one of the Gods</div> - <div class='line'>But me can clearly show the way to 'scape.</div> - <div class='line'>I know the time and manner: therefore now</div> - <div class='line'>Let him sit fearless, in his peals on high</div> - <div class='line'>Putting his trust, and shaking in his hands</div> - <div class='line'>His darts fire-breathing. Nought shall they avail</div> - <div class='line'>To hinder him from falling shamefully</div><div class='lnum'>940</div> - <div class='line'>A fall intolerable. Such a combatant</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_154'>154</span>He arms against himself, a marvel dread,</div> - <div class='line'>Who shall a fire discover mightier far</div> - <div class='line'>Than the red levin, and a sound more dread</div> - <div class='line'>Than roaring of the thunder, and shall shiver</div> - <div class='line'>That plague sea-born that causeth earth to quake,</div> - <div class='line'>The trident, weapon of Poseidon's strength:</div> - <div class='line'>And stumbling on this evil, he shall learn</div> - <div class='line'>How far apart a king's lot from a slave's.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> What thou dost wish thou mutterest against Zeus.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> Things that shall be, and things I wish, I speak.</div><div class='lnum'>950</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> And must we look for one to master Zeus?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> Yea, troubles harder far than these are his.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Art not afraid to vent such words as these?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> What can I fear whose fate is not to die?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> But He may send on thee worse pain than this.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> So let Him do: nought finds me unprepared.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Wisdom is theirs who Adrasteia worship.<a id='r201' /><a href='#f201' class='c011'><sup>[201]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> Worship then, praise and flatter him that rules;</div> - <div class='line'>My care for Zeus is nought, and less than nought:</div> - <div class='line'>Let Him act, let Him rule this little while,</div><div class='lnum'>960</div> - <div class='line'>E'en as He will; for long He shall not rule</div> - <div class='line'>Over the Gods. But lo! I see at hand</div> - <div class='line'>The courier of the Gods, the minister</div> - <div class='line'>Of our new sovereign. Doubtless he has come</div> - <div class='line'>To bring me tidings of some new device.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_155'>155</span><em>Enter</em> <span class='sc'>Hermes</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Herm.</em> Thee do I speak to,—thee, the teacher wise,</div> - <div class='line'>The bitterly o'er-bitter, who 'gainst Gods</div> - <div class='line'>Hast sinned in giving gifts to short-lived men—</div> - <div class='line'>I speak to thee, the filcher of bright fire.</div> - <div class='line'>The Father bids thee say what marriage thou</div> - <div class='line'>Dost vaunt, and who shall hurl Him from his might;</div> - <div class='line'>And this too not in dark mysterious speech,</div><div class='lnum'>970</div> - <div class='line'>But tell each point out clearly. Give me not,</div> - <div class='line'>Prometheus, task of double journey. Zeus</div> - <div class='line'>Thou see'st, is not with such words appeased.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> Stately of utterance, full of haughtiness</div> - <div class='line'>Thy speech, as fits a messenger of Gods.</div> - <div class='line'>Ye yet are young in your new rule, and think</div> - <div class='line'>To dwell in painless towers. Have I not</div> - <div class='line'>Seen two great rulers driven forth from thence?<a id='r202' /><a href='#f202' class='c011'><sup>[202]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>And now the third, who reigneth, I shall see</div> - <div class='line'>In basest, quickest fall. Seem I to thee</div><div class='lnum'>980</div> - <div class='line'>To shrink and quail before these new-made Gods?</div> - <div class='line'>Far, very far from that am I. But thou,</div> - <div class='line'>Track once again the path by which thou camest;</div> - <div class='line'>Thou shalt learn nought of what thou askest me.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Herm.</em> It was by such self-will as this before</div> - <div class='line'>That thou did'st bring these sufferings on thyself.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> I for my part, be sure, would never change</div> - <div class='line'>My evil state for that thy bondslave's lot.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Herm.</em> To be the bondslave of this rock, I trow,</div> - <div class='line'>Is better than to be Zeus' trusty herald!</div><div class='lnum'>990</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> So it is meet the insulter to insult.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Herm.</em> Thou waxest proud, 'twould seem, of this thy doom.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> Wax proud! God grant that I may see my foes</div> - <div class='line'>Thus waxing proud, and thee among the rest!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_156'>156</span><em>Herm.</em> Dost blame me then for thy calamities?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> In one short sentence—all the Gods I hate,</div> - <div class='line'>Who my good turns with evil turns repay.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Herm.</em> Thy words prove thee with no slight madness plagued.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> If to hate foes be madness, mad I am.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Herm.</em> Not one could bear thee wert thou prosperous.</div><div class='lnum'>1000</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> Ah me!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Herm.</em> That word is all unknown to Zeus.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> Time waxing old can many a lesson teach.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Herm.</em> Yet thou at least hast not true wisdom learnt.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> I had not else addressed a slave like thee.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Herm.</em> Thou wilt say nought the Father asks, 'twould seem.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> Fine debt I owe him, favour to repay.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Herm.</em> Me as a boy thou scornest then, forsooth.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> And art thou not a boy, and sillier far,</div> - <div class='line'>If that thou thinkest to learn aught from me?</div> - <div class='line'>There is no torture nor device by which</div><div class='lnum'>1010</div> - <div class='line'>Zeus can impel me to disclose these things</div> - <div class='line'>Before these bonds that outrage me be loosed.</div> - <div class='line'>Let then the blazing levin-flash be hurled;</div> - <div class='line'>With white-winged snow-storm and with earth-born thunders</div> - <div class='line'>Let Him disturb and trouble all that is;</div> - <div class='line'>Nought of these things shall force me to declare</div> - <div class='line'>Whose hand shall drive him from his sovereignty.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Herm.</em> See if thou findest any help in this.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> Long since all this I've seen, and formed my plans.</div><div class='lnum'>1020</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Herm.</em> O fool, take heart, take heart at last in time,</div> - <div class='line'>To form right thoughts for these thy present woes.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> Like one who soothes a wave, thy speech in vain</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_157'>157</span>Vexes my soul. But deem not thou that I,</div> - <div class='line'>Fearing the will of Zeus, shall e'er become</div> - <div class='line'>As womanised in mind, or shall entreat</div> - <div class='line'>Him whom I greatly loathe, with upturned hand,</div> - <div class='line'>In woman's fashion, from these bonds of mine</div> - <div class='line'>To set me free. Far, far am I from that.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Herm.</em> It seems that I, saying much, shall speak in vain;</div> - <div class='line'>For thou in nought by prayers art pacified,</div> - <div class='line'>Or softened in thy heart, but like a colt</div><div class='lnum'>1030</div> - <div class='line'>Fresh harnessed, thou dost champ thy bit, and strive,</div> - <div class='line'>And fight against the reins. Yet thou art stiff</div> - <div class='line'>In weak device; for self-will, by itself,</div> - <div class='line'>In one who is not wise, is less than nought.</div> - <div class='line'>Look to it, if thou disobey my words,</div> - <div class='line'>How great a storm and triple wave of ills,<a id='r203' /><a href='#f203' class='c011'><sup>[203]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Not to be 'scaped, shall come on thee; for first,</div> - <div class='line'>With thunder and the levin's blazing flash</div> - <div class='line'>The Father this ravine of rock shall crush,</div> - <div class='line'>And shall thy carcase hide, and stern embrace</div> - <div class='line'>Of stony arms shall keep thee in thy place.</div><div class='lnum'>1040</div> - <div class='line'>And having traversed space of time full long,</div> - <div class='line'>Thou shalt come back to light, and then his hound,</div> - <div class='line'>The wingèd hound of Zeus, the ravening eagle,</div> - <div class='line'>Shall greedily make banquet of thy flesh,</div> - <div class='line'>Coming all day an uninvited guest,</div> - <div class='line'>And glut himself upon thy liver dark.</div> - <div class='line'>And of that anguish look not for the end,</div> - <div class='line'>Before some God shall come to bear thy woes,</div> - <div class='line'>And will to pass to Hades' sunless realm,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_158'>158</span>And the dark cloudy depths of Tartaros.<a id='r204' /><a href='#f204' class='c011'><sup>[204]</sup></a></div><div class='lnum'>1050</div> - <div class='line'>Wherefore take heed. No feigned boast is this,</div> - <div class='line'>But spoken all too truly; for the lips</div> - <div class='line'>Of Zeus know not to speak a lying speech,</div> - <div class='line'>But will perform each single word. And thou,</div> - <div class='line'>Search well, be wise, nor think that self-willed pride</div> - <div class='line'>Shall ever better prove than counsel good.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> To us doth Hermes seem to utter words</div> - <div class='line'>Not out of season; for he bids thee quit</div> - <div class='line'>Thy self-willed pride and seek for counsel good.</div> - <div class='line'>Hearken thou to him. To the wise of soul</div> - <div class='line'>It is foul shame to sin persistently.</div><div class='lnum'>1060</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'><em>Prom.</em> To me who knew it all</div> - <div class='line in8'>He hath this message borne;</div> - <div class='line in8'>And that a foe from foes</div> - <div class='line in8'>Should suffer is not strange.</div> - <div class='line in8'>Therefore on me be hurled</div> - <div class='line in8'>The sharp-edged wreath of fire;</div> - <div class='line in8'>And let heaven's vault be stirred</div> - <div class='line in8'>With thunder and the blasts</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of fiercest winds; and Earth</div> - <div class='line in8'>From its foundations strong,</div> - <div class='line in8'>E'en to its deepest roots,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Let storm-wind make to rock;</div> - <div class='line in8'>And let the Ocean wave,</div> - <div class='line in8'>With wild and foaming surge,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Be heaped up to the paths</div><div class='lnum'>1070</div> - <div class='line in8'>Where move the stars of heaven;</div> - <div class='line in8'>And to dark Tartaros</div> - <div class='line in8'>Let Him my carcase hurl,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_159'>159</span>With mighty blasts of force:</div> - <div class='line'>Yet me He shall not slay.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Herm.</em> Such words and thoughts from one</div> - <div class='line'>Brain-stricken one may hear.</div> - <div class='line'>What space divides his state</div> - <div class='line'>From frenzy? What repose</div> - <div class='line'>Hath he from maddened rage?</div> - <div class='line'>But ye who pitying stand</div> - <div class='line'>And share his bitter griefs,</div><div class='lnum'>1080</div> - <div class='line'>Quickly from hence depart,</div> - <div class='line'>Lest the relentless roar</div> - <div class='line'>Of thunder stun your soul.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> With other words attempt</div> - <div class='line'>To counsel and persuade,</div> - <div class='line'>And I will hear: for now</div> - <div class='line'>Thou hast this word thrust in</div> - <div class='line'>That we may never bear.</div> - <div class='line'>How dost thou bid me train</div> - <div class='line'>My soul to baseness vile?</div> - <div class='line'>With him I will endure</div> - <div class='line'>Whatever is decreed.</div> - <div class='line'>Traitors I've learnt to hate,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor is there any plague</div><div class='lnum'>1090</div> - <div class='line'>That more than this I loathe.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Herm.</em> Nay then, remember ye</div> - <div class='line'>What now I say, nor blame</div> - <div class='line'>Your fortune: never say</div> - <div class='line'>That Zeus hath cast you down</div> - <div class='line'>To evil not foreseen.</div> - <div class='line'>Not so; ye cast yourselves:</div> - <div class='line'>For now with open eyes,</div> - <div class='line'>Not taken unawares,</div> - <div class='line'>In Atè's endless net</div> - <div class='line'>Ye shall entangled be</div> - <div class='line'>By folly of your own.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_160'>160</span>[<em>A pause, and then flashes of lightning and</em></div> - <div class='line in4'><em>peals of thunder</em><a id='r205' /><a href='#f205' class='c011'><sup>[205]</sup></a></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Prom.</em> Yea, now in very deed,</div> - <div class='line'>No more in word alone,</div> - <div class='line'>The earth shakes to and fro,</div> - <div class='line'>And the loud thunder's voice</div> - <div class='line'>Bellows hard by, and blaze</div> - <div class='line'>The flashing levin-fires;</div> - <div class='line'>And tempests whirl the dust,</div> - <div class='line'>And gusts of all wild winds</div> - <div class='line'>On one another leap,</div> - <div class='line'>In wild conflicting blasts,</div> - <div class='line'>And sky with sea is blent:</div> - <div class='line'>Such is the storm from Zeus</div><div class='lnum'>1110</div> - <div class='line'>That comes as working fear,</div> - <div class='line'>In terrors manifest.</div> - <div class='line'>O Mother venerable!</div> - <div class='line'>O Æther! rolling round</div> - <div class='line'>The common light of all,</div> - <div class='line'>See'st thou what wrongs I bear?</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class='c012' /> - -<div class='footnote' id='f136'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r136'>136</a>. </span>The scene seems at first an exception to the early conventional -rule, which forbade the introduction of a third actor on the -Greek stage. But it has been noticed that (1) Force does not -speak, and (2) Prometheus does not speak till Strength and -Force have retired, and that it is therefore probable that the -whole work of nailing is done on a lay figure or effigy of some -kind, and that one of the two who had before taken part in the -dialogue then speaks behind it in the character of Prometheus. -So the same actor must have appeared in succession as Okeanos, -Io, and Hermes.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f137'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r137'>137</a>. </span>Prometheus (<em>Forethought</em>) is the son of Themis (<em>Right</em>) the -second occupant of the Pythian Oracle (<cite>Eumen</cite>. v. 2). His -sympathy with man leads him to impart the gift which raised -them out of savage animal life, and for this Zeus, who -appears throughout the play as a hard taskmaster, sentences -him to fetters. Hephæstos, from whom this fire had been stolen, -has a touch of pity for him. Strength, who comes as the servant, -not of Hephæstos, but of Zeus himself, acts, as such, with -merciless cruelty.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f138'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r138'>138</a>. </span>The generalised statement refers to Zeus, as having but -recently expelled Cronos from his throne in Heaven.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f139'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r139'>139</a>. </span>Hephæstos, as the great fire-worker, had taught Prometheus -to use the fire which he afterwards bestowed on men.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f140'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r140'>140</a>. </span>Perhaps, “All might is ours except o'er Gods to rule.”</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f141'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r141'>141</a>. </span>The words indicate that the effigy of Prometheus, now -nailed to the rock, was, as being that of a Titan, of colossal size.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f142'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r142'>142</a>. </span>The touch is characteristic as showing that here, as in the -<cite>Eumenides</cite>, Æschylos relied on the horribleness of the masks, -as part of the machinery of his plays.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f143'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r143'>143</a>. </span>The silence of Prometheus up to this point was partly, as -has been said, consequent on the conventional laws of the Greek -drama, but it is also a touch of supreme insight into the heroic -temper. In the presence of his torturers, the Titan will not -utter even a groan. When they are gone, he appeals to the -sympathy of Nature.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f144'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r144'>144</a>. </span>The legend is from Hesiod (<cite>Theogon.</cite>, v. 567). The fennel, -or <em>narthex</em>, seems to have been a large umbelliferous plant, -with a large stem filled with a sort of pith, which was used -when dry as tinder. Stalks were carried as wands (the <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">thyrsi</span></i>) -by the men and women who joined in Bacchanalian processions. -In modern botany, the name is given to the plant which produces -Asafœtida, and the stem of which, from its resinous -character, would burn freely, and so connect itself with the -Promethean myth. On the other hand, the Narthex Asafœtida -is found at present only in Persia, Afghanistan, and the -Punjaub.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f145'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r145'>145</a>. </span>The ocean nymphs, like other divine ones, would be -anointed with ambrosial unguents, and the odour would be -wafted before them by the rustling of their wings. This too we -may think of as part of the “stage effects” of the play.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f146'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r146'>146</a>. </span>The words are not those of a vague terror only. The -sufferer knows that his tormentor is to come to him before long -on wings, and therefore the sound as of the flight of birds is full -of terrors.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f147'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r147'>147</a>. </span>By the same stage mechanism the Chorus remains in the -air till verse 280, when, at the request of Prometheus, they -alight.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f148'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r148'>148</a>. </span>Here, as throughout the play, the poet puts into the mouth -of his <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">dramatis personæ</span></i> words which must have seemed to the -devouter Athenians sacrilegious enough to call for an indictment -before the Areiopagos. But the final play of the Trilogy came, -we may believe, as the <cite>Eumenides</cite> did in its turn, as a reconciliation -of the conflicting thoughts that rise in men's minds out of -the seeming anomalies of the world.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f149'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r149'>149</a>. </span>The words leave it uncertain whether Themis is identified -with Earth, or, as in the <cite>Eumenides</cite> (v. 2) distinguished from -her. The Titans as a class, then, children of Okeanos and -Chthôn (another name for <em>Land</em> or <em>Earth</em>), are the kindred -rather than the brothers of Prometheus.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f150'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r150'>150</a>. </span>The generalising words here, as in v. 35, appeal to the -Athenian hatred of all that was represented by the words <em>tyrant</em> -and <em>tyranny</em>.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f151'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r151'>151</a>. </span>The state described is that of men who “through fear of -death are all their lifetime subject to bondage.” That state, the -parent of all superstition, fostered the slavish awe in which Zeus -delighted. Prometheus, representing the active intellect of man, -bestows new powers, new interests, new hopes, which at last -divert them from that fear.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f152'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r152'>152</a>. </span>The home of Okeanos was in the far west, at the boundary -of the great stream surrounding the whole world, from which he -took his name.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f153'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r153'>153</a>. </span>One of the sayings of the Seven Sages, already recognised -and quoted as a familiar proverb.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f154'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r154'>154</a>. </span>See note on <cite>Agam.</cite> 1602.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f155'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r155'>155</a>. </span>In the mythos, Okeanos had given his daughter Hesione in -marriage to Prometheus after the theft of fire, and thus had -identified himself with his transgression.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f156'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r156'>156</a>. </span>In the <cite>Theogony</cite> of Hesiod (v. 509), Prometheus and Atlas -appear as the sons of two sisters. As other Titans were thought -of as buried under volcanoes, so this one was identified with the -mountain which had been seen by travellers to Western Africa, -or in the seas beyond it, rising like a column to support the -vault of heaven. In Herodotos (iv. 174) and all later writers, -the name is given to the chain of mountains in Lybia, as being -the “pillar of the firmament;” but Humboldt and others identify -it with the lonely peak of Teneriffe, as seen by Phœnikian or -Hellenic voyagers. Teneriffe, too, like most of the other Titan -mountains, was at one time volcanic. Homer (<cite>Odyss.</cite> i. 53) -represents him as holding the pillars which separate heaven -from earth; Hesiod (<cite>Theogon.</cite> v. 517) as himself standing near -the Hesperides (this too points to Teneriffe), sustaining the -heavens with his head and shoulders.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f157'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r157'>157</a>. </span>The volcanic character of the whole of Asia Minor, and the -liability to earthquakes which has marked nearly every period of -its history, led men to connect it also with the traditions of the -Titans, some accordingly placing the home of Typhon in -Phrygia, some near Sardis, some, as here, in Kilikia. Hesiod -(<cite>Theogon.</cite> v. 820) describes Typhon (or Typhoeus) as a serpent-monster -hissing out fire; Pindar (<cite>Pyth.</cite> i. 30, viii. 21) as lying -with his head and breast crushed beneath the weight of Ætna, -and his feet extending to Cumæ.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f158'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r158'>158</a>. </span>The words point probably to an eruption, then fresh in men's -memories, which had happened <span class='fss'>B.C.</span> 476.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f159'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r159'>159</a>. </span>By some editors this speech from “No, not so,” to “thou -know'st how,” is assigned to Okeanos.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f160'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r160'>160</a>. </span>These are, of course, the Amazons, who were believed to -have come through Thrakè from the Tauric Chersonesos, and -had left traces of their name and habits in the Attic traditions of -Theseus.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f161'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r161'>161</a>. </span>Beyond the plains of Skythia, and the lake Mæotis (the sea -of Azov) there would be the great river Okeanos, which was -believed to flow round the earth.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f162'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r162'>162</a>. </span>Sarmatia has been conjectured instead of Arabia. No Greek -author sanctions the extension of the latter name to so remote a -region as that north of the Caspian.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f163'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r163'>163</a>. </span>The Greek leaves the object of the sympathy undefined, but -it seems better to refer it to that which Atlas receives from the -waste of waters around, and the dark world beneath, than to the -pity shown to Prometheus. This has already been dwelt on in -line 421.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f164'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r164'>164</a>. </span>The passage that follows has for modern palæontologists the -interest of coinciding with their views as to the progress of human -society, and the condition of mankind during what has been -called the “Stone” period. Comp. Lucretius, v. 955-984.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f165'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r165'>165</a>. </span>Comp. Mr. Blakesley's note on Herod. ii. 4, as showing that -here there was the greater risk of faulty observation.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f166'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r166'>166</a>. </span>Another reading gives perhaps a better sense—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in16'>“Memory, handmaid true</div> - <div class='line'>And mother of the Muses.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f167'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r167'>167</a>. </span>In Greece, as throughout the East, the ox was used for all -agricultural labours, the horse by the noble and the rich, either -in war chariots, or stately processions, or in chariot races in the -great games.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f168'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r168'>168</a>. </span>Compare with this the account of the inventions of Palamedes -in Sophocles, <cite>Fragm.</cite> 379.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f169'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r169'>169</a>. </span>Here we can recognise the knowledge of one who had studied -in the schools of Pythagoras, or had at any rate picked up their -terminology. A more immediate connexion may perhaps be -traced with the influence of Epimenides, who was said to have -spent many years in searching out the healing virtues of plants, -and to have written books about them.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f170'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r170'>170</a>. </span>The lines that follow form almost a manual of the art of -divination as then practised. The “ominous sounds” include -chance words, strange cries, any unexpected utterance that connected -itself with men's fears for the future. The flights of birds -were watched by the diviner as he faced the north, and so the -region on the right hand was that of the sunrise, light, blessedness; -on the left there were darkness and gloom and death.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f171'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r171'>171</a>. </span>So Io was represented, we are told, by Greek sculptors -(Herod. ii. 41), as Isis was by those of Egypt. The points of -contact between the myth of Io and that of Prometheus, as -adopted, or perhaps developed, by Æschylos are—(1) that from -her the destined deliverer of the chained Titan is to come; (2) -that both were suffering from the cruelty of Zeus; (3) that the -wanderings of Io gave scope for the wild tales of far countries -on which the imagination of the Athenians fed greedily. But, -as the <cite>Suppliants</cite> may serve to show, the story itself had a strange -fascination for him. In the birth of Epaphos, and Io's release -from her frenzy, he saw, it may be, a reconciliation of what had -seemed hard to reconcile, a solution of the problems of the -world, like in kind to that which was shadowed forth in the lost -<cite>Prometheus Unbound</cite>.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f172'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r172'>172</a>. </span>Argos had been slain by Hermes, and his eyes transferred by -Hera to the tail of the peacock, and that bird was henceforth -sacred to her.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f173'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r173'>173</a>. </span>Inachos the father of Io (identified with the Argive river of -the same name), was, like all rivers, a son of Okeanos, and -therefore brother to the nymphs who had come to see Prometheus.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f174'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r174'>174</a>. </span>The words used have an almost technical meaning as applied -to animals that were consecrated to the service of a God, and set -free to wander where they liked. The fate of Io, as at once -devoted to Zeus and animalised in form, was thus shadowed forth -in the very language of the Oracle.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f175'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r175'>175</a>. </span>Lerna was the lake near the mouth of the Inachos, close to -the sea. Kerchneia may perhaps be identified with the Kenchreæ, -the haven of Korinth in later geographies.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f176'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r176'>176</a>. </span>The wicker huts used by Skythian or Thrakian nomads (the -Calmucks of modern geographers) are described by Herodotos -(iv. 46) and are still in use.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f177'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r177'>177</a>. </span><i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Sc.</span></i>, the N.E. boundary of the Euxine, where spurs of the -Caucasos ridge approach the sea.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f178'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r178'>178</a>. </span>The Chalybes are placed by geographers to the south of -Colchis. The description of the text indicates a locality farther -to the north.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f179'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r179'>179</a>. </span>Probably the Araxes, which the Greeks would connect with -a word conveying the idea of a torrent dashing on the rocks. -The description seems to imply a river flowing into the Euxine -from the Caucasos, and the condition is fulfilled by the Hypanis -or <em>Kouban</em>.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f180'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r180'>180</a>. </span>When the Amazons appear in contact with Greek history, -they are found in Thrace. But they had come from the coast of -Pontos, and near the mouth of the Thermodon (<em>Thermeh</em>). The -words of Prometheus point to yet earlier migrations from the -East.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f181'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r181'>181</a>. </span>Here, as in Soph. <cite>Antig.</cite> (970) the name Salmydessos represents -the rockbound, havenless coast from the promontory of -Thynias to the entrance of the Bosporos, which had given to the -Black Sea its earlier name of Axenos, the “inhospitable.”</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f182'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r182'>182</a>. </span>The track is here in some confusion. From the Amazons -south of the Caucasos, Io is to find her way to the Tauric Chersonese -(the Crimea) and the Kimmerian Bosporos, which flows -into the Sea of Azov, and so to return to Asia.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f183'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r183'>183</a>. </span>Here, as in a hundred other instances, a false etymology has -become the parent of a myth. The name Bosporos is probably -Asiatic not Greek, and has an entirely different signification.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f184'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r184'>184</a>. </span>The lines refer to the story that Zeus loved Thetis the -daughter of Nereus, and followed her to Caucasos, but abstained -from marriage with her because Prometheus warned him that -the child born of that union should overthrow his father. Here -the future is used of what was still contingent only. In the lost -play of the Trilogy the myth was possibly brought to its conclusion -and connected with the release of Prometheus.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f185'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r185'>185</a>. </span>Heracles, whose genealogy was traced through Alcmena, -Perseus, Danae, Danaos and seven other names, to Epaphos and Io.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f186'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r186'>186</a>. </span>Probably the Kimmerian Bosporos. The Tanais or Phasis -has, however, been conjectured.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f187'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r187'>187</a>. </span>The history of the passage in brackets is curious enough to -call for a note. They are not in any extant MS., but they are -found in a passage quoted by Galen (v. p. 454), as from the <cite>Prometheus -Bound</cite>, and are inserted here by Mr. Paley.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f188'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r188'>188</a>. </span>Kisthene belongs to the geography of legend, lying somewhere -on the shore of the great ocean-river in Lybia or Æthiopia, -at the end of the world, a great mountain in the far West, -beyond the Hesperides, the dwelling-place, as here, of the -Gorgons, the daughters of Phorkys. Those first-named are the -Graiæ.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f189'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r189'>189</a>. </span>Here, like the “wingèd hound” of v. 1043, for the eagles -that are the messengers of Zeus.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f190'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r190'>190</a>. </span>We are carried back again from the fabled West to the -fabled East. The Arimaspians, with one eye, and the Grypes -or Gryphons (the griffins of mediæval heraldry), quadrupeds -with the wings and beaks of eagles, were placed by most writers -(Herod. iv. 13, 27) in the north of Europe, in or beyond the -<i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">terra incognita</span></i> of Skythia. The mention of the “ford of -Pluto” and Æthiopia, however, may possibly imply (if we -identify it, as Mr. Paley does, with the Tartessos of Spain, or -Bœtis—<em>Guadalquivir</em>) that Æschylos followed another legend -which placed them in the West. There is possibly a <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">paronomasia</span></i> -between Pluto, the God of Hades, and Plutos, the ideal -God of riches.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f191'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r191'>191</a>. </span>The name was applied by later writers (Quintus Curtius, -iv. 7, 22; Lucretius, vi. 848) to the fountain in the temple of -Jupiter Ammon in the great Oasis. The “river Æthiops” may -be purely imaginary, but it may also suggest the possibility of -some vague knowledge of the Niger, or more probably of the -Nile itself in the upper regions of its course. The “Bybline -hills” carry the name Byblos, which we only read of as belonging -to a town in the Delta, to the Second Cataract.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f192'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r192'>192</a>. </span>Comp. Sophocles, <cite>Trachin.</cite>, v. 1168.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f193'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r193'>193</a>. </span>The Adriatic or Ionian Gulf.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f194'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r194'>194</a>. </span>In the <cite>Suppliants</cite>, Zeus is said to have soothed her, and -restored her to her human consciousness by his “divine breathings.” -The thought underlying the legend may be taken either -as a distortion of some primitive tradition, or as one of the -“unconscious prophecies” of heathenism. The deliverer is not -to be born after the common manner of men, and is to have a -divine as well as a human parentage.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f195'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r195'>195</a>. </span>See the argument of the <cite>Suppliants</cite>, who, as the daughters -of Danaos, descended from Epaphos, are here referred to. The -passage is noticeable as showing that the theme of that tragedy -was already present to the poet's thoughts.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f196'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r196'>196</a>. </span>Argos. So in the <cite>Suppliants</cite>, Pelasgos is the mythical king -of the Apian land who receives them.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f197'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r197'>197</a>. </span>Hypermnæstra, who spared Lynceus, and by him became -the mother of Abas and a line of Argive kings.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f198'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r198'>198</a>. </span>Heracles, who came to Caucasos, and with his arrows slew -the eagle that devoured Prometheus.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f199'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r199'>199</a>. </span>The word is simply an interjection of pain, but one so characteristic -that I have thought it better to reproduce it than to give -any English equivalent.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f200'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r200'>200</a>. </span>The maxim, “Marry with a woman thine equal,” was ascribed -to Pittacos.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f201'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r201'>201</a>. </span>The Euhemerism of later scholiasts derived the name from -a king Adrastos, who was said to have been the first to build a -temple to Nemesis, and so the power thus worshipped was -called after his name. A better etymology leads us to see in it -the idea of the “inevitable” law of retribution working unseen -by men, and independently even of the arbitrary will of the -Gods, and bringing destruction upon the proud and haughty.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f202'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r202'>202</a>. </span>Comp. <cite>Agam.</cite> 162-6.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f203'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r203'>203</a>. </span>Either a mere epithet of intensity, as in our “thrice blest,” -or rising from the supposed fact that every third wave was larger -and more impetuous than the others, like <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">fluctus decumanus</span></i> -of the Latins, or from the sequence of three great waves which -some have noted as a common phenomenon in storms.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f204'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r204'>204</a>. </span>Here again we have a strange shadowing forth of the mystery -of Atonement, and what we have learnt to call “vicarious” -satisfaction. In the later legend, Cheiron, suffering from the -agony of his wounds, resigns his immortality, and submits to -die in place of the ever-living death to which Prometheus was -doomed.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f205'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r205'>205</a>. </span>It is noticeable that both Æschylos and Sophocles have left -us tragedies which end in a thunderstorm as an element of effect. -But the contrast between the <cite>Prometheus</cite> and the <cite>Œdipus at -Colonos</cite> as to the impression left in the one case of serene reconciliation, -and in the other of violent antagonism, is hardly less -striking than the resemblance in the outward phenomena which -are common to the two.</p> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_161'>161</span> - <h2 class='c005'>THE SUPPLIANTS</h2> -</div> - -<h3 class='c013'>DRAMATIS PERSONÆ</h3> - -<div class='lg-container-b c003'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Danaos</span></div> - <div class='line'>Herald</div> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Pelasgos</span>, <em>king of</em> Argos</div> - <div class='line'><em>Chorus of the daughters of</em> <span class='sc'>Danaos</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c006'><em>ARGUMENT.—When Io, after many wanderings, had -found refuge in Egypt, and having been touched by Zeus, -had given birth to Epaphos, it came to pass that he and -his descendants ruled over the region of Canôpos, near one -of the seven mouths of Neilos. And in the fifth generation -there were two brothers, Danaos and Ægyptos, the -sons of Belos, and the former had fifty daughters and the -latter fifty sons, and Ægyptos sought the daughters of -Danaos in marriage for his sons. And they, looking on -the marriage as unholy, and hating those who wooed -them, took flight and came to Argos, where Pelasgos then -ruled as king, as to the land whence Io, from whom they -sprang, had come. And thither the sons of Ægyptos -followed them in hot pursuit.</em></p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_163'>163</span><span class='sc'>Scene.</span>—Argos, <em>the entrance of the gates. Statues of</em> <span class='sc'>Zeus</span>,</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><span class='sc'>Artemis</span>, <em>and other Gods, placed against the walls</em></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c016'><em>Enter Chorus of the</em> Daughters of <span class='sc'>Danaos</span>,<a id='r206' /><a href='#f206' class='c011'><sup>[206]</sup></a> <em>in the dress -of Egyptian women, with the boughs of suppliants in -their hands, and fillets of white wool twisted round -them, chanting as they move in procession to take up -their position round the thymele</em></p> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Zeus, the God of Suppliants, kindly</div> - <div class='line'>Look on this our band of wanderers,</div> - <div class='line'>That from banks at mouths of Neilos,</div> - <div class='line'>Banks of finest sand, departed!<a id='r207' /><a href='#f207' class='c011'><sup>[207]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Yea, we left the region sacred,</div> - <div class='line'>Grassy plain on Syria's borders,<a id='r208' /><a href='#f208' class='c011'><sup>[208]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Not for guilt of blood to exile</div> - <div class='line'>By our country's edict sentenced,</div> - <div class='line'>But with free choice, loathing wedlock,</div> - <div class='line'>Fleeing marriage-rites unholy</div> - <div class='line'>With the children of Ægyptos.</div><div class='lnum'>10</div> - <div class='line'>And our father Danaos, ruler,</div> - <div class='line'>Chief of council, chief of squadrons,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_164'>164</span>Playing moves on fortune's draught-board,<a id='r209' /><a href='#f209' class='c011'><sup>[209]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Chose what seemed the best of evils,</div> - <div class='line'>Through the salt sea-waves to hasten,</div> - <div class='line'>Steering to the land of Argos,</div> - <div class='line'>Whence our race has risen to greatness;</div> - <div class='line'>Sprung, so boasts it, from the heifer</div> - <div class='line'>Whom the stinging gadfly harassed,</div> - <div class='line'>By the touch of Zeus love-breathing:<a id='r210' /><a href='#f210' class='c011'><sup>[210]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>And to what land more propitious</div> - <div class='line'>Could we come than this before us,</div><div class='lnum'>20</div> - <div class='line'>Holding in our hand the branches</div> - <div class='line'>Suppliant, wreathed with white wool fillets?</div> - <div class='line'>O State! O land! O water gleaming!</div> - <div class='line'>Ye the high Gods, ye the awful,</div> - <div class='line'>In the dark the graves still guarding;</div> - <div class='line'>Thou too with them, Zeus Preserver,<a id='r211' /><a href='#f211' class='c011'><sup>[211]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Guardian of the just man's dwelling,</div> - <div class='line'>Welcome with the breath of pity,</div> - <div class='line'>Pity as from these shores wafted,</div> - <div class='line'>Us poor women who are suppliants.</div> - <div class='line'>And that swarm of men that follow,</div> - <div class='line'>Haughty offspring of Ægyptos,</div><div class='lnum'>30</div> - <div class='line'>Ere they set their foot among you</div> - <div class='line'>On this silt-strown shore,<a id='r212' /><a href='#f212' class='c011'><sup>[212]</sup></a>—oh, send them</div> - <div class='line in8'><span class='pageno' id='Page_165'>165</span>Seaward in their ship swift-rowing;</div> - <div class='line in8'>There, with whirlwind tempest-driven,</div> - <div class='line in8'>There, with lightning and with thunder,</div> - <div class='line in8'>There, with blasts that bring the storm-rain,</div> - <div class='line in8'>May they in the fierce sea perish,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Ere they, cousin-brides possessing,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Rest on marriage-beds reluctant,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Which the voice of right denies them!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And now I call on him, the Zeus-sprung steer,<a id='r213' /><a href='#f213' class='c011'><sup>[213]</sup></a></div><div class='lnum'>40</div> - <div class='line'>Our true protector, far beyond the sea,</div> - <div class='line'>Child of the heifer-foundress of our line,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Who cropped the flowery mead,</div> - <div class='line'>Born of the breath, and named from touch of Zeus.</div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>And lo! the destined time</div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Wrought fully with the name,</div> - <div class='line'>And she brought forth the “Touch-born,” Epaphos.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And now invoking him in grassy fields,</div><div class='lnum'>50</div> - <div class='line'>Where erst his mother strayed, to dwellers here</div> - <div class='line'>Telling the tale of all her woes of old,</div> - <div class='line in8'>I surest pledge shall give;</div> - <div class='line'>And others, strange beyond all fancy's dream,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Shall yet perchance be found;</div> - <div class='line in8'>And in due course of time</div> - <div class='line'>Shall men know clearly all our history.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_166'>166</span><span class='sc'>Strophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And if some augur of the land be near,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Hearing our piteous cry,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Sure he will deem he hears</div> - <div class='line in8'>The voice of Tereus' bride,<a id='r214' /><a href='#f214' class='c011'><sup>[214]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>Piteous and sad of soul,</div> - <div class='line'>The nightingale sore harassed by the kite.</div><div class='lnum'>60</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>For she, driven back from wonted haunts and streams,<a id='r215' /><a href='#f215' class='c011'><sup>[215]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>Mourns with a strange new plaint</div> - <div class='line in8'>The home that she has lost,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And wails her son's sad doom,</div> - <div class='line in8'>How he at her hand died,</div> - <div class='line'>Meeting with evil wrath unmotherly;</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>E'en so do I, to wailing all o'er-given,</div> - <div class='line'>In plaintive music of Ionian mood,<a id='r216' /><a href='#f216' class='c011'><sup>[216]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Vex the soft cheek on Neilos' banks that bloomed,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And heart that bursts in tears,</div> - <div class='line'>And pluck the flowers of lamentations loud,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Not without fear of friends,</div><div class='lnum'>70</div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Lest none should care to help</div> - <div class='line'>This flight of mine from that mist-shrouded shore.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>But, O ye Gods ancestral! hear my prayer,</div> - <div class='line'>Look well upon the justice of our cause,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_167'>167</span>Nor grant to youth to gain its full desire</div> - <div class='line in8'>Against the laws of right,</div> - <div class='line'>But with prompt hate of lust, our marriage bless.</div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Even for those who come</div> - <div class='line in8'>As fugitives in war</div> - <div class='line'>The altar serves as shield that Gods regard.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe IV</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>May God good issue give!<a id='r217' /><a href='#f217' class='c011'><sup>[217]</sup></a></div><div class='lnum'>80</div> - <div class='line'>And yet the will of Zeus is hard to scan:</div> - <div class='line in8'>Through all it brightly gleams,</div> - <div class='line'>E'en though in darkness and the gloom of chance</div> - <div class='line in8'>For us poor mortals wrapt.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe IV</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>Safe, by no fall tripped up,</div> - <div class='line'>The full-wrought deed decreed by brow of Zeus;</div> - <div class='line in8'>For dark with shadows stretch</div> - <div class='line'>The pathways of the counsels of his heart,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And difficult to see.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe V</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And from high-towering hopes He hurleth down</div><div class='lnum'>90</div> - <div class='line'>To utter doom the heir of mortal birth;</div> - <div class='line in8'>Yet sets He in array</div> - <div class='line in8'>No forces violent;</div> - <div class='line'>All that Gods work is effortless and calm:</div> - <div class='line in8'>Seated on holiest throne,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Thence, though we know not how,</div> - <div class='line in8'>He works His perfect will.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_168'>168</span><span class='sc'>Antistrophe V</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Ah, let him look on frail man's wanton pride,</div> - <div class='line'>With which the old stock burgeons out anew,</div> - <div class='line in8'>By love for me constrained,</div> - <div class='line in8'>In counsels ill and rash,</div><div class='lnum'>100</div> - <div class='line'>And in its frenzied, passionate resolve</div> - <div class='line in8'>Finds goad it cannot shun;</div> - <div class='line in8'>But in deceivèd hopes,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Shall know, too late, its woe.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe VI</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Such bitter griefs, lamenting, I recount,</div> - <div class='line in8'>With cries shrill, tearful, deep,</div> - <div class='line in10'>(Ah woe! ah woe!)</div> - <div class='line'>That strike the ear with mourner's woe-fraught cry.</div> - <div class='line'>Though yet alive, I wail mine obsequies;</div> - <div class='line in8'>Thee, Apian sea-girt bluff,<a id='r218' /><a href='#f218' class='c011'><sup>[218]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>I greet (our alien speech</div> - <div class='line in8'>Thou knowest well, O land,)</div><div class='lnum'>110</div> - <div class='line'>And ofttimes fall, with rendings passionate,</div> - <div class='line'>On robe of linen and Sidonian veil.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe VI</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>But to the Gods, for all things prospering well,</div> - <div class='line in8'>When death is kept aloof,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Gifts votive come of right.</div> - <div class='line in8'>Ah woe! Ah woe!</div> - <div class='line'>Oh, troubles dark, and hard to understand!</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_169'>169</span>Ah, whither will these waters carry me?</div> - <div class='line in8'>Thee, Apian sea-girt bluff,</div><div class='lnum'>120</div> - <div class='line in8'>I greet (our alien speech</div> - <div class='line in8'>Thou knowest well, O land,)</div> - <div class='line'>And ofttimes fall, with rendings passionate,</div> - <div class='line'>On robe of linen and Sidonian veil.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe VII</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>The oar indeed and dwelling, timber-wrought,</div> - <div class='line'>With sails of canvas, 'gainst the salt sea proof</div> - <div class='line in8'>Brought me with favouring gales,</div> - <div class='line in8'>By stormy wind unvexed;</div> - <div class='line'>Nor have I cause for murmur. Issues good</div> - <div class='line'>May He, the all-seeing Father, grant, that I,</div><div class='lnum'>130</div> - <div class='line in8'>Great seed of Mother dread,</div> - <div class='line'>In time may 'scape, still maiden undefiled,</div> - <div class='line in8'>My suitor's marriage-bed.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe VII</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And with a will that meets my will may She,</div> - <div class='line'>The unstained child of Zeus, on me look down,</div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Our Artemis, who guards</div> - <div class='line in8'>The consecrated walls;</div> - <div class='line'>And with all strength, though hunted down, uncaught,</div> - <div class='line'>May She, the Virgin, me a virgin free,</div><div class='lnum'>140</div> - <div class='line in8'>Great seed of Mother dread,</div> - <div class='line'>That I may 'scape, still maiden undefiled,</div> - <div class='line in8'>My suitor's marriage-bed.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe VIII</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>But if this may not be,</div> - <div class='line in8'>We, of swarth sun-burnt race,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_170'>170</span>Will with our suppliant branches go to him,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Zeus, sovereign of the dead,<a id='r219' /><a href='#f219' class='c011'><sup>[219]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>The Lord that welcomes all that come to him,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Dying by twisted noose</div><div class='lnum'>150</div> - <div class='line'>If we the grace of Gods Olympian miss.</div> - <div class='line'>By thine ire, Zeus, 'gainst Io virulent,</div> - <div class='line in8'>The Gods' wrath seeks us out,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And I know well the woe</div> - <div class='line'>Comes from thy queen who reigns in heaven victorious;</div> - <div class='line in8'>For after stormy wind</div> - <div class='line in8'>The tempest needs must rage.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe VIII</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>And then shall Zeus to words</div> - <div class='line in8'>Unseemly be exposed,</div> - <div class='line'>Having the heifer's offspring put to shame,</div><div class='lnum'>160</div> - <div class='line in8'>Whom he himself begat,</div> - <div class='line'>And now his face averting from our prayers:</div> - <div class='line in8'>Ah, may he hear on high,</div> - <div class='line'>Yea, pitying look and hear propitiously!</div> - <div class='line'>By thine ire, Zeus, 'gainst Io virulent,</div> - <div class='line in8'>The Gods' wrath seeks us out,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And I know well the woe</div> - <div class='line'>Comes from thy queen, who reigns in heaven victorious;</div> - <div class='line in8'>For after stormy wind</div><div class='lnum'>170</div> - <div class='line in8'>The tempest needs must rage.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Danaos.</em> My children, we need wisdom; lo! ye came</div> - <div class='line'>With me, your father wise and old and true,</div> - <div class='line'>As guardian of your voyage. Now ashore,</div> - <div class='line'>With forethought true I bid you keep my words,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_171'>171</span>As in a tablet-book recording them:</div> - <div class='line'>I see a dust, an army's voiceless herald,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor are the axles silent as they turn;</div> - <div class='line'>And I descry a host that bear the shield,</div> - <div class='line'>And those that hurl the javelin, marching on</div> - <div class='line'>With horses and with curvèd battle-cars.</div> - <div class='line'>Perchance they are the princes of this land,</div><div class='lnum'>180</div> - <div class='line'>Come on the watch, as having news of us;</div> - <div class='line'>But whether one in kindly mood, or hot</div> - <div class='line'>With anger fierce, leads on this great array,</div> - <div class='line'>It is, my children, best on all accounts</div> - <div class='line'>To take your stand hard by this hill of Gods</div> - <div class='line'>Who rule o'er conflicts.<a id='r220' /><a href='#f220' class='c011'><sup>[220]</sup></a> Better far than towers</div> - <div class='line'>Are altars, yea, a shield impenetrable.</div> - <div class='line'>But with all speed approach the shrine of Zeus,</div> - <div class='line'>The God of mercy, in your left hand holding</div> - <div class='line'>The suppliants' boughs wool-wreathed, in solemn guise,<a id='r221' /><a href='#f221' class='c011'><sup>[221]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>And greet our hosts as it is meet for us,</div><div class='lnum'>190</div> - <div class='line'>Coming as strangers, with all duteous words</div> - <div class='line'>Kindly and holy, telling them your tale</div> - <div class='line'>Of this your flight, unstained by guilt of blood;</div> - <div class='line'>And with your speech, let mood not overbold,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor vain nor wanton, shine from modest brow</div> - <div class='line'>And calm, clear eye. And be not prompt to speak,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor full of words; the race that dwelleth here</div> - <div class='line'>Of this is very jealous:<a id='r222' /><a href='#f222' class='c011'><sup>[222]</sup></a> and be mindful</div> - <div class='line'>Much to concede; a fugitive thou art,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_172'>172</span>A stranger and in want, and 'tis not meet</div> - <div class='line'>That those in low estate high words should speak.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> My father, to the prudent prudently</div><div class='lnum'>200</div> - <div class='line'>Thou speakest, and my task shall be to keep</div> - <div class='line'>Thy goodly precepts. Zeus, our sire, look on us!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Dan.</em> Yea, may He look with favourable eye!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> I fain would take my seat not far from thee.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<em>Chorus moves to the altar not far from</em></div> - <div class='line in4'><span class='sc'>Danaos</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Dan.</em> Delay not then; success go with your plan.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Zeus, pity us with sorrow all but crushed!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Dan.</em> If He be willing, all shall turn out well.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> . . . . .</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Dan.</em> Invoke ye now the mighty bird of Zeus.<a id='r223' /><a href='#f223' class='c011'><sup>[223]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> We call the sun's bright rays to succour us.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Dan.</em> Apollo too, the holy, in that He,</div><div class='lnum'>210</div> - <div class='line'>A God, has tasted exile from high heaven.<a id='r224' /><a href='#f224' class='c011'><sup>[224]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Knowing that fate, He well may feel for men.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Dan.</em> So may He feel, and look on us benignly!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Whom of the Gods shall I besides invoke?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Dan.</em> I see this trident here, a God's great symbol.<a id='r225' /><a href='#f225' class='c011'><sup>[225]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Well hath He brought us, well may He receive!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Dan.</em> Here too is Hermes,<a id='r226' /><a href='#f226' class='c011'><sup>[226]</sup></a> as the Hellenes know him.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_173'>173</span><em>Chor.</em> To us, as free, let Him good herald prove.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Dan.</em> Yea, and the common shrine of all these Gods</div> - <div class='line'>Adore ye, and in holy precincts sit,</div> - <div class='line'>Like swarms of doves in fear of kites your kinsmen,</div><div class='lnum'>220</div> - <div class='line'>Foes of our blood, polluters of our race.</div> - <div class='line'>How can bird prey on bird and yet be pure?</div> - <div class='line'>And how can he be pure who seeks in marriage</div> - <div class='line'>Unwilling bride from father too unwilling?</div> - <div class='line'>Nay, not in Hades' self, shall he, vain fool,</div> - <div class='line'>Though dead, 'scape sentence, doing deeds like this;</div> - <div class='line'>For there, as men relate, a second Zeus<a id='r227' /><a href='#f227' class='c011'><sup>[227]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Judges men's evil deeds, and to the dead</div> - <div class='line'>Assigns their last great penalties. Look up,</div> - <div class='line'>And take your station here, that this your cause</div> - <div class='line'>May win its way to a victorious end.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><em>Enter the</em> <span class='sc'>King</span> <em>on his chariot, followed by</em> Attendants</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King.</em> Whence comes this crowd, this non-Hellenic band,</div><div class='lnum'>230</div> - <div class='line'>In robes and raiment of barbaric fashion</div> - <div class='line'>So gorgeously attired, whom now we speak to?</div> - <div class='line'>This woman's dress is not of Argive mode,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor from the climes of Hellas. How ye dared,</div> - <div class='line'>Without a herald even or protector,</div> - <div class='line'>Yea, and devoid of guides too, to come hither</div> - <div class='line'>Thus boldly, is to me most wonderful.</div> - <div class='line'>And yet these boughs, as is the suppliant's wont,</div> - <div class='line'>Are set by you before the Gods of conflicts:</div> - <div class='line'>By this alone will Hellas guess aright.</div> - <div class='line'>Much more indeed we might have else conjectured,</div><div class='lnum'>240</div> - <div class='line'>Were there no voice to tell me on the spot.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Not false this speech of thine about our garb;</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_174'>174</span>But shall I greet thee as a citizen,</div> - <div class='line'>Or bearing Hermes' rod, or city ruling?<a id='r228' /><a href='#f228' class='c011'><sup>[228]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King.</em> Nay, for that matter, answer thou and speak</div> - <div class='line'>Without alarm. Palæchthon's son am I,</div> - <div class='line'>Earth-born, the king of this Pelasgic land;</div> - <div class='line'>And named from me, their king,<a id='r229' /><a href='#f229' class='c011'><sup>[229]</sup></a> as well might be,</div> - <div class='line'>The race Pelasgic reaps our country's fruits;</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>And all the land through which the Strymon pours</div><div class='lnum'>250</div> - <div class='line'>Its pure, clear waters to the West I rule;</div> - <div class='line'>And as the limits of my realm I mark</div> - <div class='line'>The land of the Perrhæbi, and the climes</div> - <div class='line'>Near the Pæonians, on the farther side</div> - <div class='line'>Of Pindos, and the Dodonæan heights;<a id='r230' /><a href='#f230' class='c011'><sup>[230]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>And the sea's waters form its bounds. O'er all</div> - <div class='line'>Within these coasts I govern; and this plain,</div> - <div class='line'>The Apian land, itself has gained its name</div> - <div class='line'>Long since from one who as a healer lived;<a id='r231' /><a href='#f231' class='c011'><sup>[231]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>For Apis, coming from Naupactian land</div> - <div class='line'>That lies beyond the straits, Apollo's son,</div> - <div class='line'>Prophet and healer, frees this land of ours</div><div class='lnum'>260</div> - <div class='line'>From man-destroying monsters, which the soil,</div> - <div class='line'>Polluted with the guilt of blood of old,</div> - <div class='line'>By anger of the Gods, brought forth,—fierce plagues,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_175'>175</span>The dragon-brood's dread, unblest company;</div> - <div class='line'>And Apis, having for this Argive land</div> - <div class='line'>Duly wrought out his saving surgery,</div> - <div class='line'>Gained his reward, remembered in our prayers;</div> - <div class='line'>And thou, this witness having at my hands,</div> - <div class='line'>May'st tell thy race at once, and further speak;</div> - <div class='line'>Yet lengthened speech our city loveth not.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Full short and clear our tale. We boast that we</div> - <div class='line'>Are Argives in descent, the children true</div><div class='lnum'>270</div> - <div class='line'>Of the fair, fruitful heifer. And all this</div> - <div class='line'>Will I by what I speak show firm and true.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King.</em> Nay, strangers, what ye tell is past belief</div> - <div class='line'>For me to hear, that ye from Argos spring;</div> - <div class='line'>For ye to Libyan women are most like,<a id='r232' /><a href='#f232' class='c011'><sup>[232]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>And nowise to our native maidens here.</div> - <div class='line'>Such race might Neilos breed, and Kyprian mould,</div> - <div class='line'>Like yours, is stamped by skilled artificers</div> - <div class='line'>On women's features; and I hear that those</div> - <div class='line'>Of India travel upon camels borne,</div><div class='lnum'>280</div> - <div class='line'>Swift as the horse, yet trained as sumpter-mules,</div> - <div class='line'>E'en those who as the Æthiops' neighbours dwell.</div> - <div class='line'>And had ye borne the bow, I should have guessed,</div> - <div class='line'>Undoubting, ye were of th' Amâzon's tribe,</div> - <div class='line'>Man-hating, flesh-devouring. Taught by you,</div> - <div class='line'>I might the better know how this can be,</div> - <div class='line'>That your descent and birth from Argos come.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> They tell of one who bore the temple-keys</div> - <div class='line'>Of Hera, Io, in this Argive land.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King.</em> So was't indeed, and wide the fame prevails:</div> - <div class='line'>And was it said that Zeus a mortal loved?</div><div class='lnum'>290</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> And that embrace was not from Hera hid.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_176'>176</span><em>King.</em> What end had then these strifes of sovereign Ones?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> The Argive goddess made the maid a heifer.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King.</em> Did Zeus that fair-horned heifer still approach?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> So say they, fashioned like a wooing steer.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King.</em> How acted then the mighty spouse of Zeus?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> She o'er the heifer set a guard all-seeing.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King.</em> What herdsman strange, all-seeing, speak'st thou of?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Argos, the earth-born, him whom Hermes slew.</div><div class='lnum'>300</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King.</em> What else then wrought she on the ill-starred heifer?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> She sent a stinging gadfly to torment her.</div> - <div class='line'>[Those who near Neilos dwell an <em>æstros</em> call it.]</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King.</em> Did she then drive her from her country far?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> All that thou say'st agrees well with our tale.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King.</em> And did she to Canôbos go, and Memphis?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Zeus with his touch, an offspring then begets.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King.</em> What Zeus-born calf that heifer claims as mother?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> <a href='#asterisk'>*</a>He from that touch which freed named Epaphos.</div><div class='lnum'>310</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King.</em> [<em>What offspring then did Epaphos beget?</em>]<a id='r233' /><a href='#f233' class='c011'><sup>[233]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Libya, that gains her fame from greatest land.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King.</em> What other offspring, born of her, dost tell of?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Sire of my sire here, Belos, with two sons.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King.</em> Tell me then now the name of yonder sage.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Danaos, whose brother boasts of fifty sons.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King.</em> Tell me his name, too, with ungrudging speech.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_177'>177</span><em>Chor.</em> Ægyptos: knowing now our ancient stock,</div> - <div class='line'>Take heed thou bid thine Argive suppliants rise.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King.</em> Ye seem, indeed, to make your ancient claim</div> - <div class='line'>To this our country good: but how came ye</div><div class='lnum'>320</div> - <div class='line'>To leave your father's house? What chance constrained you?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> O king of the Pelasgi, manifold</div> - <div class='line'>Are ills of mortals, and thou could'st not find</div> - <div class='line'>The self-same form of evil anywhere.</div> - <div class='line'>Who would have said that this unlooked-for flight</div> - <div class='line'>Would bring to Argos race once native here,</div> - <div class='line'>Driving them forth in hate of wedlock's couch?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King.</em> What seek'st thou then of these the Gods of conflicts,</div> - <div class='line'>Holding your wool-wreathed branches newly-plucked?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> That I serve not Ægyptos' sons as slave.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King.</em> Speak'st thou of some old feud, or breach of right?</div><div class='lnum'>330</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Nay, who'd find fault with master that one loved?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King.</em> Yet thus it is that mortals grow in strength.<a id='r234' /><a href='#f234' class='c011'><sup>[234]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> True; when men fail, 'tis easy to desert them.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King.</em> How then to you may I act reverently?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Yield us not up unto Ægyptos' sons.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King.</em> Hard boon thou ask'st, to wage so strange a war.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Nay, Justice champions those who fight with her.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King.</em> Yes, if her hand was in it from the first.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Yet reverence thou the state-ship's stern thus wreathed.<a id='r235' /><a href='#f235' class='c011'><sup>[235]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_178'>178</span><em>King.</em> I tremble as I see these seats thus shadowed.</div><div class='lnum'>340</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Dread is the wrath of Zeus, the God of suppliants:</div> - <div class='line in8'>Son of Palæchthon, hear;</div> - <div class='line'>Hear, O Pelasgic king, with kindly heart.</div> - <div class='line'>Behold me suppliant, exile, wanderer,</div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Like heifer chased by wolves</div> - <div class='line in8'>Upon the lofty crags,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Where, trusting in her strength,</div> - <div class='line in8'>She lifteth up her voice</div> - <div class='line'>And to the shepherd tells her tale of grief.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King.</em> I see, o'ershadowed with the new-plucked boughs,</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Bent low, a band these Gods of conflict own;</div> - <div class='line'>And may our dealings with these home-sprung strangers</div><div class='lnum'>350</div> - <div class='line'>Be without peril, nor let strife arise</div> - <div class='line'>To this our country for unlooked-for chance</div> - <div class='line'>And unprovided! This our State wants not.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Yea, may that Law that guards the suppliant's right</div> - <div class='line in8'>Free this our flight from harm,</div> - <div class='line'>Law, sprung from Zeus, supreme Apportioner,</div> - <div class='line'>But thou, [<em>to the King</em>,] though old, from me, though younger, learn:</div> - <div class='line in8'>If thou a suppliant pity</div> - <div class='line in8'>Thou ne'er shall penury know,</div> - <div class='line in8'>So long as Gods receive</div> - <div class='line in8'><span class='pageno' id='Page_179'>179</span>Within their sacred shrines</div> - <div class='line'>Gifts at the hands of worshipper unstained.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King.</em> It is not at my hearth ye suppliant sit;</div> - <div class='line'>But if the State be as a whole defiled,</div><div class='lnum'>360</div> - <div class='line'>Be it the people's task to work the cure.</div> - <div class='line'>I cannot pledge my promise to you first</div> - <div class='line'>Ere I have counselled with my citizens.<a id='r236' /><a href='#f236' class='c011'><sup>[236]</sup></a></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Thou art the State—yea, thou the commonwealth,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Chief lord whom none may judge;</div> - <div class='line'>'Tis thine to rule the country's altar-hearth,</div> - <div class='line'>With the sole vote of thy prevailing nod;</div> - <div class='line in8'>And thou on throne of state,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Sole-sceptred in thy sway,</div> - <div class='line'>Bringest each matter to its destined end;</div> - <div class='line in8'>Shun thou the curse of guilt.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King.</em> Upon my foes rest that dread curse of guilt!</div><div class='lnum'>370</div> - <div class='line'>Yet without harm I cannot succour you,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor gives it pleasure to reject your prayers.</div> - <div class='line'>In a sore strait am I; fear fills my soul</div> - <div class='line'>To take the chance, to do or not to do.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Look thou on Him who looks on all from heaven,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Guardian of suffering men</div> - <div class='line'>Who, worn with toil, unto their neighbours come</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_180'>180</span>As suppliants, and receive not justice due:</div> - <div class='line in8'>For these the wrath of Zeus,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Zeus, the true suppliant's God,</div> - <div class='line'>Abides, by wail of sufferer unappeased.</div><div class='lnum'>380</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King.</em> Yet if Ægyptos' sons have claim on thee</div> - <div class='line'>By their State's law, asserting that they come</div> - <div class='line'>As next of kin, who dare oppose their right?</div> - <div class='line'>Thou must needs plead that by thy laws at home</div> - <div class='line'>They over thee have no authority.<a id='r237' /><a href='#f237' class='c011'><sup>[237]</sup></a></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Ah! may I ne'er be captive to the might</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of males! Where'er the stars</div> - <div class='line'>Are seen in heaven, I track my way in flight,</div> - <div class='line'>As refuge from a marriage that I hate.</div> - <div class='line in8'>But thou, make Right thy friend,</div> - <div class='line'>And honour what the Gods count pure and true.</div><div class='lnum'>390</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King.</em> Hard is the judgment: choose not me as judge.</div> - <div class='line'>But, as I said before, I may not act</div> - <div class='line'>Without the people, sovereign though I be,</div> - <div class='line'>Lest the crowd say, should aught fall out amiss,</div> - <div class='line'>“In honouring strangers, thou the State did'st ruin.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Zeus, the great God of kindred, in these things</div> - <div class='line in8'>Watches o'er both of us,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_181'>181</span>Holding an equal scale, and fitly giving</div> - <div class='line'>To the base evil, to the righteous blessing.</div> - <div class='line in8'>Why, when these things are set</div> - <div class='line'>In even balance, fear'st thou to do right?</div><div class='lnum'>400</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King.</em> Deep thought we need that brings deliverance,</div> - <div class='line'>That, like a diver, mine eye too may plunge</div> - <div class='line'>Clear-seeing to the depths, not wine-bedrenched,</div> - <div class='line'>That these things may be harmless to the State,</div> - <div class='line'>And to ourselves may issue favourably:</div> - <div class='line'>That neither may the strife make you its prey,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor that we give you up, who thus are set</div> - <div class='line'>Near holy seat of Gods, and so bring in</div> - <div class='line'>To dwell with us the Avenger terrible,</div> - <div class='line'>God that destroyeth, who not e'en in Hades</div><div class='lnum'>410</div> - <div class='line'>Gives freedom to the dead. Say, think ye not</div> - <div class='line'>That there is need of counsel strong to save?</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Take heed to it, and be</div> - <div class='line'>Friend to the stranger wholly faithful found;</div> - <div class='line in8'>Desert not thou the poor,</div> - <div class='line'>Driven from afar by godless violence.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>See me not dragged away,</div> - <div class='line'>O thou that rul'st the land! from seat of Gods:</div> - <div class='line in8'>Know thou men's wanton pride,</div><div class='lnum'>420</div> - <div class='line'>And guard thyself against the wrath of Zeus.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Endure not thou to see thy suppliant,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Despite of law, torn off,</div> - <div class='line'>As horses by their frontlets, from the forms</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of sculptured deities,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_182'>182</span>Nor yet the outrage of their wanton hands,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Seizing these broidered robes.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>For know thou well, whichever course thou take,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Thy sons and all thy house</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Must pay in war the debt that Justice claims,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Proportionate in kind.</div><div class='lnum'>430</div> - <div class='line'>Lay well to heart these edicts, wise and true,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Given by great Zeus himself.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King.</em> Well then have I thought o'er it. To this point</div> - <div class='line'>Our ship's course drives. Fierce war we needs must risk</div> - <div class='line'>Either with these (<em>pointing to the Gods</em>) or those. Set fast and firm</div> - <div class='line'>Is this as is the ship tight wedged in stocks;</div> - <div class='line'>And without trouble there's no issue out.</div> - <div class='line'>For wealth indeed, were our homes spoiled of that,</div> - <div class='line'>There might come other, thanks to Zeus the Giver,</div> - <div class='line'>More than the loss, and filling up the freight;</div><div class='lnum'>440</div> - <div class='line'>And if the tongue should aim its adverse darts,</div> - <div class='line'>Baleful and over-stimulant of wrath,</div> - <div class='line'>There might be words those words to heal and soothe.</div> - <div class='line'>But how to blot the guilt of kindred blood,</div> - <div class='line'>This needs a great atonement—many victims</div> - <div class='line'>Falling to many Gods—to heal the woe.</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>I take my part, and turn aside from strife;</div> - <div class='line'>And I far rather would be ignorant</div> - <div class='line'>Than wise, forecasting evil. May the end,</div> - <div class='line'>Against my judgment, show itself as good!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Hear, then, the last of all our pleas for pity.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King.</em> I hear; speak on. It shall not 'scape my heed.</div><div class='lnum'>450</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Girdles I have, and zones that bind my robes.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King.</em> Such things are fitting for a woman's state.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_183'>183</span><em>Chor.</em> With these then, know, as good and rare device....</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King.</em> Nay, speak. What word is this thou'lt utter now?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Unless thou giv'st our band thy plighted word....</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King.</em> What wilt thou do with this device of girdles?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> With tablets new these sculptures we'll adorn.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King.</em> Thou speak'st a riddle. Make thy meaning plain.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Upon these Gods we'll hang ourselves at once.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King.</em> I hear a word which pierces to the heart.</div><div class='lnum'>460</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Thou see'st our meaning. Eyes full clear I've given.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King.</em> Lo then! in many ways sore troubles come.</div> - <div class='line'>A host of evils rushes like a flood;</div> - <div class='line'>A sea of woe none traverse, fathomless,</div> - <div class='line'>This have I entered; haven there is none.</div> - <div class='line'>For if I fail to do this work for you,</div> - <div class='line'>Thou tellest of defilement unsurpassed;<a id='r238' /><a href='#f238' class='c011'><sup>[238]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>And if for thee against Ægyptos' sons,</div> - <div class='line'>Thy kindred, I before my city's walls</div> - <div class='line'>In conflict stand, how can there fail to be</div> - <div class='line'>A bitter loss, to stain the earth with blood</div><div class='lnum'>470</div> - <div class='line'>Of man for woman's sake? And yet I needs</div> - <div class='line'>Must fear the wrath of Zeus, the suppliant's God;</div> - <div class='line'>That dread is mightiest with the sons of men.</div> - <div class='line'>Thou, then, O aged father of these maidens!</div> - <div class='line'>Taking forthwith these branches in thine arms,</div> - <div class='line'>Lay them on other altars of the Gods</div> - <div class='line'>Our country worships, that the citizens</div> - <div class='line'>May all behold this token of thy coming,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_184'>184</span>And about me let no rash speech be dropped;</div> - <div class='line'>For 'tis a people prompt to blame their rulers.</div> - <div class='line'>And then perchance some one beholding them,</div><div class='lnum'>480</div> - <div class='line'>And pitying, may wax wrathful 'gainst the outrage</div> - <div class='line'>Of that male troop, and with more kindly will</div> - <div class='line'>The people look on you; for evermore</div> - <div class='line'>Men all wish well unto the weaker side.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Dan.</em> This boon is counted by us of great price,</div> - <div class='line'>To find a patron proved so merciful.</div> - <div class='line'>And thou, send with us guides to lead us on,</div> - <div class='line'>And tell us how before their shrines to find</div> - <div class='line'>The altars of the Gods that guard the State,</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>And holy places columned round about;</div> - <div class='line'>And safety for us, as the town we traverse.</div> - <div class='line'>Not of like fashion is our features' stamp;</div><div class='lnum'>490</div> - <div class='line'>For Neilos rears not race like Inachos.<a id='r239' /><a href='#f239' class='c011'><sup>[239]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Take heed lest rashness lead to bloodshed here;</div> - <div class='line'>Ere now, unknowing, men have slain their friends.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King</em> (<em>to Attendants</em>). Go then, my men; full well the stranger speaks;</div> - <div class='line'>And lead him where the city's altars stand,</div> - <div class='line'>The seats of Gods; and see ye talk not much</div> - <div class='line'>To passers-by as ye this traveller lead,</div> - <div class='line'>A suppliant at the altar-hearth of Gods.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Exeunt</span></i> <span class='sc'>Danaos</span> <em>and Attendants</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Thou speak'st to him; and may he go as bidden!</div> - <div class='line'>But what shall I do? What hope giv'st thou me?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King.</em> Leave here those boughs, the token of your grief.</div><div class='lnum'>500</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Lo! here I leave them at thy beck and word.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_185'>185</span><em>King.</em> Now turn thy steps towards this open lawn.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> What shelter gives a lawn unconsecrate?<a id='r240' /><a href='#f240' class='c011'><sup>[240]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King.</em> We will not yield thee up to birds of prey.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Nay, but to foes far worse than fiercest dragons.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King.</em> Good words should come from those who good have heard.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> No wonder they wax hot whom fear enthrals.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King.</em> But dread is still for rulers all unmeet.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Do thou then cheer our soul by words and deeds.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King.</em> Nay, no long time thy sire will leave thee lorn;</div><div class='lnum'>510</div> - <div class='line'>And I, all people of the land convening,</div> - <div class='line'>Will the great mass persuade to kindly words;</div> - <div class='line'>And I will teach thy father what to say.</div> - <div class='line'>Wherefore remain and ask our country's Gods,</div> - <div class='line'>With suppliant prayers, to grant thy soul's desire,</div> - <div class='line'>And I will go in furtherance of thy wish:</div> - <div class='line'>Sweet Suasion follow us, and Fortune good! [<em>Exit</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in6'><em>Chor.</em> O King of kings! and blest</div> - <div class='line in6'>Above all blessed ones,</div> - <div class='line'>And Power most mighty of the mightiest!</div> - <div class='line in6'>O Zeus, of high estate!</div><div class='lnum'>520</div> - <div class='line in6'>Hear thou and grant our prayer!</div> - <div class='line'>Drive thou far off the wantonness of men,</div> - <div class='line in6'>The pride thou hatest sore,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_186'>186</span>And in the pool of darkling purple hue</div> - <div class='line'>Plunge thou the woe that comes in swarthy barque.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>Look on the women's cause;</div> - <div class='line in8'>Recall the ancient tale,</div> - <div class='line'>Of one whom Thou did'st love in time of old,</div> - <div class='line in8'>The mother of our race:</div> - <div class='line in8'>Remember it, O Thou</div> - <div class='line'>Who did'st on Io lay thy mystic touch.</div> - <div class='line in8'>We boast that we are come</div> - <div class='line'>Of consecrated land the habitants,</div><div class='lnum'>530</div> - <div class='line'>And from this land by lineage high descended.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>Now to the ancient track,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Our mother's, I have passed,</div> - <div class='line'>The flowery meadow-land where she was watched,—</div> - <div class='line in8'>The pastures of the herd,</div> - <div class='line'>Whence Io, by the stinging gadfly driven,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Flees, of her sense bereft,</div> - <div class='line'>Passing through many tribes of mortal men;</div> - <div class='line in8'>And then by Fate's decree</div> - <div class='line in8'>Crossing the billowy straits,</div> - <div class='line'>On either side she leaves a continent.<a id='r241' /><a href='#f241' class='c011'><sup>[241]</sup></a></div><div class='lnum'>540</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>Now through the Asian land</div> - <div class='line in8'>She hastens o'er and o'er,</div> - <div class='line'>Right through the Phrygian fields where feed the flocks;</div> - <div class='line in8'>And passes Teuthras' fort,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_187'>187</span>Owned by the Mysians,<a id='r242' /><a href='#f242' class='c011'><sup>[242]</sup></a> and the Lydian plains;</div> - <div class='line in8'>And o'er Kilikian hills,</div> - <div class='line'>And those of far Pamphylia rushing on,</div> - <div class='line in8'>By ever-flowing streams,</div> - <div class='line in8'>On to the deep, rich lands,</div> - <div class='line'>And Aphrodite's home in wheat o'erflowing.<a id='r243' /><a href='#f243' class='c011'><sup>[243]</sup></a></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And so she cometh, as that herdsman winged</div><div class='lnum'>550</div> - <div class='line in8'>Pierces with sharpest sting,</div> - <div class='line'>To holy plain all forms of life sustaining,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Fields that are fed from snows,<a id='r244' /><a href='#f244' class='c011'><sup>[244]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Which Typhon's monstrous strength has traversed,<a id='r245' /><a href='#f245' class='c011'><sup>[245]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>And unto Neilos' streams,</div> - <div class='line in8'>By sickly taint untouched,<a id='r246' /><a href='#f246' class='c011'><sup>[246]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Still maddened with her toil of ignominy,</div> - <div class='line'>By torturing stings driven on, great Hera's frenzied slave.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_188'>188</span><span class='sc'>Antistrophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And those who then the lands inhabited,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Quivered with pallid fear,</div><div class='lnum'>560</div> - <div class='line'>That filled their soul at that unwonted marvel,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Seeing that monstrous shape,</div> - <div class='line in8'>The human joined with brute,</div> - <div class='line'>Half heifer, and half form of woman fair:<a id='r247' /><a href='#f247' class='c011'><sup>[247]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>And sore amazed were they.</div> - <div class='line in8'>Who was it then that soothed</div> - <div class='line'>Poor Io, wandering in her sore affright,</div> - <div class='line'>Driven on, and ever on, by gadfly's maddening sting?</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe IV</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>Zeus, Lord of endless time</div> - <div class='line in8'>[Was seen All-working then;]</div> - <div class='line'>He, even He, for by his sovereign might</div> - <div class='line'>That works no ill, was she from evil freed;</div><div class='lnum'>570</div> - <div class='line in8'>And by his breath divine</div> - <div class='line'>She findeth rest, and weeps in floods of tears</div> - <div class='line in8'>Her sorrowing shame away;</div> - <div class='line in8'>And with new burden big,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Not falsely 'Zeus-born' named,</div> - <div class='line'>She bare a son that grew in faultless growth,</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe IV</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>Prosperous through long, long years;</div> - <div class='line'>And so the whole land shouts with one accord,</div> - <div class='line'>“Lo, a race sprung from him, the Lord of life,</div> - <div class='line in8'>In very deed, Zeus-born!</div><div class='lnum'>580</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_189'>189</span>Who else had checked the plagues that Hera sent?”</div> - <div class='line in8'>This is the work of Zeus:</div> - <div class='line in8'>And speaking of our race</div> - <div class='line in8'>That sprang from Epaphos</div> - <div class='line'>As such, thou would'st not fail to hit the mark.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe V</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Which of the Gods could I with right invoke</div> - <div class='line in8'>As doing juster deeds?</div> - <div class='line'>He is our Father, author of our life,</div> - <div class='line'>The King whose right hand worketh all his will,</div> - <div class='line'>Our line's great author, in his counsels deep</div> - <div class='line in8'>Recording things of old,</div> - <div class='line'>Directing all his plans, the great work-master, Zeus.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe V</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>For not as subject hastening at the beck</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of strength above his own,<a id='r248' /><a href='#f248' class='c011'><sup>[248]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Reigns He subordinate to mightier powers;</div><div class='lnum'>590</div> - <div class='line'>Nor does He pay his homage from below,</div> - <div class='line'>While One sits throned in majesty above;<a id='r249' /><a href='#f249' class='c011'><sup>[249]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>Act is for him as speech,</div> - <div class='line'>To hasten what his teeming mind resolves.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><em>Re-enter</em> <span class='sc'>Danaos</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Dan.</em> Be of good cheer, my children. All goes well</div> - <div class='line'>With those who dwell here, and the people's voice</div> - <div class='line'>Hath passed decrees full, firm, irrevocable.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_190'>190</span><em>Chor.</em> Hail, aged sire, that tell'st me right good news!</div> - <div class='line'>But say with what intent the vote hath passed,</div> - <div class='line'>And on which side the people's hands prevail.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Dan.</em> The Argives have decreed without division,</div> - <div class='line'>So that my aged mind grew young again;</div><div class='lnum'>600</div> - <div class='line'>For in full congress, with their right hands raised</div> - <div class='line'>Rustled the air as they decreed their vote</div> - <div class='line'>That we should sojourn in their land as free,</div> - <div class='line'>Free from arrest, and with asylum rights;</div> - <div class='line'>And that no native here nor foreigner</div> - <div class='line'>Should lead us off; and, should he venture force,</div> - <div class='line'>That every citizen who gave not help</div> - <div class='line'>Dishonoured should be driven to exile forth.</div> - <div class='line'>Such counsel giving, the Pelasgian King</div><div class='lnum'>610</div> - <div class='line'>Gained their consent, proclaiming that great wrath</div> - <div class='line'>Of Zeus the God of suppliants ne'er would let</div> - <div class='line'>The city wax in fatness,—warning them</div> - <div class='line'>That double guilt<a id='r250' /><a href='#f250' class='c011'><sup>[250]</sup></a> upon the State would come,</div> - <div class='line'>Touching at once both guests and citizens,</div> - <div class='line'>The food and sustenance of sore disease</div> - <div class='line'>That none could heal. And then the Argive host,</div> - <div class='line'>Hearing these things, decreed by show of hands,</div> - <div class='line'>Not waiting for the herald's proclamation,</div> - <div class='line'>So it should be. They heard, indeed, the crowd</div> - <div class='line'>Of those Pelasgi, all the winning speech,</div> - <div class='line'>The well-turned phrases cunning to persuade;</div> - <div class='line'>But it was Zeus that brought the end to pass.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Come then, come, let us speak for Argives</div> - <div class='line in8'>Prayers that are good for good deeds done;</div><div class='lnum'>620</div> - <div class='line in8'>Zeus, who o'er all strangers watches,</div> - <div class='line in8'>May He regard with his praise and favour</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_191'>191</span>The praise that comes from the lips of strangers,</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>And guide in all to a faultless issue.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Half-Chor. A.</em> Now, now, at last, ye Gods of Zeus begotten,<a id='r251' /><a href='#f251' class='c011'><sup>[251]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Hear, as I pour my prayers upon their race,</div> - <div class='line'>That ne'er may this Pelasgic city raise</div> - <div class='line'>From out its flames the joyless cry of War,</div> - <div class='line in8'>War, that in other fields</div> - <div class='line in8'>Reapeth his human crop:</div> - <div class='line in8'>For they have mercy shown,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And passed their kind decree,</div><div class='lnum'>630</div> - <div class='line'>Pitying this piteous flock, the suppliants of great Zeus.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>They did not take their stand with men 'gainst women</div> - <div class='line'>Casting dishonour on their plea for help,</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>But looked to Him who sees and works from heaven,</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Full hard to war with. Yea, what house could bear</div> - <div class='line in8'>To see Him on its roof</div> - <div class='line in8'>Casting pollution there?<a id='r252' /><a href='#f252' class='c011'><sup>[252]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>Sore vexing there he sits.</div> - <div class='line in8'>Yes, they their kin revere,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Suppliants of holiest Zeus;</div><div class='lnum'>640</div> - <div class='line'>Therefore with altars pure shall they the Gods delight.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_192'>192</span><span class='sc'>Strophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Therefore from faces by our boughs o'ershadowed<a id='r253' /><a href='#f253' class='c011'><sup>[253]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Let prayers ascend in emulous eagerness:</div> - <div class='line in8'>Ne'er may dark pestilence</div> - <div class='line in8'>This State of men bereave;</div> - <div class='line in8'>May no fierce party strife</div> - <div class='line'>Pollute these plains with native carcases;</div> - <div class='line in8'>And may the bloom of youth</div> - <div class='line in8'>Be with them still uncropt;</div> - <div class='line'>And ne'er may Aphrodite's paramour,</div><div class='lnum'>650</div> - <div class='line in8'>Ares the scourge of men,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Mow down their blossoms fair!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And let the altars tended by the old</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Blaze with the gifts of men with hoary hairs;</div> - <div class='line in8'>So may the State live on</div> - <div class='line in8'>In full prosperity!</div> - <div class='line in8'>Let them great Zeus adore,</div> - <div class='line'>The strangers' God, the one Supreme on high,</div> - <div class='line in8'>By venerable law</div> - <div class='line in8'>Ordering the course of fate.</div> - <div class='line'>And next we pray that ever more and more</div> - <div class='line in8'>Earth may her tribute bear,</div> - <div class='line'>And Artemis as Hecate preside<a id='r254' /><a href='#f254' class='c011'><sup>[254]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>O'er woman's travail-pangs.</div><div class='lnum'>660</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Let no destroying strife come on, invading</div> - <div class='line in8'>This city to lay waste,</div> - <div class='line in8'><span class='pageno' id='Page_193'>193</span>Setting in fierce array</div> - <div class='line in8'>War, with its fruit of tears,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Lyreless and danceless all,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And cry of people's wrath;</div> - <div class='line in8'>And may the swarm of plagues,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Loathly and foul to see,</div> - <div class='line'>Abide far off from these our citizens,</div> - <div class='line'>And that Lykeian king, may He be found</div> - <div class='line in8'>Benignant to our youth!<a id='r255' /><a href='#f255' class='c011'><sup>[255]</sup></a></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And Zeus, may He, by his supreme decree,</div><div class='lnum'>670</div> - <div class='line in8'>Make the earth yield her fruits</div> - <div class='line in8'>Through all the seasons round,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And grant a plenteous brood</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of herds that roam the fields!</div> - <div class='line in8'>May Heaven all good gifts pour,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And may the voice of song</div> - <div class='line in8'>Ascend o'er altar shrines,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Unmarred by sounds of ill!</div> - <div class='line'>And let the voice that loves with lyre to blend</div> - <div class='line'>Go forth from lips of blameless holiness,</div> - <div class='line in8'>In accents of great joy!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe IV</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>And may the rule in which the people share</div> - <div class='line'>Keep the State's functions as in perfect peace,</div> - <div class='line in8'><span class='pageno' id='Page_194'>194</span>E'en that which sways the crowd,</div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Which sways the commonwealth,</div><div class='lnum'>680</div> - <div class='line in8'>By counsels wise and good;</div> - <div class='line'>And to the strangers and the sojourners</div> - <div class='line'>May they grant rights that rest on compacts sure,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Ere War is roused to arms,</div> - <div class='line in8'>So that no trouble come!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe IV</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And the great Gods who o'er this country watch,</div> - <div class='line'>May they adore them in the land They guard,</div> - <div class='line in8'>With rites of sacrifice,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And troops with laurel boughs,</div> - <div class='line in8'>As did our sires of old!</div> - <div class='line'>For thus to honour those who gave us life,</div> - <div class='line'>This stands as one of three great laws on high,<a id='r256' /><a href='#f256' class='c011'><sup>[256]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>Written as fixed and firm,</div> - <div class='line in8'>The laws of Right revered.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Dan.</em> I praise these seemly prayers, dear children mine.</div><div class='lnum'>690</div> - <div class='line'>But fear ye not, if I your father speak</div> - <div class='line'>Words that are new, and all unlooked-for by you;</div> - <div class='line'>For from this station to the suppliant given</div> - <div class='line'>I see the ship; too clear to be mistaken</div> - <div class='line'>The swelling sails, the bulwark's coverings,</div> - <div class='line'>And prow with eyes that scan the onward way,<a id='r257' /><a href='#f257' class='c011'><sup>[257]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>But too obedient to the steerman's helm,</div> - <div class='line'>Being, as it is, unfriendly. And the men</div> - <div class='line'>Who sail in her with swarthy limbs are seen,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_195'>195</span>In raiment white conspicuous. And I see</div><div class='lnum'>700</div> - <div class='line'>Full clear the other ships that come to help;</div> - <div class='line'>And this as leader, putting in to shore,</div> - <div class='line'>Furling its sails, is rowed with equal stroke.</div> - <div class='line'>'Tis yours, with mood of calm and steadfast soul,</div> - <div class='line'>To face the fact, and not to slight the Gods.</div> - <div class='line'>And I will come with friends and advocates;</div> - <div class='line'>For herald, it may be, or embassy,</div> - <div class='line'>May come, and wish to seize and bear you off,</div> - <div class='line'>Grasping their prey. But nought of this shall be;</div> - <div class='line'>Fear ye not them. It were well done, however,</div> - <div class='line'>If we should linger in our help, this succour</div><div class='lnum'>710</div> - <div class='line'>In no wise to forget. Take courage then;</div> - <div class='line'>In their own time and at the appointed day,</div> - <div class='line'>Whoever slights the Gods shall pay for it.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> I fear, my father, since the swift-winged ships</div> - <div class='line'>Are come, and very short the time that's left.</div> - <div class='line'>A shuddering anguish makes me sore afraid,</div> - <div class='line'>Lest small the profit of my wandering flight.</div> - <div class='line in8'>I faint, my sire, for fear.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Dan.</em> My children, since the Argives' vote is passed,</div> - <div class='line'>Take courage: they will fight for thee, I know.</div><div class='lnum'>720</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Hateful and wanton are Ægyptos' sons,</div> - <div class='line'>Insatiable of conflict, and I speak</div> - <div class='line'>To one who knows them. They in timbered ships,</div> - <div class='line'>Dark-eyed, have sailed in wrath that hits its mark,</div> - <div class='line in8'>With great and swarthy host.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Dan.</em> Yet many they shall find whose arms are tanned</div> - <div class='line'>In the full scorching of the noontide heat.<a id='r258' /><a href='#f258' class='c011'><sup>[258]</sup></a></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_196'>196</span><span class='sc'>Strophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Leave me not here alone, I pray thee, father!</div> - <div class='line'>Alone, a woman is as nought, and war</div> - <div class='line'>Is not for her. Of over-subtle mind,</div> - <div class='line'>And subtle counsel in their souls impure,</div><div class='lnum'>730</div> - <div class='line'>Like ravens, e'en for altars caring not,—</div> - <div class='line in8'>Such, such in soul are they.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Dan.</em> That would work well indeed for us, my children,</div> - <div class='line'>Should they be foes to Gods as unto thee.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> No reverence for these tridents or the shrines</div> - <div class='line'>Of Gods, my father, will restrain their hands:</div> - <div class='line'>Full stout of heart, of godless mood unblest,</div> - <div class='line'>Fed to the full, and petulant as dogs,</div> - <div class='line'>And for the voice of high Gods caring not,—</div> - <div class='line in8'>Such, such in soul are they.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Dan.</em> Nay, the tale runs that wolves prevail o'er dogs;</div><div class='lnum'>740</div> - <div class='line'>And byblos fruit excels not ear of corn.<a id='r259' /><a href='#f259' class='c011'><sup>[259]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> But since their minds are as the minds of brutes,</div> - <div class='line'>Restless and vain, we must beware of force.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_197'>197</span><em>Dan.</em> Not rapid is the getting under weigh</div> - <div class='line'>Of naval squadron, nor their anchoring,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor the safe putting into shore with cables.</div> - <div class='line'>Nor have the shepherds of swift ships quick trust</div> - <div class='line'>In anchor-fastenings, most of all, as now,</div> - <div class='line'>When coming to a country havenless;</div> - <div class='line'>And when the sun has yielded to the night,</div> - <div class='line'>That night brings travail to a pilot wise,</div><div class='lnum'>750</div> - <div class='line'>[Though it be calm and all the waves sleep still;]</div> - <div class='line'>So neither can this army disembark</div> - <div class='line'>Before the ship is safe in anchorage.</div> - <div class='line'>And thou beware lest in thy panic fear</div> - <div class='line'>Thou slight the Gods whom thou hast called to help.</div> - <div class='line'>The city will not blame your messenger,</div> - <div class='line'>Old though he be, being young in clear-voiced thought. <em>Exit</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Ah, me! thou land of jutting promontory</div> - <div class='line in10'>Which justly all revere,</div> - <div class='line'>What lies before us? Where in Apian land</div> - <div class='line in10'>Shall we a refuge find,</div> - <div class='line'>If still there be dark hiding anywhere?</div> - <div class='line in10'>Ah! that I were as smoke</div> - <div class='line in10'>That riseth full and black</div> - <div class='line in10'>Nigh to the clouds of Zeus,</div><div class='lnum'>760</div> - <div class='line'>Or soaring up on high invisible,</div> - <div class='line in10'>Like dust that vanishes,</div> - <div class='line'>Pass out of being with no help from wings!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>E'en so the ill admits not now of flight;</div> - <div class='line in10'>My heart in dark gloom throbs;</div> - <div class='line'>My father's work as watcher brings me low;</div> - <div class='line in10'>I faint for very fear,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_198'>198</span>And I would fain find noose that bringeth death,</div> - <div class='line in10'>In twisted cordage hung,</div> - <div class='line in10'>Before the man I loathe</div> - <div class='line in10'>Draws near this flesh of mine:</div><div class='lnum'>770</div> - <div class='line'>Sooner than that may Hades rule o'er me</div> - <div class='line in10'>Sleeping the sleep of death!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Ah, might I find a place in yon high vault,</div> - <div class='line'>Where the rain-clouds are passing into snow,</div> - <div class='line in10'>Or lonely precipice</div> - <div class='line in10'>Whose summit none can see,</div> - <div class='line in10'>Rock where the vulture haunts,</div> - <div class='line'>Witness for me of my abysmal fall,</div> - <div class='line'>Before the marriage that will pierce my heart</div> - <div class='line in10'>Becomes my dreaded doom!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>I shrink not from the thought of being the prey</div><div class='lnum'>780</div> - <div class='line'>Of dogs and birds that haunt the country round;</div> - <div class='line in10'>For death shall make me free</div> - <div class='line in10'>From ills all lamentable:</div> - <div class='line in10'>Yea, let death rather come</div> - <div class='line'>Than the worse doom of hated marriage-bed!</div> - <div class='line'>What other refuge now remains for me</div> - <div class='line in10'>That marriage to avert?</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in10'>Yea, to the Gods raise thou</div> - <div class='line in10'>Cloud-piercing, wailing cry</div> - <div class='line in10'>Of songs and litanies,</div> - <div class='line'>Prevailing, working freedom out for me:</div><div class='lnum'>790</div> - <div class='line in10'>And thou, O Father, look,</div> - <div class='line in10'>Look down upon the strife,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_199'>199</span>With glance of wrath against our enemies</div> - <div class='line in8'>From eyes that see the right;</div> - <div class='line'>With pity look on us thy suppliants,</div> - <div class='line'>O Lord of Earth, O Zeus omnipotent!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>For lo! Ægyptos' house,</div> - <div class='line in8'>In pride intolerable,</div> - <div class='line in8'>O'er-masculine in mood,</div> - <div class='line'>Pursuing me in many a winding course,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Poor wandering fugitive,</div> - <div class='line in8'>With loud and wild desires,</div> - <div class='line'>Seek in their frenzied violence to seize:</div><div class='lnum'>800</div> - <div class='line in8'>But thine is evermore</div> - <div class='line'>The force that turns the balance of the scale:</div> - <div class='line'>What comes to mortal men apart from Thee?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>Ah! ah! ah! ah!</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Here on the land behold the ravisher</div> - <div class='line in8'>Who comes on us by sea!</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Ah, may'st thou perish, ravisher, ere thou</div> - <div class='line in8'>Hast stopped or landed here!</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>I utter cry of wailing loud and long,</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>I see them work the prelude of their crimes,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Their crimes of violence.</div> - <div class='line in10'>Ah! ah! Ah me!</div><div class='lnum'>810</div> - <div class='line'>Haste in your flight for help!</div> - <div class='line'>The mighty ones are waxing fat and proud,</div> - <div class='line'>By sea and land alike intolerable.</div> - <div class='line'>Be thou, O King, our bulwark and defence!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><em>Enter</em> Herald <em>of the sons of</em> <span class='sc'>Ægyptos</span>, <em>advancing to</em></div> - <div><em>the daughters of</em> <span class='sc'>Danaos</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Her.</em> Haste, haste with all your speed unto the barque.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_200'>200</span><em>Chor.</em> Tearing of hair, yea, tearing now will come,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And print of nails in flesh,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And smiting off of heads,</div> - <div class='line in8'>With murderous stream of blood.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Her.</em> Haste, haste ye, to that barque that yonder lies,</div><div class='lnum'>820</div> - <div class='line'>Ye wretches, curse on you.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'><em>Chor.</em> Would thou had'st met thy death</div> - <div class='line in8'>Where the salt waves wildly surge,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Thou with thy lordly pride,</div> - <div class='line in8'>In nail-compacted ship:</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Lo! they will smite thee, weltering in thy blood,</div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>And drive thee to thy barque.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Her.</em> I bid you cease perforce, the cravings wild</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of mind to madness given.</div> - <div class='line in8'>Ho there! what ho! I say;</div><div class='lnum'>830</div> - <div class='line'>Give up those seats, and hasten to the ship:</div> - <div class='line'>I reverence not what this State honoureth.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in6'><em>Chor.</em> Ah, I may ne'er again</div> - <div class='line'>Behold the stream where graze the goodly kine,</div> - <div class='line in6'>Nourished and fed by which<a id='r260' /><a href='#f260' class='c011'><sup>[260]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>The blood of cattle waxes strong and full!</div> - <div class='line in6'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>As with a native's right,</div> - <div class='line in6'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>And one of old descent,</div> - <div class='line'>I keep, old man, my seat, my seat, I say.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_201'>201</span><em>Her.</em> Nay, in a ship, a ship them shalt soon go,</div><div class='lnum'>840</div> - <div class='line in8'>With or without thy will,</div> - <div class='line in8'>By force, I say, by force:</div> - <div class='line'>Come, come, provoke not evils terrible,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Falling by these my hands.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Ah me! ah me!</div> - <div class='line'>Would thou may'st perish with no hand to help,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Crossing the sea's wide plain,</div> - <div class='line in8'>In wanderings far and wide,</div> - <div class='line'>Where Sarpedonian sand-bank<a id='r261' /><a href='#f261' class='c011'><sup>[261]</sup></a> spreads its length,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Driven by the sweeping blasts!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Her.</em> Sob thou, and howl, and call upon the Gods:</div><div class='lnum'>850</div> - <div class='line'>Thou shalt not 'scape that barque from Ægypt come,</div> - <div class='line'>Though thou should'st pour a bitterer strain of grief.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Woe! woe! Ah woe! ah woe,</div> - <div class='line'>For this foul wrong! Thou utterest fearful things;</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Thou art too bold and insolent of speech.</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>May mighty Nile that reared thee turn away</div> - <div class='line in8'>Thy wanton pride and lust</div> - <div class='line in8'>That we behold it not!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Her.</em> I bid you go to yon ship double-prowed,<a id='r262' /><a href='#f262' class='c011'><sup>[262]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>With all your speed. Let no one lag behind;</div> - <div class='line'>But little shall my grasp your ringlets spare.</div><div class='lnum'>860</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<em>Seizes on the leader of the Suppliants</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_202'>202</span><span class='sc'>Strophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Ah me! my father, ah!</div> - <div class='line'>The help of holiest statues turns to woe;</div> - <div class='line in8'>He leads me to the sea,</div> - <div class='line in8'>With motion spider-like,</div> - <div class='line'>Or like a dream, a dark and dismal dream,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Ah woe! ah woe! ah woe!</div> - <div class='line'>O mother Earth! O Earth! O mother mine!</div> - <div class='line in8'>Avert that cry of fear,</div> - <div class='line'>O Zeus, thou king! O son of mother Earth!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Her.</em> Nay, I fear not the Gods they worship here;</div> - <div class='line'>They did not rear nor lead me up to age.</div><div class='lnum'>870</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Near me he rages now,</div> - <div class='line'>       ·       ·       ·       ·       ·</div> - <div class='line in8'>That biped snake,</div> - <div class='line'>And like a viper bites me by the foot.</div> - <div class='line in8'>Oh, woe is me! woe! woe!</div> - <div class='line'>O mother Earth! O Earth! O mother mine!</div> - <div class='line in8'>Avert that cry of fear,</div> - <div class='line'>O Zeus, thou king! O son of mother Earth!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Her.</em> If some one yield not, and to yon ship go,</div> - <div class='line'>The hand that tears her tunic will not pity.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe IV</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Ho! rulers of the State!</div><div class='lnum'>880</div> - <div class='line in8'>Ye princes! I am seized.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Her.</em> It seems, since ye are slow to hear my words,</div> - <div class='line'>That I shall have to drag you by the hair.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe IV</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> We are undone, undone!</div> - <div class='line'>We suffer, prince, unlooked-for outrages,</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_203'>203</span><em>Her.</em> Full many princes, heirs of great Ægyptos,</div> - <div class='line'>Ye soon shall see. Take courage; ye shall have</div> - <div class='line'>No cause to speak of anarchy as there.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><em>Enter</em> <span class='sc'>King</span> <em>followed by his</em> Bodyguard</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King.</em> Ho there! What dost thou? and with what intent</div> - <div class='line'>Dost thou so outrage this Pelasgic land?</div> - <div class='line'>Dost think thou comest to a town of women?</div><div class='lnum'>890</div> - <div class='line'>Too haughty thou, a stranger 'gainst Hellenes,</div> - <div class='line'>And, sinning much, hast nothing done aright.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Her.</em> What sin against the right have I then done?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King.</em> First, thou know'st not how stranger-guest should act.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Her.</em> How so? When I, but finding what I lost....</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King.</em> Whom among us dost thou then patrons call?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Her.</em> Hermes the Searcher, chiefest patron mine.<a id='r263' /><a href='#f263' class='c011'><sup>[263]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King.</em> Thou, Gods invoking, honourest not the Gods.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Her.</em> The Gods of Neilos are the Gods I worship.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King.</em> Ours then are nought, if I thy meaning catch.</div><div class='lnum'>900</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Her.</em> These girls I'll lead, if no one rescues them.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King.</em> Lay hand on them, and soon thou'lt pay the cost.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Her.</em> I hear a word in no wise hospitable.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King.</em> Who rob the Gods I welcome not as guests.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_204'>204</span><em>Her.</em> I then will tell Ægyptos' children this.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King.</em> This threat is all unheeded in my mind.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Her.</em> But that I, knowing all, may speak it plain,</div> - <div class='line'>(For it is meet a herald should declare</div> - <div class='line'>Each matter clearly,) what am I to say?</div> - <div class='line'>By whom have I been robbed of that fair band</div> - <div class='line'>Of women whom I claim as kindred? Nay,</div><div class='lnum'>910</div> - <div class='line'>But it is Ares that shall try this cause,</div> - <div class='line'>And not with witnesses, nor money down,</div> - <div class='line'>Settling the matter, but there first must fall</div> - <div class='line'>Full many a soldier, and of many a life</div> - <div class='line'>The rending in convulsive agony.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>King.</em> Why should I tell my name? In time thou'lt know it,</div> - <div class='line'>Thou and thy fellow-travellers. But these maidens,</div> - <div class='line'>With their consent and free choice of their wills,</div> - <div class='line'>Thou may'st lead off, if godly speech persuade them:</div> - <div class='line'>But this decree our city's men have made</div> - <div class='line'>With one consent, that we to force yield not</div> - <div class='line'>This company of women. Here the nail</div><div class='lnum'>920</div> - <div class='line'>Is driven tight home to keep its place full firm;<a id='r264' /><a href='#f264' class='c011'><sup>[264]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>These things are written not on tablets only,</div> - <div class='line'>[Nor signed and sealed in folds of byblos-rolls;]</div> - <div class='line'>Thou hear'st them clearly from a tongue that speaks</div> - <div class='line'>With full, free speech. Away, away, I say:</div> - <div class='line'>And with all speed from out my presence haste.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Her.</em> It is thy will then a rash war to wage:</div> - <div class='line'>May strength and victory on our males attend!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<em>Exit</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_205'>205</span><em>King.</em> Nay, thou shall find the dwellers of this land</div> - <div class='line'>Are also males, and drink not draughts of ale</div><div class='lnum'>930</div> - <div class='line'>From barley brewed.<a id='r265' /><a href='#f265' class='c011'><sup>[265]</sup></a> [<em>To the Suppliants.</em>] But ye, and your attendants,</div> - <div class='line'>Take courage, go within the fencèd city,</div> - <div class='line'>Shut in behind its bulwark deep of towers;</div> - <div class='line'>Yea, many houses to the State belong,</div> - <div class='line'>And I a palace own not meanly built,</div> - <div class='line'>If ye prefer to live with many others</div> - <div class='line'>In ease and plenty: or if that suits better,</div> - <div class='line'>Ye may inhabit separate abodes.</div> - <div class='line'>Of these two offers that which pleases best</div> - <div class='line'>Choose for yourselves, and I as your protector,</div><div class='lnum'>940</div> - <div class='line'>And all our townsmen, will defend the pledge</div> - <div class='line'>Which our decree has given you. Why wait'st thou</div> - <div class='line'>For any better authorised than these?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> For these thy good deeds done may'st thou in good,</div> - <div class='line'>All good, abound, great chief of the Pelasgi!</div> - <div class='line in8'>But kindly send to us</div> - <div class='line'>Our father Danaos, brave and true of heart,</div> - <div class='line in8'>To counsel and direct.</div> - <div class='line'>His must the first decision be where we</div> - <div class='line in8'>Should dwell, and where to find</div> - <div class='line'>A kindly home; for ready is each one</div> - <div class='line'>To speak his word of blame 'gainst foreigners.</div><div class='lnum'>950</div> - <div class='line in8'>But may all good be ours!</div> - <div class='line'>And so with fair repute and speech of men,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Free from all taint of wrath,</div> - <div class='line'>So place yourselves, dear handmaids, in the land,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_206'>206</span>As Danaos hath for each of us assigned</div> - <div class='line in8'>Dowry of handmaid slaves.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><em>Enter</em> <span class='sc'>Danaos</span> <em>followed by</em> Soldiers</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Dan.</em> My children, to the Argives ye should pray,</div> - <div class='line'>And sacrifice, and full libations pour,</div> - <div class='line'>As to Olympian Gods, for they have proved,</div> - <div class='line'>With one consent, deliverers: and they heard</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>All that I did towards those cousins there,</div><div class='lnum'>960</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Those lovers hot and bitter. And they gave</div> - <div class='line'>To me as followers these that bear the spear,</div> - <div class='line'>That I might have my meed of honour due,</div> - <div class='line'>And might not die by an assassin's hand</div> - <div class='line'>A death unlooked-for, and thus leave the land</div> - <div class='line'>A weight of guilt perpetual: and 'tis fit</div> - <div class='line'>That one who meets such kindness should return,</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>From his heart's depths, a nobler gratitude;</div> - <div class='line'>And add ye this to all already written,</div> - <div class='line'>Your father's many maxims of true wisdom,</div> - <div class='line'>That we, though strangers, may in time be known;</div><div class='lnum'>970</div> - <div class='line'>For as to aliens each man's tongue is apt</div> - <div class='line'>For evil, and spreads slander thoughtlessly;</div> - <div class='line'>But ye, I charge you, see ye shame me not,</div> - <div class='line'>With this your life's bloom drawing all men's eyes.</div> - <div class='line'>The goodly vintage is full hard to watch,</div> - <div class='line'>All men and beasts make fearful havoc of it,</div> - <div class='line'>Nay, birds that fly, and creeping things of earth;</div> - <div class='line'>And Kypris offers fruitage, dropping ripe,</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>As prey to wandering lust, nor lets it stay;<a id='r266' /><a href='#f266' class='c011'><sup>[266]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>And on the goodly comeliness of maidens</div><div class='lnum'>980</div> - <div class='line'>Each passer-by, o'ercome with hot desire,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_207'>207</span>Darts forth the amorous arrows of the eye.</div> - <div class='line'>And therefore let us suffer nought of this,</div> - <div class='line'>Through which our ship has ploughed such width of sea,</div> - <div class='line'>Such width of trouble; neither let us work</div> - <div class='line'>Shame to ourselves, and pleasure to our foes.</div> - <div class='line'>This twofold choice of home is open to you:</div> - <div class='line'>[Pelasgos offers his, the city theirs,]</div> - <div class='line'>To dwell rent-free. Full easy terms are these:</div> - <div class='line'>Only, I charge you, keep your father's precepts,</div> - <div class='line'>Prizing as more than life your chastity.</div><div class='lnum'>990</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> May the high Gods that on Olympos dwell</div> - <div class='line'>Bless us in all things; but for this our vintage</div> - <div class='line'>Be of good cheer, my father; for unless</div> - <div class='line'>The counsels of the Gods work strange device,</div> - <div class='line'>I will not leave my spirit's former path.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Semi-Chor. A</em>. Go then and make ye glad the high Gods, blessed for ever,</div> - <div class='line'>Those who rule our towns, and those who watch over our city,</div> - <div class='line'>And they who dwell by the stream of Erasinos ancient.<a id='r267' /><a href='#f267' class='c011'><sup>[267]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Semi-Chor. B</em>. And ye, companions true,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Take up your strain of song.</div><div class='lnum'>1000</div> - <div class='line'>Let praise attend this city of Pelasgos;</div> - <div class='line'>Let us no more, no more adore the mouths of Neilos</div> - <div class='line in8'>With these our hymns of praise;</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Semi-Chor. A</em>. Nay, but the rivers here that pour calm streams through our country,<a id='r268' /><a href='#f268' class='c011'><sup>[268]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_208'>208</span>Parents of many a son, making glad the soil of our meadows,</div> - <div class='line'>With wide flood rolling on, in full and abounding richness.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Semi-Chor. B</em>. And Artemis the chaste,</div> - <div class='line in8'>May she behold our band</div><div class='lnum'>1010</div> - <div class='line'>With pity; ne'er be marriage rites enforcèd</div> - <div class='line'>On us by Kythereia: those who hate us,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Let that ill prize be theirs.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Semi-Chor. A</em>. Not that our kindly strain does slight to Kypris immortal;</div> - <div class='line'>For she, together with Hera, as nearest to Zeus is mighty,</div> - <div class='line'>A goddess of subtle thoughts, she is honoured in mysteries solemn.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Semi-Chor. B</em>. Yea, as associates too with that their mother belovèd,</div><div class='lnum'>1020</div> - <div class='line'>Are fair Desire and Suasion,<a id='r269' /><a href='#f269' class='c011'><sup>[269]</sup></a> whose pleading no man can gainsay,</div> - <div class='line'>Yea, to sweet Concord too Aphrodite's power is entrusted,</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>And the whispering paths of the Loves.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_209'>209</span><span class='sc'>Antistrophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Semi-Chor. A</em>. Yet am I sore afraid of the ship that chases us wanderers,</div> - <div class='line'>Of terrible sorrows, and wars that are bloody and hateful;</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Why else have they had fair gale for this their eager pursuing?</div><div class='lnum'>1030</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Semi-Chor. B</em>. Whate'er is decreed of us, I know that it needs must happen;</div> - <div class='line'>The mighty purpose of Zeus, unfailing, admits no transgression:</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>May this fate come to us, as to many women before us,</div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Fate of marriage and spouse!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Semi-Chor. A</em>. Ah, may great Zeus avert</div> - <div class='line'>From me all marriage with Ægyptos' sons!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Semi-Chor. B</em>. Nay, all will work for good.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Semi-Chor. A</em>. Thou glozest that which will no glozing bear.</div><div class='lnum'>1040</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Semi-Chor. B</em>. And thou know'st not what future comes to us.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Semi-Chor. A</em>. How can I read the mind</div> - <div class='line'>Of mightiest Zeus, to sight all fathomless?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Semi-Chor. B</em>. Well-tempered be thy speech!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Semi-Chor. A</em>. What mood of calmnesss wilt thou school me in?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Semi-Chor. B</em>. Be not o'er-rash in what concerns the Gods.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_210'>210</span><span class='sc'>Strophe IV</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Semi-Chor. A</em>. Nay, may our great king Zeus avert that marriage</div> - <div class='line in8'>With husbands whom we hate,</div> - <div class='line'>E'en He who, touching her with healing hand,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Freed Io from her pain,</div> - <div class='line'>Putting an end from all her wanderings,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Working with kindly force!</div><div class='lnum'>1050</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe IV</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Semi-Chor. B</em>. And may He give the victory to women!</div> - <div class='line in8'>I choose the better part,</div> - <div class='line'>Though mixed with ill; and that the trial end</div> - <div class='line in8'>Justly, as I have prayed,</div> - <div class='line'>By means of subtle counsels which God gives</div> - <div class='line in8'>To liberate from ills.<a id='r270' /><a href='#f270' class='c011'><sup>[270]</sup></a></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='ph1'> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div>ÆSCHYLOS</div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<hr class='c017' /> - -<div class='footnote' id='f206'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r206'>206</a>. </span>The daughters of Danaos are always represented as fifty in -number. It seems probable, however, that the vocal chorus was -limited to twelve, the others appearing as mutes.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f207'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r207'>207</a>. </span>The alluvial deposit of the Delta.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f208'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r208'>208</a>. </span>Syria is used obviously with a certain geographical vagueness, -as including all that we know as Palestine, and the wilderness -to the south of it, and so as conterminous with Egypt.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f209'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r209'>209</a>. </span>Elsewhere in Æschylos (<cite>Agam.</cite> 33, <cite>Fr.</cite> 132) we trace -allusion to games played with dice. Here we have a reference -to one, the details of which are not accurately known to us, but -which seems to have been analogous to draughts or chess.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f210'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r210'>210</a>. </span>See the whole story, given as in prophecy, in the <cite>Prometheus</cite>, -v. 865-880.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f211'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r211'>211</a>. </span>The invocation is addressed—(1) to the Olympian Gods in -the brightness of heaven; (2) to the Chthonian deities in the -darkness below the earth; (3) to Zeus, the preserver, as the -supreme Lord of both.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f212'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r212'>212</a>. </span>An Athenian audience would probably recognise in this a -description of the swampy meadows near the coast of Lerna. -The descendants of Io had come to the very spot where the -tragic history of their ancestors had had its origin.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f213'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r213'>213</a>. </span>The invocation passes on to Epaphos, as a guardian deity -able and willing to succour his afflicted children.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f214'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r214'>214</a>. </span>Philomela. See the tale as given in the notes to <cite>Agam.</cite> 1113.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f215'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r215'>215</a>. </span>“Streams,” as flowing through the shady solitude of the -groves which the nightingale frequented.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f216'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r216'>216</a>. </span>“Ionian,” as soft and elegiac, in contrast with the more -military character of Dorian music.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f217'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r217'>217</a>. </span>In the Greek the <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">paronomasia</span></i> turns upon the supposed -etymological connection between <span lang="el" xml:lang="el">θεὸς</span> and <span lang="el" xml:lang="el">τιθήμι</span>. I have here, -as elsewhere, attempted an analogous rather than identical -<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">jeu de mot</span></i>.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f218'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r218'>218</a>. </span>The Greek word which I have translated “bluff” was one -not familiar to Attic ears, and was believed to be of Kyrenean -origin. Æschylos accordingly puts it into the lips of the -daughters of Danaos, as characteristic more or less of the -“alien speech” of the land from which they came.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f219'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r219'>219</a>. </span>So in v. 235 Danaos speaks of the “second Zeus” who sits -as Judge in Hades. The feeling to which the Chorus gives -utterance is that of—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in2'>“<span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo.</span>”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f220'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r220'>220</a>. </span>Some mound dedicated to the Gods, with one or more altars -and statues of the Gods on it, is on the stage, and the suppliants -are told to take up their places there. The Gods of conflict who -are named below, Zeus, Apollo, Poseidon, presided generally -over the three great games of Greece. Hermes is added to the -list.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f221'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r221'>221</a>. </span>Comp. <cite>Libation-Pourers</cite>, 1024, <cite>Eumen.</cite> 44.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f222'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r222'>222</a>. </span>The Argives are supposed to share the love of brevity which -we commonly connect with their neighbours the Laconians.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f223'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r223'>223</a>. </span>The “mighty bird of Zeus” seems here, from the answer of -the Chorus, to mean not the “eagle” but the “sun,” which -roused men from their sleep as the cock did, so that “cockcrow” -and “sunrise” were synonymous. It is, in any case, -striking that Zeus, rather than Apollo, appears as the Sun-God.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f224'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r224'>224</a>. </span>The words refer to the myth of Apollo's banishment from -heaven and servitude under Admetos.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f225'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r225'>225</a>. </span>In the Acropolis at Athens the impress of a trident was seen -on the rock, and was believed to commemorate the time when -Poseidon had claimed it as his own by setting up his weapon -there. Something of the same kind seems here to be supposed -to exist at Argos, where a like legend prevailed.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f226'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r226'>226</a>. </span>The Hellenic Hermes is distinguished from his Egyptian -counterpart, Thoth, as being different in form and accessories.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f227'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r227'>227</a>. </span>A possible reference to the Egyptian Osiris, as lord or judge -of Hades. Comp. v. 145.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f228'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r228'>228</a>. </span>“Shall I,” the Chorus asks, “speak to you as a private -citizen, or as a herald, or as a king?”</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f229'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r229'>229</a>. </span>It would appear from this that the king himself bore the -name Pelasgos. In some versions of the story he is so designated.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f230'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r230'>230</a>. </span>The lines contain a tradition of the wide extent of the old -Pelasgic rule, including Thessalia, or the Pelasgic Argos, between -the mouths of Peneus and Pindos, Perrhæbia, Dodona, and -finally the Apian land or Peloponnesos.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f231'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r231'>231</a>. </span>The true meaning of the word “Apian,” as applied to the -Peloponnesos, seems to have been “distant.” Here the myth -is followed which represented it as connected with Apis the son -of Telchin (son of Apollo, in the sense of being a physician-prophet), -who had freed the land from monsters.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f232'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r232'>232</a>. </span>The description would seem to indicate—(1) that the daughter -of Danaos appeared on the stage as of swarthy complexion; and -(2) that Indians, Æthiopians, Kyprians, and Amazons, were all -thought of as in this respect alike.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f233'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r233'>233</a>. </span>The line is conjectural, but some question of this kind is -implied in the answer of the Chorus.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f234'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r234'>234</a>. </span>By sacrificing personal likings to schemes of ambition, men -and women contract marriages which increase their power.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f235'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r235'>235</a>. </span>The Gods of conflict are the pilots of the ship of the State. -The altar dedicated to them is as its stern: the garlands and -wands of suppliants which adorn it are as the decorations of the -vessels.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f236'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r236'>236</a>. </span>Some editors have seen in this an attempt to enlist the constitutional -sympathies of an Athenian audience in favour of the -Argive king, who will not act without consulting his assembly. -There seems more reason to think that the aim of the dramatist -was in precisely the opposite direction, and that the words -which follow set forth his admiration for the king who can act, -as compared with one who is tied and hampered by restrictions.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f237'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r237'>237</a>. </span>By an Attic law, analogous in principle to that of the Jews, -(Num. xxxvi. 8; 1 Chron. xxiii. 22), heiresses were absolutely -bound to marry their next of kin, if he claimed his right. The -king at once asserts this as the law which was <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">primâ facie</span></i> -applicable to the case, and declares himself ready to surrender -it if the petitioners can show that their own municipal law is on -the other side. He will not thrust his country's customs upon -foreigners, who can prove that they live under a different rule, -but in the absence of evidence must act on the law which he -is bound officially to recognise.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f238'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r238'>238</a>. </span><i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Sc.</span></i>, the pollution which the statues of the Gods would -contract if they carried into execution their threat of suicide.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f239'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r239'>239</a>. </span>Inachos, the river-God of Argos, and as such contrasted -with Neilos.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f240'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r240'>240</a>. </span><em>i.e.</em>, “Unconsecrate,” marked out by no barriers, accessible -to all, and therefore seeming to offer but little prospect of a safe -asylum. The place described seems to have been an open piece -of turf rather than a grove of trees.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f241'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r241'>241</a>. </span>Comp. the narrative as given in <cite>Prometheus Bound</cite>, vv. 660, -<i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">et seq.</span></i></p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f242'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r242'>242</a>. </span>Teuthras' fort, or Teuthrania, is described by Strabo (xii. -p. 571) as lying between the Hellespont and Mount Sipylos, in -Magnesia.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f243'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r243'>243</a>. </span>Kypros, as dedicated to the worship of Aphrodite, and -famous for its wine, and oil, and corn.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f244'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r244'>244</a>. </span>The question, what caused the mysterious exceptional -inundations of the Nile, occupied, as we see from Herodotos -(ii. c. 19-27), the minds of the Greeks. Of the four theories -which the historian discusses, Æschylos adopts that which -referred it to the melting of the snows on the mountains of -central Africa.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f245'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r245'>245</a>. </span>Typhon, the mythical embodiment of the power of evil, was -fabled to have wandered over Egypt, seeking the body of Osiris. -Isis, to baffle him, placed coffins in all parts of Egypt, all empty -but the one which contained the body.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f246'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r246'>246</a>. </span>The fame of the Nile for the purity of its water, after the -earthy matter held in solution had been deposited, seems to -have been as great in the earliest periods of its history as it is -now.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f247'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r247'>247</a>. </span>Io was represented as a woman with a heifer's head, and -was probably a symbolic representation of the moon, with her -crescent horns. Sometimes the transformation is described -(as in v. 294) in words which imply a more thorough change.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f248'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r248'>248</a>. </span>Perhaps—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“For not as subject sitting 'neath the sway</div> - <div class='line'>Of strength above his own.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f249'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r249'>249</a>. </span>The passage takes its place among the noblest utterances -of a faith passing above the popular polytheism to the thought -of one sovereign Will ruling and guiding all things, as Will—without -effort, in the calmness of a power irresistible.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f250'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r250'>250</a>. </span>Double, as involving a sin against the laws of hospitality, -so far as the suppliants were strangers—a sin against the laws of -kindred, so far as they might claim by descent the rights of -citizenship.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f251'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r251'>251</a>. </span>If, as has been conjectured, the tragedy was written with a -view to the alliance between Argos and Athens, made in <span class='fss'>B.C.</span> 461, -this choral ode must have been the centre, if not of the dramatic, -at all events of the political interest of the play.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f252'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r252'>252</a>. </span>The image is that of a bird of evil omen, perched upon the -roof, and defiling the house, while it uttered its boding cries.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f253'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r253'>253</a>. </span>The suppliants' boughs, so held as to shade the face from -view.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f254'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r254'>254</a>. </span>The name of Hecate connected Artemis as, on the one side, -with the unseen world of Hades, so, on the other, with childbirth, -and the purifications that followed on it.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f255'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r255'>255</a>. </span>The name of Lykeian, originally, perhaps, simply representing -Apollo as the God of Light, came afterwards to be associated -with the might of destruction (the Wolf-destroyer) and the darts -of pestilence and sudden death. The prayer is therefore that he, -the Destroyer, may hearken to the suppliants, and spare the -people for whom they pray.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f256'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r256'>256</a>. </span>The “three great laws” were those ascribed to Triptolemos, -“to honour parents, to worship the Gods with the fruits of the -earth, to hurt neither man nor beast.”</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f257'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r257'>257</a>. </span>The Egyptian ships, like those of many other Eastern -countries, had eyes (the eyes of Osiris, as they were called) painted -on their bows.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f258'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r258'>258</a>. </span>A side-thrust, directed by the poet, who had fought at Marathon, -against the growing effeminacy of the Athenian youth, -many of whom were learning to shrink from all activity and -exposure that might spoil their complexions. Comp. Plato, -<cite>Phædros</cite>, p. 239.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f259'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r259'>259</a>. </span>The saying is somewhat dark, but the meaning seems to be -that if the “dogs” of Egypt are strong, the “wolves” of Argos -are stronger; that the wheat on which the Hellenes lived gave -greater strength to limbs and sinew than the “byblos fruit” on -which the Egyptian soldiers and sailors habitually lived. Some -writers, however, have seen in the last line, rendered—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“The byblos fruit not always bears full ear,”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c000'>a proverb like the English,</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“There's many a slip</div> - <div class='line'>'Twixt the cup and the lip.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f260'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r260'>260</a>. </span>The words recall the vision of the “seven well-favoured -kine and fat-fleshed,” which “came out of the river,” as Pharaoh -dreamed (Gen. xli. 1, 2), and which were associated so closely -with the fertility which it ordinarily produced through the whole -extent of the valley of the Nile.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f261'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r261'>261</a>. </span>Two dangerous low headlands seem to have been known by -this name, one on the coast of Kilikia, the other on that of the -Thrakian Chersonese.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f262'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r262'>262</a>. </span>No traces of ships of this structure are found in Egyptian -art; but, if the reading be right, it implies the existence of -boats of some kind, so built that they could be steered from -either end.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f263'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r263'>263</a>. </span>Hermes, the guardian deity of heralds, is here described by -the epithet which marked him out as being also the patron of -detectives. Every stranger arriving in a Greek port had to -place himself under a <em>proxenos</em> or patron of some kind. The -herald, having no <em>proxenos</em> among the citizens, appeals to his -patron deity.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f264'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r264'>264</a>. </span>The words refer to the custom of nailing decrees, proclamations, -treaties, and the like, engraved on metal or marble, upon -the walls of temples or public buildings. Traces of the same -idea may possibly be found in the promise to Eliakim that he -shall be “as a nail in a sure place” (Isa. xxii. 23), in the thanksgiving -of Ezra that God had given His people “a nail in his -holy place” (Ezra ix. 8).</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f265'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r265'>265</a>. </span>As before, the bread of the Hellenes was praised to the disparagement -of the “byblos fruit” of Egypt, so here their wine -to that of the Egyptian beer, which was the ordinary drink of -the lower classes.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f266'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r266'>266</a>. </span>The words present a striking parallelism to the erotic -imagery of the <cite>Song of Solomon</cite>: “Take us the foxes, the little -foxes that spoil our vines, for our vines have tender grapes.” -(ii. 15).</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f267'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r267'>267</a>. </span>The Erasinos was supposed to rise in Arcadia, in Mount -Stymphalos, to disappear below the earth, and to come to sight -again in Argolis.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f268'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r268'>268</a>. </span>In this final choral ode of the <cite>Suppliants</cite>, as in that of the -<cite>Seven against Thebes</cite>, we have the phenomenon of the division of -the Chorus, hitherto united, into two sections of divergent -thought and purpose. Semi-Chorus A. remains steadfast in its -purpose of perpetual virginity; Semi-Chorus B. relents, and is -ready to accept wedlock.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f269'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r269'>269</a>. </span>The two names were closely connected in the local worship -of Athens, the temples of Aphrodite and Peitho (Suasion) standing -at the south-west angle of the Acropolis. If any special purpose -is to be traced in the invocation, we may see it in the poet's -desire to bring out the nobler, more ethical side of Aphrodite's -attributes, in contrast with the growing tendency to look on her -as simply the patroness of brutal lust.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f270'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r270'>270</a>. </span>The play, as acted, formed part of a trilogy, and the next -play, the <cite>Danaids</cite>, probably contained the sequel of the story, -the acceptance by the Suppliants of the sons of Ægyptos in -marriage, the plot of Danaos for the destruction of the bridegrooms -on the wedding-night, and the execution of the deed of -blood by all but Hypermnestra.</p> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_1009'>1009</span> - <h2 id='p1009' class='c005'>AGAMEMNON</h2> -</div> - -<h3 class='c013'>DRAMATIS PERSONÆ</h3> - -<div class='lg-container-b c003'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Watchman</em></div> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Clytæmnestra</span></div> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Agamemnon</span></div> - <div class='line'><em>Chorus of Argive Elders</em></div> - <div class='line'><em>Herald</em> (<span class='sc'>Talthybios</span>)</div> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Cassandra</span></div> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Ægisthos</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c006'><em>ARGUMENT.—Ten years had passed since Agamemnon, -son of Atreus, king of Mykenæ, had led the -Hellenes to Troïa to take vengeance on Alexandros (also -known as Paris), son of Priam. For Paris had basely -wronged Menelaos, king of Sparta, Agamemnon's brother, -in that, being received by him as a guest, he enticed his -wife Helena to leave her lord and go with him to Troïa. -And now the tenth year had come, and Paris was slain, -and the city of the Troïans was taken and destroyed, and -Agamemnon and the Hellenes were on their way homeward -with the spoil and prisoners they had taken. But -meanwhile Clytæmnestra too, Agamemnon's queen, had -been unfaithful, and had taken as her paramour Ægisthos, -son of that Thyestes whom Atreus, his brother, had -made to eat, unknowing, of the flesh of his own children. -And now, partly led by her adulterer, and partly seeking -to avenge the death of her daughter Iphigeneia, whom -Agamemnon had sacrificed to appease the wrath of -Artemis, and partly also jealous because he was bringing -back Cassandra, the daughter of Priam, as his concubine, -she plotted with Ægisthos against her husband's life. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_1010'>1010</span>But this was done secretly, and she stationed a guard on -the roof of the royal palace to give notice when he saw -the beacon-fires, by which Agamemnon had promised that -he would send tidings that Troïa was taken.</em></p> - -<p class='c000'><em>Note.</em>—The unfaithfulness of Clytæmnestra and the murder of -Agamemnon had entered into the Homeric cycle of the legends -of the house of Atreus. In the <em>Odyssey</em>, however, Ægisthos is -the chief agent in this crime (<em>Odyss.</em> iii. 264, iv. 91, 532, xi. 409); -and the manner of it differs from that which Æschylos has -adopted. Clytæmnestra first appears as slaying both her -husband and Cassandra in Pindar (<em>Pyth.</em> xi. 26).</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1011'>1011</span><span class='sc'>Scene.</span>—Argos. <em>The Palace of</em> <span class='sc'>Agamemnon</span>; <em>statues of the Gods</em></div> - <div><em>in front. Watchman on the roof. Time, night.</em></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Watchman.</em> I ask the Gods a respite from these toils,</div> - <div class='line'>This keeping at my post the whole year round,</div> - <div class='line'>Wherein, upon the Atreidæ's roof reclined,</div> - <div class='line'>Like dog, upon my elbow, I have learnt</div> - <div class='line'>To know night's goodly company of stars,</div> - <div class='line'>And those bright lords that deck the firmament,</div> - <div class='line'>And winter bring to men, and harvest-tide;</div> - <div class='line'>[The rising and the setting of the stars.]</div> - <div class='line'>And now I watch for sign of beacon-torch,</div> - <div class='line'>The flash of fire that bringeth news from Troïa,</div> - <div class='line'>And tidings of its capture. So prevails</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>A woman's manly-purposed, hoping heart;</div><div class='lnum'>10</div> - <div class='line'>And when I keep my bed of little ease,</div> - <div class='line'>Drenched with the dew, unvisited by dreams,</div> - <div class='line'>(For fear, instead of sleep, my comrade is,</div> - <div class='line'>So that in sound sleep ne'er I close mine eyes,)</div> - <div class='line'>And when I think to sing a tune, or hum,</div> - <div class='line'>(My medicine of song to ward off sleep,)</div> - <div class='line'>Then weep I, wailing for this house's chance,</div> - <div class='line'>No more, as erst, right well administered.</div> - <div class='line'>Well! may I now find blest release from toils,</div><div class='lnum'>20</div> - <div class='line'>When fire from out the dark brings tidings good.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<em>Pauses, then springs up suddenly, seeing a</em></div> - <div class='line in4'><em>light in the distance</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Hail! thou torch-bearer of the night, that shedd'st</div> - <div class='line'>Light as of morn, and bringest full array</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1012'>1012</span>Of many choral bands in Argos met,</div> - <div class='line'>Because of this success. Hurrah! hurrah!</div> - <div class='line'>So clearly tell I Agamemnon's queen,</div> - <div class='line'>With all speed rising from her couch to raise</div> - <div class='line'>Shrill cry of triumph o'er this beacon-fire</div> - <div class='line'>Throughout the house, since Ilion's citadel</div> - <div class='line'>Is taken, as full well that bright blaze shows.</div><div class='lnum'>30</div> - <div class='line'>I, for my part, will dance my prelude now;</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<em>Leaps and dances</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>For I shall score my lord's new turn of luck,</div> - <div class='line'>This beacon-blaze may throw of triple six.<a id='r271' /><a href='#f271' class='c011'><sup>[271]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Well, would that I with this mine hand may touch</div> - <div class='line'>The dear hand of our king when he comes home!</div> - <div class='line'>As to all else, the word is “Hush!” An ox<a id='r272' /><a href='#f272' class='c011'><sup>[272]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Rests on my tongue; had the house a voice</div> - <div class='line'>'Twould tell too clear a tale. I'm fain to speak</div> - <div class='line'>To those who know, forget with those who know not.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<em>Exit</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c016'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1013'>1013</span><em>Enter Chorus of twelve Argive elders, chanting as they -march to take up their position in the centre -of the stage. A procession of women bearing -torches is seen in the distance</em></p> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Lo! the tenth year now is passing</div><div class='lnum'>40</div> - <div class='line'>Since, of Priam great avengers,</div> - <div class='line'>Menelaos, Agamemnon,</div> - <div class='line'>Double-throned and doubled-sceptred,</div> - <div class='line'>Power from sovran Zeus deriving—</div> - <div class='line'>Mighty pair of the Atreidæ—</div> - <div class='line'>Raised a fleet of thousand vessels</div> - <div class='line'>Of the Argives from our country,</div> - <div class='line'>Potent helpers in their warfare,</div> - <div class='line'>Shouting cry of Ares fiercely;</div> - <div class='line'>E'en as vultures shriek who hover,</div> - <div class='line'>Wheeling, whirling o'er their eyrie,</div><div class='lnum'>50</div> - <div class='line'>In wild sorrow for their nestlings,</div> - <div class='line'>With their oars of stout wings rowing,</div> - <div class='line'>Having lost the toil that bound them</div> - <div class='line'>To their callow fledglings' couches.</div> - <div class='line'>But on high One,—or Apollo,</div> - <div class='line'>Zeus, or Pan,—the shrill cry hearing,</div> - <div class='line'>Cry of birds that are his clients,<a id='r273' /><a href='#f273' class='c011'><sup>[273]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Sendeth forth on men transgressing,</div> - <div class='line'>Erinnys, slow but sure avenger;</div> - <div class='line'>So against young Alexandros<a id='r274' /><a href='#f274' class='c011'><sup>[274]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Atreus' sons the great King sendeth,</div> - <div class='line'>Zeus, of host and guest protector:</div><div class='lnum'>60</div> - <div class='line'>He, for bride with many a lover,</div> - <div class='line'>Will to Danai give and Troïans</div> - <div class='line'>Many conflicts, men's limbs straining,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1014'>1014</span>When the knee in dust is crouching,</div> - <div class='line'>And the spear-shaft in the onset</div> - <div class='line'>Of the battle snaps asunder.</div> - <div class='line'>But as things are now, so are they,</div> - <div class='line'>So, as destined, shall the end be.</div> - <div class='line'>Nor by tears, nor yet libations</div> - <div class='line'>Shall he soothe the wrath unbending</div> - <div class='line'>Caused by sacred rites left fireless.<a id='r275' /><a href='#f275' class='c011'><sup>[275]</sup></a></div><div class='lnum'>70</div> - <div class='line'>We, with old frame little honoured,</div> - <div class='line'>Left behind that host are staying,</div> - <div class='line'>Resting strength that equals childhood's</div> - <div class='line'>On our staff: for in the bosom</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Of the boy, life's young sap rushing,</div> - <div class='line'>Is of old age but the equal;</div> - <div class='line'>Ares not as yet is found there:</div> - <div class='line'>And the man in age exceeding,</div> - <div class='line'>When the leaf is sere and withered,</div> - <div class='line'>Goes with three feet on his journey;<a id='r276' /><a href='#f276' class='c011'><sup>[276]</sup></a></div><div class='lnum'>80</div> - <div class='line'>Not more Ares-like than boyhood,</div> - <div class='line'>Like a day-seen dream he wanders.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<em>Enter</em> <span class='sc'>Clytæmnestra</span>, <em>followed by the procession</em></div> - <div class='line in4'><em>of torch-bearers</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Thou, of Tyndareus the daughter,</div> - <div class='line'>Queen of Argos, Clytæmnestra,</div> - <div class='line'>What has happened? what news cometh?</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1015'>1015</span>What perceiving, on what tidings</div> - <div class='line'>Leaning, dost thou put in motion</div> - <div class='line'>All this solemn, great procession?</div> - <div class='line'>Of the Gods who guard the city,</div> - <div class='line'>Those above and those beneath us,</div> - <div class='line'>Of the heaven, and of the market,</div><div class='lnum'>90</div> - <div class='line'>Lo! with thy gifts blaze the altars;</div> - <div class='line'>And through all the expanse of Heaven,</div> - <div class='line'>Here and there, the torch-fire rises,</div> - <div class='line'>With the flowing, pure persuasion</div> - <div class='line'>Of the holy unguent nourished,</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>And the chrism rich and kingly</div> - <div class='line'>From the treasure-store's recesses.</div> - <div class='line'>Telling what of this thou canst tell,</div> - <div class='line'>What is right for thee to utter,</div> - <div class='line'>Be a healer of my trouble,</div> - <div class='line'>Trouble now my soul disturbing,</div><div class='lnum'>100</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>While anon fond hope displaying</div> - <div class='line'>Sacrificial signs propitious,</div> - <div class='line'>Wards off care that no rest knoweth,</div> - <div class='line'>Sorrow mind and heart corroding.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<em>The Chorus, taking their places round the central</em></div> - <div class='line in4'><em>thymele, begin their song</em><a id='r277' /><a href='#f277' class='c011'><sup>[277]</sup></a></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1016'>1016</span><span class='sc'>Strophe</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Able am I to utter, setting forth</div> - <div class='line in8'>The might from omens sprung</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>What met the heroes as they journeyed on,</div> - <div class='line in8'>(For still, by God's great gift,</div> - <div class='line in8'>My age, yet linked with strength,</div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Breathes suasive power of song,)</div> - <div class='line'>How the Achæans' twin-throned majesty,</div> - <div class='line'>Accordant rulers of the youth of Hellas,</div><div class='lnum'>110</div> - <div class='line in8'>With spear and vengeful hand,</div> - <div class='line'>Were sent by fierce, strong bird 'gainst Teucrian shore,</div> - <div class='line'>Kings of the birds to kings of ships appearing,</div> - <div class='line in8'>One black, with white tail one,</div> - <div class='line'>Near to the palace, on the spear-hand side,</div> - <div class='line in8'>On station seen of all,</div> - <div class='line'>A pregnant hare devouring with her young,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Robbed of all runs to come:</div> - <div class='line'>Wail as for Linos, wail, wail bitterly,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And yet may good prevail!<a id='r278' /><a href='#f278' class='c011'><sup>[278]</sup></a></div><div class='lnum'>120</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1017'>1017</span><span class='sc'>Antistrophe</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And the wise prophet of the army seeing</div> - <div class='line in8'>The brave Atreidæ twain</div> - <div class='line'>Of diverse mood, knew those that tore the hare,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And those that led the host;</div> - <div class='line in8'>And thus divining spake:</div> - <div class='line in8'>“One day this armament</div> - <div class='line'>Shall Priam's city sack, and all the herds</div> - <div class='line'>Owned by the people, countless, by the towers,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Fate shall with force lay low.</div> - <div class='line'>Only take heed lest any wrath of Gods</div><div class='lnum'>130</div> - <div class='line'>Blunt the great curb of Troïa yet encamped,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Struck down before its time;</div> - <div class='line'>For Artemis the chaste that house doth hate,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Her father's wingèd hounds,</div> - <div class='line'>Who slay the mother with her unborn young,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And loathes the eagles' feast.</div> - <div class='line'>Wail as for Linos, wail, wail bitterly;</div> - <div class='line in8'>And yet may good prevail!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Epode</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“<a href='#asterisk'>*</a>For she, the fair One, though so kind of heart</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>To fresh-dropt dew from mighty lion's womb,<a id='r279' /><a href='#f279' class='c011'><sup>[279]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>And young that suck the teats</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of all that roam the fields,</div><div class='lnum'>140</div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Yet prays Him bring to pass</div> - <div class='line in7'>The portents of those birds,</div> - <div class='line'>The omens good yet also full of dread.</div> - <div class='line in8'>And Pæan I invoke</div> - <div class='line'>As Healer, lest she on the Danai send</div> - <div class='line in8'>Delays that keep the ships</div> - <div class='line in8'>Long time with hostile blasts,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1018'>1018</span>So urging on a new, strange sacrifice,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Unblest, unfestivalled,<a id='r280' /><a href='#f280' class='c011'><sup>[280]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>By natural growth artificer of strife,</div> - <div class='line'>Bearing far other fruit than wife's true fear,</div> - <div class='line in8'>For there abideth yet,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Fearful, recurring still,</div> - <div class='line'>Ruling the house, full subtle, unforgetting,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Vengeance for children slain.”<a id='r281' /><a href='#f281' class='c011'><sup>[281]</sup></a></div><div class='lnum'>150</div> - <div class='line'>Such things, with great good mingled, Calchas spake,</div> - <div class='line in8'>In voice that pierced the air,</div> - <div class='line'>As destined by the birds that crossed our path</div> - <div class='line in8'>To this our kingly house:</div> - <div class='line in8'>And in accord with them,</div> - <div class='line'>Wail as for Linos, wail, wail bitterly;</div> - <div class='line in8'>And yet may good prevail.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>O Zeus—whate'er He be,<a id='r282' /><a href='#f282' class='c011'><sup>[282]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>If that Name please Him well,</div> - <div class='line in8'>By that on Him I call:</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1019'>1019</span>Weighing all other names I fail to guess</div> - <div class='line'>Aught else but Zeus, if I would cast aside,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Clearly, in every deed,</div> - <div class='line'>From off my soul this idle weight of care.</div><div class='lnum'>160</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>Nor He who erst was great,<a id='r283' /><a href='#f283' class='c011'><sup>[283]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>Full of the might to war,</div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Avails now; He is gone;</div> - <div class='line'>And He who next came hath departed too,</div> - <div class='line'>His victor meeting; but if one to Zeus,</div> - <div class='line in9'>High triumph-praise should sing,</div> - <div class='line'>His shall be all the wisdom of the wise;</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Yea, Zeus, who leadeth men in wisdom's way,</div><div class='lnum'>170</div> - <div class='line in8'>And fixeth fast the law,</div> - <div class='line in8'>That pain is gain;</div> - <div class='line'>And slowly dropping on the heart in sleep</div> - <div class='line in8'>Comes woe-recording care,</div> - <div class='line'>And makes the unwilling yield to wiser thoughts:</div> - <div class='line'>And doubtless this too comes from grace of Gods,</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Seated in might upon their awful thrones.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1020'>1020</span><span class='sc'>Antistrophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And then of those Achæan ships the chief,<a id='r284' /><a href='#f284' class='c011'><sup>[284]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>The elder, blaming not</div> - <div class='line in8'>Or seer or priest;</div> - <div class='line'>But tempered to the fate that on him smote....</div><div class='lnum'>180</div> - <div class='line in8'>When that Achæan host</div> - <div class='line'>Were vexed with adverse winds and failing stores,</div> - <div class='line'>Still kept where Chalkis in the distance lies,</div> - <div class='line'>And the vexed waves in Aulis ebb and flow;</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And breezes from the Strymon sweeping down,</div> - <div class='line'>Breeding delays and hunger, driving forth</div> - <div class='line in8'>Our men in wandering course,</div> - <div class='line in8'>On seas without a port.</div> - <div class='line'>Sparing nor ships, nor rope, nor sailing gear,</div> - <div class='line'>With doubled months wore down the Argive host;</div><div class='lnum'>190</div> - <div class='line in8'>And when, for that wild storm,</div> - <div class='line'>Of one more charm far harder for our chiefs</div> - <div class='line'>The prophet told, and spake of Artemis,<a id='r285' /><a href='#f285' class='c011'><sup>[285]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>In tone so piercing shrill,</div> - <div class='line'>The Atreidæ smote their staves upon the ground,</div> - <div class='line'>And could not stay their tears.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And then the old king lifted up his voice,</div> - <div class='line'>And spake, “Great woe it is to disobey;</div> - <div class='line in8'>Great too to slay my child,</div><div class='lnum'>200</div> - <div class='line in8'>The pride and joy of home,</div> - <div class='line'>Polluting with the streams of maiden's blood</div> - <div class='line'>Her father's hands upon the altar steps.</div> - <div class='line in8'>What course is free from ill?</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1021'>1021</span>How lose my ships and fail of mine allies?</div> - <div class='line'>'Tis meet that they with strong desire should seek</div> - <div class='line in8'>A rite the winds to soothe,</div> - <div class='line'>E'en though it be with blood of maiden pure;</div> - <div class='line in8'>May all end well at last!”</div><div class='lnum'>210</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>So when he himself had harnessed</div> - <div class='line in8'>To the yoke of Fate unbending,</div> - <div class='line in8'>With a blast of strange, new feeling,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Sweeping o'er his heart and spirit,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Aweless, godless, and unholy,</div> - <div class='line in8'>He his thoughts and purpose altered</div> - <div class='line in8'>To full measure of all daring,</div> - <div class='line in8'>(Still base counsel's fatal frenzy,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Wretched primal source of evils,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Gives to mortal hearts strange boldness,)</div> - <div class='line in8'>And at last his heart he hardened</div> - <div class='line in8'>His own child to slay as victim,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Help in war that they were waging,</div> - <div class='line in8'>To avenge a woman's frailty,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Victim for the good ship's safety.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>All her prayers and eager callings,</div><div class='lnum'>220</div> - <div class='line in8'>On the tender name of Father,</div> - <div class='line in8'>All her young and maiden freshness,</div> - <div class='line in8'>They but set at nought, those rulers,</div> - <div class='line in8'>In their passion for the battle.</div> - <div class='line in8'>And her father gave commandment</div> - <div class='line in8'>To the servants of the Goddess,</div> - <div class='line in8'>When the prayer was o'er, to lift her,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Like a kid, above the altar,</div> - <div class='line in8'>In her garments wrapt, face downwards,—<a id='r286' /><a href='#f286' class='c011'><sup>[286]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1022'>1022</span>Yea, to seize with all their courage,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And that o'er her lips of beauty</div> - <div class='line in8'>Should be set a watch to hinder</div> - <div class='line in8'>Words of curse against the houses,</div> - <div class='line in8'>With the gag's strength silence-working.<a id='r287' /><a href='#f287' class='c011'><sup>[287]</sup></a></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe IV</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in12'>And she upon the ground</div> - <div class='line in8'>Pouring rich folds of veil in saffron dyed,</div><div class='lnum'>230</div> - <div class='line in8'>Cast at each one of those who sacrificed</div> - <div class='line in12'>A piteous glance that pierced,</div> - <div class='line in12'>Fair as a pictured form;<a id='r288' /><a href='#f288' class='c011'><sup>[288]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in12'>And wishing,—all in vain,—</div> - <div class='line in12'>To speak; for oftentimes</div> - <div class='line in8'>In those her father's hospitable halls</div> - <div class='line'>She sang, a maiden pure with chastest song,</div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>And her dear father's life</div> - <div class='line'>That poured its threefold cup of praise to God,<a id='r289' /><a href='#f289' class='c011'><sup>[289]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>Crowned with all choicest good,</div> - <div class='line in8'>She with a daughter's love</div> - <div class='line in8'>Was wont to celebrate.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe IV</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>What then ensued mine eyes</div> - <div class='line'>Saw not, nor may I tell, but Calchas' arts</div><div class='lnum'>240</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1023'>1023</span>Were found not fruitless. Justice turns the scale</div> - <div class='line in8'>For those to whom through pain</div> - <div class='line in8'>At last comes wisdom's gain.</div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>But for our future fate,</div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Since help for it is none,</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Good-bye to it before it comes, and this</div> - <div class='line'>Has the same end as wailing premature;</div> - <div class='line in7'>For with to-morrow's dawn</div> - <div class='line'>It will come clear; may good luck crown our fate!</div> - <div class='line in8'>So prays the one true guard,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Nearest and dearest found,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of this our Apian land.<a id='r290' /><a href='#f290' class='c011'><sup>[290]</sup></a></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<em>The Chief of the Chorus turns to</em> <span class='sc'>Clytæmnestra</span>, <em>and</em></div> - <div class='line in4'><em>her train of handmaids, who are seen</em></div> - <div class='line in4'><em>approaching</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> I come, O Clytæmnestra, honouring</div> - <div class='line'>Thy majesty: 'tis meet to pay respect</div> - <div class='line'>To a chief's wife, the man's throne empty left:</div><div class='lnum'>250</div> - <div class='line'>But whether thou hast heard good news, or else</div> - <div class='line'>In hopes of tidings glad dost sacrifice,</div> - <div class='line'>I fain would hear, yet will not silence blame.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> May Morning, as the proverb runs, appear</div> - <div class='line'>Bearing glad tidings from his mother Night!<a id='r291' /><a href='#f291' class='c011'><sup>[291]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Joy thou shalt learn beyond thy hope to hear;</div> - <div class='line'>For Argives now have taken Priam's city.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> What? Thy words sound so strange they flit by me.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1024'>1024</span><em>Clytæm.</em> The Achæans hold Troïa. Speak I clear enough?</div><div class='lnum'>260</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Joy creeps upon me, drawing forth my tears.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> Of loyal heart thine eyes give token true.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> What witness sure hast thou of these events?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> Full clear (how else?) unless the God deceive.<a id='r292' /><a href='#f292' class='c011'><sup>[292]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Reliest thou on dreams or visions seen?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> I place no trust in mind weighed down with sleep.<a id='r293' /><a href='#f293' class='c011'><sup>[293]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Hath then some wingless omen charmed thy soul?<a id='r294' /><a href='#f294' class='c011'><sup>[294]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> My mind thou scorn'st, as though 'twere but a girl's.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> What time has passed since they the city sacked?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> This very night, the mother of this morn.</div><div class='lnum'>270</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> What herald could arrive with speed like this?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> Hephæstos flashing forth bright flames from Ida:</div> - <div class='line'>Beacon to beacon from that courier-fire</div> - <div class='line'>Sent on its tidings; Ida to the rock<a id='r295' /><a href='#f295' class='c011'><sup>[295]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1025'>1025</span>Hermæan named, in Lemnos: from the isle</div> - <div class='line'>The height of Athos, dear to Zeus, received</div> - <div class='line'>A third great torch of flame, and lifted up,</div> - <div class='line'>So as on high to skim the broad sea's back,</div> - <div class='line'>The stalwart fire rejoicing went its way;</div> - <div class='line'>The pine-wood, like a sun, sent forth its light</div> - <div class='line'>Of golden radiance to Makistos' watch;</div><div class='lnum'>280</div> - <div class='line'>And he, with no delay, nor unawares</div> - <div class='line'>Conquered by sleep, performed his courier's part:</div> - <div class='line'>Far off the torch-light, to Eurîpos' straits</div> - <div class='line'>Advancing, tells it to Messapion's guards:</div> - <div class='line'>They, in their turn, lit up and passed it on,</div> - <div class='line'>Kindling a pile of dry and aged heath.</div> - <div class='line'>Still strong and fresh the torch, not yet grown dim,</div> - <div class='line'>Leaping across Asôpos' plain in guise</div> - <div class='line'>Like a bright moon, towards Kithæron's rock,</div> - <div class='line'>Roused the next station of the courier flame.</div><div class='lnum'>290</div> - <div class='line'>And that far-travelled light the sentries there</div> - <div class='line'>Refused not, burning more than all yet named:</div> - <div class='line'>And then the light swooped o'er Gorgôpis' lake,</div> - <div class='line'>And passing on to Ægiplanctos' mount,</div> - <div class='line'>Bade the bright fire's due order tarry not;</div> - <div class='line'>And they, enkindling boundless store, send on</div> - <div class='line'>A mighty beard of flame, and then it passed</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1026'>1026</span>The headland e'en that looks on Saron's gulf,</div> - <div class='line'>Still blazing. On it swept, until it came</div> - <div class='line'>To Arachnæan heights, the watch-tower near;</div><div class='lnum'>300</div> - <div class='line'>Then here on the Atreidæ's roof it swoops,</div> - <div class='line'>This light, of Ida's fire no doubtful heir.</div> - <div class='line'>Such is the order of my torch-race games;</div> - <div class='line'>One from another taking up the course,<a id='r296' /><a href='#f296' class='c011'><sup>[296]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>But here the winner is both first and last;</div> - <div class='line'>And this sure proof and token now I tell thee,</div> - <div class='line'>Seeing that my lord hath sent it me from Troïa.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> I to the Gods, O Queen, will pray hereafter,</div> - <div class='line'>But fain would I hear all thy tale again,</div> - <div class='line'>E'en as thou tell'st, and satiate my wonder.</div><div class='lnum'>310</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> This very day the Achæans Troïa hold.</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1027'>1027</span>I trow full diverse cry pervades the town:</div> - <div class='line'>Pour in the same vase vinegar and oil,</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>And you would call them enemies, not friends;</div> - <div class='line'>And so from conquerors and from captives now</div> - <div class='line'>The cries of varied fortune one may hear.</div> - <div class='line'>For these, low-fallen on the carcases</div> - <div class='line'>Of husbands and of brothers, children too</div> - <div class='line'>By aged fathers, mourn their dear ones' death,</div> - <div class='line'>And that with throats that are no longer free.</div><div class='lnum'>320</div> - <div class='line'>And those the hungry toil of sleepless guard,</div> - <div class='line'>After the battle, at their breakfast sets;</div> - <div class='line'>Not billeted in order fixed and clear,</div> - <div class='line'>But just as each his own chance fortune grasps,</div> - <div class='line'>They in the captive houses of the Troïans</div> - <div class='line'>Dwell, freed at last from all the night's chill frosts,</div> - <div class='line'>And dews of heaven, for now, poor wretches, they</div> - <div class='line'>Will sleep all night without the sentry's watch;</div> - <div class='line'>And if they reverence well the guardian Gods</div> - <div class='line'>Of that new-conquered country, and their shrines,</div><div class='lnum'>330</div> - <div class='line'>Then they, the captors, will not captured be.</div> - <div class='line'>Ah! let no evil lust attack the host</div> - <div class='line'>Conquered by greed, to plunder what they ought not:</div> - <div class='line'>For yet they need return in safety home,</div> - <div class='line'>Doubling the goal to run their backward race.<a id='r297' /><a href='#f297' class='c011'><sup>[297]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>But should the host come sinning 'gainst the Gods,</div> - <div class='line'>Then would the curse of those that perishèd</div> - <div class='line'>Be watchful, e'en though no quick ill might fall.</div> - <div class='line'>Such thoughts are mine, mere woman though I be.</div> - <div class='line'>May good prevail beyond all doubtful chance!</div><div class='lnum'>340</div> - <div class='line'>For I have got the blessing of great joy.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Thou, lady, kindly, like a sage, dost speak,</div> - <div class='line'>And I, on hearing thy sure evidence,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1028'>1028</span>Prepare myself to give the Gods due thanks;</div> - <div class='line'>For they have wrought full meed for all our toil.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<em>Exit</em> <span class='sc'>Clytæm</span>. <em>with her train</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>O Zeus our King! O Night beloved,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Mighty winner of great glories,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Who upon the towers of Troïa</div> - <div class='line in8'>Casted'st snare of closest meshes,</div> - <div class='line in8'>So that none full-grown or youthful</div><div class='lnum'>350</div> - <div class='line in8'>Could o'erleap the net of bondage,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Woe of universal capture;—</div> - <div class='line in8'>Zeus, of host and guest protector,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Who hath brought these things, I worship;</div> - <div class='line in8'>He long since on Alexandros</div> - <div class='line in8'>Stretched his bow that so his arrow</div> - <div class='line in8'>Might not sweep at random, missing,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Or beyond the stars shoot idly.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Yes, one may say, 'tis Zeus whose blow they feel;</div> - <div class='line in7'>This one may clearly trace:</div> - <div class='line in7'>They fared as He decreed:</div> - <div class='line in7'>Yea, one there was who said,</div><div class='lnum'>360</div> - <div class='line'>“The Gods deign not to care for mortal men<a id='r298' /><a href='#f298' class='c011'><sup>[298]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>By whom the grace of things inviolable</div> - <div class='line in7'>Is trampled under foot.”</div> - <div class='line in7'>No fear of God had he:</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1029'>1029</span><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Now is it to the children manifest<a id='r299' /><a href='#f299' class='c011'><sup>[299]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>Of those who, overbold,</div> - <div class='line'>Breathed rebel War beyond the bounds of Right,</div> - <div class='line'>Their houses overfilled with precious store</div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Above the golden mean.</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Ah! let our life be free from all that hurts,</div><div class='lnum'>370</div> - <div class='line in8'>So that for one who gains</div> - <div class='line in8'>Wisdom in heart and soul,</div> - <div class='line in8'>That lot may be enough.</div> - <div class='line'>Since still there is no bulwark strong in wealth</div> - <div class='line in8'>Against destruction's doom,</div> - <div class='line'>For one who in the pride of wantonness</div> - <div class='line'>Spurns the great altar of the Right and Just.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Him woeful, subtle Impulse urges on,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Resistless in her might,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Atè's far-scheming child:</div> - <div class='line in8'>All remedy is vain.</div> - <div class='line'>It is not hidden, but is manifest,</div> - <div class='line'>That mischief with its horrid gleaming light;</div><div class='lnum'>380</div> - <div class='line in8'>And, like to worthless bronze,<a id='r300' /><a href='#f300' class='c011'><sup>[300]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>By friction tried and tests,</div> - <div class='line'>It turns to tarnished blackness in its hue:</div> - <div class='line in8'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1030'>1030</span>Since, boy-like, he pursues</div> - <div class='line'>A bird upon its flight, and so doth bring</div> - <div class='line'>Upon his city shame intolerable:</div> - <div class='line in8'>And no God hears his prayer,</div> - <div class='line in8'>But bringeth low the unjust,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Who deals with deeds like this.</div> - <div class='line in8'>Thus Paris came to the Atreidæ's home,</div><div class='lnum'>390</div> - <div class='line in8'>And stole its queen away,</div> - <div class='line'>And so left brand of shame indelible</div> - <div class='line'>Upon the board where host and guest had sat.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>She, leaving to her countrymen at home</div> - <div class='line'>Wild din of spear and shield and ships of war,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And bringing, as her dower,</div> - <div class='line in8'>To Ilion doom of death,</div> - <div class='line'>Passed very swiftly through the palace gates,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Daring what none should dare;</div> - <div class='line in8'>And many a wailing cry</div> - <div class='line'>They raised, the minstrel prophets of the house,</div> - <div class='line in8'>“Woe for that kingly home!</div> - <div class='line'>Woe for that kingly home and for its chiefs!</div><div class='lnum'>400</div> - <div class='line'>Woe for the marriage-bed and traces left</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of wife who loved her lord!”</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>There stands he silent; foully wronged and yet</div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Uttering no word of scorn,<a id='r301' /><a href='#f301' class='c011'><sup>[301]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>In deepest woe perceiving she is gone;</div> - <div class='line in8'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1031'>1031</span>And in his yearning love</div> - <div class='line in8'>For one beyond the sea,</div> - <div class='line'>A ghost shall seem to queen it o'er the house;</div> - <div class='line in8'>The grace of sculptured forms<a id='r302' /><a href='#f302' class='c011'><sup>[302]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>Is loathèd by her lord,</div> - <div class='line'>And in the penury of life's bright eyes</div> - <div class='line in8'>All Aphroditè's charm</div> - <div class='line in8'>To utter wreck has gone.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And phantom shades that hover round in dreams</div><div class='lnum'>410</div> - <div class='line'>Come full of sorrow, bringing vain delight;</div> - <div class='line in8'>For vain it is, when one</div> - <div class='line in8'>Sees seeming shows of good,</div> - <div class='line'>And gliding through his hands the dream is gone,</div> - <div class='line in8'>After a moment's space,</div> - <div class='line in8'>On wings that follow still</div> - <div class='line'>Upon the path where sleep goes to and fro.</div> - <div class='line in8'>Such are the woes at home</div> - <div class='line'>Upon the altar hearth, and worse than these.</div> - <div class='line'>But on a wider scale for those who went</div> - <div class='line in8'>From Hellas' ancient shore,</div> - <div class='line'>A sore distress that causeth pain of heart</div><div class='lnum'>420</div> - <div class='line in8'>Is seen in every house.</div> - <div class='line'>Yea, many things there are that touch the quick:</div> - <div class='line in8'>For those whom each did send</div> - <div class='line in8'>He knoweth; but, instead</div> - <div class='line'>Of living men, there come to each man's home</div> - <div class='line in8'>Funeral urns alone,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And ashes of the dead.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>For Ares, trafficking for golden coin</div> - <div class='line in8'>The lifeless shapes of men,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1032'>1032</span>And in the rush of battle holding scales,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Sends now from Ilion</div> - <div class='line in8'>Dust from the funeral pyre,</div> - <div class='line'>A burden sore to loving friends at home,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And bitterly bewailed,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Filling the brazen urn</div> - <div class='line'>With well-smoothed ashes in the place of men;</div><div class='lnum'>430</div> - <div class='line in8'>And with high praise they mourn</div> - <div class='line'>This hero skilled and valiant in the fight,</div> - <div class='line'>And that who in the battle nobly fell,</div> - <div class='line in8'>All for another's wife:</div> - <div class='line'>And other words some murmur secretly;</div> - <div class='line in8'>And jealous discontent</div> - <div class='line'>Against the Atreidæ, champions in the suit,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Creeps on all stealthily;</div> - <div class='line in8'>And some around the wall,</div> - <div class='line'>In full and goodly form have sepulture</div> - <div class='line in8'>There upon Ilion's soil,</div><div class='lnum'>440</div> - <div class='line'>And their foes' land inters its conquerors.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And so the murmurs of their subjects rise</div> - <div class='line in8'>With sullen discontent,</div> - <div class='line'>And do the dread work of a people's curse;</div> - <div class='line in8'>And now my boding fear</div> - <div class='line in8'>Awaits some news of ill,</div> - <div class='line'>As yet enwrapt in blackness of the night.</div> - <div class='line in8'>Not heedless are the Gods</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of shedders of much blood,</div> - <div class='line'>And the dark-robed Erinnyes in due time,</div> - <div class='line in8'>By adverse chance of life,</div><div class='lnum'>450</div> - <div class='line'>Place him who prospers in unrighteousness</div> - <div class='line'>In gloom obscure; and once among the unseen,</div> - <div class='line in8'>There is no help for him:</div> - <div class='line'>Fame in excess is but a perilous thing;</div> - <div class='line in8'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1033'>1033</span>For on men's quivering eyes</div> - <div class='line'>Is hurled by Zeus the blinding thunderbolt.</div> - <div class='line in8'>I praise the good success</div> - <div class='line in8'>That rouses not God's wrath;</div> - <div class='line'>Ne'er be it mine a city to lay waste.<a id='r303' /><a href='#f303' class='c011'><sup>[303]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>Nor, as a prisoner, see</div> - <div class='line'>My life wear on beneath another's power!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Epode</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And now at bidding of the courier flame,</div> - <div class='line in8'>The herald of good news,</div> - <div class='line'>A rumour swift spreads through the city streets,</div><div class='lnum'>460</div> - <div class='line'>But who knows clearly whether it be true,</div> - <div class='line'>Or whether God has mingled lies with it?</div> - <div class='line'>Who is so childish or so reft of sense,</div> - <div class='line in8'>As with his heart a-glow</div> - <div class='line'>At that fresh uttered message of the flame,</div> - <div class='line'>Then to wax sad at changing rumour's sound?</div> - <div class='line'>It suits the mood that sways a woman's mind</div> - <div class='line'>To pour thanksgiving ere the truth is seen:</div> - <div class='line'>Quickly, with rapid steps, too credulous,</div> - <div class='line'>The limit which a woman sets to trust</div> - <div class='line in8'>Advances evermore;<a id='r304' /><a href='#f304' class='c011'><sup>[304]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>And with swift doom of death</div><div class='lnum'>470</div> - <div class='line'>A rumour spread by woman perishes.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<em>As the Chorus ends, a Herald is seen approaching,</em></div> - <div class='line in4'><em>his head wreathed with olive</em><a id='r305' /><a href='#f305' class='c011'><sup>[305]</sup></a></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1034'>1034</span>Soon we shall know the sequence of the torches</div> - <div class='line'>Light-giving, and of all the beacon-fires,</div> - <div class='line'>If they be true; or if, as 'twere a dream,</div> - <div class='line'>This sweet light coming hath beguiled our minds.</div> - <div class='line'>I see a herald coming from the shore,</div> - <div class='line'>With olive boughs o'ershadowed, and the dust,<a id='r306' /><a href='#f306' class='c011'><sup>[306]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Dry sister-twin of mire,<a id='r307' /><a href='#f307' class='c011'><sup>[307]</sup></a> announces this,</div> - <div class='line'>That neither without voice, nor kindling blaze</div> - <div class='line'>Of wood upon the mountains, he will signal</div><div class='lnum'>480</div> - <div class='line'>With smoke from fire, but either he will come,</div> - <div class='line'>With clear speech bidding us rejoice, or else ... [<em>pauses</em></div> - <div class='line'>The word opposed to this I much mislike.</div> - <div class='line'>Nay, may good issue good beginnings crown!</div> - <div class='line'>Who for our city utters other prayers,</div> - <div class='line'>May he himself his soul's great error reap!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Herald.</em> Hail, soil of this my Argive fatherland.</div> - <div class='line'>Now in the light of the tenth year I reach thee,</div> - <div class='line'>Though many hopes are shattered, gaining one.</div> - <div class='line'>For never did I think in Argive land</div> - <div class='line'>To die, and share the tomb that most I craved.</div><div class='lnum'>490</div> - <div class='line'>Now hail! thou land; and hail! thou light of day:</div> - <div class='line'>Zeus our great ruler, and thou Pythian king,</div> - <div class='line'>No longer darting arrows from thy bow.<a id='r308' /><a href='#f308' class='c011'><sup>[308]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Full hostile wast thou by Scamandros' banks,</div> - <div class='line'>Now be thou Saviour, yea, and Healer found,</div> - <div class='line'>O king Apollo! and the Gods of war,</div> - <div class='line'>These I invoke; my patron Hermes too,</div> - <div class='line'>Dear herald, whom all heralds reverence,—</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1035'>1035</span>Those heroes, too, that sent us,<a id='r309' /><a href='#f309' class='c011'><sup>[309]</sup></a>—graciously</div> - <div class='line'>To welcome back the host that war has spared.</div><div class='lnum'>500</div> - <div class='line'>Hail, O ye royal dwellings, home beloved!</div> - <div class='line'>Ye solemn thrones, and Gods who face the sun!<a id='r310' /><a href='#f310' class='c011'><sup>[310]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>If e'er of old, with cheerful glances now</div> - <div class='line'>After long time receive our king's array.</div> - <div class='line'>For he is come, in darkness bringing light</div> - <div class='line'>To you and all, our monarch, Agamemnon.</div> - <div class='line'>Salute him with all grace; for so 'tis meet,</div> - <div class='line'>Since he hath dug up Troïa with the spade</div> - <div class='line'>Of Zeus the Avenger, and the plain laid waste;</div> - <div class='line'>Fallen their altars and the shrines of Gods;</div><div class='lnum'>510</div> - <div class='line'>The seed of all the land is rooted out,</div> - <div class='line'>This yoke of bondage casting over Troïa,</div> - <div class='line'>Our chief, the elder of the Atreidæ, comes,</div> - <div class='line'>A man full blest, and worthiest of high honour</div> - <div class='line'>Of all that are. For neither Paris' self,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor his accomplice city now can boast</div> - <div class='line'>Their deed exceeds its punishment. For he,</div> - <div class='line'>Found guilty on the charge of rape and theft,<a id='r311' /><a href='#f311' class='c011'><sup>[311]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Hath lost his prize and brought his father's house,</div> - <div class='line'>With lands and all, to waste and utter wreck;</div> - <div class='line'>And Priam's sons have double forfeit paid.<a id='r312' /><a href='#f312' class='c011'><sup>[312]</sup></a></div><div class='lnum'>520</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1036'>1036</span><em>Chor.</em> Joy, joy, thou herald of the Achæan host!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Her.</em> All joy is mine: I shrink from death no more.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Did love for this thy fatherland so try thee?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Her.</em> So that mine eyes weep tears for very joy,<a href='#asterisk'>*</a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Disease full sweet then this ye suffered from ...</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Her.</em> How so? When taught, I shall thy meaning master.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Ye longed for us who yearned for you in turn.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Her.</em> Say'st thou this land its yearning host yearned o'er?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Yea, so that oft I groaned in gloom of heart.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Her.</em> Whence came these bodings that an army hates?</div><div class='lnum'>530</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Silence I've held long since a charm for ill.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Her.</em> How, when your lords were absent, feared ye any?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> To use thy words, death now would welcome be.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Her.</em> Good is the issue; but in so long time</div> - <div class='line'>Some things, one well might say, have prospered well,</div> - <div class='line'>And some give cause for murmurs. Save the Gods,</div> - <div class='line'>Who free from sorrow lives out all his life?</div> - <div class='line'>For should I tell of toils, and how we lodged</div> - <div class='line'>Full hardly, seldom putting in to shore,<a id='r313' /><a href='#f313' class='c011'><sup>[313]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>And then with couch full hard.... What gave us not</div> - <div class='line'>Good cause for mourning? What ill had we not</div><div class='lnum'>540</div> - <div class='line'>As daily portion? And what passed on land,</div> - <div class='line'>That brought yet greater hardship: for our beds</div> - <div class='line'>Were under our foes' walls, and meadow mists</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1037'>1037</span>From heaven and earth still left us wringing wet,</div> - <div class='line'>A constant mischief to our garments, making</div> - <div class='line'>Our hair as shaggy as the beasts'.<a id='r314' /><a href='#f314' class='c011'><sup>[314]</sup></a> And if</div> - <div class='line'>One spoke of winter frosts that killed the birds,</div> - <div class='line'>By Ida's snow-storms made intolerable,<a id='r315' /><a href='#f315' class='c011'><sup>[315]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Or heat, when Ocean in its noontide couch</div> - <div class='line'>Windless reclined and slept without a wave....</div> - <div class='line'>But why lament o'er this? Our toil is past;</div><div class='lnum'>550</div> - <div class='line'>Past too is theirs who in the warfare fell,</div> - <div class='line'>So that no care have they to rise again.</div> - <div class='line'>Why should I count the number of the dead,</div> - <div class='line'>Or he that lives mourn o'er a past mischance?</div> - <div class='line'>To change and chance I bid a long Farewell:</div> - <div class='line'>With us, the remnant of the Argive host,</div> - <div class='line'>Good fortune wins, no ills as counterpoise.</div> - <div class='line'>So it is meet to this bright sun we boast,</div> - <div class='line'>Who travel homeward over land and sea;</div> - <div class='line'>“The Argive host who now have captured Troïa,</div><div class='lnum'>560</div> - <div class='line'>These spoils of battle<a id='r316' /><a href='#f316' class='c011'><sup>[316]</sup></a> to the Gods of Hellas</div> - <div class='line'>Hang on their pegs, enduring prize and joy.”<a id='r317' /><a href='#f317' class='c011'><sup>[317]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Hearing these things we ought to bless our country</div> - <div class='line'>And our commanders; and the grace of Zeus</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1038'>1038</span>That wrought this shall be honoured. My tale's told.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Thy words o'ercome me, and I say not nay;</div> - <div class='line'>To learn good keeps youth's freshness with the old.</div> - <div class='line'>'Tis meet these things should be a special care</div> - <div class='line'>To Clytæmnestra and the house, and yet</div> - <div class='line'>That they should make me sharer in their joy.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><em>Enter</em> <span class='sc'>Clytæmnestra</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> I long ago for gladness raised my cry,</div><div class='lnum'>570</div> - <div class='line'>When the first fiery courier came by night,</div> - <div class='line'>Telling of Troïa taken and laid waste:</div> - <div class='line'>And then one girding at me spake, “Dost think,</div> - <div class='line'>Trusting in beacons, Troïa is laid waste?</div> - <div class='line'>This heart elate is just a woman's way.”</div> - <div class='line'>In words like these they made me out distraught;</div> - <div class='line'>Yet still I sacrificed, and with a strain</div> - <div class='line'>Shrill as a woman's, they, now here, now there,</div> - <div class='line'>Throughout the city hymns of blessing raised</div> - <div class='line'>In shrines of Gods, and lulled to gentle sleep</div> - <div class='line'>The fragrant flame that on the incense fed.</div><div class='lnum'>580</div> - <div class='line'>And now why need'st thou lengthen out thy words?</div> - <div class='line'>I from the king himself the tale shall learn;</div> - <div class='line'>And that I show all zeal to welcome back</div> - <div class='line'>My honoured lord on his return (for what</div> - <div class='line'>Is brighter joy for wife to see than this,</div> - <div class='line'>When God has brought her husband back from war,</div> - <div class='line'>To open wide her gates?) tell my lord this,</div> - <div class='line'>“To come with all his speed, the city's idol;”</div> - <div class='line'>And “may he find a faithful wife at home,</div> - <div class='line'>Such as he left her, noble watch-dog still</div><div class='lnum'>590</div> - <div class='line'>For him, and hostile to his enemies;</div> - <div class='line'>And like in all things else, who has not broken</div> - <div class='line'>One seal of his in all this length of time.”<a id='r318' /><a href='#f318' class='c011'><sup>[318]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1039'>1039</span>No pleasure have I known, nor scandal ill</div> - <div class='line'>With any other more than ... stains on bronze.<a id='r319' /><a href='#f319' class='c011'><sup>[319]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Such is my vaunt, and being full of truth,</div> - <div class='line'>Not shameful for a noble wife to speak.<a id='r320' /><a href='#f320' class='c011'><sup>[320]</sup></a> [<em>Exit</em></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> [<em>to Herald</em>.] She hath thus spoken in thy hearing now</div> - <div class='line'>A goodly word for good interpreters.</div> - <div class='line'>But tell me, herald, tell of Menelaos,</div><div class='lnum'>600</div> - <div class='line'>If, coming home again in safety he</div> - <div class='line'>Is with you, the dear strength of this our land.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Her.</em> I cannot make report of false good news,</div> - <div class='line'>So that my friends should long rejoice in it.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Ah! could'st thou good news speak, and also true!</div> - <div class='line'>These things asunder are not well concealed.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Her.</em> The chief has vanished from the Achæan host,</div> - <div class='line'>He and his ship. I speak no falsehood here.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1040'>1040</span><em>Chor.</em> In sight of all when he from Ilion sailed?</div> - <div class='line'>Or did a storm's wide evil part him from you?</div><div class='lnum'>610</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Her.</em> Like skilful archer thou hast hit the mark,</div> - <div class='line'>And in few words has told of evil long.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> And was it of him as alive or dead</div> - <div class='line'>The whisper of the other sailors ran?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Her.</em> None to that question answer clear can give,</div> - <div class='line'>Save the Sun-God who feeds the life of earth.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> How say'st thou? Did a storm come on our fleet,</div> - <div class='line'>And do its work through anger of the Gods?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Her.</em> It is not meet a day of tidings good</div> - <div class='line'>To mar with evil news. Apart for each</div><div class='lnum'>620</div> - <div class='line'>Is special worship. But when courier brings</div> - <div class='line'>With louring face the ills men pray against,</div> - <div class='line'>And tells a city that its host has fallen,</div> - <div class='line'>That for the State there is a general wound,</div> - <div class='line'>That many a man from many a home is driven,</div> - <div class='line'>As banned by double scourge that Ares loves,</div> - <div class='line'>Woe doubly-barbed, Death's two-horsed chariot this....</div> - <div class='line'>When with such griefs as freight a herald comes,</div> - <div class='line'>'Tis meet to chant the Erinnyes' dolorous song;</div> - <div class='line'>But for glad messenger of good deeds wrought</div> - <div class='line'>That bring deliverance, coming to a town</div><div class='lnum'>630</div> - <div class='line'>Rejoicing in its triumph, ... how shall I</div> - <div class='line'>Blend good with evil, telling of a storm</div> - <div class='line'>That smote the Achæans, not without God's wrath?</div> - <div class='line'>For they a compact swore who erst were foes,</div> - <div class='line'>Ocean and Fire, and their pledges gave,</div> - <div class='line'>Wrecking the ill-starred army of the Argives;</div> - <div class='line'>And in the night rose ill of raging storm:</div> - <div class='line'>For Thrakian tempests shattered all the ships,</div> - <div class='line'>Each on the other. Some thus crashed and bruised,</div> - <div class='line'>By the storm stricken and the surging foam</div> - <div class='line'>Of wind-tost waves, soon vanished out of sight,</div><div class='lnum'>640</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1041'>1041</span>Whirled by an evil pilot. And when rose</div> - <div class='line'>The sun's bright orb, behold, the Ægæan sea</div> - <div class='line'>Blossomed with wrecks of ships and dead Achæans.</div> - <div class='line'>And as for us and our uninjured ship,</div> - <div class='line'>Surely 'twas some one stole or begged us off,</div> - <div class='line'>Some God, not man, presiding at the helm;</div> - <div class='line'>And on our ship with good will Fortune sat,</div> - <div class='line'>Giver of safety, so that nor in haven</div> - <div class='line'>Felt we the breakers, nor on rough rock-beach</div> - <div class='line'>Ran we aground. But when we had escaped</div><div class='lnum'>650</div> - <div class='line'>The hell of waters, then in clear, bright day,</div> - <div class='line'>Not trusting in our fortune, we in thought</div> - <div class='line'>O'er new ills brooded of our host destroyed,</div> - <div class='line'>And eke most roughly handled. And if still</div> - <div class='line'>Breathe any of them they report of us</div> - <div class='line'>As having perished. How else should they speak?</div> - <div class='line'>And we in our turn deem that they are so.</div> - <div class='line'>God send good ending! Look you, first and chief,</div> - <div class='line'>For Menelaos' coming; and indeed,</div> - <div class='line'>If any sunbeam know of him alive</div> - <div class='line'>And well, by help of Zeus who has not willed</div><div class='lnum'>660</div> - <div class='line'>As yet to blot out all the regal race,</div> - <div class='line'>Some hope there is that he'll come back again.</div> - <div class='line'>Know, hearing this, that thou the truth hast heard.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<em>Exit Herald</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Who was it named her with such wondrous truth?</div> - <div class='line in8'>(Could it be One unseen,</div> - <div class='line'>In strange prevision of her destined work,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Guiding the tongue through chance?)</div> - <div class='line'>Who gave that war-wed, strife-upstirring one</div> - <div class='line'>The name of Helen, ominous of ill?<a id='r321' /><a href='#f321' class='c011'><sup>[321]</sup></a></div><div class='lnum'>670</div> - <div class='line in8'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1042'>1042</span>For all too plainly she</div> - <div class='line in8'>Hath been to men, and ships,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And towers, as doom of Hell.</div> - <div class='line'>From bower of gorgeous curtains forth she sailed</div> - <div class='line'>With breeze of Zephyr Titan-born and strong;<a id='r322' /><a href='#f322' class='c011'><sup>[322]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>And hosts of many men,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Hunters that bore the shield,</div> - <div class='line'>Went on the track of those who steered their boat</div> - <div class='line'>Unseen to leafy banks of Simois,</div> - <div class='line in8'>On her account who came,</div> - <div class='line'>Dire cause of strife with bloodshed in her train.</div><div class='lnum'>680</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And so the wrath which works its vengeance out</div> - <div class='line in8'>Dear bride to Ilion brought,</div> - <div class='line'>(Ah, all too truly named!) exacting still<a id='r323' /><a href='#f323' class='c011'><sup>[323]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>After long lapse of time</div> - <div class='line'>The penalty of foul dishonour done</div> - <div class='line'>To friendship's board and Zeus, of host and guest</div> - <div class='line in8'>The God, from those who paid</div> - <div class='line in8'>Their loud-voiced honour then</div> - <div class='line in8'>Unto that bridal strain,</div> - <div class='line'>That hymeneal chorus which to chant</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1043'>1043</span>Fell to the lot of all the bridegroom's kin.<a id='r324' /><a href='#f324' class='c011'><sup>[324]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>But learning other song,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Priam's ancient city now</div><div class='lnum'>690</div> - <div class='line'>Bewaileth sore, and calls on Paris' name,</div> - <div class='line'>Wedded in fatal wedlock; all the time</div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Enduring tear-fraught life</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>For all the blood its citizens had lost.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>So once a lion's cub,</div> - <div class='line in8'>A mischief in his house,</div> - <div class='line in8'>As foster child one reared,<a id='r325' /><a href='#f325' class='c011'><sup>[325]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>While still it loved the teats;</div> - <div class='line in8'>In life's preluding dawn</div> - <div class='line in8'>Tame, by the children loved,</div><div class='lnum'>700</div> - <div class='line in8'>And fondled by the old,<a id='r326' /><a href='#f326' class='c011'><sup>[326]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>Oft in his arms 'twas held,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Like infant newly born,</div> - <div class='line'>With eyes that brightened to the hand that stroked,</div> - <div class='line'>And fawning at the hest of hunger keen.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>But when full-grown, it showed</div> - <div class='line in8'>The nature of its sires;</div> - <div class='line in8'>For it unbidden made</div> - <div class='line in8'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1044'>1044</span>A feast in recompense</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of all their fostering care,</div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>By banquet of slain sheep;</div><div class='lnum'>710</div> - <div class='line in8'>With blood the house was stained,</div> - <div class='line in8'>A curse no slaves could check,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Great mischief murderous:</div> - <div class='line'>By God's decree a priest of Atè thus</div> - <div class='line'>Was reared, and grew within the man's own house.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>So I would tell that thus to Ilion came</div> - <div class='line'>Mood as of calm when all the air is still,</div> - <div class='line'>The gentle pride and joy of kingly state,</div> - <div class='line in8'>A tender glance of eye,</div> - <div class='line'>The full-blown blossom of a passionate love,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Thrilling the very soul;</div><div class='lnum'>720</div> - <div class='line in8'>And yet she turned aside,</div> - <div class='line'>And wrought a bitter end of marriage feast,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Coming to Priam's race,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Ill sojourner, ill friend,</div> - <div class='line'>Sent by great Zeus, the God of host and guest—</div> - <div class='line'>Erinnys, for whom wives weep many tears.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>There lives an old saw, framed in ancient days,<a id='r327' /><a href='#f327' class='c011'><sup>[327]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>In memories of men, that high estate</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1045'>1045</span>Full-grown brings forth its young, nor childless dies,</div> - <div class='line in8'>But that from good success</div> - <div class='line'>Springs to the race a woe insatiable.</div><div class='lnum'>730</div> - <div class='line in8'>But I, apart from all,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Hold this my creed alone:</div> - <div class='line'>For impious act it is that offspring breeds,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Like to their parent stock:</div> - <div class='line in8'>For still in every house</div> - <div class='line'>That loves the right their fate for evermore</div> - <div class='line'>Rejoiceth in an issue fair and good.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe IV</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>But Recklessness of old</div> - <div class='line'>Is wont to breed another Recklessness,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Sporting its youth in human miseries,</div> - <div class='line'>Or now, or then, whene'er the fixed hour comes:</div><div class='lnum'>740</div> - <div class='line in8'>That in its youth, in turn,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Doth full-flushed Lust beget,</div> - <div class='line'>And that dread demon-power unconquerable,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Daring that fears not God,—</div> - <div class='line'>Two curses black within the homes of men,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Like those that gendered them.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe IV</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>But Justice shineth bright</div> - <div class='line'>In dwellings that are dark and dim with smoke,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And honours life law-ruled,</div> - <div class='line'>While gold-decked homes conjoined with hands defiled</div><div class='lnum'>750</div> - <div class='line in8'>She with averted eyes</div> - <div class='line in8'>Hath left, and draweth near</div> - <div class='line'>To holier things, nor worships might of wealth,</div> - <div class='line in8'>If counterfeit its praise;</div> - <div class='line'>But still directeth all the course of things</div> - <div class='line in8'>Towards its destined goal.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1046'>1046</span>[<span class='sc'>Agamemnon</span> <em>is seen approaching in his</em></div> - <div class='line in4'><em>chariot, followed by another chariot, in</em></div> - <div class='line in4'><em>which</em> <span class='sc'>Cassandra</span> <em>is standing, carrying</em></div> - <div class='line in4'><em>her prophet's wand in her hand, and</em></div> - <div class='line in4'><em>wearing fillets round her temples, and by</em></div> - <div class='line in4'><em>a great train of soldiers bearing trophies.</em></div> - <div class='line in4'><em>As they come on the stage the Chorus</em></div> - <div class='line in4'><em>sings its welcome</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Come then, king, thou son of Atreus,</div> - <div class='line'>Waster of the towers of Troïa,</div> - <div class='line'>What of greeting and of homage</div> - <div class='line'>Shall I give, nor overshooting,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor due need of honour missing?</div> - <div class='line'>Men there are who, right transgressing,</div> - <div class='line'>Honour semblance more than being.</div><div class='lnum'>760</div> - <div class='line in2'>O'er the sufferer all are ready</div> - <div class='line'>Wail of bitter grief to utter,</div> - <div class='line'>Though the biting pang of sorrow</div> - <div class='line'>Never to their heart approaches;</div> - <div class='line'>So with counterfeit rejoicing</div> - <div class='line'>Men strain faces that are smileless;</div> - <div class='line'>But when one his own sheep knoweth,</div> - <div class='line'>Then men's eyes cannot deceive him,</div> - <div class='line'>When they deem with kindly purpose,</div><div class='lnum'>770</div> - <div class='line'>And with fondness weak to flatter.</div> - <div class='line'>Thou, when thou did'st lead thine army</div> - <div class='line'>For Helen's sake—(I will not hide it)—</div> - <div class='line'>Wast to me as one whose features</div> - <div class='line'>Have been limned by unskilled artist,</div> - <div class='line'>Guiding ill the helm of reason,</div> - <div class='line'>Giving men to death's doom sentenced</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Courage which their will rejected.<a id='r328' /><a href='#f328' class='c011'><sup>[328]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1047'>1047</span>Now nor from the spirit's surface,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Nor with touch of thought unfriendly,</div> - <div class='line in8'>All the toil, I say, is welcome,</div> - <div class='line in8'>If men bring it to good issue.</div> - <div class='line in8'>And thou soon shalt know, enquiring</div><div class='lnum'>780</div> - <div class='line in8'>Him who rightly, him who wrongly</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of thy citizens fulfilleth</div> - <div class='line in8'>Task of office for the city.<a id='r329' /><a href='#f329' class='c011'><sup>[329]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Agam.</em> First Argos, and the Gods who guard the land,</div> - <div class='line'>'Tis right to greet; to them in part I owe</div> - <div class='line'>This my return, and vengeance that I took</div> - <div class='line'>On Priam's city. Not on hearsay proof</div> - <div class='line'>Judging the cause, with one consent the Gods</div> - <div class='line'>Cast in their votes into the urn of blood</div> - <div class='line'>For Ilion's ruin and her people's death;</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>I' the other urn Hope touched the rim alone,</div><div class='lnum'>790</div> - <div class='line'>Still far from being filled full.<a id='r330' /><a href='#f330' class='c011'><sup>[330]</sup></a> And even yet</div> - <div class='line'>The captured city by its smoke is seen,</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>The incense clouds of Atè live on still;</div> - <div class='line'>And, in the act of dying with its prey,</div> - <div class='line'>From richest store the dust sends savours sweet.</div> - <div class='line'>For these things it is meet to give the Gods</div> - <div class='line'>Thank-offerings long-enduring; for our nets</div> - <div class='line'>Of vengeance we set close, and for a woman</div> - <div class='line'>Our Argive monster laid the city low,<a id='r331' /><a href='#f331' class='c011'><sup>[331]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1048'>1048</span>Foaled by the mare, a people bearing shield,</div> - <div class='line'>Taking its leap when set the Pleiades;<a id='r332' /><a href='#f332' class='c011'><sup>[332]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>And, bounding o'er the tower, that ravenous lion</div><div class='lnum'>800</div> - <div class='line'>Lapped up its fill of blood of kingly race.</div> - <div class='line'>This prelude to the Gods I lengthen out;</div> - <div class='line'>And as concerns thy feeling (this I well</div> - <div class='line'>Remember hearing) I with thee agree,</div> - <div class='line'>And thou in me may'st find an advocate.</div> - <div class='line'>With but few men is it their natural bent</div> - <div class='line'>To honour without grudging prosperous friend:</div> - <div class='line'>For ill-souled envy that the heart besets,</div> - <div class='line'>Doubles his woe who suffers that disease:</div> - <div class='line'>He by his own griefs first is overwhelmed,</div> - <div class='line'>And groans at sight of others' happier lot.</div><div class='lnum'>810</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>And I with good cause say, (for well I know,)</div> - <div class='line'>They are but friendship's mirror, phantom shade,</div> - <div class='line'>Who seemed to be my most devoted friends.</div> - <div class='line'>Odysseus only, who against his will<a id='r333' /><a href='#f333' class='c011'><sup>[333]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Sailed with us, still was found true trace-fellow:</div> - <div class='line'>And this I say of him or dead or living.</div> - <div class='line'>But as for all that touches on the State,</div> - <div class='line'>Or on the Gods, in full assembly we,</div> - <div class='line'>Calling our council, will deliberate:</div><div class='lnum'>820</div> - <div class='line'>For what goes well we should with care provide</div> - <div class='line'>How longest it may last; and where there needs</div> - <div class='line'>A healing charm, there we with all good-will,</div> - <div class='line'>By surgery or cautery will try</div> - <div class='line'>To turn away the mischief of disease.</div> - <div class='line'>And now will I to home and household hearth</div> - <div class='line'>Move on, and first give thanks unto the Gods</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1049'>1049</span>Who led me forth, and brought me back again.</div> - <div class='line'>Since Victory follows, long may she remain!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><em>Enter</em> <span class='sc'>Clytæmnestra</span>, <em>followed by female attendants</em></div> - <div><em>carrying purple tapestry</em></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> Ye citizens, ye Argive senators,</div> - <div class='line'>I will not shrink from telling you the tale</div> - <div class='line'>Of wife's true love. As time wears on one drops</div><div class='lnum'>830</div> - <div class='line'>All over-shyness. Not learning it from others,</div> - <div class='line'>I will narrate my own unhappy life,</div> - <div class='line'>The whole long time my lord at Ilion stayed.</div> - <div class='line'>For first, that wife should sit at home alone</div> - <div class='line'>Without her husband is a monstrous grief,</div> - <div class='line'>Hearing full many an ill report of him,</div> - <div class='line'>Now one and now another coming still,</div> - <div class='line'>Bringing news home, worse trouble upon bad.</div> - <div class='line'>Yea, if my lord had met as many wounds</div> - <div class='line'>As rumour told of, floating to our house,</div><div class='lnum'>840</div> - <div class='line'>He had been riddled more than any net;</div> - <div class='line'>And had he died, as tidings still poured in,</div> - <div class='line'>Then he, a second Geryon<a id='r334' /><a href='#f334' class='c011'><sup>[334]</sup></a> with three lives,</div> - <div class='line'>Had boasted of a threefold coverlet</div> - <div class='line'>Of earth above, (I will not say below him,)<a id='r335' /><a href='#f335' class='c011'><sup>[335]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Dying one death for each of those his forms;</div> - <div class='line'>And so, because of all these ill reports,</div> - <div class='line'>Full many a noose around my neck have others</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1050'>1050</span>Loosed by main force, when I had hung myself.</div> - <div class='line'>And for this cause no son is with me now,</div><div class='lnum'>850</div> - <div class='line'>Holding in trust the pledges of our love,</div> - <div class='line'>As he should be, Orestes. Wonder not;</div> - <div class='line'>For now a kind ally doth nurture him,</div> - <div class='line'>Strophios the Phokian, telling me of woes</div> - <div class='line'>Of twofold aspect, danger on thy side</div> - <div class='line'>At Ilion, and lest loud-voiced anarchy</div> - <div class='line'>Should overthrow thy council, since 'tis still</div> - <div class='line'>The wont of men to kick at those who fall.</div> - <div class='line'>No trace of guile bears this excuse of mine;</div> - <div class='line'>As for myself, the fountains of my tears</div> - <div class='line'>Have flowed till they are dry, no drop remains,</div><div class='lnum'>860</div> - <div class='line'>And mine eyes suffer from o'er-late repose,</div> - <div class='line'>Watching with tears the beacons set for thee,<a id='r336' /><a href='#f336' class='c011'><sup>[336]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Left still unheeded. And in dreams full oft</div> - <div class='line'>I from my sleep was startled by the gnat</div> - <div class='line'>With thin wings buzzing, seeing in the night</div> - <div class='line'>Ills that stretched far beyond the time of sleep.<a id='r337' /><a href='#f337' class='c011'><sup>[337]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Now, having borne all this, with mind at ease,</div> - <div class='line'>I hail my lord as watch-dog of the fold,</div> - <div class='line'>The stay that saves the ship, of lofty roof</div><div class='lnum'>870</div> - <div class='line'>Main column-prop, a father's only child,</div> - <div class='line'>Land that beyond all hope the sailor sees,</div> - <div class='line'>Morn of great brightness following after storm,</div> - <div class='line'>Clear-flowing fount to thirsty traveller.<a id='r338' /><a href='#f338' class='c011'><sup>[338]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1051'>1051</span>Yes, it is pleasant to escape all straits:</div> - <div class='line'>With words of welcome such as these I greet thee;</div> - <div class='line'>May jealous Heaven forgive them! for we bore</div> - <div class='line'>Full many an evil in the past; and now,</div> - <div class='line'>Dear husband, leave thy car, nor on the ground,</div> - <div class='line'>O King, set thou the foot that Ilion trampled.</div><div class='lnum'>880</div> - <div class='line'>Why linger ye, [<em>turning to her attendants</em>,] ye maids, whose task it was</div> - <div class='line'>To strew the pathway with your tapestries?</div> - <div class='line'>Let the whole road be straightway purple-strown,</div> - <div class='line'>That Justice lead to home he looked not for.</div> - <div class='line'>All else my care, by slumber not subdued,</div> - <div class='line'>Will with God's help work out what fate decrees.<a id='r339' /><a href='#f339' class='c011'><sup>[339]</sup></a></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>(<em>The handmaids advance, and are about to lay the</em></div> - <div><em>purple carpets on the ground</em>)</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Agam.</em> O child of Leda, guardian of my home,</div> - <div class='line'>Thy speech hath with my absence well agreed—</div> - <div class='line'>For long indeed thou mad'st it—but fit praise</div> - <div class='line'>Is boon that I must seek at other hands.</div><div class='lnum'>890</div> - <div class='line'>I pray thee, do not in thy woman's fashion</div> - <div class='line'>Pamper my pride, nor in barbaric guise</div> - <div class='line'>Prostrate on earth raise full-mouthed cries to me;</div> - <div class='line'>Make not my path offensive to the Gods</div> - <div class='line'>By spreading it with carpets.<a id='r340' /><a href='#f340' class='c011'><sup>[340]</sup></a> They alone</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1052'>1052</span>May claim that honour; but for mortal men</div> - <div class='line'>To walk on fair embroidery, to me</div> - <div class='line'>Seems nowise without peril. So I bid you</div> - <div class='line'>To honour me as man, and not as God.</div> - <div class='line'>Apart from all foot-mats and tapestry</div> - <div class='line'>My fame speaks loudly; and God's greatest gift</div><div class='lnum'>900</div> - <div class='line'>Is not to err from wisdom. We must bless</div> - <div class='line'>Him only who ends life in fair estate.<a id='r341' /><a href='#f341' class='c011'><sup>[341]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Should I thus act throughout, good hope were mine.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> Nay, say not this my purposes to thwart.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Agam.</em> Know I change not for the worse my purpose.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> In fear, perchance, thou vowèd'st thus to act.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Agam.</em> If any, I, with good ground spoke my will.<a id='r342' /><a href='#f342' class='c011'><sup>[342]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> What think'st thou Priam, had he wrought such deeds...?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Agam.</em> Full gladly he, I trow, had trod on carpets.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> Then shrink not thou through fear of men's dispraise.</div><div class='lnum'>910</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Agam.</em> And yet a people's whisper hath great might.<a id='r343' /><a href='#f343' class='c011'><sup>[343]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> Who is not envied is not enviable.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1053'>1053</span><em>Agam.</em> 'Tis not a woman's part to crave for strife.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> True, yet the prosperous e'en should sometimes yield.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Agam.</em> Dost thou then prize that victory in the strife?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> Nay, list; with all good-will yield me this boon.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Agam.</em> Well, then, if thou wilt have it so, with speed</div> - <div class='line'>Let some one loose my buskins<a id='r344' /><a href='#f344' class='c011'><sup>[344]</sup></a> (servants they</div> - <div class='line'>Doing the foot's true work), and as I tread</div> - <div class='line'>Upon these robes sea-purpled, may no wrath</div> - <div class='line'>From glance of Gods smite on me from afar!</div><div class='lnum'>920</div> - <div class='line'>Great shame I feel to trample with my foot</div> - <div class='line'>This wealth of carpets, costliest work of looms;</div> - <div class='line'>So far for this. This stranger [<em>pointing to</em> <span class='sc'>Cassandra</span>] lead thou in</div> - <div class='line'>With kindliness. On him who gently wields</div> - <div class='line'>His power God's eye looks kindly from afar.</div> - <div class='line'>None of their own will choose a bondslave's life;</div> - <div class='line'>And she, the chosen flower of many spoils,</div> - <div class='line'>Has followed with me as the army's gift.</div> - <div class='line'>But since I turn, obeying thee in this,</div> - <div class='line'>I'll to my palace go, on purple treading.</div><div class='lnum'>930</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> There is a sea,—and who shall drain it dry?</div> - <div class='line'>Producing still new store of purple juice,</div> - <div class='line'>Precious as silver, staining many a robe.</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1054'>1054</span>And in our house, with God's help, O my king,</div> - <div class='line'>'Tis ours to boast our palace knows no stint.</div> - <div class='line'>Trampling of many robes would I have vowed,</div> - <div class='line'>Had that been ordered me in oracles,</div> - <div class='line'>When for my lord's return I then did plan</div> - <div class='line'>My votive gifts. For while the root lives on,</div> - <div class='line'>The foliage stretches even to the house,</div> - <div class='line'>And spreads its shade against the dog-star's rage;</div><div class='lnum'>940</div> - <div class='line'>So when thou comest to thy hearth and home,</div> - <div class='line'>Thou show'st that warmth hath come in winter time;</div> - <div class='line'>And when from unripe clusters Zeus matures</div> - <div class='line'>The wine,<a id='r345' /><a href='#f345' class='c011'><sup>[345]</sup></a> then is there coolness in the house,</div> - <div class='line'>If the true master dwelleth in his home.</div> - <div class='line'>Ah, Zeus! the All-worker, Zeus, work out for me</div> - <div class='line'>All that I pray for; let it be thy care</div> - <div class='line'>To look to what Thou purposest to work.<a id='r346' /><a href='#f346' class='c011'><sup>[346]</sup></a></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Exeunt</span></i> <span class='sc'>Agamemnon</span>, <em>walking on the tapestry</em>,</div> - <div class='line in4'><span class='sc'>Clytæmnestra</span>, <em>and her attendants</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Why thus continually</div> - <div class='line'>Do haunting phantoms hover at the gate</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of my foreboding heart?</div><div class='lnum'>950</div> - <div class='line'>Why floats prophetic song, unbought, unbidden?</div> - <div class='line in10'>Why doth no steadfast trust</div> - <div class='line in8'>Sit on my mind's dear throne,</div> - <div class='line'>To fling it from me as a vision dim?</div> - <div class='line'>Long time hath passed since stern-ropes of our ships</div> - <div class='line'>Were fastened on the sand, when our great host</div> - <div class='line in12'>Of those that sailed in ships</div> - <div class='line in12'>Had come to Ilion's towers:<a id='r347' /><a href='#f347' class='c011'><sup>[347]</sup></a></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1055'>1055</span><span class='sc'>Antistrophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>And now from these mine eyes</div><div class='lnum'>960</div> - <div class='line'>I learn, myself reporting to myself,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Their safe return; and yet</div> - <div class='line'>My mind within itself, taught by itself,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Chanteth Erinnys' dirge,</div> - <div class='line in8'>The lyreless melody,</div> - <div class='line'>And hath no strength of wonted confidence.</div> - <div class='line'>Not vain these inner pulses, as my heart</div> - <div class='line'>Whirls eddying in breast oracular.</div> - <div class='line in8'>I, against hope, will pray</div> - <div class='line in8'>It prove false oracle.</div><div class='lnum'>970</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>Of high, o'erflowing health</div> - <div class='line'>There is no bound that stays the wish for more,</div> - <div class='line'>For evermore disease, as neighbour close</div> - <div class='line in8'>Whom but a wall divides,</div> - <div class='line'>Upon it presses; and man's prosperous state</div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Moves on its course, and strikes</div> - <div class='line in8'>Upon an unseen rock;</div> - <div class='line'>But if his fear for safety of his freight,</div> - <div class='line'>A part, from well-poised sling, shall sacrifice,</div><div class='lnum'>980</div> - <div class='line in8'>Then the whole house sinks not,</div> - <div class='line in8'>O'erfilled with wretchedness,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Nor does he swamp his boat:</div> - <div class='line in8'>So, too, abundant gift</div> - <div class='line'>From Zeus in bounteous fulness, and the fruit</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of glebe at harvest tide</div> - <div class='line'>Have caused to cease sore hunger's pestilence;</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>But blood that once hath flowed</div> - <div class='line'>In purple stains of death upon the ground</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1056'>1056</span>At a man's feet, who then can bid it back</div> - <div class='line in8'>By any charm of song?</div> - <div class='line'>Else him who knew to call the dead to life<a id='r348' /><a href='#f348' class='c011'><sup>[348]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Zeus had not sternly checked,</div><div class='lnum'>990</div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>As warning unto all;</div> - <div class='line'>But unless Fate, firm-fixed, had barred our fate</div> - <div class='line'>From any chance of succour from the Gods,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Then had my heart poured forth</div> - <div class='line in8'>Its thoughts, outstripping speech.<a id='r349' /><a href='#f349' class='c011'><sup>[349]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>But now in gloom it wails</div> - <div class='line in8'>Sore vexed, with little hope</div> - <div class='line'>At any time hereafter fitting end</div><div class='lnum'>1000</div> - <div class='line in8'>To find, unravelling,</div> - <div class='line'>My soul within me burning with hot thoughts.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><em>Re-enter</em> <span class='sc'>Clytæmnestra</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> [<em>to</em> <span class='sc'>Cassandra</span>, <em>who has remained in the</em></div> - <div class='line'><em>chariot during the choral ode</em>]</div> - <div class='line'>Thou too—I mean Cassandra—go within;</div> - <div class='line'>Since Zeus hath made it thine, and not in wrath,</div> - <div class='line'>To share the lustral waters in our house,</div> - <div class='line'>Standing with many a slave the altar nigh</div> - <div class='line'>Of Zeus, who guards our goods.<a id='r350' /><a href='#f350' class='c011'><sup>[350]</sup></a> Now get thee down</div> - <div class='line'>From out this car, nor look so over proud.</div> - <div class='line'>They say that e'en Alcmena's son endured<a id='r351' /><a href='#f351' class='c011'><sup>[351]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1057'>1057</span>Being sold a slave, constrained to bear the yoke:</div> - <div class='line'>And if the doom of this ill chance should come,</div> - <div class='line'>Great boon it is to meet with lords who own</div> - <div class='line'>Ancestral wealth. But whoso reap full crops</div><div class='lnum'>1010</div> - <div class='line'>They never dared to hope for, these in all,</div> - <div class='line'>And beyond measure, to their slaves are harsh:<a id='r352' /><a href='#f352' class='c011'><sup>[352]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>From us thou hast what usage doth prescribe.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> So ends she, speaking words full clear to thee:</div> - <div class='line'>And seeing thou art in the toils of fate,</div> - <div class='line'>If thou obey, thou wilt obey; and yet,</div> - <div class='line'>Perchance, obey thou wilt not.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> Nay, but unless she, like a swallow, speaks</div> - <div class='line'>A barbarous tongue unknown, I speaking now</div> - <div class='line'>Within her apprehension, bid obey.</div><div class='lnum'>1020</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> [<em>to</em> <span class='sc'>Cassandra</span>, <em>still standing motionless</em>] Go with her. What she bids is now the best;</div> - <div class='line'>Obey her: leave thy seat upon this car.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> I have no leisure here to stay without:</div> - <div class='line'>For as regards our central altar, there</div> - <div class='line'>The sheep stand by as victims for the fire;</div> - <div class='line'>For never had we hoped such thanks to give:</div> - <div class='line'>If thou wilt do this, make no more delay;</div> - <div class='line'>But if thou understandest not my words,</div> - <div class='line'>Then wave thy foreign hand in lieu of speech.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<span class='sc'>Cassandra</span> <em>shudders as in horror, but</em></div> - <div class='line in4'><em>makes no sign</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> The stranger seems a clear interpreter</div> - <div class='line'>To need. Her look is like a captured deer's.</div><div class='lnum'>1030</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> Nay, she is mad, and follows evil thoughts,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1058'>1058</span>Since, leaving now her city, newly-captured,</div> - <div class='line'>She comes, and knows not how to take the curb,</div> - <div class='line'>Ere she foam out her passion in her blood.</div> - <div class='line'>I will not bear the shame of uttering more. [<em>Exit</em></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> And I—I pity her, and will not rage:</div> - <div class='line'>Come, thou poor sufferer, empty leave thy car;</div> - <div class='line'>Yield to thy doom, and handsel now the yoke.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<span class='sc'>Cassandra</span> <em>leaves the chariot, and bursts</em></div> - <div class='line in4'><em>into a cry of wailing</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Cass.</em> Woe! woe, and well-a-day!</div> - <div class='line in16'>Apollo! O Apollo!</div><div class='lnum'>1040</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Why criest thou so loud on Loxias?</div> - <div class='line'>The wailing cry of mourner suits not him.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Cass.</em> Woe! woe, and well-a-day!</div> - <div class='line in16'>Apollo! O Apollo!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Again with boding words she calls the God,</div> - <div class='line'>Though all unmeet as helper to men's groans.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Cass.</em> Apollo! O Apollo!</div> - <div class='line'>God of all paths, Apollo true to me;</div> - <div class='line'>For still thou dost appal me and destroy.<a id='r353' /><a href='#f353' class='c011'><sup>[353]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> She seems her own ills like to prophesy:</div><div class='lnum'>1050</div> - <div class='line'>The God's great gift is in the slave's mind yet.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1059'>1059</span><span class='sc'>Antistrophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Cass.</em> Apollo! O Apollo!</div> - <div class='line'>God of all paths, Apollo true to me;</div> - <div class='line'>What path hast led me? To what roof hast brought?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> To that of the Atreidæ. This I tell,</div> - <div class='line'>If thou know'st not. Thou wilt not find it false.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Cass.</em> Ah! Ah! Ah me!</div> - <div class='line'>Say rather to a house God hates—that knows</div> - <div class='line in8'>Murder, self-slaughter, ropes,<a id='r354' /><a href='#f354' class='c011'><sup>[354]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>A human shamble, staining earth with blood.</div><div class='lnum'>1060</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Keen scented seems this stranger, like a hound,</div> - <div class='line'>And sniffs to see whose murder she may find.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Cass.</em> Ah! Ah! Ah me!</div> - <div class='line'>Lo! [<em>looking wildly, and pointing to the house</em>,] there the witnesses whose word I trust,—</div> - <div class='line in8'>Those babes who wail their death,</div> - <div class='line'>The roasted flesh that made a father's meal.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> We of a truth had heard thy seeress fame,</div> - <div class='line'>But prophets now are not the race we seek.<a id='r355' /><a href='#f355' class='c011'><sup>[355]</sup></a></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe IV</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Cass.</em> Ah me! O horror! What ill schemes she now?</div> - <div class='line in8'>What is this new great woe?</div><div class='lnum'>1070</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1060'>1060</span>Great evil plots she in this very house,</div> - <div class='line'>Hard for its friends to bear, immedicable;</div> - <div class='line in8'>And help stands far aloof.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> These oracles of thine surpass my ken;</div> - <div class='line'>Those I know well. The whole town rings with them.<a id='r356' /><a href='#f356' class='c011'><sup>[356]</sup></a></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe IV</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Cass.</em> Ah me! O daring one! what work'st thou here,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Who having in his bath</div> - <div class='line'>Tended thy spouse, thy lord, then ... How tell the rest?</div> - <div class='line'>For quick it comes, and hand is following hand,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Stretched out to strike the blow.</div><div class='lnum'>1080</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Still I discern not; after words so dark</div> - <div class='line'>I am perplexed with thy dim oracles.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe V</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Cass.</em> Ah, horror, horror! What is this I see?</div> - <div class='line in8'>Is it a snare of Hell?</div> - <div class='line'>Nay, the true net is she who shares his bed,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Who shares in working death.</div> - <div class='line'>Ha! let the Band insatiable in hate<a id='r357' /><a href='#f357' class='c011'><sup>[357]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Howl for the race its wild exulting cry</div> - <div class='line in8'>O'er sacrifice that calls</div> - <div class='line in8'>For death by storm of stones.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1061'>1061</span><span class='sc'>Strophe VI</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> What dire Erinnys bidd'st thou o'er our house</div> - <div class='line'>To raise shrill cry? Thy speech but little cheers;</div> - <div class='line in8'>And to my heart there rush</div> - <div class='line in8'>Blood-drops of saffron hue,<a id='r358' /><a href='#f358' class='c011'><sup>[358]</sup></a></div><div class='lnum'>1090</div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Which, when from deadly wound</div> - <div class='line'>They fall, together with life's setting rays</div> - <div class='line'>End, as it fails, their own appointed course:</div> - <div class='line in8'>And mischief comes apace.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe V</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Cass.</em> See, see, I say, from that fell heifer there</div> - <div class='line in8'>Keep thou the bull:<a id='r359' /><a href='#f359' class='c011'><sup>[359]</sup></a> in robes</div> - <div class='line'>Entangling him, she with her weapon gores</div> - <div class='line in8'>Him with the swarthy horns;<a id='r360' /><a href='#f360' class='c011'><sup>[360]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Lo! in that bath with water filled he falls,</div> - <div class='line'>Smitten to death, and I to thee set forth</div> - <div class='line in8'>Crime of a bath of blood,</div> - <div class='line in8'>By murderous guile devised.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe VI</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> I may not boast that I keen insight have</div> - <div class='line'>In words oracular; yet bode I ill.</div><div class='lnum'>1100</div> - <div class='line in8'>What tidings good are brought</div> - <div class='line in8'>By any oracles</div> - <div class='line in8'>To mortal men? These arts,</div> - <div class='line in8'>In days of evil sore, with many words,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1062'>1062</span>Do still but bring a vague, portentous fear</div> - <div class='line in8'>For men to learn and know.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe VII</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Cass.</em> Woe, woe! for all sore ills that fall on me!</div> - <div class='line'>It is my grief thou speak'st of, blending it</div> - <div class='line in8'>With his.<a id='r361' /><a href='#f361' class='c011'><sup>[361]</sup></a> [<em>Pausing, and then crying out</em>.]</div> - <div class='line in12'>Ah! wherefore then</div> - <div class='line in8'>Hast thou<a id='r362' /><a href='#f362' class='c011'><sup>[362]</sup></a> thus brought me here,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Only to die with thee?</div> - <div class='line in8'>What other doom is mine?</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe VIII</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Frenzied art thou, and by some God's might swayed,</div><div class='lnum'>1110</div> - <div class='line in8'>And utterest for thyself</div> - <div class='line'>A melody which is no melody,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Like to that tawny one,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Insatiate in her wail,</div> - <div class='line'>The nightingale, who still with sorrowing soul,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And “Itys, Itys,” cry,<a id='r363' /><a href='#f363' class='c011'><sup>[363]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Bemoans a life o'erflourishing in ills.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe VII</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Cass.</em> Ah, for the doom of clear-voiced nightingale!</div> - <div class='line'>The Gods gave her a body bearing wings,</div> - <div class='line in8'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1063'>1063</span>And life of pleasant days</div> - <div class='line in8'>With no fresh cause to weep:</div> - <div class='line in8'>But for me waiteth still</div> - <div class='line in8'>Stroke from the two-edged sword.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe VIII</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> From what source hast thou these dread agonies</div> - <div class='line in8'>Sent on thee by thy God,</div> - <div class='line'>Yet vague and little meaning; and thy cries</div><div class='lnum'>1120</div> - <div class='line in8'>Dire with ill-omened shrieks</div> - <div class='line in8'>Dost utter as a chant,</div> - <div class='line'>And blendest with them strains of shrillest grief?</div> - <div class='line in8'>Whence treadest thou this track</div> - <div class='line'>Of evil-boding path of prophecy?</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe IX</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Cass.</em> Woe for the marriage-ties, the marriage-ties</div> - <div class='line'>Of Paris that brought ruin on his friends!</div> - <div class='line in8'>Woe for my native stream,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Scamandros, that I loved!</div> - <div class='line'>Once on thy banks my maiden youth was reared,</div> - <div class='line in8'>(Ah, miserable me!)</div> - <div class='line'>Now by Cokytos and by Acheron's shores</div> - <div class='line'>I seem too likely soon to utter song</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of wild, prophetic speech.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe X</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> What hast thou spoken now</div> - <div class='line in8'>With utterance all too clear?</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Even a boy its gist might understand;</div> - <div class='line in8'>I to the quick am pierced</div> - <div class='line in8'>With throe of deadly pain,</div> - <div class='line'>Whilst thou thy moaning cries art uttering</div> - <div class='line in8'>Over thy sore mischance,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Wondrous for me to hear.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1064'>1064</span><span class='sc'>Antistrophe IX</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Cass.</em> Woe for the toil and trouble, toil and trouble</div> - <div class='line'>Of city that is utterly destroyed!</div> - <div class='line in8'>Woe for the victims slain</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of herds that roamed the fields,</div><div class='lnum'>1140</div> - <div class='line'>My father's sacrifice to save his towers!</div> - <div class='line in8'>No healing charm they brought</div> - <div class='line'>To save the city from its present doom:</div> - <div class='line'>And I with hot thoughts wild myself shall cast</div> - <div class='line in8'>Full soon upon the ground.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe X</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> This that thou utterest now</div> - <div class='line in8'>With all before agrees.</div> - <div class='line'>Some Power above dooms thee with purpose ill,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Down-swooping heavily,</div> - <div class='line in8'>To utter with thy voice</div> - <div class='line'>Sorrows of deepest woe, and bringing death.</div> - <div class='line in8'>And what the end shall be</div> - <div class='line in8'>Perplexes in the extreme.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Cass.</em> Nay, now no more from out of maiden veils</div> - <div class='line'>My oracle shall glance, like bride fresh wed;<a id='r364' /><a href='#f364' class='c011'><sup>[364]</sup></a></div><div class='lnum'>1150</div> - <div class='line'>But seems as though 'twould rush with speedy gales</div> - <div class='line'>In full, clear brightness to the morning dawn;</div> - <div class='line'>So that a greater war than this shall surge</div> - <div class='line'>Like wave against the sunlight.<a id='r365' /><a href='#f365' class='c011'><sup>[365]</sup></a> Now I'll teach</div> - <div class='line'>No more in parables. Bear witness ye,</div> - <div class='line'>As running with me, that I scent the track</div> - <div class='line'>Of evil deeds that long ago were wrought:</div> - <div class='line'>For never are they absent from this house,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1065'>1065</span>That choral band which chants in full accord,</div> - <div class='line'>Yet no good music; good is not their theme.</div> - <div class='line'>And now, as having drunk men's blood,<a id='r366' /><a href='#f366' class='c011'><sup>[366]</sup></a> and so</div> - <div class='line'>Grown wilder, bolder, see, the revelling band,</div><div class='lnum'>1160</div> - <div class='line'>Erinnyes of the race, still haunt the halls,</div> - <div class='line'>Not easy to dismiss. And so they sing,</div> - <div class='line'>Close cleaving to the house, its primal woe,<a id='r367' /><a href='#f367' class='c011'><sup>[367]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>And vent their loathing in alternate strains</div> - <div class='line'>On marriage-bed of brother ruthless found</div> - <div class='line'>To that defiler. <a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Miss I now, or hit,</div> - <div class='line'>Like archer skilled? or am I seeress false,</div> - <div class='line'>A babbler vain that knocks at every door?</div> - <div class='line'>Yea, swear beforehand, ere I die, I know</div> - <div class='line'>(And not by rumour only) all the sins</div> - <div class='line'>Of ancient days that haunt and vex this house.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> How could an oath, how firm soe'er confirmed,</div> - <div class='line'>Bring aught of healing? Lo, I marvel at thee,</div><div class='lnum'>1170</div> - <div class='line'>That thou, though born far off beyond the sea,</div> - <div class='line'>Should'st tell an alien city's tale as clear</div> - <div class='line'>As though thyself had stood by all the while.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Cass.</em> The seer Apollo set me to this task.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Was he a God, so smitten with desire?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Cass.</em> There was a time when shame restrained my speech.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> True; they who prosper still are shy and coy.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Cass.</em> He wrestled hard, breathing hot love on me.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> And were ye one in act whence children spring?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Cass.</em> I promised Loxias, then I broke my vow.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Wast thou e'en then possessed with arts divine?</div><div class='lnum'>1180</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1066'>1066</span><em>Cass.</em> E'en then my country's woes I prophesied.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> How wast thou then unscathed by Loxias' wrath?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Cass.</em> I for that fault with no man gained belief.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> To us, at least, thou seem'st to speak the truth.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Cass.</em> [<em>Again speaking wildly, as in an ecstasy.</em>] Ah, woe is me! Woe's me! Oh, ills on ills!</div> - <div class='line'>Again the dread pang of true prophet's gift</div> - <div class='line'>With preludes of great evil dizzies me.</div> - <div class='line'>See ye those children sitting on the house</div> - <div class='line'>In fashion like to phantom forms of dreams?</div><div class='lnum'>1190</div> - <div class='line'>Infants who perished at their own kin's hands,</div> - <div class='line'>Their palms filled full with meat of their own flesh,</div> - <div class='line'>Loom on my sight, the heart and entrails bearing,</div> - <div class='line'>(A sorry burden that!) on which of old</div> - <div class='line'>Their father fed.<a id='r368' /><a href='#f368' class='c011'><sup>[368]</sup></a> And in revenge for this,</div> - <div class='line'>I say a lion, dwelling in his lair,</div> - <div class='line'>With not a spark of courage, stay-at-home,</div> - <div class='line'>Plots 'gainst my master, now he's home returned,</div> - <div class='line'>(Yes mine—for still I must the slave's yoke bear;)</div> - <div class='line'>And the ship's ruler, Ilion's conqueror,</div> - <div class='line'>Knows not what things the tongue of that lewd bitch</div> - <div class='line'>Has spoken and spun out in welcome smooth,</div><div class='lnum'>1200</div> - <div class='line'>And, like a secret Atè, will work out</div> - <div class='line'>With dire success: thus 'tis she plans: the man</div> - <div class='line'>Is murdered by the woman. By what name</div> - <div class='line'>Shall I that loathèd monster rightly call?</div> - <div class='line'>An Amphisbæna? or a Skylla dwelling<a id='r369' /><a href='#f369' class='c011'><sup>[369]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1067'>1067</span>Among the rocks, the sailors' enemy?</div> - <div class='line'>Hades' fierce raging mother, breathing out</div> - <div class='line'>Against her friends a curse implacable?</div> - <div class='line'>Ah, how she raised her cry, (oh, daring one!)</div> - <div class='line'>As for the rout of battle, and she feigns</div> - <div class='line'>To hail with joy her husband's safe return!</div> - <div class='line'>And if thou dost not credit this, what then?</div> - <div class='line'>What will be will. Soon, present, pitying me</div><div class='lnum'>1210</div> - <div class='line'>Thou'lt own I am too true a prophetess.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Thyestes' banquet on his children's flesh</div> - <div class='line'>I know and shudder at, and fear o'ercomes me,</div> - <div class='line'>Hearing not counterfeits of fact, but truths;</div> - <div class='line'>Yet in the rest I hear and miss my path.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Cass.</em> I say thou'lt witness Agamemnon's death.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Hush, wretched woman, close those lips of thine!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Cass.</em> For this my speech no healing God's at hand.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> True, if it must be; but may God avert it!</div><div class='lnum'>1220</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Cass.</em> Thou utterest prayers, but others murder plot.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> And by what man is this dire evil wrought?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Cass.</em> Sure, thou hast seen my bodings all amiss.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> I see not his device who works the deed.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Cass.</em> And yet I speak the Hellenic tongue right well.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> So does the Pythian, yet her words are hard.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Cass.</em> [<em>In another access of frenzy.</em>] Ah me, this fire!</div> - <div class='line in10'>It comes upon me now!</div> - <div class='line'>Ah me, Apollo, wolf-slayer! woe is me!</div> - <div class='line'>This biped lioness who takes to bed</div> - <div class='line'>A wolf in absence of the noble lion,</div><div class='lnum'>1230</div> - <div class='line'>Will slay me, wretched me. And, as one</div> - <div class='line'>Mixing a poisoned draught, she boasts that she</div> - <div class='line'>Will put my price into her cup of wrath,</div> - <div class='line'>Sharpening her sword to smite her spouse with death,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1068'>1068</span>So paying him for bringing me. Oh, why</div> - <div class='line'>Do I still wear what all men flout and scorn,</div> - <div class='line'>My wand and seeress wreaths around my neck?<a id='r370' /><a href='#f370' class='c011'><sup>[370]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Thee, ere myself I die I will destroy: [<em>breaks her wand</em>]</div> - <div class='line'>Perish ye thus: [<em>casting off her wreaths</em>] I soon shall follow you:</div> - <div class='line'>Make rich another Atè<a id='r371' /><a href='#f371' class='c011'><sup>[371]</sup></a> in my place;</div> - <div class='line'>Behold Apollo's self is stripping me</div><div class='lnum'>1240</div> - <div class='line'>Of my divining garments, and that too,</div> - <div class='line'>When he has seen me even in this garb</div> - <div class='line'>Scorned without cause among my friends and kin,</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>By foes, with no diversity of mood.</div> - <div class='line'>Reviled as vagrant, wandering prophetess,</div> - <div class='line'>Poor, wretched, famished, I endured to live:</div> - <div class='line'>And now the Seer who me a seeress made</div> - <div class='line'>Hath brought me to this lot of deadly doom.</div> - <div class='line'>Now for my father's altar there awaits me</div> - <div class='line'>A butcher's block, where I am smitten down</div> - <div class='line'>By slaughtering stroke, and with hot gush of blood.</div> - <div class='line'>But the Gods will not slight us when we're dead;</div><div class='lnum'>1250</div> - <div class='line'>Another yet shall come as champion for us,</div> - <div class='line'>A son who slays his mother, to avenge</div> - <div class='line'>His father; and the exiled wanderer</div> - <div class='line'>Far from his home, shall one day come again,</div> - <div class='line'>Upon these woes to set the coping-stone:</div> - <div class='line'>For the high Gods have sworn a mighty oath,</div> - <div class='line'>His father's fall, laid low, shall bring him back.</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1069'>1069</span>Why then do I thus groan in this new home,<a id='r372' /><a href='#f372' class='c011'><sup>[372]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>When, to begin with, Ilion's town I saw</div> - <div class='line'>Faring as it did fare, and they who held</div> - <div class='line'>That town are gone by judgment of the Gods?</div><div class='lnum'>1260</div> - <div class='line'>I too will fare as they, and venture death:</div> - <div class='line'>So I these gates of Hades now address,</div> - <div class='line'>And pray for blow that bringeth death at once,</div> - <div class='line'>That so with no fierce spasm, while the blood</div> - <div class='line'>Flows in calm death, I then may close mine eyes.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<em>Goes towards the door of the palace</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> O thou most wretched, yet again most wise:</div> - <div class='line'>Long hast thou spoken, lady, but if well</div> - <div class='line'>Thou know'st thy doom, why to the altar go'st thou,</div> - <div class='line'>Like heifer driven of God, so confidently?<a id='r373' /><a href='#f373' class='c011'><sup>[373]</sup></a></div><div class='lnum'>1270</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Cass.</em> For me, my friends, there is no time to 'scape.<a id='r374' /><a href='#f374' class='c011'><sup>[374]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Yea; but he gains in time who comes the last.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Cass.</em> The day is come: small gain for me in flight.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Know then thou sufferest with a heart full brave.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Cass.</em> Such words as these the happy never hear.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Yet mortal man may welcome noble death.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Cass.</em> [<em>Shrinking back from opening the door.</em>] Woe's me for thee and thy brave sons, my father!<a id='r375' /><a href='#f375' class='c011'><sup>[375]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> What cometh now? What fear oppresseth thee?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Cass.</em> [<em>Again going to the door and then shuddering in another burst of frenzy.</em>] Fie on't, fie!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1070'>1070</span><em>Chor.</em> Whence comes this “Fie?” unless from mind that loathes?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Cass.</em> The house is tainted with the scent of death.</div><div class='lnum'>1280</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> How so? This smells of victims on the hearth.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Cass.</em> Nay, it is like the blast from out a grave.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> No Syrian ritual tell'st thou for our house.<a id='r376' /><a href='#f376' class='c011'><sup>[376]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Cass.</em> Well then I go, and e'en within will wail</div> - <div class='line'>My fate and Agamemnon's. And for me,</div> - <div class='line'>Enough of life. Ah, friends! Ah! not for nought</div> - <div class='line'>I shrink in fear, as bird shrinks from the brake.<a id='r377' /><a href='#f377' class='c011'><sup>[377]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>When I am dead do ye this witness bear,</div> - <div class='line'>When in revenge for me, a woman, Death</div> - <div class='line'>A woman smites, and man shall fall for man</div><div class='lnum'>1290</div> - <div class='line'>In evil wedlock wed. This friendly office,</div> - <div class='line'>As one about to die, I pray you do me.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Thy doom foretold, poor sufferer, moves my pity.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Cass.</em> I fain would speak once more, yet not to wail</div> - <div class='line'>Mine own death-song; but to the Sun I pray,</div> - <div class='line'>To his last rays, that my avengers wreak</div> - <div class='line'>Upon my hated murderers judgment due</div> - <div class='line'>For me, who die a slave's death, easy prey.</div> - <div class='line'>Ah, life of man! when most it prospereth,</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>It is but limned in outline;<a id='r378' /><a href='#f378' class='c011'><sup>[378]</sup></a> and when brought</div> - <div class='line'>To low estate, then doth the sponge, full soaked,</div><div class='lnum'>1300</div> - <div class='line'>Wipe out the picture with its frequent touch:</div> - <div class='line'>And this I count more piteous e'en than that.<a id='r379' /><a href='#f379' class='c011'><sup>[379]</sup></a></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<em>Passes through the door into the palace</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1071'>1071</span><em>Chor.</em> 'Tis true of all men that they never set</div> - <div class='line'>A limit to good fortune; none doth say,</div> - <div class='line in8'>As bidding it depart,</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>And warding it from palaces of pride,</div> - <div class='line in8'>“Enter thou here no more.”</div> - <div class='line'>To this our lord the Blest Ones gave to take</div> - <div class='line in8'>Priam's city; and he comes</div> - <div class='line'>Safe to his home and honoured by the Gods;</div> - <div class='line in8'>But if he now shall pay</div> - <div class='line'>The forfeit of blood-guiltiness of old,</div> - <div class='line'>And, dying, so work out for those who died,</div> - <div class='line'>By his own death another penalty,</div><div class='lnum'>1310</div> - <div class='line in8'>Who then of mortal men,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Hearing such things as this,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Can boast that he was born</div> - <div class='line in8'>With fate from evil free?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Agam.</em> [<em>from within.</em>] Ah, me! I am struck down with deadly stroke.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Hush! who cries out with deadly stroke sore smitten?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Agam.</em> Ah me, again! struck down a second time!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<em>Dies</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> By the king's groans I judge the deed is done;</div> - <div class='line'>But let us now confer for counsels safe.<a id='r380' /><a href='#f380' class='c011'><sup>[380]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor. a.</em> I give you my advice to summon here,</div> - <div class='line'>Here to the palace, all the citizens.</div><div class='lnum'>1320</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor. b.</em> I think it best to rush at once on them,</div> - <div class='line'>And take them in the act with sword yet wet.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor. c.</em> And I too give like counsel, and I vote</div> - <div class='line'>For deed of some kind. 'Tis no time to pause.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor. d.</em> Who will see, may.—They but the prelude work</div> - <div class='line'>Of tyranny usurped o'er all the State.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1072'>1072</span><em>Chor. e.</em> Yes, we are slow, but they who trample down</div> - <div class='line'>The thought of hesitation slumber not.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor. f.</em> I know not what advice to find or speak:</div> - <div class='line'>He who can act knows how to counsel too.</div><div class='lnum'>1330</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor. g.</em> I too think with thee; for I have no hope</div> - <div class='line'>With words to raise the dead again to life.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor. h.</em> What! Shall we drag our life on and submit</div> - <div class='line'>To these usurpers that defile the house?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor. i.</em> Nay, that we cannot bear: To die were better;</div> - <div class='line'>For death is gentler far than tyranny.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor. k.</em> Shall we upon this evidence of groans</div> - <div class='line'>Guess, as divining that our lord is dead?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor. l.</em> When we know clearly, then should we discuss:</div> - <div class='line'>To guess is one thing, and to know another.</div><div class='lnum'>1340</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em><a id='r381' /><a href='#f381' class='c011'><sup>[381]</sup></a> So vote I too, and on the winning side,</div> - <div class='line'>Taking the votes all round that we should learn</div> - <div class='line'>How he, the son of Atreus, fareth now.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c016'><em>Enter</em> <span class='sc'>Clytæmnestra</span> <em>from the palace, in robes with -stains of blood, followed by soldiers and attendants. -The open doors show the corpses of</em> <span class='sc'>Agamemnon</span> -<em>and</em> <span class='sc'>Cassandra</span>, <em>the former lying in a silvered -bath</em></p> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> Though many words before to suit the time</div> - <div class='line'>Were spoken, now I shall not be ashamed</div> - <div class='line'>The contrary to utter: How could one</div> - <div class='line'>By open show of enmity to foes</div> - <div class='line'>Who seemed as friends, fence in the snares of death</div> - <div class='line'>Too high to be o'erleapt? But as for me,</div> - <div class='line'>Not without forethought for this long time past,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1073'>1073</span>This conflict comes to me from triumph old<a id='r382' /><a href='#f382' class='c011'><sup>[382]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Of his, though slowly wrought. I stand where I</div><div class='lnum'>1350</div> - <div class='line'>Did smite him down, with all my task well done.</div> - <div class='line'>So did I it, (the deed deny I not,)</div> - <div class='line'>That he could nor avert his doom nor flee:</div> - <div class='line'>I cast around him drag-net as for fish,</div> - <div class='line'>With not one outlet, evil wealth of robe:</div> - <div class='line'>And twice I smote him, and with two deep groans</div> - <div class='line'>He dropped his limbs: And when he thus fell down</div> - <div class='line'>I gave him yet a third, thank-offering true<a id='r383' /><a href='#f383' class='c011'><sup>[383]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>To Hades of the dark, who guards the dead.</div> - <div class='line'>So fallen, he gasps out his struggling soul,</div> - <div class='line'>And breathing forth a sharp, quick gush of blood,</div> - <div class='line'>He showers dark drops of gory rain on me,</div><div class='lnum'>1360</div> - <div class='line'>Who no less joy felt in them than the corn,</div> - <div class='line'>When the blade bears, in glad shower given of God.</div> - <div class='line'>Since this is so, ye Argive elders here,</div> - <div class='line'>Ye, as ye will, may hail the deed, but I</div> - <div class='line'>Boast of it. And were't fitting now to pour</div> - <div class='line'>Libation o'er the dead,<a id='r384' /><a href='#f384' class='c011'><sup>[384]</sup></a> 'twere justly done,</div> - <div class='line'>Yea more than justly; such a goblet full,</div> - <div class='line'>Of ills hath he filled up with curses dire</div> - <div class='line'>At home, and now has come to drain it off.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> We marvel at the boldness of thy tongue</div><div class='lnum'>1370</div> - <div class='line'>Who o'er thy husband's corpse speak'st vaunt like this.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1074'>1074</span><em>Clytæm.</em> Ye test me as a woman weak of mind;</div> - <div class='line'>But I with dauntless heart to you that know</div> - <div class='line'>Say this, and whether thou dost praise or blame,</div> - <div class='line'>Is all alike:—here Agamemnon lies,</div> - <div class='line'>My husband, now a corpse, of this right hand,</div> - <div class='line'>As artist just, the handiwork: so stands it.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> What evil thing, O Queen, or reared on earth,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Or draught from salt sea-wave</div><div class='lnum'>1380</div> - <div class='line in8'>Hast thou fed on, to bring</div> - <div class='line in8'>Such incense on thyself,<a id='r385' /><a href='#f385' class='c011'><sup>[385]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>A people's loud-voiced curse?</div> - <div class='line in8'>'Twas thou did'st sentence him,</div> - <div class='line in8'>'Twas thou did'st strike him down;</div> - <div class='line in8'>But thou shall exiled be,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Hated with strong hate of the citizens.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> Ha! now on me thou lay'st the exile's doom,</div> - <div class='line'>My subjects' hate, and people's loud-voiced curse,</div> - <div class='line'>Though ne'er did'st thou oppose my husband there,</div> - <div class='line'>Who, with no more regard than had been due</div> - <div class='line'>To a brute's death, although he called his own</div> - <div class='line'>Full many a fleecy sheep in pastures bred,</div> - <div class='line'>Yet sacrificed his child, the dear-loved fruit</div><div class='lnum'>1390</div> - <div class='line'>Of all my travail-pangs, to be a charm</div> - <div class='line'>Against the winds of Thrakia. Shouldst thou not</div> - <div class='line'>Have banished him from out this land of ours,</div> - <div class='line'>As meed for all his crimes? Yet hearing now</div> - <div class='line'>My deeds, thou art a judge full stern. But I</div> - <div class='line'>Tell thee to speak thy threats, as knowing well</div> - <div class='line'>I am prepared that thou on equal terms</div> - <div class='line'>Should'st rule, if thou dost conquer. But if God</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1075'>1075</span>Should otherwise decree, then thou shall learn,</div> - <div class='line'>Late though it be, the lesson to be wise.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Yea, thou art stout of heart, and speak'st big words;</div><div class='lnum'>1400</div> - <div class='line in8'>And maddened is thy soul</div> - <div class='line in8'>As by a murderous hate;</div> - <div class='line in8'>And still upon thy brow</div> - <div class='line in8'>Is seen, not yet avenged,</div> - <div class='line in8'>The stain of blood-spot foul;</div> - <div class='line in8'>And yet it needs must be,</div> - <div class='line in8'>One day thou, reft of friends,</div> - <div class='line'>Shall pay the penalty of blow for blow.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> Now hear thou too my oaths of solemn dread:</div> - <div class='line'>By my accomplished vengeance for my child,</div> - <div class='line'>By Atè and Erinnys, unto whom</div> - <div class='line'>I slew him as a victim, I look not</div> - <div class='line'>That fear should come beneath this roof of mine,</div> - <div class='line'>So long as on my hearth Ægisthos kindles</div><div class='lnum'>1410</div> - <div class='line'>The flaming fire, as well disposed to me</div> - <div class='line'>As he hath been aforetime. He to us</div> - <div class='line'>Is no slight shield of stoutest confidence.</div> - <div class='line'>There lies he, [<em>pointing to the corpse of</em> <span class='sc'>Agamemnon</span>,] one who foully wronged his wife,</div> - <div class='line'>The darling of the Chryseïds at Troïa;</div> - <div class='line'>And there [<em>pointing to</em> <span class='sc'>Cassandra</span>] this captive slave, this auguress,</div> - <div class='line'>His concubine, this seeress trustworthy,</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Who shared his bed, and yet was as well known</div> - <div class='line'>To the sailors as their benches!... They have fared</div> - <div class='line'>Not otherwise than they deserved: for he</div> - <div class='line'>Lies as you see. And she who, like a swan,<a id='r386' /><a href='#f386' class='c011'><sup>[386]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1076'>1076</span>Has chanted out her last and dying song,</div><div class='lnum'>1420</div> - <div class='line'>Lies close to him she loved, and so has brought</div> - <div class='line'>The zest of a new pleasure to my bed.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe I</span><a id='r387' /><a href='#f387' class='c011'><sup>[387]</sup></a></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Ah me, would death might come</div> - <div class='line'>Quickly, with no sharp throe of agony,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Nor long bed-ridden pain,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Bringing the endless sleep;</div> - <div class='line'>Since he, the watchman most benign of all,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Hath now been smitten low,</div> - <div class='line'>And by a woman's means hath much endured,</div> - <div class='line'>And at a woman's hand hath lost his life!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Alas! alas! O Helen, evil-souled,</div><div class='lnum'>1430</div> - <div class='line in8'>Who, though but one, hast slain</div> - <div class='line'>Many, yea, very many lives at Troïa.<a id='r388' /><a href='#f388' class='c011'><sup>[388]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>       ·      ·       ·       ·       ·</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>But now for blood that may not be washed out</div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Thou hast to full bloom brought</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>A deed of guilt for ever memorable,</div> - <div class='line in8'>For strife was in the house,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Wrought out in fullest strength,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Woe for a husband's life.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1077'>1077</span><span class='sc'>Strophe IV</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> Nay, pray not thou for destiny of death,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Oppressed with what thou see'st;</div> - <div class='line'>Nor turn thou against Helena thy wrath,</div><div class='lnum'>1440</div> - <div class='line in8'>As though she murderess were,</div> - <div class='line'>And, though but one, had many Danaï's souls</div> - <div class='line'>Brought low in death, and wrought o'erwhelming woe.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> O Power that dost attack</div> - <div class='line'>Our palace and the two Tantalidæ,<a id='r389' /><a href='#f389' class='c011'><sup>[389]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>And dost through women wield</div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>A might that grieves my heart!<a id='r390' /><a href='#f390' class='c011'><sup>[390]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>And o'er the body, like a raven foul,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Against all laws of right,</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Standing, she boasteth in her pride of heart<a id='r391' /><a href='#f391' class='c011'><sup>[391]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>That she can chant her pæan hymn of praise.</div><div class='lnum'>1450</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe IV</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> Now thou dost guide aright thy speech and thought,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Invoking that dread Power,</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>The thrice-gorged evil genius of this house;</div> - <div class='line in8'>For he it is who feeds</div> - <div class='line'>In the heart's depth the raging lust of blood:</div> - <div class='line'>Ere the old wound is healed, new bloodshed comes.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe V</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Yes, of a Power thou tell'st</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Mighty and very wrathful to this house;</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1078'>1078</span>Ah me! ah me! an evil tale enough</div><div class='lnum'>1460</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of baleful chance of doom,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Insatiable of ill:</div> - <div class='line in8'>Yet, ah! it is through Zeus,</div> - <div class='line'>The all-appointing and all-working One;</div> - <div class='line in8'>For what with mortal men</div> - <div class='line in8'>Is wrought apart from Zeus?</div> - <div class='line'>What of all this is not by God decreed?<a id='r392' /><a href='#f392' class='c011'><sup>[392]</sup></a></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe VI</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>Ah me! ah me!</div> - <div class='line'>My king, my king, how shall I weep for thee?</div> - <div class='line'>What shall I speak from heart that truly loves?</div> - <div class='line'>And now thou liest there, breathing out thy life,</div><div class='lnum'>1470</div> - <div class='line in8'>In impious deed of death,</div> - <div class='line in8'>In this fell spider's web,—</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe VII</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>(Yes, woe is me! woe, woe!</div> - <div class='line'>Woe for this couch of thine dishonourable!)—</div> - <div class='line in8'>Slain by a subtle death,<a id='r393' /><a href='#f393' class='c011'><sup>[393]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>With sword two-edged which her right hand did wield.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe VIII</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> Thou speak'st big words, as if the deed were mine;</div> - <div class='line in8'>Yet think thou not of me,</div> - <div class='line in8'>As Agamemnon's spouse;</div> - <div class='line'>But in the semblance of this dead man's wife,</div> - <div class='line'>The old and keen Avenger of the house</div> - <div class='line'>Of Atreus, that cruel banqueter of old,</div> - <div class='line in8'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1079'>1079</span>Hath wrought out vengeance full</div> - <div class='line in8'>On him who lieth here,</div><div class='lnum'>1480</div> - <div class='line in8'>And full-grown victim slain</div> - <div class='line in8'>Over the younger victims of the past.<a id='r394' /><a href='#f394' class='c011'><sup>[394]</sup></a></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe V</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> That thou art guiltless found</div> - <div class='line'>Of this foul murder who will witness bear?</div> - <div class='line'>How can it be so, how? And yet, perchance,</div> - <div class='line in8'>As helper to the deed,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Might come the avenging Fiend</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of that ancestral time;</div> - <div class='line'>And in this rush of murders of near kin</div> - <div class='line in8'>Dark Ares presses on,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Where he will vengeance work</div> - <div class='line'>For clotted gore of children slain as food.</div><div class='lnum'>1490</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe VI</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>Ah me! ah me!</div> - <div class='line'>My king, my king, how shall I weep for thee?</div> - <div class='line'>What shall I speak from heart that truly loves?</div> - <div class='line'>And now thou liest there, breathing out thy life,</div> - <div class='line in8'>In impious deed of death,</div> - <div class='line in8'>In this fell spider's web,—</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe VII</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>(Yes, woe is me! woe, woe!</div> - <div class='line'>Woe for this couch of thine dishonourable!)—</div> - <div class='line in8'>Slain by a subtle death,</div> - <div class='line'>With sword two-edged which her right hand did wield.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe VIII</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> Nay, not dishonourable</div> - <div class='line in8'>His death doth seem to me:</div> - <div class='line in8'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1080'>1080</span>Did he not work a doom,</div> - <div class='line in8'>In this our house with guile?<a id='r395' /><a href='#f395' class='c011'><sup>[395]</sup></a></div><div class='lnum'>1500</div> - <div class='line'>Mine own dear child, begotten of this man,</div> - <div class='line'>Iphigeneia, wept with many a tear,</div> - <div class='line'>He slew; now slain himself in recompense,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Let him not boast in Hell,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Since he the forfeit pays,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Pierced by the sword in death,</div> - <div class='line'>For all the evil that his hand began.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe IX</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> I stand perplexed in soul, deprived of power</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of quick and ready thought,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Where now to turn, since thus</div><div class='lnum'>1510</div> - <div class='line in8'>Our home is falling low.</div> - <div class='line'>I shrink in fear from the fierce pelting storm</div> - <div class='line'>Of blood that shakes the basement of the house:</div> - <div class='line in8'>No more it rains in drops:</div> - <div class='line'>And for another deed of mischief dire,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Fate whets the righteous doom</div> - <div class='line in8'>On other whetstones still.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>O Earth! O Earth! Oh, would thou had'st received me,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Ere I saw him on couch</div> - <div class='line'>Of bath with silvered walls thus stretched in death!</div> - <div class='line'>Who now will bury him, who wail? Wilt thou,</div> - <div class='line'>When thou hast slain thy husband, have the heart</div><div class='lnum'>1520</div> - <div class='line'>To mourn his death, and for thy monstrous deeds</div> - <div class='line'>Do graceless grace? And who will chant the dirge</div> - <div class='line in8'>With tears in truth of heart,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Over our godlike chief?</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe X</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> It is not thine to speak;</div> - <div class='line in8'>'Twas at our hands he fell,</div> - <div class='line in8'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1081'>1081</span>Yea, he fell low in death,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And we will bury him,</div><div class='lnum'>1530</div> - <div class='line'>Not with the bitter tears of those who weep</div> - <div class='line in8'>As inmates of the house;</div> - <div class='line'>But she, his child, Iphigeneia, there</div> - <div class='line'>Shall meet her father, and with greeting kind,</div> - <div class='line'>E'en as is fit, by that swift-flowing ford,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Dark stream of bitter woes,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Shall clasp him in her arms,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And give a daughter's kiss.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe IX</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Lo! still reproach upon reproach doth come;</div> - <div class='line in8'>Hard are these things to judge:</div> - <div class='line in8'>The spoiler still is spoiled,</div> - <div class='line in8'>The slayer pays his debt;</div> - <div class='line'>Yea, while Zeus liveth through the ages, this</div><div class='lnum'>1540</div> - <div class='line'>Lives also, that the doer dree his weird;</div> - <div class='line in8'>For this is law fast fixed.</div> - <div class='line'>Who now can drive from out the kingly house</div> - <div class='line in8'>The brood of curses dark?</div> - <div class='line in8'>The race to Atè cleaves.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe X</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> Yes, thou hast touched with truth</div> - <div class='line in8'>That word oracular;</div> - <div class='line in8'>But I for my part wish,</div> - <div class='line in8'>(Binding with strongest oath</div> - <div class='line'>The evil dæmon of the Pleisthenids,)<a id='r396' /><a href='#f396' class='c011'><sup>[396]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>Though hard it be to bear,</div> - <div class='line'>To rest content with this our present lot;</div> - <div class='line'>And, for the future, that he go to vex</div> - <div class='line'>Another race with homicidal deaths.</div><div class='lnum'>1550</div> - <div class='line in8'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1082'>1082</span>Lo! 'tis enough for me,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Though small my share of wealth,</div> - <div class='line in8'>At last to have freed my house</div> - <div class='line'>From madness that sets each man's hand 'gainst each.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><em>Enter</em> <span class='sc'>Ægisthos</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ægis.</em> Hail, kindly light of day that vengeance brings!</div> - <div class='line'>Now I can say the Gods on high look down,</div> - <div class='line'>Avenging men, upon the woes of earth,</div> - <div class='line'>Since lying in the robes the Erinnyes wove</div> - <div class='line'>I see this man, right welcome sight to me,</div> - <div class='line'>Paying for deeds his father's hand had wrought.</div><div class='lnum'>1560</div> - <div class='line'>Atreus, our country's ruler, this man's father,</div> - <div class='line'>Drove out my sire Thyestes, his own brother,</div> - <div class='line'>(To tell the whole truth,) quarrelling for rule,</div> - <div class='line'>An exile from his country and his home.</div> - <div class='line'>And coming back a suppliant on the hearth,</div> - <div class='line'>The poor Thyestes found a lot secure,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor did he, dying, stain the soil with blood,</div> - <div class='line'>There in his home. But this man's godless sire,<a id='r397' /><a href='#f397' class='c011'><sup>[397]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Atreus, more prompt than kindly in his deeds,</div> - <div class='line'>On plea of keeping festal day with cheer,</div> - <div class='line'>To my sire banquet gave of children's flesh,</div><div class='lnum'>1570</div> - <div class='line'>His own. The feet and finger-tips of hands</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>He, sitting at the top, apart concealed;</div> - <div class='line'>And straight the other, in his blindness taking</div> - <div class='line'>The parts that could not be discerned, did eat</div> - <div class='line'>A meal which, as thou see'st, perdition works</div> - <div class='line'>For all his kin. And learning afterwards</div> - <div class='line'>The deed of dread, he groaned and backward fell,</div> - <div class='line'>Vomits the feast of blood, and imprecates</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1083'>1083</span>On Pelops' sons a doom intolerable,</div> - <div class='line'>And makes the o'erturning of the festive board,</div> - <div class='line'>With fullest justice, as a general curse,</div> - <div class='line'>That so might fall the race of Pleisthenes.</div><div class='lnum'>1580</div> - <div class='line'>And now thou see'st how here accordingly</div> - <div class='line'>This man lies fallen; I, of fullest right,</div> - <div class='line'>The weaver of the plot of murderous doom.</div> - <div class='line'>For me, a babe in swaddling-clothes, he banished</div> - <div class='line'>With my poor father, me, his thirteenth child;</div> - <div class='line'>And Vengeance brought me back, of full age grown:</div> - <div class='line'>And e'en far off I wrought against this man,</div> - <div class='line'>And planned the whole scheme of this dark device.</div> - <div class='line'>And so e'en death were now right good for me,</div> - <div class='line'>Seeing him into the nets of Vengeance fallen.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> I honour not this arrogance in guilt,</div><div class='lnum'>1590</div> - <div class='line'>Ægisthos. Thou confessest thou hast slain</div> - <div class='line'>Of thy free will our chieftain here,—that thou</div> - <div class='line'>Alone did'st plot this murder lamentable;</div> - <div class='line'>Be sure, I say, thy head shall not escape</div> - <div class='line'>The righteous curse a people hurls with stones.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ægisth.</em> Dost thou say this, though seated on the bench</div> - <div class='line'>Of lowest oarsmen, while the upper row</div> - <div class='line'>Commands the ship?<a id='r398' /><a href='#f398' class='c011'><sup>[398]</sup></a> But thou shalt find, though old,</div> - <div class='line'>How hard it is at such an age to learn,</div> - <div class='line'>When the word is, “keep temper.” But a prison</div> - <div class='line'>And fasting pains are admirably apt,</div><div class='lnum'>1600</div> - <div class='line'>As prophet-healers even for old age.</div> - <div class='line'>Dost see, and not see this? Against the pricks</div> - <div class='line'>Kick not,<a id='r399' /><a href='#f399' class='c011'><sup>[399]</sup></a> lest thou perchance should'st smart for it.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1084'>1084</span><em>Chor.</em> Thou, thou, O Queen, when thy lord came from war,</div> - <div class='line'>While keeping house, thy husband's bed defiling,</div> - <div class='line'>Did'st scheme this death for this our hero-chief.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ægisth.</em> These words of thine shall parents prove of tears:</div> - <div class='line'>But this thy tongue is Orpheus' opposite;</div> - <div class='line'>He with his voice led all things on for joy,</div> - <div class='line'>But thou, provoking with thy childish cries,</div> - <div class='line'>Shalt now be led; and then, being kept in check,</div> - <div class='line'>Thou shall appear in somewhat gentler mood.</div><div class='lnum'>1610</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> As though thou should'st o'er Argives ruler be,</div> - <div class='line'>Who even when thou plotted'st this man's death</div> - <div class='line'>Did'st lack good heart to do the deed thyself?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ægisth.</em> E'en so; to work this fraud was clearly part</div> - <div class='line'>Fit for a woman. I was foe, of old</div> - <div class='line'>Suspected. But now will I with his wealth</div> - <div class='line'>See whether I his subjects may command,</div> - <div class='line'>And him who will not hearken I will yoke</div> - <div class='line'>In heavy harness as a full-fed colt,</div> - <div class='line'>Nowise as trace-horse;<a id='r400' /><a href='#f400' class='c011'><sup>[400]</sup></a> but sharp hunger joined</div> - <div class='line'>With darksome dungeon shall behold him tamed.</div><div class='lnum'>1620</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Why did'st not thou then, coward as thou art,</div> - <div class='line'>Thyself destroy him? but a woman with thee,</div> - <div class='line'>Pollution to our land and our land's Gods,</div> - <div class='line'>She slew him. Does Orestes see the light,</div> - <div class='line'>Perchance, that he, brought back by Fortune's grace,</div> - <div class='line'>May for both these prove slayer strong to smite?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ægisth.</em> Well, since thou think'st to act, not merely talk,</div> - <div class='line'>Thou shall know clearly....</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<em>Calling his Guards from the palace</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>On then, my troops, the time for deeds is come.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1085'>1085</span><em>Chor.</em> On then, let each man grasp his sword in hand.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ægisth.</em> With sword in hand, I too shrink not from death.</div><div class='lnum'>1630</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Thou talkest of thy death; we hail the word;</div> - <div class='line'>And make our own the fortune it implies.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> Nay, let us not do other evil deeds,</div> - <div class='line'>Thou dearest of all friends. An ill-starred harvest</div> - <div class='line'>It is to have reaped so many. Enough of woe:</div> - <div class='line'>Let no more blood be shed: Go thou—[<em>to the Chorus</em>]—go ye,</div> - <div class='line'>Ye aged sires, to your allotted homes,</div> - <div class='line'>Ere ye do aught amiss and dree your weird:</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>This that we have done ought to have sufficed;</div> - <div class='line'>But should it prove we've had enough of ills,</div> - <div class='line'>We will accept it gladly, stricken low</div> - <div class='line'>In evil doom by heavy hand of God.</div> - <div class='line'>This is a woman's counsel, if there be</div> - <div class='line'>That deigns to hear it.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ægisth.</em> But that these should fling</div> - <div class='line'>The blossoms of their idle speech at me,</div><div class='lnum'>1640</div> - <div class='line'>And utter words like these, so tempting Fate,</div> - <div class='line'>And fail of counsel wise, and flout their master...!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> It suits not Argives on the vile to fawn.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ægisth.</em> Be sure, hereafter I will hunt thee down.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Not so, if God should guide Orestes back.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ægisth.</em> Right well I know how exiles feed on hopes.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Prosper, wax fat, do foul wrong—'tis thy day.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ægisth.</em> Know thou shalt pay full price for this thy folly.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Be bold, and boast, like cock beside his mate.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> Nay, care not thou for these vain howlings; I</div> - <div class='line'>And thou together, ruling o'er the house,</div> - <div class='line'>Will settle all things rightly. [<i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Exeunt</span></i></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class='c012' /> - -<div class='footnote' id='f271'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r271'>271</a>. </span><span class='pageno' id='Page_1086'>1086</span>The form of gambling from which the phrase is taken, had -clearly become common in Attica among the class to which the -watchman was supposed to belong, and had given rise to proverbial -phrases like that in the text. The Greeks themselves -supposed it to have been invented by the Lydians (Herod. i. 94), -or Palamedes, one of the heroes of the tale of Troïa, but it -enters also into Egyptian legends (Herod. ii. 122), and its prevalence -from remote antiquity in the farther East, as in the Indian -story of Nala and Damayanti, makes it probable that it originated -there. The game was commonly played, as the phrase -shows, with three dice, the highest throw being that which gave -three sixes. Æschylos, it may be noted, appears in a lost drama, -which bore the title of <em>Palamedes</em>, to have brought the game -itself into his plot. It is referred to, as invented by that hero, -in a fragment of Sophocles (<cite>Fr.</cite> 380), and again in the -proverb,—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“The dice of Zeus have ever lucky throws.”—(<cite>Fr.</cite> 763.)</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f272'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r272'>272</a>. </span>Here, also, the watchman takes up another common proverbial -phrase, belonging to the same group as that of “kicking -against the pricks” in v. 1624. He has his reasons for silence, -weighty as would be the tread of an ox to close his lips.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f273'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r273'>273</a>. </span>The vultures stand, <em>i.e.</em>, to the rulers of Heaven, in the -same relation as the foreign sojourners in Athens, the <em>Metoics</em>, -did to the citizens under whose protection they placed themselves.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f274'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r274'>274</a>. </span>Alexandros, the other name of Paris, the seducer of Helen.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f275'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r275'>275</a>. </span>The words, perhaps, refer to the grief of Menelaos, as leading -him to neglect the wonted sacrifices to Zeus, but it seems -better to see in them a reference to the sin of Paris. He, at -least, who had carried off his host's wife, had not offered acceptable -sacrifices, had neglected all sacrifices to Zeus Xenios, the -God of host and guest. The allusion to the sacrifice of Iphigeneia, -which some (Donaldson and Paley) have found here, -and the wrath of Clytæmnestra, which Agamemnon will fail to -soothe, seems more far-fetched.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f276'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r276'>276</a>. </span>An allusion, such as the audience would catch and delight -in, to the well-known enigma of the Sphinx. See Sophocles -(<cite>Trans.</cite>), p. 1.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f277'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r277'>277</a>. </span>The Chorus, though too old to take part in the expedition, -are yet able to tell both of what passed as the expedition started, -and of the terrible fulfilment of the omens which they had seen. -The two eagles are, of course, in the symbolism of prophecy, the -two chieftains, Menelaos and Agamemnon. The “white -feathers” of the one may point to the less heroic character of -Menelaos: so in v. 123, they are of “diverse mood.” The hare -whom they devour is, in the first instance, Troïa, and so far the -omen is good, portending the success of the expedition; but, as -Artemis hates the fierceness of the eagles, so there is, in the eyes -of the seer, a dark token of danger from her wrath against the -Atreidæ. Either their victory will be sullied by cruelty which -will bring down vengeance, or else there is some secret sin in the -past which must be atoned for by a terrible sacrifice. In the -legend followed by Sophocles (<cite>Electr.</cite> 566), Agamemnon had -offended Artemis by slaying a doe sacred to her, as he was -hunting. In the manifold meanings of such omens there is, -probably, a latent suggestion of the sacrifice of Iphigeneia by -the two chieftains, though this was at the time hidden from the -seer. The fact that they are seen on the right, not on the left -hand, was itself ominous of good.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f278'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r278'>278</a>. </span>The song of Linos, originally the dirge with which men -mourned for the death of Linos, the minstrel-son of Apollo and -Urania, brother of Orpheus, who was slain by Heracles—a type, -like Thammuz and Adonis, of life prematurely closed and bright -hopes never to be fulfilled,—had come to be the representative of -all songs of mourning. So Hesiod (in Eustath. on Hom. <cite>Il.</cite>, -vii. 569) speaks of the name, as applied to all funeral dirges over -poets and minstrels. So Herodotos (ii. 79) compares it, as the -type of this kind of music among the Greeks, with what he -found in Egypt connected with the name of Maneros, the only -son of the first king of Egypt, who died in the bloom of youth. -The name had, therefore, as definite a connotation for a Greek -audience as the words <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Miserere</span></i> or <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Jubilate</span></i> would have for us, -and ought not, I believe, to disappear from the translation.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f279'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r279'>279</a>. </span>The comparison of a lion's whelps to dew-drops, bold as the -figure is, has something in it analogous to that with which we -are more familiar, describing the children, or the army of a king, -as the “dew” from “the womb of the morning” (Ps. cx. 3).</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f280'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r280'>280</a>. </span>The sacrifice, <em>i.e.</em>, was to be such as could not, according -to the customary ritual, form a feast for the worshippers.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f281'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r281'>281</a>. </span>The dark words look at once before and after, back to the -murder of the sons of Thyestes, forward, though of this the seer -knew not, to the sacrifice of Iphigeneia. Clytæmnestra is the -embodiment of the Vengeance of which the Chorus speaks.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f282'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r282'>282</a>. </span>As a part of the drama the whole passage that follows is an -assertion by the Chorus that in this their trouble they will turn -to no other God, invoke no other name, but that of the Supreme -Zeus. But it can hardly be doubted that they have a meaning -beyond this, and are the utterance by the poet of his own -theology. In the second part of the Promethean trilogy (all -that we now know of it) he had represented Zeus as ruling in -the might of despotic sovereignty, the representative of a Power -which men could not resist, but also could not love, inflicting -needless sufferings on the sons of men. Now he has grown -wiser. The sovereignty of Zeus is accepted as part of the present -order of the world; trust in Him brings peace; the pain which -He permits is the one only way to wisdom. The stress laid upon -the name of Zeus implies a wish to cleave to the religion inherited -from the older Hellenes, as contrasted with those with which -their intercourse with the East had made the Athenians familiar. -Like the voice which came to Epimenides, as he was building a -sanctuary to the Muses, bidding him dedicate it not to them but -to Zeus (Diog. Laert. i. 10), it represents a faint approximation -to a truer, more monotheistic creed than that of the popular -mythology.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f283'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r283'>283</a>. </span>The two mighty ones who have passed away are Uranos -and Cronos, the representatives in Greek mythology of the -earlier stages of the world's history, (1) mere material creation, -(2) an ideal period of harmony, a golden, Saturnian age, preceding -the present order of divine government with its mingled -good and evil. Comp. Hesiod. <cite>Theogon.</cite>, 459.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f284'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r284'>284</a>. </span>The Chorus returns, after its deeper speculative thoughts, to -its interrupted narrative.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f285'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r285'>285</a>. </span>The seer saw his augury fulfilled. When he uttered the -name of Artemis it was pregnant with all the woe which he had -foreboded at the outset.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f286'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r286'>286</a>. </span>So that the blood may fall upon the altar, as the knife was -drawn across the throat.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f287'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r287'>287</a>. </span>The whole passage should be compared with the magnificent -description in Lucretius i. 84-101.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f288'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r288'>288</a>. </span>Beautiful as a picture, and as motionless and silent also. -The art, young as it was, had already reached the stage when -it supplied to the poet an ideal standard of perfection. Other -allusions to it are found in vv. 774, 1300.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f289'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r289'>289</a>. </span>The words point to the ritual of Greek feasts, which assigned -the first libation to Zeus and the Olympian Gods, the second to -the Heroes, the third to Zeus in his special character as Saviour -and Preserver; the last was commonly accompanied by a pæan, -hymn of praise. The life of Agamemnon is described as one -which had good cause to offer many such libations. Iphigeneia -had sung many such pæans.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f290'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r290'>290</a>. </span>The mythical explanation of this title for the Argive territory -is found in the <cite>Suppl.</cite> v. 256, and its real meaning is discussed -in a note to that passage.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f291'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r291'>291</a>. </span>To speak of Morning as the child of Night was, we may well -believe, among the earliest parables of nature. In its mythical -form it appears in Hesiod (<cite>Theogon.</cite> 123), but its traces are -found wherever, as among Hebrews, Athenians, Germans, men -reckoned by nights rather than by days, and spoke of “the -evening and the morning” rather than of “day and night.”</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f292'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r292'>292</a>. </span>The God thought of is, as in v. 272, Hephæstos, as being -Lord of the Fire, that had brought the tidings.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f293'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r293'>293</a>. </span>It is not without significance that Clytæmnestra scorns the -channel of divine instruction of which the Chorus had spoken -with such reverence. The dramatist puts into her mouth the -language of those who scoffed at the notion that truth might -come to the soul in “visions of the night,” when “deep sleep -falleth upon men.” So Sophocles puts like thoughts into the -mouth of Jocasta (<cite>Œd. King</cite>, vv. 709, 858).</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f294'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r294'>294</a>. </span>Omens came from the flight of birds. An omen which was -not trustworthy, or belonged to some lower form of divination, -might therefore be spoken of as “wingless.” But the word may -possibly be intensive, not negative, “swift-winged,” and then -refer generically to that form of divination.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f295'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r295'>295</a>. </span>The description that follows, over and above its general -interest, had, probably, for an Athenian audience, that of representing -the actual succession of beacon-stations, by which they, -in the course of the wars, under Pericles, had actually received -intelligence from the coasts of Asia. A glance at the map will -show the fitness of the places named—Ida, Lemnos, Athos, -Makistos (a mountain in Eubœa), Messapion (on the coast of -Bœotia), over the plains of the Asôpos to Kithæron, in the south of -the same province, then over Gorgopis, a bay of the Corinthian -Gulf, to Ægiplanctos in Megaris, then across to a headland -overlooking the Saronic Gulf, to the Arachnæan hill in Argolis. -The word “<em>courier</em>-fire” connects itself also with the system of -posts or messengers, which the Persian kings seem to have been -the first to organise, and which impressed the minds both of -Hebrews (Esth. viii. 14) and Greeks (Herod. viii. 98) by their -regular transmission of the king's edicts, or of special news.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f296'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r296'>296</a>. </span>Our ignorance of the details of the <em>Lampadephoria</em>, or -“torch-race games,” in honour of the fire-God, Prometheus, -makes the allusion to them somewhat obscure. As described -by Pausanias (I. xxx. 2), the runners started with lighted torches -from the altar of Prometheus in the Academeia and ran towards -the city. The first who reached the goal with his torch still -burning became the winner. If all the torches were extinguished, -then all were losers. As so described, however, there is no succession, -no taking the torch from one and passing it on to -another, like that described here and in the well-known line of -Lucretius (ii. 78),</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“<span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Et quasi cursores vitaï lampada tradunt.</span>”</div> - <div class='line'>(And they, as runners, pass the torch of life.)</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c000'>On the other hand, there are descriptions which show that such -a transfer was the chief element of the game. This is, indeed, -implied both in this passage and in the comparison between the -game and the Persian courier-system in Herod. viii. 98. The -two views may be reconciled by supposing (1) that there were -sets of runners, vying with each other as such, rather than individually, -or (2) that a runner whose speed failed him though -his torch kept burning, was allowed to hand it on to another who -was more likely to win the race, but whose torch was out. The -next line seems meant to indicate where the comparison failed. In -the torch-race which Clytæmnestra describes there had been no -contest. One and the self-same fire (the idea of succession passing -into that of continuity) had started and had reached the goal, and -so had won the prize. An alternative rendering would be,—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“He wins who is first in, though starting last.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f297'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r297'>297</a>. </span>The complete foot-race was always to the column which -marked the end of the course, round it, and back again. In -getting to Troïa, therefore, but half the race was done.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f298'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r298'>298</a>. </span>Dramatically the words refer to the practical impiety of -evildoers like Paris, with, perhaps, a half-latent allusion to that of -Clytæmnestra. But it can hardly be doubted that for the Athenian -audience it would have a more special significance, as a protest -against the growing scepticism, what in a later age would have -been called the Epicureanism, of the age of Pericles. It is the -assertion of the belief of Æschylos in the moral government of -the world. The very vagueness of the singular, “One there -was,” would lead the hearers to think of some teacher like -Anaxagoras, whom they suspected of Atheism.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f299'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r299'>299</a>. </span>The Chorus sees in the overthrow of Troïa, an instance of -this righteous retribution. The audience were, perhaps, intended -to think also of the punishment which had fallen on the -Persians for the sacrilegious acts of their fathers. The “things -inviolable” are the sanctities of the ties of marriage and hospitality, -both of which Paris had set at nought.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f300'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r300'>300</a>. </span>Here, and again in v. 612, we have a similitude drawn from -the metallurgy of Greek artists. Good bronze, made of copper -and tin, takes the green rust which collectors prize, but when -rubbed, the brightness reappears. If zinc be substituted for tin, -as in our brass, or mixed largely with it, the surface loses its -polish, oxidizes and becomes black. It is, however, doubtful -whether this combination of metals was at the time in use, and -the words may simply refer to different degrees of excellence in -bronze properly so called.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f301'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r301'>301</a>. </span>In a corrupt passage like this, the text of which has been -so variously restored and rendered, it may be well to give at -least one alternative version:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“There stands she silent, with no honour met,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Nor yet with words of scorn,</div> - <div class='line'>Sweetest to see of all that he has lost.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c000'>The words, as so taken, refer to the vision of Helen, described -in the lines that follow. Another, for the line “In deepest -woe,” &c., ... would give,</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Believing not he sees the lost one there.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f302'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r302'>302</a>. </span>The art of Pheidias had already made it natural at Athens -to speak of kings as decorating their palaces with the life-size -busts or statues of those they loved.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f303'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r303'>303</a>. </span>Here again one may note a protest against the aggressive -policy of Pericles, an assertion of the principle that a nation -should be content with independence, without aiming at -supremacy.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f304'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r304'>304</a>. </span>Perhaps passively, “Soon suffers trespassers.”</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f305'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r305'>305</a>. </span>As the play opens on the morning of the day on which -Troïa was taken, and now we have the arrivals, first, of the -herald, and then of Agamemnon, after the capture has been -completed, and the spoil divided, and the fleet escaped a storm, -an interval of some days must be supposed between the two -parts of the play, the imaginary law of the unities notwithstanding.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f306'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r306'>306</a>. </span>The customary adornment of heralds who brought good -news. Comp. Sophocles, <cite>Œd. K.</cite> v. 83. The custom prevailed -for many centuries, and is recognised by Dante, <cite>Purg.</cite> ii. 70, as -usual in his time in Italy.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f307'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r307'>307</a>. </span>So in the <cite>Seven against Thebes</cite> (v. 494), smoke is called -“the sister of fire.”</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f308'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r308'>308</a>. </span>A probable reference, not only to the story, but to the actual -words of Homer, <cite>Il.</cite> i. 45-52.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f309'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r309'>309</a>. </span>Specially the Dioscuri, Castor and Polydeukes.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f310'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r310'>310</a>. </span>Such a position (especially in the case of Zeus or Apollo) was -common in the temples both of Greece and Rome, and had a -very obvious signification. As the play was performed, the -actual hour of the day probably coincided with that required by -the dramatic sequence of events, and the statues of the Gods -were so placed on the stage as to catch the rays of the morning -sun when the herald entered. Hence the allusion to the bright -“cheerful glances” would have a visible as well as ethical -fitness.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f311'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r311'>311</a>. </span>It formed part of the guilt of Paris, that, besides his seduction -of Helena, he had carried off part of the treasures of -Menelaos.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f312'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r312'>312</a>. </span>The idea of a payment twofold the amount of the wrong -done, as a complete satisfaction to the sufferer, was common in -the early jurisprudence both of Greeks and Hebrews (Exod. xxii. -4-7). In some cases it was even more, as in the four or fivefold -restitution of Exod. xxii. 1. In the grand opening of Isaiah's -message of glad tidings the fact that Jerusalem has received -“double for all her sins” is made the ground on the strength of -which she may now hope for pardon. Comp. also Isa. lxi. 7; -Zech. ix. 12.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f313'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r313'>313</a>. </span>Perhaps—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Full hardly, and the close and crowded decks.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f314'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r314'>314</a>. </span>So stress is laid upon this form of hardship, as rising from -the climate of Troïa, by Sophocles, <cite>Aias</cite>, 1206.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f315'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r315'>315</a>. </span>One may conjecture that here also, as with the passage -describing the succession of beacon fires (vv. 281-314), the -description would have for an Athenian audience the interest of -recalling personal reminiscences of some recent campaign in -Thrakè, or on the coasts of Asia.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f316'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r316'>316</a>. </span>We may, perhaps, think of the herald, as he speaks, placing -some representative trophy upon the pegs on the pedestals of -the statues of the great Gods of Hellas, whom he had invoked -on his entrance.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f317'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r317'>317</a>. </span>Or,</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“So that to this bright morn our sons may boast,</div> - <div class='line'>As they o'er land and ocean take their flight,</div> - <div class='line'>'The Argive host of old, who captured Troïa,</div> - <div class='line'>These spoils of battle to the Gods of Hellas,</div> - <div class='line'>Hung on their pegs, a trophy of old days.'”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f318'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r318'>318</a>. </span>The husband, on his departure, sealed up his special -treasures. It was the glory of the faithful wife or the trusty -steward to keep these seals unbroken.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f319'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r319'>319</a>. </span>There is an ambiguity, possibly an intentional one, in the -comparison which Clytæmnestra uses. If there was no such art -as that of “staining bronze” (or copper) known at the time, the -words would be a natural phrase enough to describe what was -represented as an impossibility. Later on in the history of art, -however, as in the time of Plutarch, a process so described -(perhaps analogous to enamelling) is mentioned (<cite>De Pyth. -Orac</cite>. § 2) as common. If we suppose the art to have been a -mystery known to the few, but not to the many, in the time of -Æschylos, then the words would have for the hearers the point -of a <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">double entendre</span></i>. She seems to the mass to disclaim what -yet, to those in the secret she acknowledges.</p> - -<p class='c000'>Another rendering refers “bronze” to the “sword,” and -makes the stains those of blood; as though she said, “I am as -guiltless of adultery as of murder,” while yet she knew that she -had committed the one, and meant to commit the other. The -possibility of such a meaning is certainly in the words, and with -a sharp-witted audience catching at ænigmas and dark sayings -may have added to their suggestiveness. The ambiguous comment -of the Chorus shows that they read, as between the lines, -the shameful secret which they knew, but of which the Herald -was ignorant.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f320'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r320'>320</a>. </span>The last two lines are by some editors assigned to the -Herald.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f321'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r321'>321</a>. </span>It need hardly be said that it is as difficult to render a <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">paronomasia</span></i> -of this kind as it is to reproduce those, more or less -analogous, which we find in the prophets of the Old Testament -(comp. especially Micah i.); but it seems better to substitute -something which approaches, however imperfectly, to an -equivalent than to obscure the reference to the <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">nomen et omen</span></i> -by abandoning the attempt to translate it. “Hell of men, and -hell of ships, and hell of towers,” has been the rendering adopted -by many previous translators. The Greek fondness for this -play on names is seen in Sophocles, <cite>Aias</cite>, v. 401.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f322'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r322'>322</a>. </span>Zephyros, Boreas, and the other great winds were represented -in the <cite>Theogony</cite> of Hesiod (v. 134) as the offspring of -Astræos and Eôs, and Astræos was a Titan. The west wind -was, of course, favourable to Paris as he went with Helen from -Greece to Troïa.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f323'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r323'>323</a>. </span>Here again the translator has to meet the difficulty of a pun. -As an alternative we might take—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“To Ilion brought, well-named,</div> - <div class='line'>A marriage marring all.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f324'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r324'>324</a>. </span>The sons of Priam are thought of as taking part in the -celebration of Helen's marriage with Paris, and as, therefore, -involving themselves in the guilt and the penalty of his crime.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f325'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r325'>325</a>. </span>Here, too, it may be well to give an alternative rendering—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“A mischief in his house,</div> - <div class='line'>A man reared, not on milk.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c000'>Home-reared lions seem to have been common as pets, both -among Greeks and Latins (Arist., <cite>Hist. Anim.</cite> ix. 31; Plutarch, -<cite>de Cohib. irâ</cite>, § 14, p. 822), sometimes, as in Martial's Epigram, -ii. 25, with fatal consequences. The text shows the -practice to have been common enough in the time of Pericles to -supply a similitude.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f326'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r326'>326</a>. </span>There may, possibly, be a half allusion here to the passage -in the <cite>Iliad</cite> (vv. 154-160), which describes the fascination which -the beauty of Helen exercised on the Troïan elders.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f327'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r327'>327</a>. </span>The poet becomes a prophet, and asserts what it has been -given him to know of the righteous government of God. The -dominant creed of Greece at the time was, that the Gods were -envious of man's prosperity, that this alone, apart from moral -evil, was enough to draw down their wrath, and bring a curse -upon the prosperous house. So, <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">e.g.</span></i>, Amasis tells Polycrates -(Herod. iii. 40) that the unseen Divinity that rules the world is -envious, that power and glory are inevitably the precursors of -destruction. Comp. also the speech of Artabanos (Herod. vii. -10, 46). Against this, in the tone of one who speaks singlehanded -for the truth, Æschylos, through the Chorus, enters his -protest.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f328'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r328'>328</a>. </span><i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Sc.</span></i>, Agamemnon, by the sacrifice of Iphigeneia, had induced -his troops to persevere in an expedition from which, in their -inmost hearts, they shrank back with strong dislike. A conjectural -reading gives,</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“By the sacrifice he offered</div> - <div class='line'>Giving death-doomed men false boldness.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f329'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r329'>329</a>. </span>The tone of ambiguous irony mingles, it will be seen, even -here, with the praises of the Chorus.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f330'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r330'>330</a>. </span>Possibly an allusion to Pandora's box. Here, too, Hope -alone was left, but it only came up to where the curve of the -rim began, not to its top. The imagery is drawn from the -older method of voting, in which (as in <cite>Eumenides</cite>, v. 678) the -votes for condemnation and acquittal were cast into separate -urns.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f331'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r331'>331</a>. </span>The lion, as the symbol of the house of Atreus, still seen in -the sculptures of Mykenæ; the horse, in allusion to the stratagem -by which Troïa had been taken.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f332'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r332'>332</a>. </span>At the end of autumn, and therefore at a season when a -storm like that described by the herald would be a probable -incident enough.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f333'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r333'>333</a>. </span>So in Sophocles, Philoctetes (v. 1025) taunts Odysseus:—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“And yet thou sailedst with them by constraint,</div> - <div class='line'>By tricks fast bound.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f334'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r334'>334</a>. </span>Geryon appears in the myth of Hercules as a monster with -three heads and three bodies, ruling over the island Erytheia, -in the far West, beyond Hesperia. To destroy him and seize -his cattle was one of the “twelve labours,” with which Hesiod -(<cite>Theogon.</cite> vv. 287-294) had already made men familiar.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f335'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r335'>335</a>. </span>When a man is buried, there is earth above and earth below -him. Clytæmnestra having used the words “coverlet,” pauses to -make her language accurate to the very letter. She is speaking -only of the earth which would have been laid over her husband's -corpse, had he died as often as he was reported to have done. -She will not utter anything so ominous as an allusion to the -depths below him stretching down to Hades.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f336'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r336'>336</a>. </span>Or—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Weeping because the torches in thy house</div> - <div class='line'>No more were lighted as they were of yore.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f337'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r337'>337</a>. </span>The words touch upon the psychological fact that in dreams, -as in other abnormal states of the mind, the usual measures of -time disappear, and we seem to pass through the experiences of -many years in the slumber of a few minutes.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f338'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r338'>338</a>. </span>The rhetoric of the passage, with all its multiplied similitudes, -fine as it is in itself, receives its dramatic significance by -being put into the lips of Clytæmnestra. She “doth protest -too much.” A true wife would have been content with fewer -words.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f339'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r339'>339</a>. </span>The last three lines of the speech are of course intentionally -ambiguous, carrying one meaning to the ear of Agamemnon, -and another to that of the audience.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f340'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r340'>340</a>. </span>There is obviously a side-thrust, such as an Athenian -audience would catch at, at the token of homage which the -Persian kings required of their subjects, the prostration at their -feet, the earth spread over with costly robes. Of the latter -custom we have examples in the history of Jehu (2 Kings ix. 13), -in our Lord's entry into Jerusalem (Mark xi. 8), in the usages -of modern Persian kings (Malcolm's <cite>Persia</cite>, i. 580); perhaps -also in the true rendering of Ps. xlv. 14. “She shall be brought -unto the king <em>on</em> raiment of needle-work.” In the march of -Xerxes across the Hellespont myrtle-boughs strown on the -bridge of boats took the place of robes (Herod. vii. 54). To -the Greek character, with its strong love of independence, such -customs were hateful. The case of Pausanias, who offended -the national feeling by assuming the outward state of the -Persian kings, must have been recalled to the minds of the -Athenians, intentionally or otherwise, by such a passage as -this.e -bridge of boats took the place of robes (Herod. vii. 54). To</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f341'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r341'>341</a>. </span>The “old saying, famed of many men,” which we find in -the <cite>Trachiniæ</cite> of Sophocles (v. 1), and in the counsel of Solon -to Crœsos (Herod. i. 32).</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f342'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r342'>342</a>. </span>He who had suffered so much from the wrath of Artemis at -Aulis knew what it was to rouse the wrath and jealousy of the -Gods.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f343'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r343'>343</a>. </span>An echo of a line in Hesiod (<cite>Works and Days</cite>, 763)—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“No whispered rumours which the many spread</div> - <div class='line'>Can ever wholly perish.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f344'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r344'>344</a>. </span>Here, too, we may trace a reference to the Oriental custom -of recognising the sanctity of a consecrated place by taking the -shoes from off the feet, as in Exod. iii. 5, in the services of the -Tabernacle and Temple, through all their history (Juven., -<cite>Sat.</cite> vi. 159), in all mosques to the present day. Agamemnon, -yielding to the temptress, seeks to make a compromise with his -conscience. He will walk upon the tapestry, but will treat it as -if it, of right, belonged to the Gods, and were a consecrated -thing. It is probably in connection with this incident that -Æschylos was said to have been the first to bring actors on the -stage in these boots or buskins (Suidas. s. v. <span lang="el" xml:lang="el">άρβύλη</span>).</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f345'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r345'>345</a>. </span>The words of Isaiah (xviii. 5), “when the sour grape is -ripening in the flower,” present an almost verbal parallel.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f346'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r346'>346</a>. </span>The ever-recurring ambiguity of Clytæmnestra's language -is again traceable, as is also her fondness for rhetorical similitudes.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f347'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r347'>347</a>. </span>The Chorus speaks in perplexity. In cannot get rid of its -forebodings, and yet it would seem as if the time for the fulfilment -of the dark words of Calchas must have passed long since. -It actually sees the safe return of the leader of the host, yet still -its fears haunt it.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f348'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r348'>348</a>. </span>Asclepios, whom Zeus smote with his thunderbolt for having -restored Hippolytos to life.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f349'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r349'>349</a>. </span>The Chorus, in spite of their suspicions and forebodings, -have given the king no warning. They excuse themselves by -the plea of necessity, the sovereign decree of Zeus overruling all -man's attempts to withstand it.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f350'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r350'>350</a>. </span>Cassandra is summoned to an act of worship. The household -is gathered, the altar to Zeus Ktesios (the God of the family -property, slaves included), standing in the servants' hall, is -ready. The new slave must come in and take her place with -the others.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f351'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r351'>351</a>. </span>As in the story which forms the groundwork of the <cite>Trachiniæ</cite> -of Sophocles, vv. 250-280, that Heracles had been sold -to Omphale as a slave, in penalty for the murder of Iphitos.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f352'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r352'>352</a>. </span>Political as well as dramatic. The Eupatrid poet appeals -to public opinion against the <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">nouveaux riches</span></i>, the tanners and -lamp-makers, who were already beginning to push themselves -forward towards prominence and power. The way was thus -prepared in the first play of the Trilogy for what is known to -have been the main object of the last. Comp. Arist., <cite>Rhet.</cite> ii. 32.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f353'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r353'>353</a>. </span>Here again the translator has the task of finding an English -<i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">paronomasia</span></i> which approximates to that of the Greek, between -Apollo and <span lang="el" xml:lang="el">ἀπόλλων</span> <em>the destroyer</em>. To Apollo, as the God of -paths (<em>Aguieus</em>), an altar stood, column-fashion, before the -street-door of every house, and to such an altar, placed by the -door of Agamemnon's palace, Cassandra turns, with the twofold -play upon the name.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f354'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r354'>354</a>. </span>This refers, probably, to the death of Hippodameia, the wife -of Pelops, who killed herself, in remorse for the death of Chrysippos, -or fear of her husband's anger. The horrors of the -royal house of Argos pass, one by one, before the vision of the -prophetess, and this leads the procession, followed by the spectres -of the murdered children of Thyestes.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f355'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r355'>355</a>. </span>The Chorus, as in their last ode, had made up their minds, -though foreboding ill, to let destiny take its course. They do -not wish that policy of non-interference to be changed by any too -clear vision of the future.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f356'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r356'>356</a>. </span>The Chorus understands the vision of the <i>clairvoyante</i> as -regards the past tragedy of the house of Atreus, but not that -which seems to portend another actually imminent.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f357'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r357'>357</a>. </span>Fresh visions come before the eyes of the seeress. She -beholds the company of Erinnyes hovering over the accursed -house, and calls on them to continue their work till the new -crime has met with its due punishment. The murder which she -sees as if already wrought, demands death by stoning.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f358'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r358'>358</a>. </span>The “yellow” look of fear is thought of as being caused by -an actual change in the colour of the blood as it flows through -the veins to the heart.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f359'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r359'>359</a>. </span>Here there is prevision as well as clairvoyance. The deed -is not yet done. The sacrifice and the feast are still going on, -yet she sees the crime in all its circumstances.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f360'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r360'>360</a>. </span>As before (v. 115) the black eagle had been the symbol of -the warrior-chief, so here the black-horned bull, that being one -of the notes of the best breed of cattle. A various reading gives -“with <em>her</em> swarthy horn.”</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f361'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r361'>361</a>. </span>What the Chorus had just said as to the fruitlessness of -prophetic insight tallied all too well with her own bitter experience.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f362'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r362'>362</a>. </span>The ecstasy of horror interrupts the tenor of her speech, -and the second “thou” is addressed not to the Chorus, but to -Agamemnon, whose death Cassandra has just witnessed in her -vision.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f363'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r363'>363</a>. </span>The song of the nightingale, represented by these sounds, -was connected with a long legend, specially Attic in its origin. -Philomela, daughter of Pandion, king of Attica, suffered outrage -at the hands of Tereus, who was married to her sister Procne, -and was then changed into a nightingale, destined ever to lament -over the fate of Itys her sister's son. The earliest form of the -story appears in the <cite>Odyssey</cite> (xix. 518). Comp. Sophocles, -<cite>Electr.</cite> v. 148.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f364'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r364'>364</a>. </span>In the marriage-rites of the Greeks of the time of Æschylos, -the bride for three days after the wedding wore her veil; then, -as now no longer shrinking from her matron life, she laid it aside -and looked on her husband with unveiled face.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f365'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r365'>365</a>. </span>The picture might be drawn by any artist of power, but we -may, perhaps, trace a reproduction of one of the grandest -passages in the <cite>Iliad</cite> (iv. 422-426).</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f366'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r366'>366</a>. </span>So in the <cite>Eumenides</cite> (v. 293), the Erinnyes appear as vampires, -drinking the blood of their victims.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f367'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r367'>367</a>. </span>The death of Myrtilos as the first crime in the long history of -the house of Pelops. Comp. Soth. <cite>Electr.</cite> v. 470. The -“defiler” is Thyestes, who seduced Aerope, the wife of Atreus.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f368'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r368'>368</a>. </span>The horror of the Thyestes banquet again haunts her as the -source of all the evils that followed, of the deaths both of -Iphigenia and Agamemnon. The “stay-at-home” is Ægisthos.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f369'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r369'>369</a>. </span>Both words point to the Sindbad-like stories of distant -marvels brought back by Greek sailors. The Amphisbæna -(double-goer), wriggling itself backward and forward, believed -to have a head at each extremity, was looked upon as at once -the most subtle and the most venomous of serpents. Skylla, -already famous in its mythical form from the story in the -<cite>Odyssey</cite> (xii. 85-100), was probably a “development” of the -monstrous cuttle-fish of the straits of Messina.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f370'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r370'>370</a>. </span>As in Homer (<cite>Il.</cite> i. 14) so here, the servant of Apollo bears -the wand of augury, and fillets or wreaths round head and -arms. The divining garments, in like manner, were of white -linen.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f371'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r371'>371</a>. </span>If we adopt this reading, we must think of Cassandra as -identifying herself with the woe (Atè) which makes up her life, -just as afterwards Clytæmnestra speaks of herself as one with -the avenging Demon (Alastor) of the house of Atreus (1473). -The alternative reading gives—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Make rich in woe another in my place.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f372'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r372'>372</a>. </span>Perhaps, “in home not mine.”</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f373'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r373'>373</a>. </span>When the victim, instead of shrinking and struggling, went, -as with good courage, to the altar, it was noted as a sign of -divine impulse. Such a strange, new courage the Chorus notices -in Cassandra.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f374'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r374'>374</a>. </span>Possibly,</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“My one escape, my friends, is but delay.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f375'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r375'>375</a>. </span>The implied thoughts of the words is that Priam and his -sons, though they had died nobly, were yet miserable, and not -happy.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f376'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r376'>376</a>. </span>The Syrian ritual had, it would seem, become proverbial for -its lavish use of frankincense and other spices.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f377'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r377'>377</a>. </span>The close parallel of Shakespeare's <cite>Henry VI.</cite>, Act. v. sc. 6, -is worth quoting—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“The bird that hath been limed in a bush,</div> - <div class='line'>With trembling eyes misdoubteth every bush”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f378'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r378'>378</a>. </span>The older reading gives—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“A shadow might o'erturn it.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f379'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r379'>379</a>. </span>Her own doom, hard as it was, touches her less than the -common lot of human suffering and mutability.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f380'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r380'>380</a>. </span>So far the dialogue has been sustained by the Coryphæos, -or leader of the Chorus. Now each member of it speaks and -gives his counsel.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f381'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r381'>381</a>. </span>The Coryphæos again takes up his part, sums up, and pronounces -his decision.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f382'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r382'>382</a>. </span><em>i.e.</em>, He had had his triumph over her when, forgetful of her -mother's feelings, he had sacrificed Iphigeneia. She has now -repaid him to the full.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f383'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r383'>383</a>. </span>The third libation at all feasts was to Zeus, as the Preserver -or Guardian Deity. Clytæmnestra boasts that her third blow -was as an offering to a God of other kind, to Him who had in -his keeping not the living, but the dead.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f384'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r384'>384</a>. </span>So in the <cite>Choëphori</cite> (vv. 351, 476), the custom of pouring -libations on the burial-place of the dead is recognised as an -element of their blessedness or shame in Hades, and Agamemnon -is represented as lacking the honour which comes from them -till he receives it at the hand of Orestes.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f385'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r385'>385</a>. </span>Incense was placed on the head of the victim. The Chorus -tell Clytæmnestra that she has brought upon her own head the -incense, not of praise and admiration, but of hatred and wrath, -as though some poison had driven her mad.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f386'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r386'>386</a>. </span>The species of swan referred to is said to be the <cite>Cygnus -Musicus</cite>. Aristotle (<cite>Hist. Anim.</cite> ix. 12) describes swans of -some kind as having been heard by sailors near the coast of -Libya, “singing with a lamentable cry.” Mrs. Somerville -(<cite>Phys. Geog.</cite>, c. xxxiii. 3) describes their note as “like that of a -violin.” The same fact is reported of the swans of Iceland and -other regions of the far North. The strange, tender beauty of -the passage in the <cite>Phædo</cite> of Plato (p. 85, a), which speaks of -them as singing when at the point of death, has done more than -anything else to make the illustration one of the commonplaces -of rhetoric and poetry.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f387'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r387'>387</a>. </span>The structure of the lyrical dialogue that follows is rather -complicated, and different editors have adopted different arrangements. -I have followed Paley's.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f388'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r388'>388</a>. </span>Several lines seem to have dropped out by some accident of -transcription.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f389'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r389'>389</a>. </span>Agamemnon and Menelaos, as descended from Tantalos, -the father of Pelops.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f390'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r390'>390</a>. </span>In each case women, Helen and Clytæmnestra, had been -the unconscious instruments of the divine Nemesis, to which -the Chorus traces the ruin of the house of Atreus.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f391'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r391'>391</a>. </span>Or, with another reading,—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“He (<i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">sc.</span></i> the avenging Demon) boasteth in his pride of heart.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f392'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r392'>392</a>. </span>It is characteristic of the teaching of Æschylos that the -Chorus passes from the thought of the agency of any lower -Power to the supreme will of Zeus.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f393'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r393'>393</a>. </span>Or, “Dying, as dies a slave.”</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f394'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r394'>394</a>. </span>Clytæmnestra still harps (though in ambiguous words, -which may refer also to the murder of the children of Thyestes) -upon the death of Iphigeneia as the crime which it had been her -work to avenge.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f395'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r395'>395</a>. </span>Perhaps, “And that, too, not a slave's.”</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f396'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r396'>396</a>. </span>Here the genealogy is carried one step further to Pleisthenes, -the father of Tantalos.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f397'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r397'>397</a>. </span>Ægisthos, in his version of the story, suppresses the adultery -of Thyestes with the wife of Atreus, which led the latter to his -horrible revenge.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f398'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r398'>398</a>. </span>The image is taken from the trireme with its three benches -full of rowers. The Chorus is compared to the men on the lowest, -Ægisthos and Clytæmnestra to those on the uppermost bench.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f399'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r399'>399</a>. </span>The earliest occurrence of the proverb with which we are -familiar through the history of St. Paul's conversion, Acts ix. 5, -xxvi. 14.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f400'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r400'>400</a>. </span>The trace-horse, as not under the pressure of the collar, was -taken as the type of free, those that wore the yoke, of enforced -submission.</p> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_1087'>1087</span> - <h2 id='p1087' class='c005'>THE LIBATION-POURERS</h2> -</div> - -<h3 class='c013'>DRAMATIS PERSONÆ</h3> - -<div class='lg-container-b c003'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Orestes</span></div> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Clytæmnestra</span></div> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Pylades</span></div> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Electra</span></div> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Ægisthos</span></div> - <div class='line'><em>Nurse</em></div> - <div class='line'><em>Servant</em></div> - <div class='line'><em>Chorus of Captive Women</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c006'><em>ARGUMENT.—It came to pass, after Agamemnon had -been slain, that Clytæmnestra and Ægisthos ruled in -Argos, and all things seemed to go well with them. -Orestes, who was heir to Agamemnon, they had sent -away to the care of Strophios of Phokis, and there he -abode. Electra, his sister, mourned in secret over her -father's death, and prayed for vengeance, but no avenger -came. And when Orestes grew up to man's estate, he -went to ask counsel of the God at Delphi, and the Gods -straitly charged him to take vengeance on his father's -murderers; and so he started on his journey with his -trusty friend Pylades, and arrived at Argos. And it -chanced that a little while before he came, the Gods sent -Clytæmnestra a fearful dream, that troubled her soul -greatly; and in her terror she bade Electra go with her -handmaids to pour libations on the tomb of Agamemnon, -that so she might appease his soul, and propitiate the -Powers that rule over the dark world of the dead.</em></p> - -<div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1089'>1089</span></div> -<div class='ph2'> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div>THE LIBATION-POURERS</div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Scene.</span>—Argos, <em>in front of the palace of the Atreidæ. The tomb of</em></div> - <div><span class='sc'>Agamemnon</span> <em>(a raised mound of earth) is seen in the background.</em></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c016'><em>Enter</em> <span class='sc'>Orestes</span> <em>and</em> <span class='sc'>Pylades</span> <em>from the left;</em> <span class='sc'>Orestes</span> -<em>advances to the mound, and, as he speaks, lays on it -a lock of his hair.</em></p> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> O Hermes of the darkness 'neath the earth,</div> - <div class='line'>Who hast the charge of all thy Father's<a id='r401' /><a href='#f401' class='c011'><sup>[401]</sup></a> sway,</div> - <div class='line'>To me who pray deliverer, helper be;</div> - <div class='line'>For I to this land come, from exile come,</div> - <div class='line'>And on the raised mound of this monument</div> - <div class='line'>I bid my father hear and list. One tress,</div> - <div class='line'>Thank-offering for the gifts that fed my youth,</div> - <div class='line'>To Inachos I consecrate, and this</div> - <div class='line'>The second as the token of my grief;<a id='r402' /><a href='#f402' class='c011'><sup>[402]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1090'>1090</span>For mine it was not, father, being by,</div> - <div class='line'>Over thy death to groan, nor yet to stretch</div> - <div class='line'>My hand forth for the burial of thy corpse.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<em>As he speaks</em>, <span class='sc'>Electra</span>, <em>followed by a train of</em></div> - <div class='line in4'><em>captive women in black garments, bearing libations,</em></div> - <div class='line in4'><em>wailing and tearing their clothes, comes</em></div> - <div class='line in4'><em>forth from the palace</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>What see I now? What company of women</div> - <div class='line'>Is this that comes in mourning garb attired?</div> - <div class='line'>What chance shall I conjecture as its cause?</div><div class='lnum'>10</div> - <div class='line'>Does a new sorrow fall upon this house?</div> - <div class='line'>Or am I right in guessing that they bring</div> - <div class='line'>Libations to my father, soothing gifts</div> - <div class='line'>To those beneath? It cannot but be so.</div> - <div class='line'>I think Electra, mine own sister, comes,</div> - <div class='line'>By wailing grief conspicuous. Thou, O Zeus,</div> - <div class='line'>Grant me full vengeance for my father's death,</div> - <div class='line'>And of thine own good will my helper be!</div> - <div class='line'>Come, Pylades, and let us stand aside,</div> - <div class='line'>That I may clearly learn what means this train</div> - <div class='line'>Of women offering prayers.</div><div class='lnum'>20</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1091'>1091</span><span class='sc'>Strophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Sent from the house I come,</div> - <div class='line'>With quick, sharp beatings of the hands in grief,</div> - <div class='line in8'>To pour libations here;</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>And see, my cheeks with bloody marks are tracked,<a id='r403' /><a href='#f403' class='c011'><sup>[403]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>The new-cut furrows which my nails have made,</div> - <div class='line'>And evermore my heart is fed with groans;</div> - <div class='line in8'>And folds of mantles tied</div> - <div class='line in8'>Across the breast are rent</div> - <div class='line in8'>To shreds and rags in grief,</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Marring the grace of linen vestments fair,</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Since we by woes that shut out smiles are smitten.</div><div class='lnum'>30</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Full clear a spectre came</div> - <div class='line'>That made each single hair to stand on end,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Dream-prophet of this house,</div> - <div class='line'>That e'en in sleep breathes out avenging wrath;</div> - <div class='line'>And from the secret chamber cried in fear</div> - <div class='line'>A cry that broke the silence of the night,</div> - <div class='line in8'>There, where the women dwell,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Falling with heaviest weight;</div> - <div class='line in8'>And those who judge such dreams</div> - <div class='line'>Told, calling God to witness, that the souls</div> - <div class='line'>Below were wroth and vexed with those that slew them.</div><div class='lnum'>40</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>On such a graceless deed of grace, as charm</div> - <div class='line'>To ward off ill, (O Earth! O mother kind!)</div> - <div class='line in8'>A godless woman now</div> - <div class='line in8'>Sends me with eager heart;</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1092'>1092</span>And yet I dread to utter that same prayer;</div> - <div class='line in8'>What ransom has been found</div> - <div class='line in8'>For blood on earth once poured?</div> - <div class='line in8'>Oh! hearth all miserable!</div> - <div class='line'>Oh! utter overthrow of house and home!</div> - <div class='line'>Yea, mists of darkness, sunless, loathed of men,</div><div class='lnum'>50</div> - <div class='line in8'>Cover both home and house</div> - <div class='line in8'>With its lords' bloody deaths.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Yea, all the majesty that awed of old,</div> - <div class='line'>Unchecked, unconquered, irresistible,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Thrilling the people's heart</div> - <div class='line in8'>As well as ears, is gone;</div> - <div class='line'>There are, may be, that fear;<a id='r404' /><a href='#f404' class='c011'><sup>[404]</sup></a> but now Success</div> - <div class='line in8'>Is man's sole God and more;</div> - <div class='line in8'>Yet stroke of Vengeance swift</div> - <div class='line in8'>Smites some in life's clear day,</div> - <div class='line'>For some who tarry long their sorrows wait</div> - <div class='line'>In twilight dim, on darkness' borderland,</div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>And some an endless night</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of nothingness holds fast.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Because of blood that mother earth has drunk,</div> - <div class='line'>The guilt of slaughter that will vengeance work</div> - <div class='line in8'>Is fixed indelibly;</div> - <div class='line in8'>And Atè, working grief,</div><div class='lnum'>60</div> - <div class='line'>Permits awhile the guilty one to wait,</div> - <div class='line'>That so he may be full and overflow</div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>With all-devouring ill.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1093'>1093</span><span class='sc'>Antistrophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>For him whose foul touch stains the marriage bed<a id='r405' /><a href='#f405' class='c011'><sup>[405]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>No remedy avails; and water-streams,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Though all as from one source</div> - <div class='line in8'>Should pour to cleanse the guilt</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Of murder that the sin-stained hand defiles,</div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Would yet flow all in vain</div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>That guilt to purify.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Epode</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>But now to me, since the high Gods have sent</div> - <div class='line'>A doom of bondage round my city's walls,</div> - <div class='line in8'>(For from my father's home</div> - <div class='line'>They have brought on me fate of slavery,)</div> - <div class='line in8'>Deeds right and wrong alike</div> - <div class='line'>Have been as things 'twas meet I should accept,</div><div class='lnum'>70</div> - <div class='line in8'>Since this slave-life began,</div> - <div class='line'>Where deeds are done by violence and force,—</div> - <div class='line'>And I must needs suppress</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>The bitter loathing of my inmost heart,</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>And now beneath my cloak I weep and wail</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>For all the frustrate fortunes of my lords,<a id='r406' /><a href='#f406' class='c011'><sup>[406]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>Chilled through with secret grief.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Elect.</em> Ye handmaids, ye who deftly tend this house,</div> - <div class='line'>Since ye are here companions in my task</div> - <div class='line'>As suppliants, give me your advice in this,</div> - <div class='line'>What shall I say as these funereal gifts</div> - <div class='line'>I pour? How shall I speak acceptably?</div><div class='lnum'>80</div> - <div class='line'>How to my father pray? What? Shall I say</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1094'>1094</span>“I bring from loving wife to husband loved</div> - <div class='line'>Gifts”—from my mother? No, I am not bold</div> - <div class='line'>Enough for that, nor know I what to speak,</div> - <div class='line'>Pouring this chrism on my father's tomb,<a id='r407' /><a href='#f407' class='c011'><sup>[407]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Or shall I say this prayer, as men are wont,</div> - <div class='line'>“Good recompense make thou to those who bring</div> - <div class='line'>These garlands,” yea, a gift full well deserved</div> - <div class='line'>By deeds of ill? Or dumb, with ignominy</div> - <div class='line'>Like that with which he perished, shall I pour</div> - <div class='line'>Libations on the earth, and like a man</div> - <div class='line'>That flings away the lustral filth, shall I</div> - <div class='line'>Throw down the urn and walk with eyes not turned?<a id='r408' /><a href='#f408' class='c011'><sup>[408]</sup></a></div><div class='lnum'>90</div> - <div class='line'>Be sharers in my counsels, O my friends;</div> - <div class='line'>A common hate we cherish in the house;</div> - <div class='line'>Hide nothing in your heart through fear of man.</div> - <div class='line'>Fate's doom firm-fixed awaits alike the free,</div> - <div class='line'>And those in bondage to another's hand.</div> - <div class='line'>Speak, if thou can'st a better counsel give.</div><div class='lnum'>100</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> [<em>laying their hands on Agamemnon's tomb.</em>] Thy father's tomb as altar honouring,</div> - <div class='line'>I, as thou bidd'st, will speak my heart-thoughts out!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Elect.</em> Speak, then, as thou my father's tomb dost honour,</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1095'>1095</span><em>Chor.</em> Say, as thou pour'st, good words for those that love,</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Elect.</em> Which of my friends shall I address as such!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> First then thyself, and whoso hates Ægisthos.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Elect.</em> Shall I for thee, as for myself, pray thus?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Now that thou'rt learning, judge of that thyself.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Elect.</em> Whom shall I add then to this company?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Far though Orestes be, forget him not.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Elect.</em> Right well is this: thou teachest admirably.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Then, for the blood-stained ones remembering say....</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Elect.</em> What then? Explain, and teach my ignorance.<a id='r409' /><a href='#f409' class='c011'><sup>[409]</sup></a></div><div class='lnum'>110</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> That there may come to them some God or man....</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Elect.</em> Shall I “as judge” or as “avenger” say?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Say it out plain! “to give them death for death.”...</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Elect.</em> May prayers like these consist with piety?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Why not,—a foe with evils to requite?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Elect.</em> [<em>moving to the tomb, and pouring libations as she speaks.</em>] <a href='#asterisk'>*</a>O mightiest herald of the Gods on high</div> - <div class='line'>And those below, O Hermes of the dark,</div> - <div class='line'>Call thou the Powers beneath, and bid them hear</div> - <div class='line'>The prayers that look towards my father's house;</div> - <div class='line'>And Earth herself, who all things bringeth forth,</div><div class='lnum'>120</div> - <div class='line'>And rears them and again receives their fruit.</div> - <div class='line'>And I to human souls libations pouring,</div> - <div class='line'>Say, calling on my father, “Pity me;</div> - <div class='line'>How shall we bring our dear Orestes home?”</div> - <div class='line'>For now as sold to ill by her who bore us,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1096'>1096</span>We poor ones wander. She as husband gained</div> - <div class='line'>Ægisthos, who was partner in thy death;</div> - <div class='line'>And I am as a slave, and from his wealth</div> - <div class='line'>Orestes now is banished, and they wax</div> - <div class='line'>Full haughty in the wealth thy toil had gained.</div><div class='lnum'>130</div> - <div class='line'>And that Orestes hither with good luck</div> - <div class='line'>May come, I pray. Hear thou that prayer, my father!</div> - <div class='line'>And to myself grant thou that I may be</div> - <div class='line'>Than that my mother wiser far of heart,</div> - <div class='line'>Holier in act. For us this prayer I pour;</div> - <div class='line'>And for our foes, my father, this I pray,</div> - <div class='line'>That Justice may as thine avenger come,</div> - <div class='line'>And that thy murderers perish. Thus I place</div> - <div class='line'>Midway in prayer for good that now I speak,</div> - <div class='line'>My prayer 'gainst them for evil. Be thou then</div> - <div class='line'>The escort<a id='r410' /><a href='#f410' class='c011'><sup>[410]</sup></a> of these good things that I ask,</div><div class='lnum'>140</div> - <div class='line'>With help of Gods, and Earth, and conquering Justice.</div> - <div class='line'>With prayers like these my votive gifts I pour;</div> - <div class='line'>And as for you [<em>turning to the Chorus</em>] 'tis meet with cries to crown</div> - <div class='line'>The pæan ye utter, wailing for the dead.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> <a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Pour ye the pattering tear,</div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Falling for fallen lord,</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Here by the tomb that shuts out good and ill,—</div> - <div class='line'>Here, where the full libations have been poured</div> - <div class='line'>That turn aside the curse men deprecate,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Hear me, O Thou my Dread,</div><div class='lnum'>150</div> - <div class='line'>Hear thou, O Sire, the words my dark mind speaks!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1097'>1097</span><span class='sc'>Antistrophe</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>Oh, woe is me, woe, woe!</div> - <div class='line in8'>Woe, woe, and woe is me!</div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>What warrior strong of spear</div> - <div class='line in8'>Shall come the house to free,</div> - <div class='line'>Or Ares with his Skythian bow<a id='r411' /><a href='#f411' class='c011'><sup>[411]</sup></a> in hand,</div> - <div class='line'>Shaking its pliant strength in deeds of war,</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Or guiding in encounter closer yet</div> - <div class='line in8'>The weapons made with hilts?</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<em>During the choral ode</em> <span class='sc'>Electra</span>, <em>after going to the</em></div> - <div class='line in4'><em>mound, and pouring the libations on it, returns</em></div> - <div class='line in4'><em>holding in her hands the lock of hair which</em></div> - <div class='line in4'><span class='sc'>Orestes</span> <em>had left there</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Elect.</em> The gifts the earth hath drunk, my father hath them:</div> - <div class='line'>Now this new wonder come and share with me.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Speak on, my heart goes pit-a-pat with fear.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Elect.</em> There on the tomb I see this lock cut off.</div><div class='lnum'>160</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> What man or maid low-girdled can it claim?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Elect.</em> Full easy this for any one to guess.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Old as I am, may I from younger learn?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Elect.</em> None but myself could cut off lock like this.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Yea, foes are they that should with grief-locks mourn.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Elect.</em> Yes, surely, 'tis indeed the self-same hair....</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> But as what tresses? This I seek to know.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Elect.</em> And of a truth 'tis very like to ours....</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Did then Orestes send this secret gift?<a id='r412' /><a href='#f412' class='c011'><sup>[412]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1098'>1098</span><em>Elect.</em> It is most like those flowing locks of his.</div><div class='lnum'>170</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Yet how had he adventured to come hither?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Elect.</em> He to his father sent the lock as gift.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Not less regretful than before, thy words,</div> - <div class='line'>If on this soil his foot shall never tread.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Elect.</em> Yea, on me too there rushed heart-surge of gall</div> - <div class='line'>And I was smitten as with dart that pierced;</div> - <div class='line'>And from mine eyes there fell the thirsty drops</div> - <div class='line'>That pour unchecked, of this full bitter flood,</div> - <div class='line'>As I this lock beheld. How can I think</div> - <div class='line'>That any other townsman owns this hair?</div><div class='lnum'>180</div> - <div class='line'>Nay, she who slew ... she did not cut it off,</div> - <div class='line'>My mother ... who towards her children shows</div> - <div class='line'>A godless mood that little suits the name;</div> - <div class='line'>And yet that I should this assert outright,</div> - <div class='line'>The precious gift is his whom most of men</div> - <div class='line'>I love, Orestes.... Nay, hope flatters me.</div> - <div class='line'>Alas! alas!</div> - <div class='line'>Would, herald-like, it had a kindly voice!</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1099'>1099</span>So should I not turn to and fro in doubt;</div> - <div class='line'>But either it had told me with all clearness</div> - <div class='line'>To loathe this tress, if cut from hated head;</div><div class='lnum'>190</div> - <div class='line'>Or, being of kin, had sought to share my grief,</div> - <div class='line'>To deck the tomb and do my father honour.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Well, on the Gods we call, on those who know</div> - <div class='line'>In what storms we, like sailors, now are tossed:</div> - <div class='line'>But if deliverance may indeed be ours,</div> - <div class='line'>From a small seed a mighty trunk may grow.<a id='r413' /><a href='#f413' class='c011'><sup>[413]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Elect.</em> Here too are foot-prints as a second proof,</div> - <div class='line'>Just like ... yea, close resembling those of mine.</div> - <div class='line'>For here are outlines of two separate feet,</div> - <div class='line'>His own and those of fellow-traveller,</div><div class='lnum'>200</div> - <div class='line'>And all the heels and impress of the feet,</div> - <div class='line'>When measured, fit well with my footsteps here....</div> - <div class='line'>Pangs come on me, and sore bewilderment.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<em>As she ceases speaking</em> <span class='sc'>Orestes</span> <em>comes forward</em></div> - <div class='line in4'><em>from his concealment</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> Pray, uttering to the Gods no fruitless prayer,</div> - <div class='line'>For good success in what is yet to come.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Elect.</em> What profits now to me the Gods' good will?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> Thou see'st those here whom most thou did'st desire.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Elect.</em> Whom called I on, that thou hast knowledge of?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> Right well I know how thou dost prize Orestes.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1100'>1100</span><em>Elect.</em> In what then find I now my prayers fulfilled?</div><div class='lnum'>210</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> Behold me! Seek no dearer friend than I!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Elect.</em> Nay, stranger, dost thou weave a snare for me?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> Then do I plot my schemes against myself.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Elect.</em> Thou seekest to make merry with my grief.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> With mine then also, if at all with thine.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Elect.</em> Art thou indeed Orestes that I speak to?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> Though thou see'st him, thou'rt slow to learn 'tis I;</div> - <div class='line'>Yet when thou saw'st this lock of mourner's hair,</div> - <div class='line'>And did'st the foot-prints track my feet had made,</div> - <div class='line'>Agreeing with thine own, as brother's true,</div> - <div class='line'>Then did'st thou deem in hope thou looked'st on me.</div><div class='lnum'>220</div> - <div class='line'>Fit then this lock where it was cut, and see;</div> - <div class='line'>See too this woven robe, thine own hands' work,</div> - <div class='line'>The shuttle's stroke, and forms of beasts<a id='r414' /><a href='#f414' class='c011'><sup>[414]</sup></a> of chase.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<span class='sc'>Electra</span> <em>starts, as if about to cry aloud for joy</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Restrain thyself, nor lose thy head for joy:</div> - <div class='line'>Our nearest kin, I know, are foes to us.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Elect.</em> [<em>embracing</em> <span class='sc'>Orestes</span>] Thou whom thy father's house most loves, most prays for,</div> - <div class='line'>Our one sole hope, bewept with many a tear,</div> - <div class='line'>Of issue that shall work deliverance!</div> - <div class='line'>Thine own might trusting, thou thy father's house</div> - <div class='line'>Shall soon win back. O pleasant fourfold name!</div><div class='lnum'>230</div> - <div class='line'>I needs must speak to thee as father dear;<a id='r415' /><a href='#f415' class='c011'><sup>[415]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>The love I owe my mother turns to thee,</div> - <div class='line'>(She with full right to me is hateful now,)</div> - <div class='line'>My sister's too, who ruthlessly was slain;</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1101'>1101</span>And thou wast ever faithful brother found,</div> - <div class='line'>And one whom I revered. May Might and Right,</div> - <div class='line'>And sovran Zeus as third, my helpers be!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> Zeus! Zeus! be Thou a witness of our troubles,</div> - <div class='line'>See the lorn brood that calls an eagle sire,</div> - <div class='line'>Eagle that perished in the coils and folds</div><div class='lnum'>240</div> - <div class='line'>Of a fell viper. Now on them bereaved</div> - <div class='line'>Presses gaunt famine. Not as yet full-grown</div> - <div class='line'>Are they to bring their father's booty home.</div> - <div class='line'>Thus it is thine to see in me and her,</div> - <div class='line'>(I mean Electra) children fatherless,</div> - <div class='line'>Both suffering the same exile from our home.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Elect.</em> And should'st Thou havoc make of brood of sire</div> - <div class='line'>Who at thine altar greatly honoured Thee,</div> - <div class='line'>Whence wilt Thou get a festive offering</div> - <div class='line'>From hand as free? Nor, should'st Thou bring to nought</div> - <div class='line'>The eagle's nestlings, would'st thou have at hand</div><div class='lnum'>250</div> - <div class='line'>A messenger to bear thy will to man</div> - <div class='line'>In signs persuasive; nor when withered up</div> - <div class='line'>This royal stock shall be, will it again</div> - <div class='line'>Wait on thine altars at high festivals:</div> - <div class='line'>Oh, bring it back, and then Thou too wilt raise</div> - <div class='line'>From low estate a lofty house, which now</div> - <div class='line'>Seems to have fallen, fallen utterly.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Ah, children! saviours of your father's house,</div> - <div class='line'>Hush, hush, lest some one hear you, children dear,</div> - <div class='line'>And for mere talking's sake report all this</div> - <div class='line'>To those that rule. Ah, would I might behold them</div> - <div class='line'>Lie dead 'midst oozing fir-pyre blazing high!<a id='r416' /><a href='#f416' class='c011'><sup>[416]</sup></a></div><div class='lnum'>260</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> Nay, nay, I tell you, Loxias' oracle,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1102'>1102</span>In strength excelling, will not fail us now,</div> - <div class='line'>That bade me on this enterprise to start,</div> - <div class='line'>And with clear voice spake often, warning me</div> - <div class='line'>Of chilling pain-throes at the fevered heart,</div> - <div class='line'>Unless my father's murderers I should chase,</div> - <div class='line'>Bidding me kill them in the self-same fashion,</div> - <div class='line'>Stirred by the wrongs that pauperise my life,</div> - <div class='line'>And said that I with many a mischief ill</div> - <div class='line'>Should pay for that fault with mine own dear life.</div> - <div class='line'>For making known to men the charms earth-born</div><div class='lnum'>270</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>That soothe the wrathful powers,<a id='r417' /><a href='#f417' class='c011'><sup>[417]</sup></a> he spake for us</div> - <div class='line'>Of ills as follows, leprous sores that creep</div> - <div class='line'>All o'er the flesh, and as with cruel jaws</div> - <div class='line'>Eat out its ancient nature, and white hairs<a id='r418' /><a href='#f418' class='c011'><sup>[418]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>On that foul ill to supervene: and still</div> - <div class='line'>He spake of other onsets of the Erinnyes,</div> - <div class='line'>As brought to issue from a father's blood;</div> - <div class='line'>For the dark weapon of the Gods below</div> - <div class='line'>Winged by our kindred that lie low in death,</div> - <div class='line'>And beg for vengeance, yea, and madness too,</div> - <div class='line'>And vague, dim fears at night disturb and haunt me,</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Seeing full clearly, though I move my brow<a id='r419' /><a href='#f419' class='c011'><sup>[419]</sup></a></div><div class='lnum'>280</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1103'>1103</span>In the thick darkness ... and that then my frame,</div> - <div class='line'>Thus tortured, should be driven from the city</div> - <div class='line'>With brass-knobbed scourge: and that for such as I</div> - <div class='line'>It was not given to share the wine-cup's taste,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor votive stream in pure libation poured;</div> - <div class='line'>And that my father's wrath invisible</div> - <div class='line'>Would drive me from all altars, and that none</div> - <div class='line'>Should take me in, or lodge with me; at last,</div> - <div class='line'>That, loathed of all and friendless, I should die,</div> - <div class='line'>A wretched mummy, all my strength consumed.</div> - <div class='line'>Must I not trust such oracles as these?</div> - <div class='line'>Yea, though I trust not, must the deed be done;</div><div class='lnum'>290</div> - <div class='line'>For many motives now in one converge,—</div> - <div class='line'>The God's command, great sorrow for my father;</div> - <div class='line'>My lack of fortune, this, too, urges me</div> - <div class='line'>Never to leave our noble citizens,</div> - <div class='line'>With noblest courage Troïa's conquerors,</div> - <div class='line'>To be the subjects to two women thus;</div> - <div class='line'>Yea, his soul is as woman's:<a id='r420' /><a href='#f420' class='c011'><sup>[420]</sup></a> an' it be not,</div> - <div class='line'>He soon shall know the issue.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Grant ye from Zeus, O mighty Destinies!</div> - <div class='line in8'>That so our work may end</div> - <div class='line'>As Justice wills, who takes our side at last;</div><div class='lnum'>300</div> - <div class='line'>Now for the tongue of bitter hate let tongue</div> - <div class='line'>Of bitter hate be given. Loud and long</div> - <div class='line'>The voice of Vengeance claiming now her debt;</div> - <div class='line in8'>And for the murderous blow</div> - <div class='line'>Let him who slew with murderous blow repay.</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1104'>1104</span>“That the wrong-doer bear the wrong he did,”</div> - <div class='line'>Thrice-ancient saying of a far-off time,<a id='r421' /><a href='#f421' class='c011'><sup>[421]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>This speaketh as we speak.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> O father, sire ill-starred,</div> - <div class='line in8'>What deed or word could I</div> - <div class='line in8'>Waft from afar to thee,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Where thy couch holds thee now,</div><div class='lnum'>310</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>To be a light with dark commensurate?</div> - <div class='line in8'>Alike, in either case,</div> - <div class='line'>The wail that tells their praise is welcome gift</div> - <div class='line'>To those Atreidæ, guardians of our house.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> My child, my child, the mighty jaws of fire<a id='r422' /><a href='#f422' class='c011'><sup>[422]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Bind not the mood and spirit of the dead!</div> - <div class='line'>But e'en when that is past he shows his wrath.</div> - <div class='line in8'>When he that dies is wailed,</div> - <div class='line in8'>The murderer stands revealed:</div><div class='lnum'>320</div> - <div class='line'>The righteous cry for parents that begat,</div> - <div class='line in8'>To fullest utterance roused,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Searches the whole truth out.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Elect.</em> Hear then, O father, now</div> - <div class='line in8'>Our tearful griefs in turn;</div> - <div class='line in8'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1105'>1105</span>From us thy children twain</div> - <div class='line in8'>The funeral wail ascends;</div> - <div class='line'>And we, as suppliants and as exiles too,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Find shelter at thy tomb.</div> - <div class='line'>What of all this is good, what void of ills?</div><div class='lnum'>330</div> - <div class='line'>Is not this now a woe invincible?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Yet, even yet, from evils such as these,</div> - <div class='line'>God, if He will, may bring more pleasant strains:</div> - <div class='line'>And for the dirge we utter by the tomb,</div> - <div class='line'>A pæan in the royal house may raise</div> - <div class='line in8'>Welcome to new-found friend.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> Had'st thou beneath the walls</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of Ilion, O my sire,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Been slain by Lykian foe,<a id='r423' /><a href='#f423' class='c011'><sup>[423]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>Pierced through and through with spear,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Leaving high fame at home,</div><div class='lnum'>340</div> - <div class='line in8'>And laying strong and sure</div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Thy children's paths in life,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Then had'st thou had as thine</div> - <div class='line in8'>Far off across the sea</div> - <div class='line in8'>A mound of earth heaped high,</div> - <div class='line'>To all thy kith and kin endurable.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Yea, and as friend with friends</div> - <div class='line in8'>That nobly died, he then</div> - <div class='line in8'>Had dwelt in high estate</div> - <div class='line in8'>A sovereign ruler, held</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of all in reverence,</div> - <div class='line in8'>High in their train who rule</div> - <div class='line in8'>Supreme in that dark world;</div><div class='lnum'>350</div> - <div class='line in8'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1106'>1106</span>For he, too, while he lived,</div> - <div class='line in8'>As monarch ruled o'er those</div> - <div class='line in8'>Whose hands the sceptre held</div> - <div class='line in8'>That mortal men obey.<a id='r424' /><a href='#f424' class='c011'><sup>[424]</sup></a></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Elect.</em> Not even 'neath the walls</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of Troïa, O my sire,</div> - <div class='line in8'>With those the spear hath slain,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Would I have had thee lie</div> - <div class='line in8'>By fair Scamandros' stream:</div> - <div class='line in8'>No, this my prayer shall be</div> - <div class='line in8'>That those who slew thee fall,</div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>By their own kin struck down,</div><div class='lnum'>360</div> - <div class='line in8'>That one might hear far off,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Untried by woes like this,</div> - <div class='line'>The fate that brings inevitable death.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Of blessings more than golden, O my child,</div> - <div class='line'>Greater than greatest fortune, or the bliss</div> - <div class='line'>Of those beyond the North<a id='r425' /><a href='#f425' class='c011'><sup>[425]</sup></a> thou speakest now;</div> - <div class='line in8'>For this is in thy grasp;</div> - <div class='line'>But hold; e'en now this thud of double scourge<a id='r426' /><a href='#f426' class='c011'><sup>[426]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>Finds its way on to him;</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1107'>1107</span>Already these find helpers 'neath the earth,</div> - <div class='line'>But of those rulers whom we loathe and hate</div> - <div class='line in8'>Unholy are the hands:</div><div class='lnum'>370</div> - <div class='line in8'>And children gain the day.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe IV</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Elect.</em> Ah! this, like arrow, pierces through the ear!</div> - <div class='line'>O Zeus! O Zeus! who sendest from below</div> - <div class='line in8'>A woe of tardy doom</div> - <div class='line'>Upon the bold and subtle hands of men....</div> - <div class='line in8'>Nay, though they parents be,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Yet all shall be fulfilled.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe V</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> May it be mine to chant o'er funeral pyre</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Cry well accordant with the pine-fed blaze,<a id='r427' /><a href='#f427' class='c011'><sup>[427]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>When first the man is slain,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And his wife perisheth!</div><div class='lnum'>380</div> - <div class='line'>Why should I hide what flutters round my heart?</div> - <div class='line'>On my heart's prow a blast blows mightily,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Keen wrath and loathing fierce.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe IV</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> And when shall Zeus, the orphan's guardian true,</div> - <div class='line'>Lay to his hand and smite the guilty heads?</div> - <div class='line in8'>So may our land learn faith!</div> - <div class='line'>Vengeance I claim from those who did the wrong.</div><div class='lnum'>390</div> - <div class='line in8'>Hear me, O Earth, and ye,</div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Powers held in awe below!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Yea, the law saith that gory drops once shed</div> - <div class='line'>Upon the ground for yet more blood should crave;</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>For lo! fell slaughter on Erinnys calls,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1108'>1108</span>To come from those that perished long ago,</div> - <div class='line'>And on one sorrow other sorrow bring.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe VI</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Elect.</em> <a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Ah, ah, O Earth, and Lords of those below!</div> - <div class='line'>Behold, ye mighty Curses of the slain,</div> - <div class='line'>Behold the remnant of the Atreidæ's house</div> - <div class='line in8'>Brought to extremest strait,</div><div class='lnum'>400</div> - <div class='line in8'>Bereaved of house and home!</div> - <div class='line'>Whither, O Zeus, can any turn for help?</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe V</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Ah, my fond heart is quivering in dismay,</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Hearing this loud lament most lamentable:</div> - <div class='line in8'>Now have I little cheer,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And blackened is my heart,</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Hearing that speech; but then again when hope</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>On strength uplifts me, far it drives my grief,</div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Propitious seen at last.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe VI</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> What could we speak more fitly than the woes</div><div class='lnum'>410</div> - <div class='line'>We suffer, yea, and from a parent's hands?</div> - <div class='line'>Well, she may fawn; our mood remains unsoothed;</div> - <div class='line in8'>For like a wolf untamed,</div> - <div class='line in8'>We from our mother take</div> - <div class='line'>A wrathful soul that to no fawning yields.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe VII</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> <a href='#asterisk'>*</a>I strike an Arian stroke, and in the strain</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of Kissian mourner skilled,<a id='r428' /><a href='#f428' class='c011'><sup>[428]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Ye might have seen the stretching forth of hands,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1109'>1109</span>With rendings of the hair, and random blows,</div> - <div class='line in8'>In quick succession given,</div> - <div class='line'>Dealt from above with arm at fullest length,</div> - <div class='line'>And with the beating still my head is stunned,</div><div class='lnum'>420</div> - <div class='line in8'>Battered and full of woe.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Elect.</em> O mother, hostile found, and daring all!</div> - <div class='line in8'>With burial as of foe</div> - <div class='line'>Thou had'st the heart a ruler to inter,</div> - <div class='line in8'>His citizens not there,</div> - <div class='line'>A spouse unwept, with no lamentings loud.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe VIII</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> Ah! thou hast told the whole full tale of shame;</div> - <div class='line'>Shall she not pay then for that outrage dire</div> - <div class='line in8'>Unto my father done,</div> - <div class='line in8'>So far as Gods prevail,</div> - <div class='line in8'>So far as my hands work?</div> - <div class='line'>May it be mine to smite her and then die!</div><div class='lnum'>430</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe VII</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Yea, he was maimed!<a id='r429' /><a href='#f429' class='c011'><sup>[429]</sup></a> (that thou the tale may'st know)</div> - <div class='line'>And as she slaughtered, so she buried him,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Seeking to work a doom</div> - <div class='line'>For thy young life all unendurable.</div> - <div class='line in8'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1110'>1110</span>Now thou dost hear the woes</div> - <div class='line'>Thy father suffered, stained with foulest shame.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe VIII</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Elect.</em> Thou tellest of my father's death, but I</div> - <div class='line in8'>Stood afar off, contemned,</div> - <div class='line'>Counted as nought, and like a cursèd hound</div> - <div class='line'>Shut up within, I poured the tide of tears</div> - <div class='line in8'>(More ready they than smiles)</div> - <div class='line'>Uttering in secret wail of weeping full.</div><div class='lnum'>440</div> - <div class='line'>Hear thou these things, and write them in my mind.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Let the tale pierce thine ears,</div> - <div class='line'>While thy soul onward moves with tranquil step:</div> - <div class='line in8'>So much, thou know'st, stands thus;</div> - <div class='line'>Seek thou with all desire to know the rest;</div> - <div class='line in8'>'Tis meet to enter now</div> - <div class='line'>Within the lists with mind inflexible.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe IX</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> I bid thee, O my father, help thy friends.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Elect.</em> Bitterly weeping, these my tears I add.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> With full accord so cries our company.</div> - <div class='line in10'>Come then to light, and hear;</div><div class='lnum'>450</div> - <div class='line in10'>Be with us 'gainst our foes.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe IX</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> My Might their Might, my Right their</div> - <div class='line in10'>Right must meet.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Elect.</em> <a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Ye Gods, give righteous issue in our cause.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Fear creeps upon me as I hear your prayers.</div> - <div class='line in10'>Long tarries destiny,</div> - <div class='line in10'>But comes to those who pray.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe X</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Semi-Chor. A.</em> Oh, woe that haunts the race,</div> - <div class='line'>And harsh, shrill stroke of Atè's bloody scourge!</div> - <div class='line in8'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1111'>1111</span>Woes sad and hard to bear,</div><div class='lnum'>460</div> - <div class='line in8'>Calling for wailing loud,</div> - <div class='line'>Ah, woe is me, a grief immedicable.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe X</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Semi-Chor. B.</em> Yea, but as cure for this,</div> - <div class='line'>And healing salve,'tis yours with your own hands,</div> - <div class='line in8'>With no help from without,</div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>To press your suit of blood;</div> - <div class='line'>So runs our hymn to those great Gods below.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Yea, hearing now, ye blest Ones 'neath the earth,</div> - <div class='line'>This prayer, send ye your children timely help</div> - <div class='line in8'>That worketh victory.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> O sire, who in no kingly fashion died'st,</div><div class='lnum'>470</div> - <div class='line'>Hear thou my prayer; grant victory o'er this house.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Elect.</em> I, father, ask this prayer, that I may work</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Ægisthos' death, and then acquittal gain.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> Yea, thus the banquets that men give the dead</div> - <div class='line'>Would for thee too be held, but otherwise</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Dishonoured wilt thou lie 'mid those that feast,<a id='r430' /><a href='#f430' class='c011'><sup>[430]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Robbed of thy country's rich burnt-offerings.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Elect.</em> I too from out my father's house will bring</div> - <div class='line'>Libations from mine own inheritance,</div> - <div class='line'>As marriage offerings. Chief and first of all,</div> - <div class='line'>Will I do honour to this sepulchre.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> Set free my sire, O Earth, to watch the battle.</div><div class='lnum'>480</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1112'>1112</span><em>Elect.</em> O Persephassa, goodly victory grant!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> Remember, sire, the bath in which they slew thee!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Elect.</em> <a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Remember thou the net they handselled so!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> In fetters not of brass wast thou snared, father.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Elect.</em> Yea, basely with that mantle they devised.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> Art thou not roused by these reproaches, father?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Elect.</em> Dost thou not lift thine head for those thou lov'st?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> Or send thou Vengeance to assist thy friends;</div> - <div class='line'>Or let them get like grasp of those thy foes,</div> - <div class='line'>If thou, o'ercome, dost wish to conquer them.</div><div class='lnum'>490</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Elect.</em> And hear thou this last prayer of mine, my father,</div> - <div class='line'>Seeing us thy nestlings sitting at thy tomb,</div> - <div class='line'>Have mercy on thy boy and on thy girl;</div> - <div class='line'>Nor blot thou out the seed of Pelopids:</div> - <div class='line'>So thou, though thou hast died, art yet not dead;</div> - <div class='line'>For children are the voices that preserve</div> - <div class='line'>Man's memory when he dies: so bear the net</div> - <div class='line'>The corks that float the flax-mesh from the deep.</div> - <div class='line'>Hear thou: This is our wailing cry for thee,</div> - <div class='line'>And thou, our prayer regarding, sav'st thyself.</div><div class='lnum'>500</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Unblamed have ye your utterance lengthened out,</div> - <div class='line'>Amends for that his tomb's unwept-for lot.</div> - <div class='line'>But as to what remains, since thou'rt resolved</div> - <div class='line'>To act, act now; make trial of thy Fate.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> So shall it be. Yet 'tis not out of course</div> - <div class='line'>To ask why she libations sent, why thus</div> - <div class='line'>Too late she cares for ill she cannot cure?</div> - <div class='line'>Yea, to a dead man heeding not 'twas sent,</div> - <div class='line'>A sorry offering. Why, I fail to guess:</div> - <div class='line'>The gifts are far too little for the fault;</div><div class='lnum'>510</div> - <div class='line'>For should a man pour all he has to pay</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1113'>1113</span>For one small drop of blood, the toil were vain:</div> - <div class='line'>So runs the saying. But if thou dost know,</div> - <div class='line'>Tell this to me as wishing much to learn.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> I know, my child, for I was by. Stirred on</div> - <div class='line'>By dreams and wandering terrors of the night,</div> - <div class='line'>That godless woman these libations sent.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> And have ye learnt the dream, to tell it right?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> As she doth say, she thought she bare a snake.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> How ends the tale, and what its outcome then?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> She nursed it, like a child, in swaddling clothes.</div><div class='lnum'>520</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> What food did that young monster crave for then?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> She in her dream her bosom gave to it.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> How 'scaped her breast by that dread beast unhurt?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Nay, with the milk it sucked out clots of blood.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> Ah, not in vain comes this dream from her lord.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> She, roused from sleep, cries out all terrified,</div> - <div class='line'>And many torches that were quenched in gloom</div> - <div class='line'>Blazed for our mistress' sake within the house.</div> - <div class='line'>Then these libations for the dead she sends,</div> - <div class='line'>Hoping they'll prove good medicine of ills.</div><div class='lnum'>530</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> Now to Earth here and my sire's tomb I pray</div> - <div class='line'>They leave not this strange vision unfulfilled.</div> - <div class='line'>So I expound it that it all coheres;</div> - <div class='line'>For if, the self-same spot that I left leaving,</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>The snake was then wrapt in my swaddling clothes,</div> - <div class='line'>And sucked the very breast that nourished me,</div> - <div class='line'>And mixed the sweet milk with a clot of blood,</div> - <div class='line'>And she in terror wailed the strange event,</div> - <div class='line'>So must she, as that monster dread she nourished,</div> - <div class='line'>Die cruel death: and I, thus serpentised,</div><div class='lnum'>540</div> - <div class='line'>Am here to slay her, as this dream portends;</div> - <div class='line'>I take thee as my dream-interpreter.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1114'>1114</span><em>Chor.</em> So be it; but in all else guide thy friends;</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Bid some do this, some that, some nought at all.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> Simple my orders, that she [<em>pointing to</em> <span class='sc'>Electra</span>] go within;</div> - <div class='line'>And you, I charge you, hide these plans of mine,</div> - <div class='line'>That they who slew a noble soul by guile,</div> - <div class='line'>By guile may die and in the self-same snare</div> - <div class='line'>Be caught, as Loxias gave his oracle,</div> - <div class='line'>The king Apollo, seer that never lied: 550</div> - <div class='line'>For like a stranger in full harness clad</div> - <div class='line'>Will I draw near with this man, Pylades,</div> - <div class='line'>To the great gates, a stranger I, and he,</div> - <div class='line'>Ally in arms. And then we both will speak</div> - <div class='line'>Parnassian speech, and imitate the tone</div> - <div class='line'>Of Phokian tongue. And should no porter there</div> - <div class='line'>Give us good welcome, on the ground that now</div> - <div class='line'>The house with ills is haunted, there we'll stay,</div> - <div class='line'>So that a man who passeth by the house</div> - <div class='line'>Will guess, and thus will speak, “Why drives Ægisthos</div> - <div class='line'>The suppliant from his gate, if he's at home</div> - <div class='line'>And knows it?” But if I should pass the threshold 560</div> - <div class='line'>Of the great gate, and find him seated there</div> - <div class='line'>Upon my father's throne, or if he comes</div> - <div class='line'>And meets me, face to face, and lifts his eyes,</div> - <div class='line'>And drops them, then be sure, before he says,</div> - <div class='line'>“Whence is this stranger?”—I will lay him dead,</div> - <div class='line'>With my swift-footed brazen weapon pierced;</div> - <div class='line'>And then Erinnys, stinted not in slaughter,</div> - <div class='line'>Shall drink her third draught of unmingled blood.<a id='r431' /><a href='#f431' class='c011'><sup>[431]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Thou, then, [<em>to</em> <span class='sc'>Electra</span>] watch well what passes in the house, 570</div> - <div class='line'>So that these things may dovetail close and well:</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1115'>1115</span>And you [<em>to the Chorus</em>] I bid to keep a tongue discreet,</div> - <div class='line'>Silent, if need be, or the right word speaking,</div> - <div class='line'>And Him<a id='r432' /><a href='#f432' class='c011'><sup>[432]</sup></a> [<em>pointing to the statue of Apollo</em>] I call to look upon me here,</div> - <div class='line'>Since he has set me on this strife of swords.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Exeunt</span></i> <span class='sc'>Orestes</span>, <span class='sc'>Pylades</span>, <em>and</em> <span class='sc'>Electra</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Many dread forms of evils terrible</div> - <div class='line in8'>Earth bears, and Ocean's bays</div> - <div class='line in8'>With monsters wild and fierce</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>O'erflow, and through mid-air the meteor lights</div><div class='lnum'>580</div> - <div class='line in8'>Sweep by; and wingèd birds</div> - <div class='line'>And creeping things can tell the vehement rage</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of whirling storms of winds.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>But who man's temper overbold may tell,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Or daring passionate loves</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of women bold in heart,</div> - <div class='line'>Passions close bound with men's calamities?</div> - <div class='line in8'>Love that true love disowns,</div> - <div class='line'>That sways the weaker sex in brutes and men,</div><div class='lnum'>590</div> - <div class='line in8'>Usurps o'er wedlock's ties.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Whoso is not bird-witted, let him think</div> - <div class='line in8'>What scheme she learnt to plan,</div> - <div class='line'>Of subtle craft that wrought its will by fire,</div> - <div class='line'>That wretched child of Thestios, who to slay</div> - <div class='line in8'>Her son did set a-blaze</div> - <div class='line in8'>The brand that glowed blood-red,</div> - <div class='line'>Which had its birth when first from out the womb</div> - <div class='line in8'>He came with infant's wail,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1116'>1116</span>And spanned the measure of its life with his,</div><div class='lnum'>600</div> - <div class='line in8'>On to the destined day.<a id='r433' /><a href='#f433' class='c011'><sup>[433]</sup></a></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Another, too, must we with loathing name,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Skylla, with blood defiled.<a id='r434' /><a href='#f434' class='c011'><sup>[434]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Who for the sake of foes a dear one slew,</div> - <div class='line'>Won by the gold-chased bracelets brought from Crete,</div> - <div class='line in8'>The gifts that Minos gave,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And knowing not the end,</div> - <div class='line'>Robbed Nisos of his lock of deathless life,</div> - <div class='line in8'>She with her dog-like heart</div><div class='lnum'>610</div> - <div class='line'>Surprising him deep-breathing in his sleep;</div> - <div class='line in8'>But Hermes comes on her.<a id='r435' /><a href='#f435' class='c011'><sup>[435]</sup></a></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1117'>1117</span><span class='sc'>Strophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And since I tell the tale of ruthless woes....<a id='r436' /><a href='#f436' class='c011'><sup>[436]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>Yet now 'tis not the time</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>To tell of evil marriage which this house</div> - <div class='line in8'>Doth loathe and execrate,</div> - <div class='line'>And of a woman's schemes and stratagems</div> - <div class='line in8'>Against a warrior chief,</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Chief whom his people honoured as was meet,</div> - <div class='line'>I give my praise to hearth from hot broils free,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And praise that woman's mood</div> - <div class='line in8'>That dares no deed of ill.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>But of all crimes the Lemnian foremost stands<a id='r437' /><a href='#f437' class='c011'><sup>[437]</sup></a></div><div class='lnum'>620</div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>And the Earth mourns that woe</div> - <div class='line'>As worthy of all loathing. Yes, this guilt</div> - <div class='line in8'>One might have well compared</div> - <div class='line'>With Lemnian ills; and now that race is gone,</div> - <div class='line in8'>To lowest shame brought down</div> - <div class='line'>By the foul guilt the Gods abominate:</div> - <div class='line'>For no man honours what the Gods condemn,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Which instance of all these</div> - <div class='line in8'>Do I not rightly urge?<a id='r438' /><a href='#f438' class='c011'><sup>[438]</sup></a></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1118'>1118</span><span class='sc'>Strophe IV</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And now the sword already at the heart,</div> - <div class='line'>Sharp-pointed, strikes a blow that pierces through,</div> - <div class='line in4'>While Vengeance guides the hand;</div><div class='lnum'>630</div> - <div class='line in4'>For lo! the lawlessness</div> - <div class='line'>Of one who doth transgress all lawlessly</div> - <div class='line'>The might and majesty of Zeus, lies not</div> - <div class='line in4'>As trampled under foot.<a id='r439' /><a href='#f439' class='c011'><sup>[439]</sup></a></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe IV</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>The anvil-block of Vengeance firm is set,</div> - <div class='line'>And Fate, the swordsmith, hammers on the bronze</div> - <div class='line in4'>Beforehand; and the child</div> - <div class='line in4'>Is brought unto his home,</div> - <div class='line'>And in due time the debt of guilt is paid</div> - <div class='line'>By the dark-souled Erinnys, famed of old,</div> - <div class='line'>For blood of former days.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Orestes</span> <em>and</em> <span class='sc'>Pylades</span> <em>enter, disguised as Phokian travellers,</em></div> - <div><em>go to the door of the palace, and knock loudly</em></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> What ho, boy! hear us knocking at the gate.</div><div class='lnum'>640</div> - <div class='line'>Who is within, boy? who, boy?—hear, again;</div> - <div class='line'>A third time now I give my summons here,</div> - <div class='line'>If good Ægisthos' house be hospitable.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<em>A</em> <span class='sc'>Slave</span> <em>opens the door</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Slave.</em> Hold, hold; I hear. What stranger comes, and whence?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> Tell thou thy lords who over this house rule,</div> - <div class='line'>To whom I come and tidings new report;</div> - <div class='line'>And make good speed, for now the dusky car</div> - <div class='line'>Of night comes on apace, and it is time</div> - <div class='line'>For travellers in hospitable homes</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1119'>1119</span>To cast their anchor; and let some one come</div> - <div class='line'>From out the house who hath authority;</div><div class='lnum'>650</div> - <div class='line'>The lady, if so be one ruleth here,</div> - <div class='line'>But, seemlier far, her lord; for then no shame</div> - <div class='line'>In converse makes our words obscure and dim;</div> - <div class='line'>But man with man gains courage to speak out,</div> - <div class='line'>And makes his mission manifest as day.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><em>Enter</em> <span class='sc'>Clytæmnestra</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> If ye need aught, O strangers, speak; for here</div> - <div class='line'>Is all that's fitting for a house like ours;</div> - <div class='line'>Warm baths,<a id='r440' /><a href='#f440' class='c011'><sup>[440]</sup></a> and bed that giveth rest from toil,</div> - <div class='line'>And presence of right honest faces too;</div> - <div class='line'>If there be aught that needeth counsel more,</div> - <div class='line'>That is men's business, and to them we'll tell it.</div><div class='lnum'>660</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> A Daulian traveller, from Phokis come,</div> - <div class='line'>Am I, and as I went on business bound,</div> - <div class='line'>My baggage with me, unto Argos, I</div> - <div class='line'>(Just as I set forth,) met a man I knew not,</div> - <div class='line'>Who knew not me, and he then, having asked</div> - <div class='line'>My way and told me his, the Phokian Strophios</div> - <div class='line'>(For so I learnt in talking) said to me,</div> - <div class='line'>“Since thou dost go, my friend, for Argos bound,</div> - <div class='line'>In any case, tell those who gave him birth,</div> - <div class='line'>Remembering it right well, Orestes' death;</div> - <div class='line'>See thou forget it not, and whether plans</div><div class='lnum'>670</div> - <div class='line'>Prevail to fetch him home, or bury him</div> - <div class='line'>There where he is, a stranger evermore,</div> - <div class='line'>Bear back the message as thy freight for us;</div> - <div class='line'>For now the ribbed sides of an urn of bronze</div> - <div class='line'>The ashes hide of one whom men have wept.”</div> - <div class='line'>So much I heard and now have told; and if</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1120'>1120</span>I speak to kin that have a right in him</div> - <div class='line'>I know not, but his father sure should know it.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> Ah, thou hast told how utterly our ruin</div> - <div class='line'>Is now complete! O Curse of this our house,</div> - <div class='line'>Full hard to wrestle with! How many things,</div><div class='lnum'>680</div> - <div class='line'>Though lying out of reach, thou aimest at,</div> - <div class='line'>And with well-darted arrows from afar</div> - <div class='line'>Dost bring them low! And now thou strippest me,</div> - <div class='line'>Most wretched one, of all that most I loved.</div> - <div class='line'>A lucky throw Orestes now was making,</div> - <div class='line'>Getting his feet from out destruction's slough;</div> - <div class='line'>But now the hope of high, exulting joy,</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Which this house had as healer, he scores down</div> - <div class='line'>As present in this fashion that we see.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> I could have wished to come to prosperous hosts,</div> - <div class='line'>As known and welcomed for my tidings good;</div> - <div class='line'>For who to hosts is friendlier than a guest?</div><div class='lnum'>690</div> - <div class='line'>But 'twould have been as impious in my thoughts</div> - <div class='line'>Not to complete this matter for my friends,</div> - <div class='line'>By promise bound and pledged as guest to host.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> Thou shalt not meet with less than thou deserv'st;</div> - <div class='line'>Nor wilt thou be to this house less a friend;</div> - <div class='line'>Another would have brought news all the same:</div> - <div class='line'>But since 'tis time that strangers who have made</div> - <div class='line'>A long day's journey find the things they need,</div> - <div class='line'>Lead him [<em>to her Slave, pointing to</em> <span class='sc'>Orestes</span>] to these our hospitable halls,</div> - <div class='line'>And these his fellow-travellers and servants:</div><div class='lnum'>700</div> - <div class='line'>There let them meet with what befits our house.</div> - <div class='line'>I bid thee act as one who gives account;</div> - <div class='line'>And we unto the masters of our house</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1121'>1121</span>Will tell this news, and with no lack of friends</div> - <div class='line'>Deliberate of this calamity.<a id='r441' /><a href='#f441' class='c011'><sup>[441]</sup></a></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Exeunt</span></i> <span class='sc'>Clytæmnestra</span>, <span class='sc'>Orestes</span>, <span class='sc'>Pylades</span>,</div> - <div class='line in4'><em>and Attendants</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Come then, handmaids of the palace,</div> - <div class='line in8'>When shall we with full-pitched voices</div> - <div class='line in8'>Show our feeling for Orestes?</div> - <div class='line in4'>O earth revered! thou height revered, too,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Of the mound piled o'er the body</div> - <div class='line in4'>Of our navy's kingly captain,</div><div class='lnum'>710</div> - <div class='line in4'>Oh, hear us now; oh, come and help us;</div> - <div class='line in4'>For 'tis time for subtle Suasion<a id='r442' /><a href='#f442' class='c011'><sup>[442]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in4'>To go with them to the conflict,</div> - <div class='line in4'>And that Hermes act as escort,</div> - <div class='line in4'>He who dwells in earth's deep darkness,</div> - <div class='line in4'>In the strife where swords work mischief.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><em>Enter</em> <span class='sc'>Kilissa</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> The stranger seems about to work some ill;</div> - <div class='line'>And here I see Orestes' nurse in tears.</div> - <div class='line'>Where then, Kilissa, art thou bound, that thus</div> - <div class='line'>Thou tread'st the palace-gates, and with thee comes</div> - <div class='line'>Grief as a fellow-traveller unbidden?</div><div class='lnum'>720</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Kilis.</em> Our mistress bids me with all speed to call</div> - <div class='line'>Ægisthos to the strangers, that he come</div> - <div class='line'>And hear more clearly, as a man from man,</div> - <div class='line'>This newly-brought report. Before her slaves,</div> - <div class='line'>Under set eyes of melancholy cast,</div> - <div class='line'>She hid her inner chuckle at the events</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1122'>1122</span>That have been brought to pass—too well for her,</div> - <div class='line'>But for this house and hearth most miserably,—</div> - <div class='line'>As in the tale the strangers clearly told.</div> - <div class='line'>He, when he hears and learns the story's gist,</div> - <div class='line'>Will joy, I trow, in heart. Ah, wretched me!</div><div class='lnum'>730</div> - <div class='line'>How those old troubles, of all sorts made up,</div> - <div class='line'>Most hard to bear, in Atreus' palace-halls</div> - <div class='line'>Have made my heart full heavy in my breast!</div> - <div class='line'>But never have I known a woe like this.</div> - <div class='line'>For other ills I bore full patiently,</div> - <div class='line'>But as for dear Orestes, my sweet charge,</div> - <div class='line'>Whom from his mother I received and nursed....</div> - <div class='line'>And then the shrill cries rousing me o' nights.</div> - <div class='line'>And many and unprofitable toils</div> - <div class='line'>For me who bore them. For one needs must rear</div> - <div class='line'>The heedless infant like an animal,</div><div class='lnum'>740</div> - <div class='line'>(How can it else be?) as his humour serves.</div> - <div class='line'>For while a child is yet in swaddling clothes,</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>It speaketh not, if either hunger comes,</div> - <div class='line'>Or passing thirst, or lower calls of need;</div> - <div class='line'>And children's stomach works its own content.</div> - <div class='line'>And I, though I foresaw this, call to mind</div> - <div class='line'>How I was cheated, washing swaddling clothes,</div> - <div class='line'>And nurse and laundress did the self-same work.</div> - <div class='line'>I then with these my double handicrafts,</div> - <div class='line'>Brought up Orestes for his father dear;</div> - <div class='line'>And now, woe's me! I learn that he is dead,</div><div class='lnum'>750</div> - <div class='line'>And go to fetch the man that mars this house:</div> - <div class='line'>And gladly will he hear these words of mine.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> And how equipped then doth she bid him come?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Nurse.</em> 'How?' Speak again that I may better learn.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> By spearmen followed, or himself alone?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Nurse.</em> She bids him bring his guards with lances armed.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1123'>1123</span><em>Chor.</em> Nay, say not that to him thy lord doth hate.<a id='r443' /><a href='#f443' class='c011'><sup>[443]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>But bid him 'come alone,' (that so he hear</div> - <div class='line'>Without alarm,) 'full speed, with joyous mind,'</div> - <div class='line'>Since 'secret speech with messengers goes best.'</div><div class='lnum'>760</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Nurse.</em> And art thou of good cheer at this my tale?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> But what if Zeus will turn the tide of ill?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Nurse.</em> How so? Orestes, our one hope is gone.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Not yet; a sorry seer might know thus much.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Nurse.</em> What say'st thou? Know'st thou aught besides my tale?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Go tell thy message; do thine errand well:</div> - <div class='line'>The Gods for what they care for, care enough.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Nurse.</em> I then will go, complying with thy words:</div> - <div class='line'>May all, by God's gift, end most happily!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Now to my prayer, O Father of the Gods</div><div class='lnum'>770</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of high Olympos, Zeus,</div> - <div class='line'>Grant that their fortune may be blest indeed</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Who long to look on goodness prospering well,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Yea, with full right and truth</div> - <div class='line'>I speak the word—O Zeus, preserve thou him!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Yea, Zeus, set him whom now the palace holds,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Set him above his foes;</div> - <div class='line in8'>For if thou raise him high,</div> - <div class='line'>Then shall thou have, to thy heart's full content,</div> - <div class='line'>Payment of twofold, threefold recompense.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Know that the son of one who loved thee well</div><div class='lnum'>780</div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Like colt of sire bereaved,</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Is to the chariot of great evils yoked,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1124'>1124</span><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>And set thy limit to his weary path.</div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Ah, would that one might see</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>His panting footsteps, as he treads his course,</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Keeping due measure through this plain of ours!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>And ye within the gate,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Ye Gods, in purpose one,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Who dwell in shrines enriched</div> - <div class='line in8'>With all good things, come ye,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And now with vengeance fresh</div> - <div class='line in8'>Atone for murder foul</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of those that fell long since:</div><div class='lnum'>790</div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>And let that blood of old,</div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>When these are justly slain,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Breed no more in our house.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Mesode</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>O Thou<a id='r444' /><a href='#f444' class='c011'><sup>[444]</sup></a> that dwellest in the cavern vast,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Adorned with goodly gifts,</div> - <div class='line'>Grant our lord's house to look up yet once more,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And that it now may glance,</div> - <div class='line in8'>In free and glorious guise</div> - <div class='line in8'>With loving kindly eyes,</div> - <div class='line in8'>From out its veil of gloom.</div> - <div class='line in8'>Let Maia's son<a id='r445' /><a href='#f445' class='c011'><sup>[445]</sup></a> too give</div> - <div class='line in8'>His righteous help, and waft</div> - <div class='line in8'>Good end with prosperous gale.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>And things that now are hid,</div><div class='lnum'>800</div> - <div class='line in8'>He, if he will, will bring</div> - <div class='line in8'>As to the daylight clear;</div> - <div class='line in8'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1125'>1125</span>But when it pleases him</div> - <div class='line in8'>Dark, hidden words to speak,</div> - <div class='line in8'>As in thick night he bears</div> - <div class='line in8'>Black gloom before his face;<a id='r446' /><a href='#f446' class='c011'><sup>[446]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>Nor is he in the day</div> - <div class='line in8'>One whit more manifest.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe IV</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>And then our treasured store,<a id='r447' /><a href='#f447' class='c011'><sup>[447]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>The price as ransom paid</div> - <div class='line in8'>To free the house from ill,</div> - <div class='line in8'>A woman's gift on breath</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of favouring breeze onborne,</div> - <div class='line in8'>We then with clamorous cry,</div> - <div class='line in8'>To sound of cithern sweet,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Will in the city pour;</div> - <div class='line in8'>And if this prospers well,</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>My gains, yea mine, 'twill swell, and Atè then</div> - <div class='line in8'>From those I love stands far.</div><div class='lnum'>810</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>But thou, take courage, when the time is come</div> - <div class='line in8'>For action, and cry out,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Shouting thy father's name,</div> - <div class='line'>When she shall cry aloud the name of “son,”</div> - <div class='line'>And work thou out a woe that none will blame.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe IV</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>And have thou in thy breast</div> - <div class='line in8'>The heart that Perseus had,<a id='r448' /><a href='#f448' class='c011'><sup>[448]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1126'>1126</span>And for thy friends beneath,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And those on earth who dwell,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Go thou and work the deed</div> - <div class='line in8'>Acceptable to them,</div><div class='lnum'>820</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of bitter, wrathful mood,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And consummate within</div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>The loathly work of blood;</div> - <div class='line'>[And bidding Vengeance come as thine ally,]</div> - <div class='line in8'>Destroy the murderer.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><em>Enter</em> <span class='sc'>Ægisthos</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ægis.</em> Not without summons came I, but by word</div> - <div class='line'>Of courier fetched, and learn that travellers bring</div> - <div class='line'>Their tale of tidings new, in no wise welcome.</div> - <div class='line'>As for Orestes' death, with it to charge</div> - <div class='line'>The house would be a burden dropping fear</div> - <div class='line'>To one by that old bloodshed sorely stung.<a id='r449' /><a href='#f449' class='c011'><sup>[449]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>How shall I count these things? As clear and true?</div> - <div class='line'>Or are they vague reports of woman's fears,</div><div class='lnum'>830</div> - <div class='line'>That leap up high and die away to nought?</div> - <div class='line'>What can'st thou say that will my mind inform?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> We heard, 'tis true; but go thou in and ask</div> - <div class='line'>Of these same strangers. Nought is found in words</div> - <div class='line'>Of messengers like asking, man from man.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ægis.</em> I wish to see and probe the messenger,</div> - <div class='line'>If he himself were present at the death,</div> - <div class='line'>Or tells it hearing of a vague report:</div> - <div class='line'>They shall not cheat a mind with eyes wide open.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<em>Exit</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1127'>1127</span><em>Chor.</em> Zeus! Zeus! what words shall I</div><div class='lnum'>840</div> - <div class='line in8'>Now speak, whence start in prayer,</div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Invoking help of Gods?</div> - <div class='line in8'>How with all wish for good</div> - <div class='line in8'>Shall I speak fitting words?</div> - <div class='line in8'>For now the sharp sword-points,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Red with the blood of man,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Will either work for aye</div> - <div class='line in8'>The utter overthrow</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of Agamemnon's house,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Or, kindling fire and torch</div> - <div class='line in8'>For freedom thus achieved,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Will he the sceptre wield</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of duly-ordered sway,</div> - <div class='line in8'>His father's pride and state:</div><div class='lnum'>850</div> - <div class='line in8'>Such is the contest he,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Orestes, godlike one,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Now wages all alone,</div> - <div class='line in8'>The one sole combatant,<a id='r450' /><a href='#f450' class='c011'><sup>[450]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>In place of him who fell,</div> - <div class='line'>Against those twain. May victory be his!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Ægisth.</em> [<em>groaning within</em>] Ah! ah! Woe's me!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Hark! hark! How goes it now?</div> - <div class='line'>What issue has been wrought within the house?</div> - <div class='line'>Let us hold back while they the deed are doing,</div> - <div class='line'>That we may seem as guiltless of these ills:</div> - <div class='line'>For surely now the fight has reached its end.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><em>Enter</em> Servant <em>from the chief door</em></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Serv.</em> Alas! alas! my master perishes!</div><div class='lnum'>860</div> - <div class='line'>Alas! alas! a third time yet I call.</div> - <div class='line'>Ægisthos is no more; but open now</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1128'>1128</span>With all your speed, and loosen ye the bolts</div> - <div class='line'>That bar the women's gates. A man's full strength</div> - <div class='line'>Is needed; not indeed that that would help</div> - <div class='line'>A man already slain.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<em>Rushes to the gate of the woman's half of the</em></div> - <div class='line in4'><em>palace</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in24'>Ho there! I say:</div> - <div class='line'>I speak to the deaf; to those that sleep I utter</div> - <div class='line'>In vain my useless cries. And where is she?</div> - <div class='line'>Where's Clytæmnestra? What doth she do now?</div> - <div class='line'>Her neck upon the razor's edge doth seem</div> - <div class='line'>To fall, down-stricken by a vengeance just.</div><div class='lnum'>870</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><em>Enter</em> <span class='sc'>Clytæmnestra</span> <em>from the side door</em></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> What means all this? What cry is this thou mak'st?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Serv.</em> I say the dead are killing one who lives.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> Ah, me! I see the drift of thy dark speech;</div> - <div class='line'>By guile we perish, as of old we slew:</div> - <div class='line'>Let some one hand at once axe strong to slay;</div> - <div class='line'>Let's see if we are conquered or can conquer,</div> - <div class='line'>For to that point of evil am I come.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><em>Enter</em> <span class='sc'>Orestes</span> <em>and</em> <span class='sc'>Pylades</span> <em>from the other door</em></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> 'Tis thou I seek: he there has had enough.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> Ah me! my loved Ægisthos! Art thou dead?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> Lov'st thou the man? Then in the self-same tomb</div><div class='lnum'>880</div> - <div class='line'>Shalt thou now lie, nor in his death desert him.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> [<em>baring her bosom</em>] Hold, boy! Respect</div> - <div class='line'>this breast of mine, my son,<a id='r451' /><a href='#f451' class='c011'><sup>[451]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1129'>1129</span>Whence thou full oft, asleep, with toothless gums,</div> - <div class='line'>Hast sucked the milk that sweetly fed thy life.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> What shall I do, my Pylades? Shall I</div> - <div class='line'>Through this respect forbear to slay my mother?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Pyl.</em><a id='r452' /><a href='#f452' class='c011'><sup>[452]</sup></a> Where, then, are Loxias' other oracles,</div> - <div class='line'>The Pythian counsels, and the fast-sworn vows?</div> - <div class='line'>Have all men hostile rather than the Gods.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> My judgment goes with thine; thou speakest well:</div> - <div class='line'>[<em>To</em> <span class='sc'>Clytæmnestra</span>] Follow: I mean to slay thee where he lies,</div><div class='lnum'>890</div> - <div class='line'>For while he lived thou held'st him far above</div> - <div class='line'>My father. Sleep thou with him in thy death,</div> - <div class='line'>Since thou lov'st him, and whom thou should'st love hatest.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> I reared thee, and would fain grow old with thee.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> What! Thou live with me, who did'st slay my father?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> Fate, O my son, must share the blame of that.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> This fatal doom, then, it is Fate that sends.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> Dost thou not fear a parent's curse, my son?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> Thou, though my mother, did'st to ill chance cast me.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> No outcast thou, so sent to house allied.</div><div class='lnum'>900</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> I was sold doubly, though of free sire born.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> Where is the price, then, that I got for thee?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1130'>1130</span><em>Orest.</em> I shrink for shame from pressing that charge home.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> Nay, tell thy father's wantonness as well.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> Blame not the man who toils when thou'rt at ease.<a id='r453' /><a href='#f453' class='c011'><sup>[453]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> 'Tis hard, my son, for wives to miss their husband.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> The husband's toil keeps her that sits at home.<a href='#f453' class='c011'><sup>[453]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> Thou seem'st, my son, about to slay thy mother.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> It is not I that slay thee, but thyself.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> Take heed, beware a mother's vengeful hounds.<a id='r454' /><a href='#f454' class='c011'><sup>[454]</sup></a></div><div class='lnum'>910</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> How, slighting this, shall I escape my father's?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> I seem in life to wail as to a tomb.<a id='r455' /><a href='#f455' class='c011'><sup>[455]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> My father's fate ordains this doom for thee.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> Ah me! the snake is here I bare and nursed.<a id='r456' /><a href='#f456' class='c011'><sup>[456]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> An o'er-true prophet was that dread dream-born;</div> - <div class='line'>Thou slewest one thou never should'st have slain,</div> - <div class='line'>Now suffer fate should never have been thine.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<em>Exit</em> <span class='sc'>Orestes</span>, <em>leading</em> <span class='sc'>Clytæmnestra</span> <em>into the</em></div> - <div class='line in4'><em>palace, and followed by</em> <span class='sc'>Pylades</span></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> E'en of these two I wail the twin mischance;</div> - <div class='line'>But since long line of murder culminates</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1131'>1131</span>In poor Orestes, this we yet accept,</div> - <div class='line'>That he, our one light, fall not utterly.</div><div class='lnum'>920</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Late came due vengeance on the sons of Priam,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Just forfeit of sore woe;—</div> - <div class='line'>Late came there too to Agamemnon's house,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Twin lions, twofold Death.<a id='r457' /><a href='#f457' class='c011'><sup>[457]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>The exile who obeyed the Pythian hest</div> - <div class='line in8'>Hath gained his full desire,</div> - <div class='line'>Sped on his way by counsel from the Gods.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Shout ye, loud shout for the escape from ills</div> - <div class='line in8'>Our master's house has seen,</div> - <div class='line'>And from the wasting of his ancient wealth</div> - <div class='line in8'>By that defilèd pair,</div><div class='lnum'>930</div> - <div class='line in8'>Ill fate intolerable.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And so on one who loves the war of guile</div> - <div class='line in8'>Revenge came subtle-souled;</div> - <div class='line'>And in the strife of hands the child of Zeus</div> - <div class='line in8'>In very deed gave help,</div> - <div class='line'>(We mortals call her Vengeance, hitting well</div> - <div class='line in8'>The meetest name for her,)</div> - <div class='line'>Breathing destroying wrath against her foes.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>She, she it is whom Loxias summons now,</div><div class='lnum'>940</div> - <div class='line'>Who dwelleth in Parnassia's cavern vast,</div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Calling on her who still</div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Is guileful without guile,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1132'>1132</span><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Halting of foot and tarrying over-long:</div> - <div class='line'>The will of Gods is strangely overruled;</div> - <div class='line in8'>It may not help the vile;<a id='r458' /><a href='#f458' class='c011'><sup>[458]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>'Tis meet to adore the Power that rules in Heaven:</div> - <div class='line in8'>At last we see the light.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Now is the bit that curbed the slaves ta'en off:<a id='r459' /><a href='#f459' class='c011'><sup>[459]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>Arise, arise, O house:</div> - <div class='line'>Too long, too long, all prostrate on the ground</div><div class='lnum'>950</div> - <div class='line in8'>Ye have been used to lie.</div> - <div class='line'>       ·       ·       ·       ·       ·</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Quickly all-working Time will bring a change</div> - <div class='line'>Across the threshold of the palace old,</div> - <div class='line in8'>When from the altar-hearth</div> - <div class='line in8'>It shall drive all the guilt,</div> - <div class='line'>With cleansing rites that chase away our woes;</div> - <div class='line'>And Fortune's throws shall fall with gladsome cast,</div> - <div class='line in10'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Once more benign to see,<a id='r460' /><a href='#f460' class='c011'><sup>[460]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>For new-come strangers settled in the house:</div> - <div class='line in10'>At last we see the light.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c016'><em>Enter</em> <span class='sc'>Orestes</span>, <span class='sc'>Pylades</span>, <em>and followers from the palace. -His attendants bear the robe in which</em> <span class='sc'>Agamemnon</span> -<em>had been murdered</em></p> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> See ye this country's tyrant rulers twain,</div><div class='lnum'>960</div> - <div class='line'>My father's murderers, wasters of his house;</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1133'>1133</span>Stately were they, seen sitting on their thrones,</div> - <div class='line'>Friends too e'en now, to argue from their fate,</div> - <div class='line'>Whose oaths are kept to every pledge they gave.</div> - <div class='line'>Firmly they swore that they would slay my father,</div> - <div class='line'>And die together. Well those oaths are kept:</div> - <div class='line'>And ye who hear these ills, behold ye now</div> - <div class='line'>Their foul device, as bonds for my poor father,</div> - <div class='line'>Handcuffs, and fetters both his feet to bind.</div> - <div class='line'>Come, stretch it out, and standing all around,</div><div class='lnum'>970</div> - <div class='line'>Show ye the snare that wrapt him o'er, that He</div> - <div class='line'>May see, our Father,—not of mine I speak,</div> - <div class='line'>But the great Sun that looks on all we do,—</div> - <div class='line'>My mother's deeds, defilèd and impure,</div> - <div class='line'>That He may be a witness in my cause,</div> - <div class='line'>That I did justly bring this doom to pass</div> - <div class='line'>Upon my mother.... Of Ægisthos' fate</div> - <div class='line'>No word I speak. He bears the penalty,</div> - <div class='line'>As runs the law, of an adulterer's guilt;</div> - <div class='line'>But she who planned this crime against a man</div> - <div class='line'>By whom she knew the weight of children borne</div> - <div class='line'>Beneath her girdle, once a burden loved,</div> - <div class='line'>But now, as it is proved, a grievous ill,</div><div class='lnum'>980</div> - <div class='line'>What seems she to you? Had she viper been,</div> - <div class='line'>Or fell myræna,<a id='r461' /><a href='#f461' class='c011'><sup>[461]</sup></a> she with touch alone,</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Rather than bite, had made a festering sore</div> - <div class='line'>With that bold daring of unrighteous mood.</div> - <div class='line'>What shall I call it, using mildest speech?</div> - <div class='line'>A wild beast's trap?—a pall that wraps a bier,</div> - <div class='line'>And hides a dead man's feet?—A net, I trow,</div> - <div class='line'>A snare, a robe entangling, one might call it.</div> - <div class='line'>Such might be owned by one to plunder trained,</div> - <div class='line'>Practised in duping travellers, and the life</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1134'>1134</span>That robs men of their money; with this trap</div><div class='lnum'>990</div> - <div class='line'>Destroying many, many deeds of ill</div> - <div class='line'>His fevered brain might hatch. May such as she</div> - <div class='line'>Ne'er share my dwelling! May the hand of God</div> - <div class='line'>Far rather smite me that I childless die!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> [<em>looking on</em> <span class='sc'>Agamemnon's</span> <em>robe.</em>] Ah me! ah me! these deeds most miserable!</div> - <div class='line'>By hateful murder thou wast done to death.</div> - <div class='line in8'>Woe, woe is me!</div> - <div class='line'>And evil buds and blooms for him that's left.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> Was the deed hers or no? Lo! this same robe</div> - <div class='line'>Bears witness how she dyed Ægisthos' sword,</div> - <div class='line'>And the blood-stain helps Time's destroying work,</div><div class='lnum'>1000</div> - <div class='line'>Marring full many a tint of pattern fair:</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Now name I it, now as eye-witness wail;<a id='r462' /><a href='#f462' class='c011'><sup>[462]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>And calling on this robe that slew my father,</div> - <div class='line'>Moan for all done and suffered, wail my race,</div> - <div class='line'>Bearing the foul stains of this victory.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> No mortal man shall live a life unharmed,</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Stout-hearted and rejoicing evermore.</div> - <div class='line in8'>Woe, woe is me!</div> - <div class='line'>One trouble vexes now, another comes.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> (<em>wildly, as one distraught.</em>) Nay, know ye—for I know not how 'twill end;</div><div class='lnum'>1010</div> - <div class='line'>Like chariot-driver with his steeds I'm dragged</div> - <div class='line'>Out of my course; for passion's moods uncurbed</div> - <div class='line'>Bear me their victim headlong. At my heart</div> - <div class='line'>Stands terror ready or to sing or dance</div> - <div class='line'>In burst of frenzy. While my reason stays,</div> - <div class='line'>I tell my friends here that I slew my mother,</div> - <div class='line'>Not without right, my father's murderess,</div> - <div class='line'>Accursed, and hated of the Gods. And I</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1135'>1135</span>As chiefest spell that made me dare this deed</div> - <div class='line'>Count Loxias, Pythian prophet, warning me</div> - <div class='line'>That doing this I should be free from blame,</div><div class='lnum'>1020</div> - <div class='line'>But slighting.... I pass o'er the penalty<a id='r463' /><a href='#f463' class='c011'><sup>[463]</sup></a>....</div> - <div class='line'>For none, aim as he will, such woes will hit.</div> - <div class='line'>And now ye see me, in what guise equipped,</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<em>Putting on the suppliant's wreaths of wool, and</em></div> - <div class='line in4'><em>taking an olive branch in his hand</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>With this my bough and chaplet I will gain</div> - <div class='line'>Earth's central shrine, the home where Loxias dwells,</div> - <div class='line'>And the bright fire that is as deathless known,<a id='r464' /><a href='#f464' class='c011'><sup>[464]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Seeking to 'scape this guilt of kindred blood;</div> - <div class='line'>And on no other hearth, so Loxias bade,</div> - <div class='line'>May I seek shelter. And I charge you all,</div> - <div class='line'>Ye Argives, bear ye witness in due time</div><div class='lnum'>1030</div> - <div class='line'>How these dark deeds of wretched ill were wrought:</div> - <div class='line'>But I, a wanderer, exiled from my land,</div> - <div class='line'>Shall live, and leaving these my prayers in death,...</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Nay, thou hast prospered: burden not thy lips</div> - <div class='line'>With evil speech, nor speak ill-boding words,</div> - <div class='line'>When thou hast freed the Argive commonwealth,</div> - <div class='line'>By good chance lopping those two serpents' heads.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<em>The Erinnyes are seen in the background, visible</em></div> - <div class='line in4'><em>to</em> <span class='sc'>Orestes</span> <em>only, in black robes, and with</em></div> - <div class='line in4'><em>snakes in their hair</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> Ah! ah! ye handmaids: see, like Gorgons these,</div> - <div class='line'>Dark-robed, and all their tresses hang entwined</div> - <div class='line'>With many serpents. I can bear no more.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1136'>1136</span><em>Chor.</em> What phantoms vex thee, best beloved of sons</div><div class='lnum'>1040</div> - <div class='line'>By thy dear sire? Hold, fear not, victory's thine.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> These are no phantom terrors that I see:</div> - <div class='line'>Full clear they are my mother's vengeful hounds.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> The blood fresh-shed is yet upon thy hands,</div> - <div class='line'>And thence it is these troubles haunt thy soul.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> O King Apollo! See, they swarm, they swarm,</div> - <div class='line'>And from their eyes is dropping loathsome blood.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> One way of cleansing is there; Loxias' form</div> - <div class='line'>Clasp thou, and he will free thee from these ills.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> These forms ye see not, but I see them there:</div> - <div class='line'>They drive me on, and I can bear no more. [<em>Exit</em></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Well, may'st thou prosper; may the gracious God</div><div class='lnum'>1050</div> - <div class='line'>Watch o'er and guard thee with a chance well timed!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Here, then, upon this palace of our kings</div> - <div class='line in8'>A third storm blows again;</div> - <div class='line'>The blast that haunts the race has run its course.</div> - <div class='line'>First came the wretched meal of children's flesh;</div> - <div class='line in8'>Next what befell our king:</div> - <div class='line'>Slain in the bath was he who ruled our host,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of all the Achæans lord;</div> - <div class='line'>And now a third has come, we know not whence,<a id='r465' /><a href='#f465' class='c011'><sup>[465]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>To save ... or shall I say,</div> - <div class='line in8'>To work a doom of death?</div> - <div class='line'>Where will it end? Where will it cease at last,</div> - <div class='line in8'>The mighty Atè dread,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Lulled into slumber deep?</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class='c012' /> - -<div class='footnote' id='f401'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r401'>401</a>. </span>Hermes is invoked, (1) as the watcher over the souls of the -dead in Hades, and therefore the natural patron of the murdered -Agamemnon; (2) as exercising an authority delegated by Zeus, -and therefore capable of being, like Zeus himself, the deliverer -and helper of suppliants. So Electra, further on, invokes -Hermes in the same character. The line may, however, be -rendered,</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Who stand'st as guardian of my father's house.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c000'>The three opening lines are noticeable, as having been chosen -by Aristophanes as the special object for his satirical criticism -(<cite>Frogs</cite>, 1126-1176), abounding in a good score of ambiguities -and tautologies.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f402'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r402'>402</a>. </span>The words point to the two symbolic aspects of one and the -same practice. In both there are some points of analogy with -the earlier and later forms of the Nazarite vow among the Jews. -(1) As being part of the body, and yet separable from it without -mutilation, it became the representative of the whole man, and -as such was the sign of a votive dedication. As early as Homer, -it was the custom of youths to keep one long, flowing lock as -consecrated, and when they reached manhood, they cut it off, -and offered it to the river-god of their country, throwing it into -the stream, as that to which, directly and indirectly, they owed -their nurture. Here the offering is made to Inachos, as the -hero-founder of Argos, identified with the river that bore his -name. (2) They shaved their head, wholly or in part, as a token -as a token of grief, and then, because true grief for the dead was an -acceptable and propitiatory offering, this became the natural -offering for suppliants who offered their prayers at the tombs of -the departed. So in the <cite>Aias</cite> of Sophocles (v. 1174) Teucros -calls on Eurysakes to approach the corpse of his father, holding -in his hand locks of his own hair, his mother's, and that of -Teucros. In the offering which Achilles makes over the grave -of Patroclos of the hair which he had cherished for the river-god -of his fatherland, Spercheios, we have the union of the two -customs. Homer. <cite>Il.</cite> xxiii. 141-151.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f403'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r403'>403</a>. </span>After the widespread fashion of the East, the handmaids of -Clytæmnestra (originally Troïan captives) had to rend their -clothes, beat their breasts, and lacerate their faces till the blood -came. The higher civilisation of Solon's laws had forbidden -these wild, barbarous forms of grief at Athens. Plutarch, -<cite>Solon</cite>, p. 164.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f404'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r404'>404</a>. </span>Purposely, perhaps, obscure. They seem to say that the -old reverence for Agamemnon has passed away, and instead of -it there is only a slavish fear for Ægisthos. For the more acute, -however, they imply that those who have cause to fear are -Ægisthos and Clytæmnestra themselves.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f405'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r405'>405</a>. </span>The words, in their generalising sententiousness, refer -specially to the twofold crime of Ægisthos as an adulterer and -murderer. Then, in the Epode, the Chorus justify themselves -for their seeming inconsistency in thus abhorring the guilt, and -yet acting as instruments of the guilty in their attempts to escape -punishment.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f406'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r406'>406</a>. </span>The mourners speak, of course, of Agamemnon and Orestes, -not of Ægisthos and Clytæmnestra.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f407'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r407'>407</a>. </span>A mixture of meal, honey, and oil formed the half-liquid -substance commonly used for these funereal libations. The -“garlands” may be wreaths of flowers or fillets, or the word -may be used figuratively for the libation itself, as crowning the -mound in which Agamemnon lay.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f408'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r408'>408</a>. </span>The words point to a strange Athenian custom. When a -house was cleansed of that which defiled it, morally or physically, -the filth was carried in an earthen vessel to a place where three -ways met, and the worshipper flung the vessel behind him, and -walked away without turning to look at it. To Electra's mind, -the libation which her mother sends is equally unclean, and -should be treated in the same way. So in Hom. <cite>Il.</cite> i. 314, the -Argives purify themselves, and then cast the lustral water they -have used into the sea. Lev. vi. 11, gives us an analogous usage. -Comp. also Theocritos, <cite>Idyll</cite> xxiv., vv. 22-97.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f409'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r409'>409</a>. </span>Partly it is the youth of Electra that seeks counsel from -those who had more experience; partly she shrinks from the -responsibility of being the first to utter the formula of execration.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f410'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r410'>410</a>. </span>The word “escort” has a special reference to the function -of Hermes in the unseen world. As he was wont to act as guide -to the souls of the dead in their downward journey, so now -Electra prays that he may lead the blessings she asks for upward -from the dark depths of Earth.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f411'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r411'>411</a>. </span>The Skythian bow, long and elastic, bending either way, -like those of the Arabians (Herod. vii. 69). The connection of -Ares with the wild, fierce tribes of Thrakia and Skythia meets -us again and again in the literature of Greece. He was the -only God to whom they built temples (<i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">ibid.</span></i> iv. 59). They -sacrificed human victims to an iron sword as his more appropriate -symbol (iv. 62). The use of iron for weapons of war -came to the Greeks from them (<cite>Seven ag. Th.</cite> 729; <cite>Prom.</cite> 714).</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f412'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r412'>412</a>. </span>It may be worth while to compare the method adopted by -the three dramatists of Greece in bringing about the recognition -of the brother by the sister. (1) Here the lock of hair, in its peculiar -colour and texture resembling her own, followed by the likeness -of his footsteps to hers, prepares the way first for vague anticipations, -and then the robe she had made for him, leads to her -acceptance of Orestes on his own discovery of himself. To this it -has been objected, by Euripides in the first instance (<cite>Electra</cite>, vv. -462-500), that the evidence of the colour of the hair is weak, -that a young man's foot must have been larger than a maiden's, -and that he could not have worn as a man the garment she had -made for him as a child. It might be replied, perhaps, that -there are such things as hereditary resemblances extending to -the colour of the hair and the arch of the instep, and that the -robe may either have been shown instead of worn, or, being -worn, have been adapted for the larger growth. (2) In the -<cite>Electra</cite> of Sophocles the lock of hair alone convinces Chrysothemis -that her brother is near at hand (v. 900), while Electra -herself requires the further evidence of Agamemnon's seal -(v. 1223). In Euripides (v. 527), all proof fails till Orestes -shows a scar on his brow, which his sister remembers.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f413'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r413'>413</a>. </span>The saying is probably one of the widespread proverbs -which imply parables. The idea is obviously that with which -we are familiar in the Gospel “grain of mustard seed.” Here, -as in the “kicking against the pricks” of Acts ix. 5, xxvi. 14, -and <cite>Agam.</cite> v. 1604, we are carried back to a period which lies -beyond the range of history as that in which men took note of -the analogies and embodied them in forms like this.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f414'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r414'>414</a>. </span>So in the <cite>Odyssey</cite> (xix. 228), Odysseus appears as wearing -a woollen cloak, on which are embroidered the figures of a fawn -and a dog.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f415'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r415'>415</a>. </span>An obvious reproduction of the words of Andromache -(<cite>Il.</cite> vi. 429).</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f416'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r416'>416</a>. </span>The words seem to imply that burning alive was known -among the Greeks as a punishment for the most atrocious -crimes. The “oozing pitch,” if we adopt that rendering, -apparently describes something like the “<i>tunica molesta</i>” of -Juvenal. (<cite>Sat.</cite> viii. 235.) Hesychios (s. v. <span lang="el" xml:lang="el">Κωνῆσαι</span>) mentions -the practice as alluded to in a lost play of Æschylos.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f417'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r417'>417</a>. </span>The words are both doubtful and obscure. Taking the -reading which I have adopted, they seem to mean that while -men in general had means of propitiating the Erinnyes and -other Powers for the guilt of unavenged bloodshed, Orestes and -Electra had no such way of escape open to them. If they, the -next of kin, failed to do their work, they would be exposed to -the full storm of wrath. But a conjectural emendation of one -word gives us,</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in2'>“For making known to men the earth-born ills</div> - <div class='line in2'>That come from wrathful Powers.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f418'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r418'>418</a>. </span>Either that old age would come prematurely, or that the -hair itself would share the leprous whiteness of the flesh.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f419'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r419'>419</a>. </span>The words, as taken in the text, refer to Orestes seeing -even in sleep the spectral forms of the Erinnyes. By some -editors the verse is placed after v. 276, and the lines then read -thus:—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“And that he calls fresh onsets of the Erinnyes</div> - <div class='line'>As brought to issue from a father's blood,</div> - <div class='line'>Seeing clearly, though he move his brow in darkness.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c000'>So taken, the last line refers to Agamemnon, who, though in -the darkness of Hades, sees the penalties which will fail upon -his son should he neglect to take vengeance on his father's -murderers.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f420'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r420'>420</a>. </span>Stress is laid here, as in <cite>Agam.</cite> 1224, on the effeminacy of -the adulterer.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f421'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r421'>421</a>. </span>The great law of retribution is repeated from <cite>Agam.</cite> 1564. -As one of the earliest utterances of man's moral sense, it was -referred popularly among the Greeks to Rhadamanthos, who -with Minos judged the souls of the dead in Hades. Comp. -Aristot. <cite>Ethic. Nicom.</cite>, v. 8.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f422'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r422'>422</a>. </span>The funeral pyre, which consumes the body, leaves the life -and power of the man untouched. The spirit survives, and -calls on the Gods that dwell in darkness to avenge him. The -very cry of wailing tends, as a prayer to them, to the exposure -of the murderer.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f423'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r423'>423</a>. </span>The Lykians, of whom Glaucos and Sarpedon are the -representative heroes in the <cite>Iliad</cite>, are named as the chief allies -of the Troïans.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f424'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r424'>424</a>. </span>The words embody the widespread feeling that the absence -of funereal honours affected the spirit of the dead, and that the -souls with whom he dwelt held him in high or low esteem -according as they had been given or withheld.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f425'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r425'>425</a>. </span>Pindar (<cite>Pyth.</cite> x. 47), the contemporary of Æschylos, had -made the name of these Hyperborei well known to all Greeks. -The vague dreams of men, before the earth had been searched -out, pictured a happy land as lying beyond their reach. There -were Islands of the Blest in the far West; Æthiopians, peaceful -and long-lived, in the South; and far away, beyond the cold -North, a people exempt from the common evils of humanity. -The latter have been connected with the old Aryan belief in the -paradise of Mount Meru. Comp. also Herod. iv. 421; <cite>Prom.</cite> -812.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f426'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r426'>426</a>. </span><i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Sc.</span></i>, the beating of both hands upon the breast, as the -Chorus uttered their lamentations.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f427'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r427'>427</a>. </span>Perhaps, simply “the sharp and bitter cry.” But the -rendering in the text seems justified as repeating the wish already -expressed (v. 260), that the murderers may die by this form of -death.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f428'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r428'>428</a>. </span>The Chorus at this point renew their words and cries of -lamentation, smiting on their breasts. By some critics this -speech and Antistrophe VII. are assigned to Electra, Antistrophe -VIII. to the Chorus, with a corresponding change in the -pronouns “my” and “thy.” The Chorus, as consisting of -Troïan captives, is represented as adopting the more vehement -Asiatic forms of wailing. Among these the Arians, Kissians, -and Mariandynians (<cite>Pers.</cite> 920) seem to have been most conspicuous -for their skill in lamentation, and, as such, were in -request where hired mourners were wanted. Compare the -opening chorus, v. 22.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f429'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r429'>429</a>. </span>The practice of mutilating the corpse of a murdered man by -cutting off his hands and feet and fastening them round his -waist, seems to have been looked on as rendering him powerless -to seek for vengeance. Comp. Soph. <cite>Elect.</cite> v. 437. This kind -of mutilation, and not mere wanton outrage, is what the Chorus -refer to.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f430'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r430'>430</a>. </span>As in v. 351 the loss of honour among the dead was represented -as one consequence of the absence of funereal rites from -those who loved the dead, so here the restoration of the children -to their rights appears as the condition without which that dishonour -must continue. If they succeed, then, and then only, -can they offer funereal banquets, year by year, as was the -custom. There may be a special reference to an Argive custom -mentioned by Plutarch (<cite>Quæst. Græc.</cite>, c. 24) of sacrificing immediately -after the death of a relative to Apollo, and thirty days -later to Hermes.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f431'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r431'>431</a>. </span>Another reference to the third cup of undiluted wine which -men drank to the honour of Zeus the Preserver. Comp. <cite>Agam.</cite> -v. 245.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f432'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r432'>432</a>. </span>Possibly the pronoun refers to Pylades.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f433'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r433'>433</a>. </span>The story of Althæa has perhaps been made most familiar -to English readers by Mr. Swinburne's <cite>Atalanta in Calydon</cite>. -More briefly told, the legend ran that she, being the wife of -Œneus, bare a son, who was believed to be the child of Ares—that -the Fates came to her when the boy, who was named -Meleagros, was seven days old, and told her that his life should -last until the firebrand then burning on the earth should be consumed. -She took the firebrand and quenched it, and laid it by -in a chest; but when Meleagros grew up, he joined in the chase -of the great boar of Calydon, and when he had slain it, gave the -skin as a trophy to Atalanta, and when his mother's brothers, -the sons of Thestios, claimed it as their right, he waxed wroth -with them and slew them. And then Althæa, in her grief, caring -more for her brothers than her son, took the brand from the -chest, and threw it into the fire, and so Meleagros died. Phrynichos -is said to have made the myth the subject of a drama. In -Homer (<cite>Il.</cite> x. 566), Althæa brings about her son's death by her -curses.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f434'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r434'>434</a>. </span>Skylla (not to be confounded with the sea-monster of -Messina) was the daughter of Nisos, king of Megaris, who had -on his head a lock of purple hair, which was a charm that preserved -his life from all danger. And the Cretans under Minos -attacked Nisos, and besieged him in his city; and Minos won -the love of Skylla, and tempted her with gifts, and she cut off -her father's lock of hair, and so he perished. But Minos, scorning -her for her deed, bound her by the feet to the stern of his -ship and drowned her.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f435'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r435'>435</a>. </span>Hermes, <em>i.e.</em>, in his office as the escort of the souls of the -dead to Hades.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f436'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r436'>436</a>. </span>The Chorus apparently is represented as on the point of -completing its catalogue of crimes committed by women with -the story of Clytæmnestra's guilt. Something leads them to -check themselves, and they are contented with a dark and vague -allusion.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f437'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r437'>437</a>. </span>The story of the Lemnian women is told by Herodotos (vi. -138). They rose up against their husbands and put them all to -death; and the deed passed into a proverb, so that all great -crimes were spoken of as Lemnian. This guilt is that alluded -to in Strophe III.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f438'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r438'>438</a>. </span>In every case of which the Chorus had spoken guilt had -been followed by retribution. So, it is implied, it will be in -that which is present to their thoughts.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f439'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r439'>439</a>. </span><i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Sc.</span></i>, is not forgotten or overlooked, but will assuredly meet -with its due punishment.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f440'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r440'>440</a>. </span>So in Homer (<cite>Il.</cite> xxii. 444), the warm bath is prepared by -Andromache for Hector on his return from the battle in which -he fell.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f441'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r441'>441</a>. </span>As in her speeches in the <cite>Agamemnon</cite> (vv. 595, 884), -Clytæmestra's words here also are full of significant ambiguity. -The “things that befit the house,” the proposed conference with -Ægisthos, her separation of Orestes from his companions, are -all indications of suspicion already half aroused. The last three -lines were probably spoken as an “aside.”</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f442'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r442'>442</a>. </span>Suasion is personified, and invoked to come and win -Clytæmnestra to trust herself in the power of the two avengers.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f443'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r443'>443</a>. </span>An alternative rendering is,</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Nay, say not that to him with show of hate.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f444'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r444'>444</a>. </span>Apollo in the shrine at Delphi.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f445'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r445'>445</a>. </span>Hermes invoked once more, as at once the patron of craft -and the escort of the dead.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f446'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r446'>446</a>. </span>Or “before our eyes.”</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f447'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r447'>447</a>. </span>The “treasured score” is explained by the words that follow -to mean the cry of exultation which the Chorus will raise when -the deed of vengeance is accomplished; or, possibly (as Mr. -Paley suggests), the funereal wail over the bodies of Ægisthos -and Clytæmnestra, which the Chorus would raise to avert the -guilt of the murder from Orestes.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f448'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r448'>448</a>. </span>As Perseus could only overcome the Gorgon, Medusa, by -turning away his eyes, lest looking on her he should turn to -stone, so Orestes was to avoid meeting his mother's glance, lest -that should unman him and blunt his purpose.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f449'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r449'>449</a>. </span>Ægisthos had suffered enough, he says, for his share in -Agamemnon's death. He has no wish that fresh odium should -fall on him, as being implicated also in the death of Orestes, of -which he has just heard.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f450'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r450'>450</a>. </span>The word (<i>ephedros</i>) was applied technically to one who sat -by during a conflict between two athletes, prepared to challenge -the victor to a fresh encounter. Orestes is such a combatant, -taking the place of Agamemnon.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f451'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r451'>451</a>. </span>So, in Homer (<cite>Il.</cite> xxii. 79), Hecuba, when the entreaties of -Priam had been in vain, makes this last appeal—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Then to the front his mother rushed, in tears,</div> - <div class='line'>Her bosom bare, with either hand her breast</div> - <div class='line'>Sustaining, and with tears addressed him thus,</div> - <div class='line'>'Hector, my son, thy mother's breast revere.'”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f452'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r452'>452</a>. </span>The reader will note this as the only speech put into the lips -of Pylades, though he is present as accompanying Orestes -throughout great part of the drama.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f453'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r453'>453</a>. </span>The different ethical standard applied to the guilt of the -husband and the wife was, we may well believe, that which prevailed -among the Athenians generally. It has only too close a -parallel in the ballads and romances of our own early literature.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f454'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r454'>454</a>. </span>The line is memorable as prophetic of the whole plot of the -<cite>Eumenides.</cite></p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f455'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r455'>455</a>. </span>The phrase “wail as to a tomb” seems to have been a by-word -for fruitless entreaty and lamentation.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f456'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r456'>456</a>. </span>Clytæmnestra sees now the important of the dream referred to -in vv. 518-522.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f457'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r457'>457</a>. </span>The words must be left in their obscurity. Commentators -have conjectured Orestes and Pylades, or the deaths of Agamemnon -and Iphigeneia, or those of Ægisthos and Clytæmnestra, -as the “two lions,” spoken of. The first seems most in harmony -with the context.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f458'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r458'>458</a>. </span>The Eternal Justice which orders all things is mightier than -any arbitrary will, such as men attribute to the Gods. That -will, even if we dare to think of it as changeable or evil, is -held in restraint. It cannot, even if it would, protect the evildoers.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f459'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r459'>459</a>. </span>The Chorus feel that they have been too long silent; now, -at last, they can speak. As slaves dreading punishment they -had been gagged before; now the gag is removed.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f460'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r460'>460</a>. </span>Or, “Once more for those who wail.”</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f461'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r461'>461</a>. </span>It is not clear with what form of animal life the <em>myræna</em> is -to be identified. The ideal implied is that of some sea-monster -whose touch was poisonous, but this does not hold good of the -“lamprey.”</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f462'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r462'>462</a>. </span>As the text stands, Orestes says that at last he can speak of -the murder over which he had long brooded in silence. Another -reading makes him speak of the oscillations in his own mind—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“Now do I praise myself, now wail and blame.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f463'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r463'>463</a>. </span>Comp. vv. 270-288.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f464'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r464'>464</a>. </span>Delphi was to the Greek (as Jerusalem was to mediæval -Christendom) the centre at once of his religious life and of the -material earth. Its rock was the <em>omphalos</em> of the world. Consecrated -widows watched over the sacred and perpetual fire. Once -only up to the time of Æschylos, when the Temple itself was -desecrated by the Persians, had it ceased to burn.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f465'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r465'>465</a>. </span>Once again we have the thought of the third cup offered as -a libation to Zeus as saviour and deliverer. The Chorus asks -whether this third deed of blood will be true to that idea and -work out deliverance.</p> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_1137'>1137</span> - <h2 id='p1137' class='c005'>EUMENIDES</h2> -</div> - -<h3 class='c013'>DRAMATIS PERSONÆ</h3> - -<div class='lg-container-b c003'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Pythian Priestess</span></div> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Apollo</span></div> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Athena</span></div> - <div class='line'><em>Ghost of Clytæmnestra</em></div> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Orestes</span></div> - <div class='line'><span class='sc'>Hermes</span></div> - <div class='line'><em>Chorus of the Erinnyes</em></div> - <div class='line'><em>Athenian Citizens, Women, and Girls</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c006'><em>ARGUMENT.—The Erinnyes who appeared to Orestes -after the murder of Clytæmnestra made his life miserable, -and drove him without rest from land to land. And he, -seeking to escape them, had recourse to the Oracle of -Apollo at Delphi, believing that he who had sent him to -do the work of vengeance would also help to free him from -this wretchedness. But the Erinnyes followed him there -also, and took their places even within the holy shrine of -the Oracle, and while Orestes knelt on the central hearth -as a suppliant, they sat upon the seats there, and for very -weariness fell asleep.</em></p> - -<div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1139'>1139</span></div> -<div class='ph2'> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div>EUMENIDES</div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Scene.</span>—<em>The Outer Court of the Oracle at</em> Delphi. <em>Inner shrine in</em></div> - <div><em>the background, with doors leading into it</em></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><em>Enter the</em> <span class='sc'>Pythian Priestess</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Pyth.</em> First, with this prayer, of all the Gods I honour</div> - <div class='line'>The primal seeress Earth, and Themis next,<a id='r466' /><a href='#f466' class='c011'><sup>[466]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Who in due order filled her mother's place,</div> - <div class='line'>(So runs the tale,) and in the third lot named,</div> - <div class='line'>With her good-will and doing wrong to none,</div> - <div class='line'>Another of the Titans' offspring sat,</div> - <div class='line'>Earth's daughter Phœbe, and as birthday gift</div> - <div class='line'>She gives it up to Phœbos,<a id='r467' /><a href='#f467' class='c011'><sup>[467]</sup></a> and he takes</div> - <div class='line'>His name from Phœbe. And he, leaving then</div> - <div class='line'>The pool<a id='r468' /><a href='#f468' class='c011'><sup>[468]</sup></a> and rocks of Delos, having steered</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1140'>1140</span>To the ship-traversed shores that Pallas owns,</div><div class='lnum'>10</div> - <div class='line'>Came to this land and to Parnassos' seat:</div> - <div class='line'>And with great reverence they escort him on,</div> - <div class='line'>Hephæstos' sons, road-makers,<a id='r469' /><a href='#f469' class='c011'><sup>[469]</sup></a> turning thus</div> - <div class='line'>The wilderness to land no longer wild;</div> - <div class='line'>And when he comes the people honour him,</div> - <div class='line'>And Delphos too,<a id='r470' /><a href='#f470' class='c011'><sup>[470]</sup></a> chief pilot of this land.</div> - <div class='line'>And him Zeus sets, his mind with skill inspired,</div> - <div class='line'>As the fourth seer upon these sacred seats;</div> - <div class='line'>And Loxias is his father Zeus's prophet.</div> - <div class='line'>These Gods in prologue of my prayer I worship;</div><div class='lnum'>20</div> - <div class='line'>Pallas Pronaia<a id='r471' /><a href='#f471' class='c011'><sup>[471]</sup></a> too claims highest praise;</div> - <div class='line'>The Nymphs adore I too where stands the rock</div> - <div class='line'>Korykian,<a id='r472' /><a href='#f472' class='c011'><sup>[472]</sup></a> hollow, loved of birds and haunt</div> - <div class='line'>Of Gods. [And Bromios<a id='r473' /><a href='#f473' class='c011'><sup>[473]</sup></a> also claims this place,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor can I now forget it, since the time</div> - <div class='line'>When he, a God, with help of Bacchants warred,</div> - <div class='line'>And planned a death for Pentheus, like a hare's.<a id='r474' /><a href='#f474' class='c011'><sup>[474]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1141'>1141</span>Invoking Pleistos'<a id='r475' /><a href='#f475' class='c011'><sup>[475]</sup></a> founts, Poseidon's might,</div> - <div class='line'>And Zeus most High, supreme Accomplisher,</div> - <div class='line'>I in due order sit upon this seat</div> - <div class='line'>As seeress, and I pray them that they grant</div> - <div class='line'>To find than all my former divinations</div><div class='lnum'>30</div> - <div class='line'>One better still. If Hellas pilgrims sends,</div> - <div class='line'>Let them approach by lot, as is our law;</div> - <div class='line'>For as the God guides I give oracles.<a id='r476' /><a href='#f476' class='c011'><sup>[476]</sup></a></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<em>She passes through the door to the adytum,</em></div> - <div class='line in4'><em>and after a pause returns trembling and</em></div> - <div class='line in4'><em>crouching with fear, supporting herself</em></div> - <div class='line in4'><em>with her hands against the walls and</em></div> - <div class='line in4'><em>columns. The door remains open, and</em></div> - <div class='line in4'><em>Orestes and the Erinnyes are seen in the</em></div> - <div class='line in4'><em>inner sanctuary</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Dread things to tell, and dread for eyes to see,</div> - <div class='line'>Have sent me back again from Loxias' shrine,</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>So that strength fails, nor can I nimbly move,</div> - <div class='line'>But run with help of hands, not speed of foot;</div> - <div class='line'>A woman old and terrified is nought,</div> - <div class='line'>A very child. Lo! into yon recess</div> - <div class='line'>With garlands hung I go, and there I see</div> - <div class='line'>Upon the central stone<a id='r477' /><a href='#f477' class='c011'><sup>[477]</sup></a> a God-loathed man,</div><div class='lnum'>40</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1142'>1142</span>Sitting as suppliant, and with hands that dripped</div> - <div class='line'>Blood-drops, and holding sword but newly drawn,</div> - <div class='line'>And branch of olive from the topmost growth,</div> - <div class='line'>With amplest tufts of white wool meetly wreathed;</div> - <div class='line'>For this I will say clearly.<a id='r478' /><a href='#f478' class='c011'><sup>[478]</sup></a> And a troop</div> - <div class='line'>Of women strange to look at sleepeth there,</div> - <div class='line'>Before this wanderer, seated on their stools;</div> - <div class='line'>Not women they, but Gorgons<a id='r479' /><a href='#f479' class='c011'><sup>[479]</sup></a> I must call them;</div> - <div class='line'>Nor yet can I to Gorgon forms compare them:</div> - <div class='line'>I have seen painted shapes that bear away</div><div class='lnum'>50</div> - <div class='line'>The feast of Phineus.<a id='r480' /><a href='#f480' class='c011'><sup>[480]</sup></a> Wingless, though, are these,</div> - <div class='line'>And swarth, and every way abominable.</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>They snort with breath that none may dare approach,</div> - <div class='line'>And from their eyes a loathsome humour pours,</div> - <div class='line'>And such their garb as neither to the shrine</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1143'>1143</span>Of Gods is meet to bring, nor mortal roof.</div> - <div class='line'>Ne'er have I seen a race that owns this tribe,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor is there land can boast it rears such brood,</div> - <div class='line'>Unhurt and free from sorrow for its pains.</div> - <div class='line'>Henceforth be it the lot of Loxias,</div><div class='lnum'>60</div> - <div class='line'>Our mighty lord, himself to deal with them:</div> - <div class='line'>True prophet-healer he, and portent-seer,</div> - <div class='line'>And for all others cleanser of their homes.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><em>Enter</em> <span class='sc'>Apollo</span> <em>from the inner adytum, attended</em></div> - <div><em>by</em> <span class='sc'>Hermes</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Apol.</em> [<em>To</em> <span class='sc'>Orestes</span>.] Nay, I'll not fail thee, but as close at hand</div> - <div class='line'>Will guard thee to the end, or though far off,</div> - <div class='line'>Will not prove yielding to thine adversaries;</div> - <div class='line'>And now thou see'st these fierce ones captive ta'en,</div> - <div class='line'>These loathly maidens fallen fast in sleep.</div> - <div class='line'>Hoary and ancient virgins they, with whom</div> - <div class='line'>Nor God, nor man, nor beast, holds intercourse.</div><div class='lnum'>70</div> - <div class='line'>They owe their birth to evils; for they dwell</div> - <div class='line'>In evil darkness, yea in Tartaros</div> - <div class='line'>Beneath the earth, and are the hate and dread</div> - <div class='line'>Of all mankind, and of Olympian Gods.</div> - <div class='line'>Yet fly thou, fly, and be not faint of heart;</div> - <div class='line'>For they will chase thee over mainland wide,</div> - <div class='line'>As thou dost tread the soil by wanderers tracked,</div> - <div class='line'>And o'er the ocean, and by sea-girt towns;</div> - <div class='line'>And fail thou not before the time, as brooding</div> - <div class='line'>O'er this great toil. But go to Pallas' city,</div> - <div class='line'>And sit, and clasp her ancient image<a id='r481' /><a href='#f481' class='c011'><sup>[481]</sup></a> there;</div><div class='lnum'>80</div> - <div class='line'>And there with judges of these things, and words</div> - <div class='line'>Strong to appease, will we a means devise</div> - <div class='line'>To free thee from these ills for evermore;</div> - <div class='line'>For I urged thee to take thy mother's life.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1144'>1144</span><em>Orest.</em> Thou know'st, O king Apollo, not to wrong;</div> - <div class='line'>And since thou know'st, learn also not to slight:</div> - <div class='line'>Thy strength gives full security for act.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Apol.</em> Remember, let no fear o'ercome thy soul;</div> - <div class='line'>And [<em>To</em> <span class='sc'>Hermes</span>] thou, my brother, of one father born,</div> - <div class='line'>My Hermes, guard him; true to that thy name,</div> - <div class='line'>Be thou his Guide, true shepherd of this man,</div> - <div class='line'>Who comes to me as suppliant: Zeus himself</div><div class='lnum'>90</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Reveres this reverence e'en to outcasts due,</div> - <div class='line'>When it to mortals comes with guidance good.<a id='r482' /><a href='#f482' class='c011'><sup>[482]</sup></a></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<em>Exit</em> <span class='sc'>Orestes</span> <em>led by</em> <span class='sc'>Hermes</span>. <span class='sc'>Apollo</span> <em>retires</em></div> - <div class='line in4'><em>within the adytum. The Ghost of</em> <span class='sc'>Clytæmnestra</span></div> - <div class='line in4'><em>rises from the ground</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> What ho! Sleep on! What need of sleepers now?</div> - <div class='line'>And I am put by you to foul disgrace</div> - <div class='line'>Among the other dead, nor fails reproach</div> - <div class='line'>Among the shades that I a murderess am;</div> - <div class='line'>And so in shame I wander, and I tell you</div> - <div class='line'>That at their hands I bear worst form of blame.</div> - <div class='line'>And much as I have borne from nearest kin,</div><div class='lnum'>100</div> - <div class='line'>Yet not one God is stirred to wrath for me,</div> - <div class='line'>Though done to death by matricidal hands.</div> - <div class='line'>See ye these heart-wounds, whence and how they came?</div> - <div class='line'>Yea, when it sleeps, the mind is bright with eyes;<a id='r483' /><a href='#f483' class='c011'><sup>[483]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1145'>1145</span>But in the day it is man's lot to lack</div> - <div class='line'>All true discernment. Many a gift of mine</div> - <div class='line'>Have ye lapped up, libations pure from wine,<a id='r484' /><a href='#f484' class='c011'><sup>[484]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>And soothing rites that shut out drunken mirth;</div> - <div class='line'>And I dread banquets of the night would offer</div> - <div class='line'>On altar-hearth, at hour no God might share.</div> - <div class='line'>And lo! all this is trampled under foot.</div><div class='lnum'>110</div> - <div class='line'>He is escaped, and flees, like fawn, away;</div> - <div class='line'>And even from the midst of all your toils</div> - <div class='line'>Has nimbly slipped, and draws wide mouth at you.</div> - <div class='line'>Hear ye; for I have spoken for my life:</div> - <div class='line'>Give heed, ye dark, earth-dwelling Goddesses,</div> - <div class='line'>I, Clytæmnestra's phantom, call on you.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<em>The Erinnyes moan in their sleep</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Moan on, the man is gone, and flees far off:</div> - <div class='line'>My kindred find protectors; I find none.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<em>Moan as before</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Too sleep-oppressed art thou, nor pitiest me:</div> - <div class='line'>Orestes, murderer of his mother, 'scapes.</div><div class='lnum'>120</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<em>Noises repeated</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Dost snort? Dost drowse? Wilt thou not rise and speed?</div> - <div class='line'>What have ye ever done but work out ill?</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<em>Noises as before</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Yea, sleep and toil, supreme conspirators,</div> - <div class='line'>Have withered up the dreaded dragon's strength.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> [<em>starting up suddenly with a yell.</em>] Seize him, seize, seize, yea, seize: look well to it.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Clytæm.</em> Thou, phantom-like,<a id='r485' /><a href='#f485' class='c011'><sup>[485]</sup></a> dost hunt thy prey, and criest,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1146'>1146</span>Like hound that never rests from care of toil.</div> - <div class='line'>What dost thou? (<em>to one Erinnys.</em>) Rise and let not toil o'ercome thee,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor, lulled to sleep, lose all thy sense of loss.</div> - <div class='line'>Let thy soul (<em>to another</em>) feel the pain of just reproach:</div><div class='lnum'>130</div> - <div class='line'>The wise of heart find that their goad and spur.</div> - <div class='line'>And thou (<em>to a third</em>), breathe on him with thy blood-flecked breath,</div> - <div class='line'>And with thy vapour, thy maw's fire, consume him;</div> - <div class='line'>Chase him, and wither with a fresh pursuit.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Leader of the Chor.</em> Wake, wake, I say; wake her, as I wake thee.</div> - <div class='line'>Dost slumber? Rise, I say, and shake off sleep.</div> - <div class='line'>Let's see if this our prelude be in vain.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Pah! pah! Oh me! we suffered, O my friends....</div> - <div class='line'>Yea, many mine own sufferings undeserved....</div> - <div class='line'>We suffered a great sorrow, full of woe,</div><div class='lnum'>140</div> - <div class='line in8'>An evil hard to bear.</div> - <div class='line'>Out of the nets he's slipped, our prey is gone:</div> - <div class='line'>O'ercome by sleep I have my quarry lost.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Ah, son of Zeus, a very robber thou,</div> - <div class='line'>Though young, thou didst old Goddesses ride down,<a id='r486' /><a href='#f486' class='c011'><sup>[486]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Honouring thy suppliant, godless though he be,</div> - <div class='line in8'>One whom his parents loathe:</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1147'>1147</span>Thou, though a God, a matricide hast freed:</div> - <div class='line'>Of which of these acts can one speak as just?</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Yea, this reproach that came to me in dreams</div><div class='lnum'>150</div> - <div class='line in8'>Smote me, as charioteer</div> - <div class='line'>Smites with a goad he in the middle grasps,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Beneath my breast, my heart;</div> - <div class='line'>'Tis ours to feel the keen, the o'er keen smart,</div> - <div class='line'>As by the public scourger fiercely lashed.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Such are the doings of these younger Gods,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Beyond all bounds of right</div> - <div class='line'>Stretching their power.... A clot of blood besmeared</div> - <div class='line in8'>Upon the base, the head,...</div> - <div class='line'>Earth's central shrine itself we now may see</div><div class='lnum'>160</div> - <div class='line'>Take to itself pollution terrible.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And thou, a seer, with guilt that stains thy hearth</div> - <div class='line'>Hast fouled thy shrine, self-prompted, self-impelled,</div> - <div class='line'>Against God's laws a mortal honouring,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And bringing low the Fates</div> - <div class='line in8'>Born in the hoary past.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Me he may vex, but shall not rescue him;</div> - <div class='line'>Though 'neath the earth he flee, he is not freed</div> - <div class='line'>For he, blood-stained, shall find upon his head</div> - <div class='line in8'>Another after me,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Destroyer foul and dread.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<span class='sc'>Apollo</span> <em>advances from the adytum and confronts</em></div> - <div class='line in4'><em>them</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Apol.</em> Out, out, I bid you, quickly from this temple;</div> - <div class='line'>Go forth, and leave this shrine oracular,</div><div class='lnum'>170</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1148'>1148</span>Lest, smitten with a serpent winged and bright,</div> - <div class='line'>Forth darted from my bow-string golden-wrought,</div> - <div class='line'>Thou in sore pain bring up dark foam, and vomit</div> - <div class='line'>The clots of blood thou suck'dst from human veins.</div> - <div class='line'>This is no house where ye may meetly come,</div> - <div class='line'>But there where heads upon the scaffold lie,<a id='r487' /><a href='#f487' class='c011'><sup>[487]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>And eyes are gouged, and throats of men are cut,</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>And mutilation mars the bloom of youth,</div> - <div class='line'>Where men are maimed and stoned to death, and groan</div> - <div class='line'>With bitter wailing, 'neath the spine impaled;</div><div class='lnum'>180</div> - <div class='line'>Hear ye what feast ye love, and so become</div> - <div class='line'>Loathed of the Gods? Yes, all your figure's fashion</div> - <div class='line'>Points clearly to it. Such as ye should dwell</div> - <div class='line'>In cave of lion battening upon blood,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor tarry in these sacred precincts here,</div> - <div class='line'>Working defilement. Go, and roam afield</div> - <div class='line'>Without a shepherd, for to flock like this</div> - <div class='line'>Not one of all the Gods is friendly found.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> O king Apollo, hear us in our turn:</div> - <div class='line'>No mere accomplice art thou of these things,</div><div class='lnum'>190</div> - <div class='line'>But guilty art in full as principal.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Apol.</em> How then? Prolong thy speech to tell me this.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Thou bad'st this stranger be a matricide.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Apol.</em> I bade him to avenge his sire. Why not?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Then thou did'st welcome here the blood just shed.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Apol.</em> I bade him seek this shrine as suppliant.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Yet us who were his escort thou revilest.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Apol.</em> It is not meet that ye come nigh this house.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Yet is this self-same task appointed us.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1149'>1149</span><em>Apol.</em> What function's this? Boast thou of nobler task?</div><div class='lnum'>200</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> We drive from home the murderers of their mothers.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Apol.</em> What? Those who kill a wife that slays her spouse?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> That deed brings not the guilt of blood of kin.<a id='r488' /><a href='#f488' class='c011'><sup>[488]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Apol.</em> <a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Truly thou mak'st dishonoured, and as nought,</div> - <div class='line'>The marriage-vows of Zeus and Hera great;</div> - <div class='line'>And by this reasoning Kypris too is shamed,</div> - <div class='line'>From whom men gain the ties of closest love.</div> - <div class='line'>For still to man and woman marriage bed,</div> - <div class='line'>Assigned by Fate and guided by the Right,</div> - <div class='line'>Is more than any oath. If thou then deal</div> - <div class='line'>So gently, when the one the other slays,</div><div class='lnum'>210</div> - <div class='line'>And dost not even look on them with wrath,</div> - <div class='line'>I say thou dost not justly chase Orestes;</div> - <div class='line'>For thou, in the one case, I know, dost rage;</div> - <div class='line'>I' the other, clearly tak'st it easily:</div> - <div class='line'>The Goddess Pallas shall our quarrel judge.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> That man I ne'er will leave for evermore.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Apol.</em> Chase him then, chase, and gain yet more of toil.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Curtail thou not my functions by thy speech.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Apol.</em> Ne'er by my choice would I thy functions own.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> True; great thy name among the thrones of Zeus:</div><div class='lnum'>220</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1150'>1150</span>But I, his mother's blood constraining me,</div> - <div class='line'>Will this man chase, and track him like a hound.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Apol.</em> And I will help him and my suppliant free;</div> - <div class='line'>For dreadful among Gods and mortals too</div> - <div class='line'>The suppliant's curse, should I abandon him.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Exeunt</span></i></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c000'><em>Scene changes to</em> Athens, <em>in front of the Temple of -Athena Polias, on the Acropolis</em><a id='r489' /><a href='#f489' class='c011'><sup>[489]</sup></a></p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><em>Enter</em> <span class='sc'>Orestes</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> [<em>clasping the statue of the Goddess.</em>] O Queen Athena, I at Loxias' hest</div> - <div class='line'>Am come: do thou receive me graciously,</div> - <div class='line'>Sin-stained though I have been: no guilt of blood</div> - <div class='line'>Is on my soul, nor is my hand unclean,</div> - <div class='line'>But now with stain toned down and worn away,</div> - <div class='line'>In other homes and journeyings among men,<a id='r490' /><a href='#f490' class='c011'><sup>[490]</sup></a></div><div class='lnum'>230</div> - <div class='line'>O'er land and water travelling alike,</div> - <div class='line'>Keeping great Loxias' charge oracular,</div> - <div class='line'>I come, O Goddess, to thy shrine and statue:</div> - <div class='line'>Here will I stay and wait the trial's issue.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><em>Enter the Erinnyes in pursuit</em></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Lo! here are clearest traces of the man:</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1151'>1151</span>Follow thou up that dumb informer's<a id='r491' /><a href='#f491' class='c011'><sup>[491]</sup></a> hints;</div> - <div class='line'>For as the hound pursues a wounded fawn,</div> - <div class='line'>So by red blood and oozing gore track we.</div> - <div class='line'>My lungs are panting with full many a toil,</div> - <div class='line'>Wearing man's strength down. Every spot of earth</div><div class='lnum'>240</div> - <div class='line'>Have I now searched, and o'er the sea in flight</div> - <div class='line'>Wingless I came pursuing, swift as ship;</div> - <div class='line'>And now full sure he's crouching somewhere here:</div> - <div class='line'>The smell of human blood wafts joy to me.</div> - <div class='line'>See, see again, look round ye every way,</div> - <div class='line'>Lest he, the murderer, slip away unscathed.</div> - <div class='line'>He, it is true, in full security,</div> - <div class='line'>Clasping the statue of the deathless goddess,</div> - <div class='line'>Would fain now take his trial at our hands.</div><div class='lnum'>250</div> - <div class='line'>This may not be; a mother's blood out-poured</div> - <div class='line'>(Pah! pah!) can never be raised up again,</div> - <div class='line'>The life-blood shed is pourèd out and gone,</div> - <div class='line'>But thou must give to us to suck the blood</div> - <div class='line'>Red from thy living members; yea, from thee,</div> - <div class='line'>May I gain meal of drink undrinkable!</div> - <div class='line'>And, having dried thee up, I'll drag thee down</div> - <div class='line'>Alive to bear the doom of matricide.</div> - <div class='line'>There thou shalt see if any other man</div> - <div class='line'>Has sinned in not revering God or guest,</div> - <div class='line'>Or parents dear, that each receiveth there</div><div class='lnum'>260</div> - <div class='line'>The recompense of sin that Vengeance claims.</div> - <div class='line'>For Hades is a mighty arbiter</div> - <div class='line'>Of those that dwell below, and with a mind</div> - <div class='line'>That writes true record all man's deeds surveys.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> I, taught by troubles, know full many a form</div> - <div class='line'>Of cleansing rites,—to speak, when that is meet,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1152'>1152</span>And when 'tis not, keep silence, and in this</div> - <div class='line'>I by wise teacher was enjoined to speak;</div> - <div class='line'>For the blood fails and fades from off my hands;</div> - <div class='line'>The guilt of matricide is washed away.</div><div class='lnum'>270</div> - <div class='line'>For when 'twas fresh, it then was all dispelled,</div> - <div class='line'>At Phœbos' shrine, by spells of slaughtered swine.</div> - <div class='line'>Long would the story be, if told complete,</div> - <div class='line'>Of all I joined in harmless fellowship.</div> - <div class='line'>Time waxing old, too, cleanses all alike:</div> - <div class='line'>And now with pure lips, I in words devout,</div> - <div class='line'>Call Athenæa, whom this land owns queen,</div> - <div class='line'>To come and help me: So without a war</div> - <div class='line'>Shall she gain me, my land, my Argive people,</div><div class='lnum'>280</div> - <div class='line'>Full faithful friends, allies for evermore;<a id='r492' /><a href='#f492' class='c011'><sup>[492]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>But whether in the climes of Libyan land,</div> - <div class='line'>Hard by her birth-stream's foam, Tritonian named,<a id='r493' /><a href='#f493' class='c011'><sup>[493]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>She stands upright, or sits with feet enwrapt,</div> - <div class='line'>Helping her friends, or o'er Phlegræan plains,</div> - <div class='line'>Like a bold chieftain, she keeps watchful guard,<a id='r494' /><a href='#f494' class='c011'><sup>[494]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Oh, may she come! (far off a God can hear,)</div> - <div class='line'>And work for me redemption from these ills!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1153'>1153</span><em>Chor.</em> Nay, nor Apollo, nor Athena's might</div> - <div class='line'>Can save thee from the doom of perishing,</div><div class='lnum'>290</div> - <div class='line'>Outcast, not knowing where to look for joy,</div> - <div class='line'>The bloodless food of demons, a mere shade.</div> - <div class='line'>Wilt thou not answer? Scornest thou my words,</div> - <div class='line'>A victim reared and consecrate to me?</div> - <div class='line'>Alive thou'lt feed me, not at altar slain;</div> - <div class='line'>And thou shalt hear our hymn as spell to bind thee.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c000'><em>The Erinnyes, as they sing the ode that follows, move round -and round in solemn and weird measure</em></p> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>Come, then, let us form our chorus;</div> - <div class='line in8'>Since 'tis now our will to utter</div> - <div class='line in8'>Melody or song most hateful,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Telling how our band assigneth</div> - <div class='line in8'>All the lots that fall to mortals;</div><div class='lnum'>300</div> - <div class='line in8'>And we boast that we are righteous:</div> - <div class='line in8'>Not on one who pure hands lifteth</div> - <div class='line in8'>Falleth from us any anger,</div> - <div class='line in8'>But his life he passeth scatheless;</div> - <div class='line in8'>But to him who sins like this man,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And his blood-stained hands concealeth,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Witnesses of those who perish,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Coming to exact blood-forfeit,</div> - <div class='line in8'>We appear to work completeness.</div><div class='lnum'>310</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>O mother who did'st bear me, mother Night,</div> - <div class='line'>A terror of the living and the dead,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Hear me, oh hear!</div> - <div class='line'>The son of Leto puts me to disgrace</div> - <div class='line in8'>And robs me of my spoil,</div> - <div class='line'>This crouching victim for a mother's blood:</div> - <div class='line in8'>And over him as slain,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1154'>1154</span>We raise this chant of madness, frenzy-working,<a id='r495' /><a href='#f495' class='c011'><sup>[495]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>The hymn the Erinnyes love,</div> - <div class='line'>A spell upon the soul, a lyreless strain</div> - <div class='line in8'>That withers up men's strength.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>This lot the all-pervading Destiny</div><div class='lnum'>320</div> - <div class='line'>Hath spun to hold its ground for evermore,</div> - <div class='line in8'>That we should still attend</div> - <div class='line'>On him on whom there rests the guilt of blood</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of kin shed causelessly,</div> - <div class='line'>Till earth lie o'er him; nor shall death set free.</div> - <div class='line in8'>And over him as slain,</div> - <div class='line'>We raise this chant of madness, frenzy-working,</div> - <div class='line in8'>The hymn the Erinnyes love,</div> - <div class='line'>A spell upon the soul, a lyreless strain</div> - <div class='line in8'>That withers up men's strength.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Such lot was then assigned us at our birth:</div> - <div class='line'>From us the Undying Ones must hold aloof:</div><div class='lnum'>330</div> - <div class='line in8'>Nor is there one who shares</div> - <div class='line in8'>The banquet-meal with us;</div> - <div class='line'>In garments white I have nor part nor lot;<a id='r496' /><a href='#f496' class='c011'><sup>[496]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>My choice was made for overthrow of homes,</div> - <div class='line'>Where home-bred slaughter works a loved one's death:</div> - <div class='line in8'>Ha! hunting after him,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Strong though he be, 'tis ours</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>To wear the newness of his young blood down.<a id='r497' /><a href='#f497' class='c011'><sup>[497]</sup></a></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1155'>1155</span><span class='sc'>Antistrophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Since 'tis our work another's task to take,<a id='r498' /><a href='#f498' class='c011'><sup>[498]</sup></a></div><div class='lnum'>340</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>The Gods indeed may bar the force of prayers</div> - <div class='line in8'>Men offer unto me,</div> - <div class='line in8'>But may not clash in strife;</div> - <div class='line'>For Zeus doth cast us from his fellowship,</div> - <div class='line'>“Blood-dropping, worthy of his utmost hate.”...</div> - <div class='line'>For leaping down as from the topmost height,</div> - <div class='line in8'>I on my victim bring</div> - <div class='line in8'>The crushing force of feet,</div> - <div class='line'>Limbs that o'erthrow e'en those that swiftly run,</div> - <div class='line in8'>An Atè hard to bear.</div><div class='lnum'>350</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And fame of men, though very lofty now</div> - <div class='line in8'>Beneath the clear, bright sky,</div> - <div class='line'>Below the earth grows dim and fades away</div> - <div class='line'>Before the attack of us, the black-robed ones,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And these our dancings wild,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Which all men loathe and hate.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Falling in frenzied guilt, he knows it not;</div> - <div class='line in8'>So thick the blinding cloud</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>That o'er him floats; and Rumour widely spread</div> - <div class='line'>With many a sigh reports the dreary doom,</div> - <div class='line in8'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1156'>1156</span>A mist that o'er the house</div> - <div class='line in8'>In gathering darkness broods.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe IV</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Fixed is the law, no lack of means find we;</div><div class='lnum'>360</div> - <div class='line in8'>We work out all our will,</div> - <div class='line'>We, the dread Powers, the registrars of crime,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Whom mortals fail to soothe,</div> - <div class='line'>Fulfilling tasks dishonoured, unrevered,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Apart from all the Gods,</div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>In foul and sunless gloom,<a id='r499' /><a href='#f499' class='c011'><sup>[499]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Driving o'er rough steep road both those that see,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And those whose eyes are dark.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe IV</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>What mortal man then doth not bow in awe</div> - <div class='line in8'>And fear before all this,</div> - <div class='line'>Hearing from me the destined ordinance</div> - <div class='line in8'>Assigned me by the Gods?</div><div class='lnum'>370</div> - <div class='line'>This task of mine is one of ancient days;</div> - <div class='line in8'>Nor meet I here with scorn,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Though 'neath the earth I dwell,</div> - <div class='line'>And live there in the darkness thick and dense,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Where never sunbeam falls.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><em>Enter</em> <span class='sc'>Athena</span>, <em>appearing in her chariot, and then alights</em></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Athena.</em> I heard far off the cry of thine entreaty</div> - <div class='line'>E'en from Scamandros,<a id='r500' /><a href='#f500' class='c011'><sup>[500]</sup></a> claiming there mine own,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1157'>1157</span>The land which all Achaia's foremost leaders,</div> - <div class='line'>As portion chief from out the spoils of war,</div> - <div class='line'>Gave to me, trees and all, for evermore,</div> - <div class='line'>A special gift for Theseus' progeny.</div><div class='lnum'>380</div> - <div class='line'>Thence came I plying foot that never tires,</div> - <div class='line'>Flapping my ægis-folds, no need of wings,</div> - <div class='line'>My chariot drawn by young and vigorous steeds:</div> - <div class='line'>And seeing this new presence in the land,</div> - <div class='line'>I have no fear, though wonder fills mine eyes;</div> - <div class='line'>Who, pray, are ye? To all of you I speak,</div> - <div class='line'>And to this stranger at my statue suppliant.</div> - <div class='line'>And as for you, like none of Nature's births,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor seen by Gods among the Goddess-forms,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor yet in likeness of a mortal shape....</div><div class='lnum'>390</div> - <div class='line'>But to speak ill of neighbours blameless found</div> - <div class='line'>Is far from just, and Right holds back from it.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Daughter of Zeus, thou shalt learn all in brief;</div> - <div class='line'>Children are we of everlasting Night;</div> - <div class='line'>[At home, beneath the earth, they call us Curses.]</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Athena.</em> Your race I know, and whence ye take your name.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Thou shalt soon know then what mine office is.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Athena.</em> Then could I know, if ye clear speech would speak.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> We from their home drive forth all murderers.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Athena.</em> Where doth the slayer find the goal of flight?</div><div class='lnum'>400</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Where to find joy in nought is still his wont.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Athena.</em> And whirrest thou such flight on this man here?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Yea, for he thought it meet to slay his mother.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Athena.</em> Was there no other power whose wrath he feared?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1158'>1158</span><em>Chor.</em> What impulse, then, should prick to matricide?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Athena.</em> Two sides are here, and I but half have heard.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> But he nor takes nor tenders us an oath.<a id='r501' /><a href='#f501' class='c011'><sup>[501]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Athena.</em> Thou lov'st the show of Justice more than act.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> How so? Inform me. Skill thou dost not lack!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Athena.</em> 'Tis not by oaths a cause unjust shall win.<a id='r502' /><a href='#f502' class='c011'><sup>[502]</sup></a></div><div class='lnum'>410</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Search out the cause, then, and right judgment judge.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1159'>1159</span><em>Athena.</em> And would ye trust to me to end the cause?<a id='r503' /><a href='#f503' class='c011'><sup>[503]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> How else? Thy worth, and worthy stock we honour.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Athena.</em> What dost thou wish, O stranger, to reply?</div> - <div class='line'>Tell thou thy land, thy race, thy life's strange chance,</div> - <div class='line'>And then ward off this censure aimed at thee,</div> - <div class='line'>Since thou sitt'st trusting in thy right, and hold'st</div> - <div class='line'>This mine own image, near mine altar hearth,</div> - <div class='line'>A suppliant, like Ixion,<a id='r504' /><a href='#f504' class='c011'><sup>[504]</sup></a> honourable.</div> - <div class='line'>Answer all this in speech intelligible.</div><div class='lnum'>420</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> O Queen Athena, from thy last words starting,</div> - <div class='line'>I first will free thee from a weighty care:</div> - <div class='line'>I am not now defiled: no curse abides</div> - <div class='line'>Upon the hand that on thy statue rests;</div> - <div class='line'>And I will give thee proof full strong of this.</div> - <div class='line'>The law is fixed the murderer shall be dumb,</div> - <div class='line'>Till at the hand of one who frees from blood,</div> - <div class='line'>The purple stream from yeanling swine run o'er him;<a id='r505' /><a href='#f505' class='c011'><sup>[505]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Long since at other houses these dread rites<a id='r506' /><a href='#f506' class='c011'><sup>[506]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1160'>1160</span>We have gone through, slain victims, flowing streams:</div> - <div class='line'>This care, then, I can speak of now as gone.</div><div class='lnum'>430</div> - <div class='line'>And how my lineage stands thou soon shalt know:</div> - <div class='line'>An Argive I, my sire well known to thee,</div> - <div class='line'>Chief ruler of the seamen, Agamemnon,</div> - <div class='line'>With whom thou madest Troïa, Ilion's city,</div> - <div class='line'>To be no city. He, when he came home,</div> - <div class='line'>Died without honour; and my dark-souled mother</div> - <div class='line'>Enwrapt and slew him with her broidered toils,</div> - <div class='line'>Which bore their witness of the murder wrought</div> - <div class='line'>There in the bath; and I, on my return,</div><div class='lnum'>440</div> - <div class='line'>(Till then an exile,) did my mother kill,</div> - <div class='line'>(That deed I'll not deny,) in forfeit due</div> - <div class='line'>Of blood for blood of father best beloved;</div> - <div class='line'>And Loxias, too, is found accomplice here,</div> - <div class='line'>Foretelling woes that pricked my heart to act,</div> - <div class='line'>If I did nought to those accomplices</div> - <div class='line'>In that same crime. But thou, judge thou my cause,</div> - <div class='line'>If what I did were right or wrong, and I,</div> - <div class='line'>Whate'er the issue, will be well content.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Athena.</em> Too great this matter, if a mortal man</div> - <div class='line'>Think to decide it. Nor is't meet for me</div> - <div class='line'>To judge a cause of murder stirred by wrath;</div><div class='lnum'>450</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>And all the more since thou with contrite soul</div> - <div class='line'>Hast come to this my house a suppliant,</div> - <div class='line'>Harmless and pure. I now, in spite of all,</div> - <div class='line'>Take thee as one my city need not blame;<a id='r507' /><a href='#f507' class='c011'><sup>[507]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>But these hold office that forbids dismissal,</div> - <div class='line'>And should they fail of victory in this cause,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1161'>1161</span>Hereafter from their passionate mood will poison<a id='r508' /><a href='#f508' class='c011'><sup>[508]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Fall on the land, disease intolerable,</div> - <div class='line'>And lasting for all time. E'en thus it stands;</div> - <div class='line'>And both alike, their staying or dismissal,</div> - <div class='line'>Are unto me perplexing and disastrous.</div> - <div class='line'>But since the matter thus hath come on me,</div> - <div class='line'>I will appoint as judges of this murder</div> - <div class='line'>Men bound by oath, a law for evermore;<a id='r509' /><a href='#f509' class='c011'><sup>[509]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>And ye, call ye your proofs and witnesses,</div> - <div class='line'>Sworn pledges given to help the cause of right.</div> - <div class='line'>And I, selecting of my citizens</div> - <div class='line'>Those who are best, will come again that they</div> - <div class='line'>May judge this matter truly, taking oaths</div> - <div class='line'>To utter nought against the law of right. [<em>Exit</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Now will there be an outbreak of new laws:</div> - <div class='line in8'>If victory shall rest</div> - <div class='line'>Upon the wrong right of this matricide,</div><div class='lnum'>470</div> - <div class='line in8'>This deed will prompt forthwith</div> - <div class='line'>All mortal men to callous recklessness.</div> - <div class='line in8'>And many deaths, I trow,</div> - <div class='line'>At children's hands their parents now await</div> - <div class='line in8'>Through all the time to come.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>For since no wrath on evil deeds will creep</div> - <div class='line in8'>Henceforth from those who watch</div> - <div class='line'>With wild, fierce souls the evil deeds of men,</div> - <div class='line in8'>I will let loose all crime;</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>And each from each shall seek in eager quest,</div><div class='lnum'>480</div> - <div class='line in8'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Speaking of neighbour's ills,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1162'>1162</span><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>For pause and lull of woes;<a id='r510' /><a href='#f510' class='c011'><sup>[510]</sup></a> yet wretched man,</div> - <div class='line in8'>He speaks of cures that fail.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>Henceforth let none call us,</div> - <div class='line in8'>When smitten by mischance,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Uttering this cry of prayer,</div> - <div class='line'>“O Justice, and O ye, Erinnyes' thrones!”</div> - <div class='line'>Such wail, perchance, a father then shall utter,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Or mother newly slain,</div> - <div class='line'>Since, fallen low, the shrine of Justice now</div> - <div class='line in8'>Lies prostrate in the dust.</div><div class='lnum'>490</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>There are with whom 'tis well</div> - <div class='line in8'>That awe should still abide,</div> - <div class='line in8'>As watchman o'er their souls.</div> - <div class='line'>Calm wisdom gained by sorrow profits much:</div> - <div class='line'>For who that in the gladness of his heart,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Or man or commonwealth,</div> - <div class='line'>Has nought of this, would bow before the Right</div> - <div class='line in8'>Humbly as heretofore?<a id='r511' /><a href='#f511' class='c011'><sup>[511]</sup></a></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>Praise not the lawless life,</div><div class='lnum'>500</div> - <div class='line'>Nor that which owns a despot's sovereignty;</div> - <div class='line'>To the true mean in all God gives success,<a id='r512' /><a href='#f512' class='c011'><sup>[512]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1163'>1163</span>And with far other mood,</div> - <div class='line in8'>On other course looks on;</div> - <div class='line'>And I will say, with this in harmony,</div> - <div class='line'>That Pride is truly child of Godlessness;</div> - <div class='line in8'>While from the soul's true health</div> - <div class='line'>Comes the fair fortune, loved of all mankind,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And aim of many a prayer.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>And now, I say, in sum,</div><div class='lnum'>510</div> - <div class='line'>Revere the altar reared to Justice high,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor, thine eye set on gain, with godless foot</div> - <div class='line in8'>Treat it contemptuously:</div> - <div class='line in8'>For wrath shall surely come;</div> - <div class='line'>The appointed end abideth still for all.</div> - <div class='line'>Therefore let each be found full honour giving</div> - <div class='line in8'>To parents, and to those,</div> - <div class='line'>The honoured guests that gather in his house,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Let him due reverence show.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe IV</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And one who of his own free will is just,</div><div class='lnum'>520</div> - <div class='line in8'>Not by enforced constraint,</div> - <div class='line in8'>He shall not be unblest,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor can he e'er be utterly o'erthrown;</div> - <div class='line'>But he that dareth, and transgresseth all,</div> - <div class='line in8'>In wild, confusèd deeds,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Where Justice is not seen,</div> - <div class='line'>I say that he perforce, as time wears on,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Will have to take in sail,</div> - <div class='line'>When trouble makes him hers, and each yard-arm</div> - <div class='line in8'>Is shivered by the blast.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe IV</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And then he calls on those who hear him not,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And struggles all in vain,</div> - <div class='line in8'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1164'>1164</span>In the fierce waves' mid-whirl;</div> - <div class='line'>And God still mocks the man of fevered mood,</div><div class='lnum'>530</div> - <div class='line'>When he sees him who bragged it ne'er would come,</div> - <div class='line in8'>With woes inextricable</div> - <div class='line in8'>Worn out, and failing still</div> - <div class='line'>To weather round the perilous promontory;</div> - <div class='line in8'>And for all time to come,</div> - <div class='line'>Wrecking on reefs of Vengeance bliss once high,</div> - <div class='line in8'>He dies unwept, unseen.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c000'><em>The scene changes to the Areopagos.</em> <em>Enter</em> <span class='sc'>Athena</span>, -<em>followed by Herald and twelve Athenian citizens</em></p> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Athena.</em> Cry out, O herald; the great host hold back;</div> - <div class='line'>Then let Tyrrhenian trumpet,<a id='r513' /><a href='#f513' class='c011'><sup>[513]</sup></a> piercing heaven,</div> - <div class='line'>Filled with man's breath, to all that host send forth</div> - <div class='line'>The full-toned notes, for while this council-hall</div><div class='lnum'>540</div> - <div class='line'>Is filling, it is meet men hold their peace.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<em>Herald blows his trumpet</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And let the city for all time to come</div> - <div class='line'>Learn these my laws, and this accused one too,</div> - <div class='line'>That so the trial may be rightly judged.<a id='r514' /><a href='#f514' class='c011'><sup>[514]</sup></a></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<em>As</em> <span class='sc'>Athena</span> <em>speaks</em>, <span class='sc'>Apollo</span> <em>enters</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> O King Apollo, rule thou o'er thine own;</div> - <div class='line'>But what hast thou to do with this our cause?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Apol.</em> I am come both as witness,—for this man</div> - <div class='line'>Is here as suppliant, that on my hearth sat,</div> - <div class='line'>And I his cleanser am from guilt of blood,—</div> - <div class='line'>And to plead for him as his advocate:</div> - <div class='line'>I bear the blame of that his mother's death.</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1165'>1165</span>But thou, whoe'er dost act as president,</div> - <div class='line'>Open the suit in way well known to thee.<a id='r515' /><a href='#f515' class='c011'><sup>[515]</sup></a></div><div class='lnum'>550</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Athena.</em> [<em>to the Erinnyes.</em>] 'Tis yours to speak; I thus the pleadings open,</div> - <div class='line'>For so the accuser, speaking first, shall have,</div> - <div class='line'>Of right, the task to state the case to us.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Many are we, but briefly will we speak;</div> - <div class='line'>And answer thou [<em>to</em> <span class='sc'>Orestes</span>], in thy turn, word for word;</div> - <div class='line'>First tell us this, did'st thou thy mother slay?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> I slew her: of that fact is no denial.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Here, then, is one of our three bouts<a id='r516' /><a href='#f516' class='c011'><sup>[516]</sup></a> decided.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> Thou boastest this o'er one not yet thrown down.</div><div class='lnum'>560</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> This thou at least must tell, how thou did'st slay her.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> E'en so; her throat I cut with hand sword-armed.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> By whom persuaded, and with whose advice?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> [<em>Pointing to</em> <span class='sc'>Apollo</span>.] By His divine command: He bears me witness.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> The prophet-God prompt thee to matricide!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> Yea, and till now I do not blame my lot.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Nay, when found guilty, soon thou'lt change thy tone.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> I trust my sire will send help from the tomb.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Trust in the dead, thou murderer of thy mother!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1166'>1166</span><em>Orest.</em> Yes; for in her two great pollutions met.</div><div class='lnum'>570</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> How so, I pray? Inform the court of this.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> She both her husband and my father slew.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Nay then, thou liv'st, and she gets quit by death.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> Why, while she lived, did'st thou to chase her fail?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> The man she slew was not one of blood with her.<a id='r517' /><a href='#f517' class='c011'><sup>[517]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> And does my mother's blood then flow in me?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> E'en so; how else, O murderer, reared she thee</div> - <div class='line'>Within her womb? Disown'st thou mother's blood?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> [<em>Turning to</em> <span class='sc'>Apollo</span>.] Now bear thou witness, and declare to me,</div> - <div class='line'>Apollo, if I slew her righteously;</div><div class='lnum'>580</div> - <div class='line'>For I the deed, as fact, will not deny.</div> - <div class='line'>But whether right or wrong this deed of blood</div> - <div class='line'>Seem in thine eyes, judge thou that these may hear.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Apol.</em> I will to you, Athena's solemn council,</div> - <div class='line'>Speak truly, and as prophet will not lie.</div> - <div class='line'>Ne'er have I spoken on prophetic throne,</div> - <div class='line'>Of man, or woman, or of commonwealth,</div> - <div class='line'>But as great Zeus, Olympian Father, bade;</div> - <div class='line'>And that ye learn how much this plea avails,</div> - <div class='line'>I bid you [<em>turning to the court of jurymen</em>] follow out my Father's will;</div><div class='lnum'>590</div> - <div class='line'>No oath can be of greater might than Zeus.<a id='r518' /><a href='#f518' class='c011'><sup>[518]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1167'>1167</span><em>Chor.</em> Zeus, then, thou say'st, did prompt the oracle</div> - <div class='line'>That this Orestes here, his father's blood</div> - <div class='line'>Avenging, should his mother's rights o'erthrow?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Apol.</em> 'Tis a quite other thing for hero-chief,</div> - <div class='line'>Bearing the honour of Zeus-given sceptre,</div> - <div class='line'>To die, and at a woman's hands, not e'en</div> - <div class='line'>By swift, strong dart, from Amazonian bow,<a id='r519' /><a href='#f519' class='c011'><sup>[519]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>But as thou, Pallas, now shalt hear, and those</div> - <div class='line'>Who sit to give their judgment in this cause;</div><div class='lnum'>600</div> - <div class='line'>For when he came successful from the trade</div> - <div class='line'>Of war with largest gains, receiving him</div> - <div class='line'>With kindly words of praise, she spread a robe</div> - <div class='line'>Over the bath, yes, even o'er its edge,</div> - <div class='line'>As he was bathing, and entangling him</div> - <div class='line'>In endless folds of cloak of cunning work,</div> - <div class='line'>She strikes her lord down. Thus the tale is told</div> - <div class='line'>Of her lord's murder, chief whom all did honour,</div> - <div class='line'>The ships' great captain. So I tell it out,</div> - <div class='line'>E'en as it was, to thrill the people's hearts,</div> - <div class='line'>Who now are set to give their verdict here.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Zeus then a father's death, as thou dost say,</div><div class='lnum'>610</div> - <div class='line'>Of highest moment holds, yet He himself</div> - <div class='line'>Bound fast in chains his aged father, Cronos;<a id='r520' /><a href='#f520' class='c011'><sup>[520]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1168'>1168</span>Are not thy words at variance with the facts?</div> - <div class='line'>I call on you [<em>to the Court</em>] to witness what he says.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Apol.</em> O hateful creatures, loathèd of the Gods,</div> - <div class='line'>Those chains may be undone, that wrong be cured,</div> - <div class='line'>And many a means of rescue may be found:</div> - <div class='line'>But when the dust has drunk the blood of men,</div> - <div class='line'>No resurrection comes for one that's dead:</div> - <div class='line'>No charm for these things hath my sire devised;</div> - <div class='line'>But all things else he turneth up or down,</div><div class='lnum'>620</div> - <div class='line'>And orders without toil or weariness.<a id='r521' /><a href='#f521' class='c011'><sup>[521]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Take heed how thou help this man to escape;</div> - <div class='line'>Shall he who stained earth with his mother's blood</div> - <div class='line'>Then dwell in Argos in his father's house?</div> - <div class='line'>What public altars can he visit now?</div> - <div class='line'>What lustral rite of clan or tribe admit him?<a id='r522' /><a href='#f522' class='c011'><sup>[522]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Apol.</em> This too I'll say; judge thou if I speak right:</div> - <div class='line'>The mother is not parent of the child</div> - <div class='line'>That is called hers, but nurse of embryo sown.</div> - <div class='line'>He that begets is parent:<a id='r523' /><a href='#f523' class='c011'><sup>[523]</sup></a> she, as stranger,</div><div class='lnum'>630</div> - <div class='line'>For stranger rears the scion, if God mar not;</div> - <div class='line'>And of this fact I'll give thee proof full sure.</div> - <div class='line'>A father there may be without a mother:</div> - <div class='line'>Here nigh at hand, as witness, is the child</div> - <div class='line'>Of high Olympian Zeus, for she not e'en</div> - <div class='line'>Was nurtured in the darkness of the womb,<a id='r524' /><a href='#f524' class='c011'><sup>[524]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1169'>1169</span>Yet such a scion may no God beget.</div> - <div class='line'>I, both in all else, Pallas, as I know,</div> - <div class='line'>Will make thy city and thy people great,</div> - <div class='line'>And now this man have sent as suppliant</div> - <div class='line'>Upon thy hearth, that he may faithful prove</div><div class='lnum'>640</div> - <div class='line'>Now and for ever, and that thou, O Goddess,</div> - <div class='line'>May'st gain him as ally, and all his race,</div> - <div class='line'>And that it last as law for evermore,</div> - <div class='line'>That these men's progeny our treaties own.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Athena.</em> [<em>To jurors.</em>] I bid you give, according to your conscience,</div> - <div class='line'>A verdict just; enough has now been said.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> We have shot forth our every weapon now:</div> - <div class='line'>I wait to hear what way the strife is judged.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Athena.</em> [<em>To Chorus.</em>] How shall I order this, unblamed by you?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> [<em>To jurors.</em>] Ye heard what things ye heard, and in your hearts</div> - <div class='line'>Reverence your oaths, and give your votes, O friends.</div><div class='lnum'>650</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Athena.</em> Hear ye my order, O ye Attic people,</div> - <div class='line'>In act to judge your first great murder-cause.</div> - <div class='line'>And henceforth shall the host of Ægeus' race<a id='r525' /><a href='#f525' class='c011'><sup>[525]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>For ever own this council-hall of judges:</div> - <div class='line'>And for this Ares' hill, the Amazons' seat</div> - <div class='line'>And camp when they, enraged with Theseus, came<a id='r526' /><a href='#f526' class='c011'><sup>[526]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1170'>1170</span>In hostile march, and built as counterwork</div> - <div class='line'>This citadel high-reared, a city new,</div> - <div class='line'>And sacrificed to Ares, whence 'tis named</div> - <div class='line'>As Ares' hill and fortress: in this, I say,</div><div class='lnum'>660</div> - <div class='line'>The reverent awe its citizens shall own,</div> - <div class='line'>And fear, awe's kindred, shall restrain from wrong</div> - <div class='line'>By day, nor less by night, so long as they,</div> - <div class='line'>The burghers, alter not themselves their laws:</div> - <div class='line'>But if with drain of filth and tainted soil</div> - <div class='line'>Clear river thou pollute, no drink thou'lt find.<a id='r527' /><a href='#f527' class='c011'><sup>[527]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>I give my counsel to you, citizens,</div> - <div class='line'>To reverence and guard well that form of state</div> - <div class='line'>Which is not lawless, nor tyrannical,</div> - <div class='line'>And not to cast all fear from out the city;<a id='r528' /><a href='#f528' class='c011'><sup>[528]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>For what man lives devoid of fear and just?</div> - <div class='line'>But rightly shrinking, owning awe like this,</div><div class='lnum'>670</div> - <div class='line'>Ye then would have a bulwark of your land,</div> - <div class='line'>A safeguard for your city, such as none</div> - <div class='line'>Boast or in Skythia's<a id='r529' /><a href='#f529' class='c011'><sup>[529]</sup></a> or in Pelops' clime.</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1171'>1171</span>This council I establish pure from bribe,</div> - <div class='line'>Reverend, and keen to act, for those that sleep<a id='r530' /><a href='#f530' class='c011'><sup>[530]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>An ever-watchful sentry of the land.</div> - <div class='line'>This charge of mine I thus have lengthened out</div> - <div class='line'>For you, my people, for all time to come.</div> - <div class='line'>And now 'tis meet ye rise, and take your ballots,<a id='r531' /><a href='#f531' class='c011'><sup>[531]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>And so decide the cause, maintaining still</div> - <div class='line'>Your reverence for your oath. My speech is said.</div><div class='lnum'>680</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> And I advise you not to treat with scorn</div> - <div class='line'>A troop that can sit heavy on your land.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Apol.</em> And I do bid you dread my oracles,</div> - <div class='line'>And those of Zeus, nor rob them of their fruit.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Uncalled thou com'st to take a murderer's part;</div> - <div class='line'>No longer pure the oracles thou'lt speak.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Apol.</em> And did my father then in purpose err,</div> - <div class='line'>Then the first murderer he received, Ixion?<a id='r532' /><a href='#f532' class='c011'><sup>[532]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Thou talk'st, but should I fail in this my cause,</div> - <div class='line'>I will again dwell here and vex this land.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Apol.</em> Alike among the new Gods and the old</div><div class='lnum'>690</div> - <div class='line'>Art thou dishonoured: I shall win the day.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1172'>1172</span><em>Chor.</em> This did'st thou also in the house of Pheres,<a id='r533' /><a href='#f533' class='c011'><sup>[533]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Winning the Fates to make a man immortal.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Apol.</em> Was it not just a worshipper to bless</div> - <div class='line'>In any case,—then most, when he's in want?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Thou did'st o'erthrow, yea, thou, laws hoar with age,</div> - <div class='line'>And drug with wine the ancient Goddesses.<a id='r534' /><a href='#f534' class='c011'><sup>[534]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Apol.</em> Nay, thou, non-suited in this cause of thine,</div> - <div class='line'>Shall venom spit that nothing hurts thy foes.</div><div class='lnum'>700</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Since thou, though young, dost ride me down, though old,</div> - <div class='line'>I wait to hear the issue of the cause,</div> - <div class='line'>Still wavering in my wrath against this city.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Athena.</em> 'Tis now my task to close proceedings here;</div> - <div class='line'>And this my vote I to Orestes add;</div> - <div class='line'>For I no mother own that brought me forth,</div> - <div class='line'>And saving that I wed not, I prefer</div> - <div class='line'>The male with all my heart, and make mine own</div> - <div class='line'>The father's cause, nor will above it place</div> - <div class='line'>A woman's death, who slew her own true lord,</div> - <div class='line'>The guardian of her house. Orestes wins,</div><div class='lnum'>710</div> - <div class='line'>E'en though the votes be equal. Cast ye forth</div> - <div class='line'>With all your speed the lots from out the urns,</div> - <div class='line'>Ye jurors unto whom that office falls.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> Phœbos Apollo! what will be the judgment?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1173'>1173</span><em>Chor.</em> Dark Night, my mother! dost thou look on this?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> My goal is now the noose, or full, clear day.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Ours too to come to nought, or work on still.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<em>A pause. The jurors take out the voting tablets</em></div> - <div class='line in4'><em>from the two urns (one of bronze, the other of</em></div> - <div class='line in4'><em>wood) for acquittal or condemnation</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Apol.</em> Now count ye up the votes thrown out, O friends,</div> - <div class='line'>And be ye honest, as ye reckon them;</div> - <div class='line'>One sentence lacking, sorrow great may come,</div><div class='lnum'>720</div> - <div class='line'>And one vote given hath ofttimes saved a house.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<em>A pause, during which the urns are emptied and</em></div> - <div class='line in4'><em>the votes are counted</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Athena.</em> The accused is found “not guilty” of the murder:</div> - <div class='line'>For lo! the numbers of the votes are equal.<a id='r535' /><a href='#f535' class='c011'><sup>[535]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Orest.</em> O Pallas, thou who hast redeemed my house,</div> - <div class='line'>Thou, thou hast brought me back when I had been</div> - <div class='line'>Bereaved of fatherland, and Hellenes now</div> - <div class='line'>Will say, “The man's an Argive once again,</div> - <div class='line'>And dwells upon his father's heritage,</div> - <div class='line'>Because of Pallas and of Loxias,</div> - <div class='line'>And Zeus, the true third Saviour, all o'erruling,</div> - <div class='line'>Who, touched with pity for my father's fate,</div><div class='lnum'>730</div> - <div class='line'>Saves me, beholding these my mother's pleaders.”</div> - <div class='line'>And I will now wend homeward, giving pledge</div> - <div class='line'>To this thy country and its valiant host,</div> - <div class='line'>To stand as firm for henceforth and for ever,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1174'>1174</span>That no man henceforth, chief of Argive land,</div> - <div class='line'>Shall bring against it spearmen well equipped:</div> - <div class='line'>For we ourselves, though in our sepulchres,</div> - <div class='line'>On those who shall transgress these oaths of ours,</div> - <div class='line'>Will with inextricable evils work,</div> - <div class='line'>Making their paths disheartening, and their ways</div><div class='lnum'>740</div> - <div class='line'>Ill-omened, that they may their toil repent.</div> - <div class='line'>But if these oaths be kept, to those who honour</div> - <div class='line'>This city of great Pallas, our ally,</div> - <div class='line'>Then we to them are more propitious yet.</div> - <div class='line'>Farewell then, Thou, and these who guard thy city.</div> - <div class='line'>Mayst thou so wrestle that thy foes escape not,</div> - <div class='line'>And so win victory and deliverance!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Ah! ah! ye younger God!</div> - <div class='line'>Ye have ridden down the laws of ancient days,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And robbed me of my prey.</div> - <div class='line'>But I, dishonoured, wretched, full of wrath,</div><div class='lnum'>750</div> - <div class='line in8'>Upon this land, ha! ha!</div> - <div class='line'>Will venom, venom from my heart let fall,</div> - <div class='line in8'>In vengeance for my grief,</div> - <div class='line in8'>A dropping which shall smite</div> - <div class='line in8'>The earth with barrenness!</div> - <div class='line'>And thence shall come, (O Vengeance!) on the plain</div> - <div class='line'>Down swooping, blight of leaves and murrain dire</div> - <div class='line'>That o'er the land flings taint of pestilence.</div><div class='lnum'>760</div> - <div class='line in8'>Shall I then wail and groan?</div> - <div class='line in8'>Or what else shall I do?</div> - <div class='line'>Shall I become a woe intolerable</div> - <div class='line'>Unto these men for wrongs I have endured?</div> - <div class='line in8'>Great, very great are they,</div> - <div class='line'>Ye virgin daughters of dim Night, ill-doomed,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Born both to shame and woe!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Athena.</em> Nay, list to me, and be not over-grieved;</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1175'>1175</span>Ye have not been defeated, but the cause</div> - <div class='line'>Came fairly to a tie, no shame to thee.</div> - <div class='line'>But the clear evidence of Zeus was given,</div> - <div class='line'>And he who spake it bare his witness too</div> - <div class='line'>That, doing this, Orestes should not suffer.</div> - <div class='line'>Hurl ye not then fierce rage on this my land;</div> - <div class='line'>Nor be ye wroth, nor work ye barrenness,</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>By letting fall the drops of evil Powers,<a id='r536' /><a href='#f536' class='c011'><sup>[536]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>The baleful influence that consumes all seed.</div><div class='lnum'>770</div> - <div class='line'>For lo! I promise, promise faithfully,</div> - <div class='line'>That, seated on your hearths with shining thrones,</div> - <div class='line'>Ye shall find cavern homes in righteous land,</div> - <div class='line'>Honoured and worshipped by these citizens.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Ah ah! ye younger Gods!</div> - <div class='line'>Ye have ridden down the laws of ancient days,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And robbed me of my prey.</div> - <div class='line'>And I, dishonoured, wretched, full of wrath,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Upon this land, ha! ha!</div> - <div class='line'>Will venom, venom from my heart let fall,</div> - <div class='line in8'>In vengeance for my grief,</div> - <div class='line in8'>A dropping which shall smite</div><div class='lnum'>780</div> - <div class='line in8'>The earth with barrenness!</div> - <div class='line'>And thence shall come, (O Vengeance!) on the plain</div> - <div class='line'>Down-swooping, blight of leaves and murrain dire</div> - <div class='line'>That o'er the land flings taint of pestilence.</div> - <div class='line in8'>Shall I then wail and groan?</div> - <div class='line in8'>Or what else shall I do?</div> - <div class='line'>Shall I become a woe intolerable</div> - <div class='line'>Unto these men for wrongs I have endured?</div> - <div class='line in8'>Great, very great are they,</div> - <div class='line'>Ye virgin daughters of dim Night, ill-doomed,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Born both to shame and woe!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1176'>1176</span><em>Athena.</em> Ye are not left unhonoured; be not hot</div> - <div class='line'>In wrath, ye Goddesses, to mar man's land,</div> - <div class='line'>I too, yes I, trust Zeus. Need I say more?</div><div class='lnum'>790</div> - <div class='line'>I only of the high Gods know the keys</div> - <div class='line'>Of chambers where the sealed-up thunder lies;</div> - <div class='line'>But that I have no need of. List to me,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor cast upon the earth thy rash tongue's fruit,</div> - <div class='line'>That brings to all things failure and distress;</div> - <div class='line'>Lull thou the bitter storm of that dark surge,</div> - <div class='line'>As dwelling with me, honoured and revered;</div> - <div class='line'>And thou with first-fruits of this wide champaign,</div> - <div class='line'>Offerings for children's birth and wedlock-rites,</div> - <div class='line'>Shall praise these words of mine for evermore.</div><div class='lnum'>800</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> That I should suffer this, fie on it! fie!</div> - <div class='line'>That I, with thoughts of hoar antiquity,<a id='r537' /><a href='#f537' class='c011'><sup>[537]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>Should now in this land dwell,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Dishonoured, deemed a plague!</div> - <div class='line'>I breathe out rage, and every form of wrath.</div> - <div class='line in8'>Oh, Earth! fie on it! fie!</div> - <div class='line'>What pang is this that thrills through all my breast?</div> - <div class='line in8'>Hear thou, O mother Night,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Hear thou my vehement wrath!</div> - <div class='line'>For lo! deceits that none can wrestle with</div> - <div class='line'>Have thrust me out from honours old of Gods,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And made a thing of nought.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Athena.</em> Thy wrath I'll bear, for thou the elder art,</div><div class='lnum'>810</div> - <div class='line'>[And wiser too in that respect than I;]</div> - <div class='line'>Yet to me too Zeus gave no wisdom poor;</div> - <div class='line'>And ye, if ye an alien country seek,</div> - <div class='line'>Shall yearn in love for this land. This I tell you;</div> - <div class='line'>For to this people Time, as it runs on,</div> - <div class='line'>Shall come with fuller honours, and if thou</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1177'>1177</span>Hast honoured seat hard by Erechtheus' home,</div> - <div class='line'>Thou shalt from men and women reap such gifts</div> - <div class='line'>As thou would'st never gain from other mortals;</div> - <div class='line'>But in these fields of mine be slow to cast</div><div class='lnum'>820</div> - <div class='line'>Whetstones of murder's knife, to young hearts bale,</div> - <div class='line'>Frenzied with maddened passion, not of wine;</div> - <div class='line'>Nor, as transplanting hearts of fighting-cocks,<a id='r538' /><a href='#f538' class='c011'><sup>[538]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>Make Ares inmate with my citizens,</div> - <div class='line'>In evil discord, and intestine broils;</div> - <div class='line'>Let them have war without, not scantily,</div> - <div class='line'>For him who feels the passionate thirst of fame:</div> - <div class='line'>Battle of home-bred birds ... I name it not;</div> - <div class='line'>This it is thine to choose as gift from me;</div> - <div class='line'>Well-doing, well-entreated, and well-honoured,</div><div class='lnum'>830</div> - <div class='line'>To share the land best loved of all the Gods.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> That I should suffer this, fie on it! fie!</div> - <div class='line'>That I, with thoughts of hoar antiquity,</div> - <div class='line in10'>Should now in this land dwell,</div> - <div class='line in10'>Dishonoured, deemed a plague,</div> - <div class='line'>I breathe out rage, and every form of wrath;</div> - <div class='line in10'>Ah, Earth! fie on it! fie!</div> - <div class='line'>What pang is this that thrills through all my breast?</div> - <div class='line in10'>Hear thou, O mother Night,</div> - <div class='line in10'>Hear thou my vehement wrath!</div> - <div class='line'>For lo! deceits that none can wrestle with</div> - <div class='line'>Have thrust me out from honours old of Gods,</div> - <div class='line'>And made a thing of nought.</div><div class='lnum'>840</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Athena.</em> I will not weary, telling thee of good,</div> - <div class='line'>That thou may'st never say that thou, being old,</div> - <div class='line'>Wert at the hands of me, a younger Goddess,</div> - <div class='line'>And those of men who in my city dwell,</div> - <div class='line'>Driven in dishonour, exiled from this plain.</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1178'>1178</span>But if the might of Suasion thou count holy,</div> - <div class='line'>And my tongue's blandishments have power to soothe,</div> - <div class='line'>Then thou wilt stay; but if thou wilt not stay,</div> - <div class='line'>Not justly would'st thou bring upon this city,</div> - <div class='line'>Or wrath, or grudge, or mischief for its host.</div> - <div class='line'>It rests with thee, as dweller in this spot,<a id='r539' /><a href='#f539' class='c011'><sup>[539]</sup></a></div><div class='lnum'>850</div> - <div class='line'>To meet with all due honour evermore.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Athena, Queen, what seat assign'st thou me?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Athena.</em> One void of touch of evil; take thou it.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Say I accept. What honour then is mine?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Athena.</em> That no one house apart from thee shall prosper.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> And wilt thou work that I such might may have?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Athena.</em> His lot who worships thee we'll guide aright.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> And wilt thou give thy warrant for all time?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Athena.</em> What I work not I might refrain from speaking.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> It seems thou sooth'st me: I relax my wrath.</div><div class='lnum'>860</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Athena.</em> In this land dwelling thou new friends shalt gain.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> What hymn then for this land dost bid me raise?</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Athena.</em> Such as is meet for no ill-victory.<a id='r540' /><a href='#f540' class='c011'><sup>[540]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'>       ·       ·       ·       ·       ·</div> - <div class='line'>And pray that blessings upon men be sent.</div> - <div class='line'>And that, too, both from earth, and ocean's spray,</div> - <div class='line'>And out of heaven; and that the breezy winds,</div> - <div class='line'>In sunshine blowing, sweep upon the land,</div> - <div class='line'>And that o'erflowing fruit of field and flock</div> - <div class='line'>May never fail my citizens to bless,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor safe deliverance for the seed of men.</div> - <div class='line'>But for the godless, rather root them out:</div><div class='lnum'>870</div> - <div class='line'>For I, like gardener shepherding his plants,</div> - <div class='line'>This race of just men freed from sorrow love.</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1179'>1179</span>So much for thee: and I will never fail</div> - <div class='line'>To give this city honour among men,</div> - <div class='line'>Victorious in the noble games of war.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> I will accept this offered home with Pallas,</div> - <div class='line in6'>Nor will the city scorn,</div> - <div class='line in6'>Which e'en All-ruling Zeus</div> - <div class='line'>And Ares give as fortress of the Gods,</div> - <div class='line'>The altar-guarding pride of Gods of Hellas;</div><div class='lnum'>880</div> - <div class='line in6'>And I upon her call,</div> - <div class='line in6'>With kindly auguries,</div> - <div class='line'>That so the glorious splendour of the sun</div> - <div class='line'>May cause life's fairest portion in thick growth</div> - <div class='line in6'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>To burgeon from the earth.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Athena.</em> Yea, I work with kindliest feeling</div> - <div class='line in4'>For these my townsmen, having settled</div> - <div class='line in4'>Powers great, and hard to soothe among them:</div> - <div class='line in4'>Unto them the lot is given,</div> - <div class='line in4'>All things human still to order;</div><div class='lnum'>890</div> - <div class='line in4'>He who hath not felt their pressure</div> - <div class='line in4'>Knows not whence life's scourges smite him:</div> - <div class='line in4'>For the sin of generations</div> - <div class='line in4'>Past and gone;—a dumb destroyer,—</div> - <div class='line in4'>Leads him on into their presence,</div> - <div class='line in4'>And with mood of foe low bringeth</div> - <div class='line in4'>Him whose lips are speaking proudly.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Let no tree-blighting canker breathe on them,</div> - <div class='line in6'>(I tell of boon I give,)</div> - <div class='line in6'>Nor blaze of scorching heat,</div> - <div class='line'>That mars the budding eyes of nursling plants,</div><div class='lnum'>900</div> - <div class='line'>And checks their spreading o'er their narrow bounds;</div> - <div class='line in6'>And may no dark, drear plague</div> - <div class='line in6'>Smite it with barrenness.</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1180'>1180</span>But may Earth feed fair flock in season due,</div> - <div class='line'>Blest with twin births, and earth's rich produce pay</div> - <div class='line in8'>To the high heavenly Powers,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Its gift for treasure found.<a id='r541' /><a href='#f541' class='c011'><sup>[541]</sup></a></div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Athena.</em> Hear ye then, ye city's guardians,</div> - <div class='line in8'>What she offers? Dread and mighty</div><div class='lnum'>910</div> - <div class='line in8'>With the Undying is Erinnys;</div> - <div class='line in8'>And with Those beneath the earth too,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And full clearly and completely</div> - <div class='line in8'>Work they all things out for mortals,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Giving these the songs of gladness,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Those a life bedimmed with weeping.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Avaunt, all evil chance</div> - <div class='line'>That brings men low in death before their time!</div> - <div class='line'>And for the maidens lovely and beloved,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Give, ye whose work it is,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Life with a husband true,</div> - <div class='line'>And ye, O Powers of self-same mother born,</div><div class='lnum'>920</div> - <div class='line in8'>Ye Fates who rule aright,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Partners in every house,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Awe-striking through all time,</div> - <div class='line'>With presence full of righteousness and truth,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Through all the universe</div> - <div class='line in8'>Most honoured of the Gods!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Athena.</em> Much I joy that thus ye promise</div> - <div class='line in8'>These boons to my land in kindness;</div> - <div class='line in8'>And I love the glance of Suasion,</div> - <div class='line in8'>That she guides my speech and accent</div> - <div class='line in8'>Unto these who gainsaid stoutly.</div><div class='lnum'>930</div> - <div class='line in8'>But the victory is won by</div> - <div class='line in8'>Zeus, the agora's protector;</div> - <div class='line in6'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1181'>1181</span>And our rivalry in blessings</div> - <div class='line in6'>Is the conqueror evermore.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in6'><em>Chor.</em> For this too I will pray,</div> - <div class='line'>That Discord, never satiate with ill,</div> - <div class='line'>May never ravine in this commonwealth,</div> - <div class='line in6'>Nor dust that drinks dark blood</div> - <div class='line in6'>From veins of citizens,</div> - <div class='line'>Through eager thirst for vengeance, from the State</div> - <div class='line in6'>Snatch woes as penalty</div> - <div class='line in6'>For deeds of murderous guilt.</div> - <div class='line in6'>But may they give instead</div> - <div class='line'>With friendly purpose acts of kind intent,</div><div class='lnum'>940</div> - <div class='line in6'>And if need be, may hate</div> - <div class='line in6'>With minds of one accord;</div> - <div class='line'>For this is healing found to mortal men</div> - <div class='line in6'>Of many a grievous woe.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Athena.</em> Are they not then waxing wiser,</div> - <div class='line in6'>And at last the path discerning</div> - <div class='line in6'>Of a speech more good and gentle?</div> - <div class='line in6'>Now from these strange forms and fearful,</div> - <div class='line in6'>See I to my townsmen coming,</div> - <div class='line in6'>E'en to these, great meed of profit;</div> - <div class='line in6'>For if ye, with kindly welcome,</div> - <div class='line in6'>Honour these as kind protectors,</div> - <div class='line in6'>Then shall ye be famed as keeping,</div> - <div class='line in6'>Just and upright in all dealings,</div> - <div class='line in6'>Land and city evermore.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Rejoice, rejoice ye in abounding wealth,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Rejoice, ye citizens,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Dwelling near Zeus himself,<a id='r542' /><a href='#f542' class='c011'><sup>[542]</sup></a></div><div class='lnum'>950</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1182'>1182</span>Loved of the virgin Goddess whom ye loved,</div> - <div class='line in8'>In due time wise of heart,</div> - <div class='line'>You, 'neath the wings of Pallas ever staying,<a id='r543' /><a href='#f543' class='c011'><sup>[543]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>The Father honoureth.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Athena.</em> Rejoice ye also, but before you</div> - <div class='line in8'>I must march to show your chambers,</div> - <div class='line in8'>By your escorts' torches holy;</div> - <div class='line in8'>Go, and with these dread oblations</div><div class='lnum'>960</div> - <div class='line in8'>Passing to the crypt cavernous,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Keep all harm from this our country,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Send all gain upon our city,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Cause it o'er its foes to triumph.</div> - <div class='line in8'>Lead ye on, ye sons of Cranaos,<a id='r544' /><a href='#f544' class='c011'><sup>[544]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>Lead, ye dwellers in the city,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Those who come to sojourn with you,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And may good gifts work good purpose</div> - <div class='line in8'>In my townsmen evermore!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Chor.</em> Rejoice, rejoice once more, ye habitants!</div><div class='lnum'>970</div> - <div class='line in8'>I say it yet again,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Ye Gods, and mortals too,</div> - <div class='line'>Who dwell in Pallas' city. Should ye treat</div> - <div class='line in8'>With reverence us who dwell</div> - <div class='line'>As sojourners among you, ye shall find</div> - <div class='line in8'>No cause to blame your lot.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><em>Athena.</em> I praise these words of yours, the prayers ye offer,</div> - <div class='line'>And with the light of torches flashing fire,</div> - <div class='line'>Will I escort you to your dark abode,<a id='r545' /><a href='#f545' class='c011'><sup>[545]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1183'>1183</span>Low down beneath the earth, with my attendants,</div> - <div class='line'>Who with due honour guard my statue here,</div> - <div class='line'>For now shall issue forth the goodly eye</div> - <div class='line'>Of all the land of Theseus; fair-famed troop</div><div class='lnum'>980</div> - <div class='line'>Of girls and women, band of matrons too,</div> - <div class='line'>In upper vestments purple-dyed arrayed:</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Now then advance ye; and the blaze of fire,</div> - <div class='line'>Let it go forth, that so this company</div> - <div class='line'>Stand forth propitious, henceforth and for aye,</div> - <div class='line'>In rearing race of noblest citizens,</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c016'><em>Enter an array of women, young and old, in procession, -leading the Erinnyes—now, as propitiated, the -Eumenides or Gentle Ones—to their shrines</em></p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><em>Chorus of Athenian women</em></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Go to your home, ye great and jealous Ones,</div> - <div class='line'>Children of Night, and yet no children ye;<a id='r546' /><a href='#f546' class='c011'><sup>[546]</sup></a></div> - <div class='line in8'>With escort of good-will,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Shout, shout, ye townsmen, shout.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>There in the dark and gloomy caves of earth,</div> - <div class='line'>With worthy gifts and many a sacrifice</div><div class='lnum'>990</div> - <div class='line in8'>Consumèd in the fire—</div> - <div class='line in8'>Shout, shout ye, one and all.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>Come, come, with thought benign</div> - <div class='line in8'>Propitious to our land,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Ye dreaded Ones, yea, come,</div> - <div class='line'>While on your progress onward ye rejoice,</div> - <div class='line'>In the bright light of fire-devourèd torch;</div> - <div class='line in8'>Shout, shout ye to our songs.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1184'>1184</span><span class='sc'>Antistrophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>Let the drink-offerings come,</div> - <div class='line in8'>In order meet behind,</div> - <div class='line in8'>While torches fling their light;</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>Zeus the All-seeing thus hath joined in league</div> - <div class='line'><a href='#asterisk'>*</a>With Destiny for Pallas' citizens;</div> - <div class='line in8'>Shout, shout ye to our songs.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>[<em>The procession winds its way</em>, <span class='sc'>Athena</span> <em>at its head, then</em></div> - <div class='line in4'><em>the Eumenides, then the women, round the Areopagos</em></div> - <div class='line in4'><em>towards the ravine in which the dread Goddesses were</em></div> - <div class='line in4'><em>to find their sanctuary.</em></div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class='c012' /> - -<div class='footnote' id='f466'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r466'>466</a>. </span>The succession is, in part, accordant with that in the -<cite>Theogonia</cite> of Hesiod (vv. 116-136), but the special characteristic -of the Æschylean form of the legend is that each change is a -step in a due, rightful succession, as by free gift, not accomplished -(as in other narratives of the same transition) by violence and -wrong.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f467'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r467'>467</a>. </span>Phœbe, in the <cite>Theogonia</cite>, marries Coios, and becomes the -mother of Leto, or Latona, and so the grandmother of Apollo. -The “birthday gift” was commonly presented on the eighth -day after birth, when the child was named. The oracle is -spoken of as such a gift to Apollo, as bearing the name of -Phœbos.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f468'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r468'>468</a>. </span>The sacred circular pool of Delos is the crater of an extinct -volcano. There Apollo was born, and thence he passed through -Attica to Parnassos, to take possession of the oracle, according -to one form of the myth, depriving Themis of it and slaying the -dragon Python that kept guard over it.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f469'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r469'>469</a>. </span>The people of Attica are thus named either as being -mythically descended from Erichthonios the son of Hephæstos, -or as artificers, who own him as their father. The words refer to -the supposed origin of the Sacred Road from Athens to Delphi, -passing through Bœotia and Phokis. When the Athenians -sent envoys to consult the oracle they were preceded by men -bearing axes, in remembrance of the original pioneering work -which had been done for Apollo. The first work of active -civilisation was thus connected with the worship of the giver of -Light and Wisdom.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f470'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r470'>470</a>. </span>Delphos, the hero <em>Eponymos</em> (name-giving) of Delphi, was -honoured as the son of Poseidon. Hence the Priestess invokes -the latter as one of the guardian deities of the shrine.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f471'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r471'>471</a>. </span>Pronaia, as having her shrine or statue in front of the temple -of Apollo.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f472'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r472'>472</a>. </span>The Korykian rock in Parnassos, as in Soph., <cite>Antig.</cite>, -v. 1128; known also as the “Nymphs' cavern.”</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f473'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r473'>473</a>. </span>Bromios, a name of Dionysos, embodying the special -attributes of loud, half-frenzied revelry.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f474'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r474'>474</a>. </span>In the legend which Euripides follows, Kithæron, not Parnassos, -is the scene of the death of Pentheus. He, it was said, -opposed the wild or frantic worship of the Pelasgic Bacchos, -concealed himself that he might behold the mysteries of the -Mœnads, and was torn to pieces by his mother and two others, -on whose eyes the God had cast such glamour that they took -him for a wild beast. English readers may be referred to Dean -Milman's translation of the <cite>Bacchanals</cite> of Euripides.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f475'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r475'>475</a>. </span>Pleistos, topographically, a river flowing through the vale of -Delphi, mythically the father of the nymphs of Korykos.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f476'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r476'>476</a>. </span>At one time the Oracle had been open to questioners once -in the year only, afterwards once a month. The pilgrims, after -they had made their offerings, cast lots, and the doors were opened -to him to whom the lot had fallen. Plutarch, <cite>Qu. Græc.</cite>, p. 292.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f477'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r477'>477</a>. </span>The altar of the adytum, on the very centre, as men deemed, -of the whole earth. Zeus, it was said, had sent forth two eagles -at the same moment; one from the East and the other from the -West, and here it was that they had met. The stone was of -white marble, and the two eagles were sculptured on it. Strabo, -ix. 3.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f478'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r478'>478</a>. </span>The priestess dwells upon the outward tokens, which showed -that the suppliant came as one whose need was specially urgent. -On the ritual of supplication generally comp. <cite>Suppl.</cite>, vv. 22, -348, 641, Soph., <cite>Œd. King</cite>, v. 3; <cite>Œd. Col.</cite>, vv. 469-489.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f479'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r479'>479</a>. </span>Æschylos apparently follows the <cite>Theogonia</cite> of Hesiod, -(l. 278), who describes the Gorgons as three in number, -daughters of Phorkys and Keto, and bearing the names of -Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa. The last enters into the Perseus -cycle of myths, as one of the monsters whom he conquered, -with a face once beautiful, but with her hair turned to serpents -by the wrath of Athena, and so dreadful to look upon that those -who gazed on her were turned to stone. When Perseus had -slain her, Athena placed her head in her ægis, and thus became -the terror of all who were foes to herself or her people. A wild -legendary account of them meets us in the <cite>Prom. Bound</cite>, v. 812. -As works of art, the Gorgon images are traceable to the earliest -or Kyclopian period.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f480'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r480'>480</a>. </span>Here also we have a reference to a familiar subject of early -Greek art, probably to some painting familiar to an Athenian -audience. The name of Phineus indicates that the monstrous -forms spoken of are those of the Harpies, birds with women's -faces, or women with birds' wings, who were sent to vex the -blind seer for his cruelty to the children of his first marriage. -Comp. Soph. <cite>Antig.</cite>, v. 973. In the <cite>Æneid</cite> they appear -(iii. 225) as dwelling in the Strophades, and harassing Æneas -and his companions.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f481'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r481'>481</a>. </span>The old image of Pallas, carved in olive-wood, as distinguished -from later sculpture.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f482'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r482'>482</a>. </span>The early code of hospitality bound the host, who as such -had once received a guest under the shelter of his roof, not to -desert him, even though he might discover afterwards that he -had been guilty of great crimes, but to escort him safely to the -boundary of his territory. Thus Apollo, as the host with whom -Orestes had taken refuge, sends Hermes, the escort God, to -guide and defend him on his way to Athens.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f483'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r483'>483</a>. </span>The thought that the highest wisdom came to men rather in -“visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men,” than -through the waking senses, which we have already met with in -<cite>Agam.</cite>, v. 173, is traceable to the mysticism of Pythagoras, -more distinctly perhaps to that of Epimenides.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f484'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r484'>484</a>. </span>Wine, as in Soph. <cite>Œd. Col.</cite>, vv. 100, 481, was rigidly excluded -from the <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">cultus</span></i> of the Eumenides, and to them only as -daughters of Night were midnight sacrifices offered. We must -not lose sight of the thought thus implied, that Clytæmnestra -had herself lived, after her deed of guilt, in perpetual terror of -the Erinnyes, seeking to soothe them by her sacrifices.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f485'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r485'>485</a>. </span>The common rendering “in a dream” gives a sufficient -meaning, and is, of course, tenable enough. But there is a -force in the repetition of the same word, as in v. 116, which is -thus lost, and which I have endeavoured to preserve. The -Erinnyes, thus impotent in their rage, are as much mere dreamlike -spectres as is the ghost of Clytæmnestra.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f486'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r486'>486</a>. </span>Here, as throughout Æschylos, the Olympian divinities are -thought of as new comers, thrusting from their thrones the -whole Chthonian and Titanic dynasty, Gods of the conquering -Hellenes superseding those of the Pelasgi.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f487'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r487'>487</a>. </span>The accumulation of horrid forms of cruelty had, probably, -a special significance for the Athenians. These punishments -belonged to their enemies, the Persians, not to the Hellenic race, -and the poet's purpose was to rekindle patriotic feeling by -dwelling on their barbarity, as in <cite>Agam.</cite>, v. 894, he points in -like manner to their haughtiness and luxury.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f488'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r488'>488</a>. </span>The argument of the Erinnyes is, to some extent, like that -of the Antigone of Sophocles (<cite>Antig.</cite>, 909-913), and the wife of -Intaphernes (Herod. iii. 119). The tie which binds the husband -to the wife is less sacred than that between the mother and -the son. This, therefore, brings on the slayer the guilt of blood -of kin, while murder in the other case is reduced to simple -homicide. Orestes therefore was not justified in perpetrating -the greater crime as a retribution for the less. Apollo, in meeting -this plea, asserts the sacredness of the marriage bond as -standing on the same level as that of consanguinity.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f489'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r489'>489</a>. </span>The ideal interval of time between the two parts of the -drama is left undefined, but it would seem from vv. 230, 274-6, -and 429, to have been long enough to have allowed of many -wanderings to sacred places, Orestes does not go straight from -Delphi to Athens. He appears now, not as before dripping and -besmeared with blood, but with hands and garments purified.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f490'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r490'>490</a>. </span>The story of Adrastos and Crœsos in Herod. i. 35, illustrates -the gradual purification of which Orestes speaks. The -penitent who has the stain of blood-guiltiness upon him comes -to the king, and the king, as his host, performs the lustral rites -for him. Here Orestes urges that he has been received at many -homes, and gone through many such lustrations. He has been -cleansed from the pollution of sin: what he now seeks, to use -the terminology of a later system, is a forensic justification.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f491'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r491'>491</a>. </span><i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Sc.</span></i>, the scent of blood, which, though no longer visible to -the eyes of men, still lingers round him and is perceptible to his -pursuers.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f492'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r492'>492</a>. </span>Here, too, we trace the political bearing of the play. In the -year when it was produced (<span class='fss'>B.C.</span> 458) an alliance with Argos was -the favourite measure of the more conservative party at Athens.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f493'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r493'>493</a>. </span>The names Triton and Tritonis, wherever found in classical -geography (Libya, Crete, Thessaly, Bœotia), are always connected -with the legend that Athena was born there. Probably -both name and legend were carried from Greece to Libya, and -then amalgamated with the indigenous local worship of a warlike -goddess. Hesiod (iv. 180, 188) connects the Libyan lake -with the legend of Jason and Argonauts.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f494'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r494'>494</a>. </span>In the war with the giants fought in the Phlegræan plains -(the volcanic district of Campania) Athena had helped her father -Zeus by her wise counsel, and was honoured there as keeping in -check the destructive Titanic forces which had been so subdued, -burying Enkelados, <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">e.g.</span></i>, in Sicily. The “friends” are her -Libyan worshippers. The passage is interesting, as showing -the extent of Æschylos's acquaintance with the African and -Italian coasts of the Mediterranean.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f495'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r495'>495</a>. </span>The Choral ode here is brought in as an incantation. This -weapon is to succeed where others have failed, and this too, the -frenzy which seizes the soul in the remembrance of its past -transgression, is soothed and banished by Athena.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f496'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r496'>496</a>. </span>White, as the special colour of festal joy, was not used in -the worship of the Erinnyes.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f497'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r497'>497</a>. </span>Another rendering gives—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“To dim the bright hue of the fresh-shed blood.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f498'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r498'>498</a>. </span>The thought which underlies the obscurity of a corrupt -passage seems to be that, as they relieve the Gods from the task -of being avengers of blood, all that the Gods on their side can -legitimately do against them is to render powerless the prayers -for vengeance offered by the kindred of the slain. Their very -isolation, as Chthonian deities, from the Gods of Olympos should -protect them from open conflict. But an alternative rendering -of the second line gives, perhaps, a better meaning—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“And by the prayers men offer unto me</div> - <div class='line'>Work freedom for the Gods;”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c000'><i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">i.e.</span></i>, by being the appointed receivers of such prayers for vengeance, -they leave the Gods free for a higher and serener life.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f499'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r499'>499</a>. </span>Perhaps, “With torch of sunless gloom.”</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f500'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r500'>500</a>. </span>The words contain an allusion to the dispute between Athens -and Mitylene in the time of Peisistratos, as to the possession of -Sigeion. Athena asserts that it had been given to her by the -whole body of Achæans at the time when they had taken Troïa. -Comp. Herod. vv. 94, 95. It probably entered into the political -purposes of the play to excite the Athenians to a war in this -direction, so as to draw them off from the constitutional changes -proposed by Pericles and Ephialtes.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f501'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r501'>501</a>. </span>Here, and throughout the trial, we have to bear in mind the -technicalities of Athenian judicial procedure. The prosecutor, -in the first instance, tendered to the accused an oath that he was -not guilty. This he might accept or refuse. In the latter case, -the course of the trial was at least stopped, and judgment might -be recorded against him. If he could bring himself to accept -it, he was acquitted of the special charge of which he was -accused, but he was liable to a prosecution afterwards for that -perjury. If, on the other hand, he tendered an oath affirming -his guilt to the prosecutor, he placed himself in his hands. -Orestes, not being able to deny the fact, will not declare on -oath that he is “not guilty,” but neither will he place himself in -the power of his accusers. The peculiarities of this use of -oaths were: (1) That they were taken by the parties to the suit, -not by the witnesses. (2) That if both parties agreed to that -mode of decision, the oath was either way decisive. An allusion -to the latter practice is found in Heb. vi. 16, and traces of it are -found in the law-proceedings of Scotland. If either party refused, -the cause had to be tried in the usual way, and witnesses were -called.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f502'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r502'>502</a>. </span>Æschylos seems here to attach himself to the principles of -those who were seeking to reform the practice described in the -previous note as being at once cumbrous and unjust, throwing -its weight into the scale of the least scrupulous conscience, and -to urge a simpler, more straightforward trial. The same objection -is noticed by Aristotle in his discussion of the subject. -(<cite>Rhet.</cite> i. 15.)</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f503'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r503'>503</a>. </span>Athena offers herself, not as arbitrator or sovereign judge, -but as presiding over the court of jurors whom she proceeds to -appoint.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f504'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r504'>504</a>. </span>Ixion appeared in the mythical history of Greece as the prototype -of all suppliants for purification. When he had murdered -Deioneus, Zeus had had compassion to him, received him as a -guest, cleansed him from his guilt. His ingratitude for this -service was the special guilt of his attempted outrage upon Hera. -The case is mentioned again in v. 687.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f505'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r505'>505</a>. </span>In heathen, as in Jewish sacrifices, the blood was the very -instrument of purification. It was sprinkled or poured upon -men, and they became clean. But this could not be done by -the criminal himself, nor by any chance person. The service -had to be rendered by a friend, who of very love gave himself -to this mediatorial work.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f506'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r506'>506</a>. </span>In the legend related by Pausanias (<cite>Corinth.</cite>, c. 3), Trœzen -was the first place where Orestes was thus received, and in his -time the descendants of those who had thus helped held periodical -feasts in commemoration of it.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f507'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r507'>507</a>. </span>The course which Athena takes is: (1) to receive Orestes as -a settler with the rights which attached to such persons on -Athenian soil, not a criminal fugitive to be simply surrendered; -(2) to offer to the Erinnyes, as being too important to be put -out of court, a fair and open trial; (3) to acknowledge that he -and they are equally “blameless,” as far as she is concerned. -She has no complaint to make of them.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f508'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r508'>508</a>. </span>The red blight of vines and wheat was looked on as caused -by drops of blood which the Erinnyes had let fall.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f509'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r509'>509</a>. </span>Stress is laid on the fact that the judges of the Areopagos, -in contrast with those of the inferior tribunes of Athens, discharged -their duty under the sanction of an oath.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f510'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r510'>510</a>. </span>Perhaps</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“And each from each shall learn, as he predicts</div> - <div class='line'>His neighbour's ills, that he</div> - <div class='line'>Shares in the same and harbours them, and speaks,</div> - <div class='line'>Poor wretch, of cures that fail.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f511'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r511'>511</a>. </span>At a more advanced period of human thought, Cicero (<cite>Orat. -pro Roscio</cite>, c. 24) could point to the “thoughts that accuse each -other,” the horror and remorse of the criminal, as the true -Erinnyes, the “<span lang="la" xml:lang="la">assiduæ domesticæque Furiæ</span>.” Æschylos -clings to the mythical symbolism as indispensable for the preservation -of the truth which it shadowed forth.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f512'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r512'>512</a>. </span>Once again we have the poet of constitutional conservatism -keeping the <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">via media</span></i> between Peisistratos and Pericles.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f513'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r513'>513</a>. </span>The Tyrrhenian trumpet, with its bent and twisted tube, -retained its proverbial pre-eminence from the days of Æschylos -and Sophocles (<cite>Aias</cite>, 17) to those of Virgil (<cite>Æn.</cite>, viii. 526).</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f514'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r514'>514</a>. </span>The fondness of the Athenians for litigation, and the large -share which every citizen took in the administration of justice, -would probably make the scene which follows, with all its -technicalities, the part of the play into which they would most -enter.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f515'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r515'>515</a>. </span>It was necessary that some one, sitting as President of -the Court, should formally open the pleadings, by calling on -this side or that to begin. Here Athena takes that office on -herself, and calls on the Erinnyes.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f516'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r516'>516</a>. </span>The technicalities of the Areopagos are still kept up. The -three points on which the Erinnyes, as prosecutors, lay stress -are: (1) the fact of the murder; (2) the mode; (3) the motive. -“Three bouts,” as referring to the rule of the arena, that three -struggles for the mastery should be decisive.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f517'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r517'>517</a>. </span>The pleas put in by the Erinnyes as prosecutors are: (1) That -Clytæmnestra had been adequately punished by her death, -while Orestes was still alive; and (2) when asked why they had -not intervened to bring about that punishment, that the relationship -between husband and wife was less close than that between -mother and son. They drew, in other words, a distinction -between consanguinity and affinity, and upon this the rest of the -discussion turns. Orestes, and Apollo as his counsel, on the -other hand, meet this with the rejoinder, that there is no blood-relationship -between the mother and her offspring.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f518'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r518'>518</a>. </span><i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">Sc.</span></i> Their oath to give a verdict according to the evidence -must yield to the higher obligation of following the Divine will -rather than the letter of the law.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f519'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r519'>519</a>. </span>To have died in health by the arrows of a woman-warrior -might have been borne. To be slain by a wife treacherously in -his bath was to endure a far worse outrage.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f520'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r520'>520</a>. </span>In this new argument, and the answer to it, we may trace, -as in the <cite>Prometheus</cite> and the <cite>Agamemnon</cite>, the struggles of the -questioning intellect against the more startling elements of the -popular religious belief. Zeus is worshipped as the supreme -Lord, yet His dominion seems founded on might as opposed to -goodness, on the unrighteous expulsion of another. Here, in -Apollo's answer, there is a glimmer of a possible reconciliation. -The old and the new, the sovereignty of Cronos and that of -Zeus may be reconciled, and one supreme God be “all in all.”</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f521'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r521'>521</a>. </span>Comp. the thought and language of the <cite>Suppliants</cite>, v. 93.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f522'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r522'>522</a>. </span>The last argument is, that the acquittal can be, at the best, -partial only, not complete; formal, not real. There would -remain for ever the pollution which would exclude Orestes from -the <em>Phratria</em>, the clan-brotherhood, by which, as by a sacramental -bond, all the members were held together.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f523'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r523'>523</a>. </span>The question seems to have been one of those which occupied -men's minds in their first gropings towards the mysteries of -man's physical life, and both popular metaphors and primary -impressions were in favour of the hypothesis here maintained. -Euripides (<cite>Orest.</cite>, v. 534) puts the same argument into the mouth -of Orestes.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f524'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r524'>524</a>. </span>The story of Athena's birth, full-grown, from the head of -Zeus, is next referred to as the leading case bearing on the point -at issue.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f525'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r525'>525</a>. </span>Here, of course, the political interest of the whole drama -reached its highest point. What seems comparatively flat to us -must, to the thousands who sat as spectators, have been fraught -with the most intense excitement, showing itself in shouts of -applause, or audible tokens of clamorous dissent. The rivalry -of Whigs and Tories over Addison's <cite>Cato</cite>, the sensation produced -in times of Papal aggression by the king's answer to -Pandulph in <cite>King John</cite>, presents analogies which are worth -remembering.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f526'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r526'>526</a>. </span>The story ran that the tribe of women warriors from the -Caucasos, or the Thermodon, known by this name, had invaded -Attica under Oreithyia, when Theseus was king, to revenge the -wrongs he had done them, and to recover her sister Hippolyta. -Ares, the God of Thrakians, Skythians, and nearly all the -wilder barbaric tribes, was their special deity; and when they -occupied the hill which rose over against the Acropolis, they -sacrificed to him, and so it gained the name of the <em>Areopagos</em>, or -“hill of Ares.”</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f527'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r527'>527</a>. </span>As in the <cite>Agamemnon</cite> (v. 1010), so here we find the aristocratic -conservative poet showing his colours, protesting against -the admission to the Archonship, and therefore to the Areopagos, -of men of low birth or in undignified employments.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f528'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r528'>528</a>. </span>The words, like all political clap-trap, are somewhat vague; -but, as understood at the time, the “lawless” policy alluded to -was that of Pericles and Ephialtes, who sought to deface and to -diminish the jurisdiction of the Areopagos, and the “tyrannical,” -that which had crushed the independence of Athens under -Peisistratos. Between the two was the conservative party, of -which Kimon had been the leader.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f529'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r529'>529</a>. </span>The Skythians may be named simply as representing all -barbarous, non-Hellenic races; but they appear, about this -time, wild and nomadic as their life was, to have impressed the -minds of the Greeks somewhat in the same way as the Germans -did the minds of the Romans in the time of Tacitus. Tales -floated from travellers' lips of their wisdom and their happiness—of -sages like Zamolxis and Aristarchos, who rivalled those of -Hellas—of the Hyperborei, in the far north, who enjoyed a -perpetual and unequalled blessedness.—Comp. <cite>Libation-Pourers</cite>, -v. 366.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f530'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r530'>530</a>. </span>Two topics of praise are briefly touched on: (1) the lower, -popular courts of justice at Athens might be open to the suspicion -of corruption, but no breath of slander had ever tainted the -fame of the Areopagos; (2) it met by night, keeping its watch, -that the citizens might sleep in peace.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f531'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r531'>531</a>. </span>The first of the twelve jurymen rises and drops his voting-ballot -into one of the urns, and is followed by another at the -end of each of the short two-line speeches in the dialogue that -follows. The two urns of acquittal and condemnation stand in -front of them. The plan of voting with different coloured balls -(black and white) in the same urn, was a later usage.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f532'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r532'>532</a>. </span>Compare note on v. 419.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f533'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r533'>533</a>. </span>In the legend of Admetos son of Pheres, and king of Pheræ -in Thessalia, Apollo is represented as having first given wine to -the Destinies, and then persuaded them to allow Admetos, -whenever the hour of death should come, to be redeemed from -Hades, if father, or mother, or wife were willing to die for him. -The self-surrender of his wife, Alkestis, for this purpose, forms -the subject of the noblest of the tragedies of Euripides.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f534'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r534'>534</a>. </span>Partly as setting at nought the power of Erinnyes and the -Destinies, partly as giving wine to those whose libations were -wineless.—Comp. Sophocles, <cite>Œd. Col.</cite> v. 100.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f535'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r535'>535</a>. </span>The practice of the Areopagos is accurately reproduced. -When the votes of the judges were equal a casting vote was -given in favour of the accused, and was known as that of -Athena.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f536'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r536'>536</a>. </span>Another reading gives—</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“By spurting from your throats those venom drops.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f537'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r537'>537</a>. </span>The conservative poet enters his protest through the Erinnyes -against the innovating spirit that looked with contempt upon the -principles of a past age.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f538'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r538'>538</a>. </span>Cock-fighting took its place among the recognised sports of -the Athenians. Once a year there was a public performance in -the theatre.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f539'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r539'>539</a>. </span>The Temple of the Eumenides or Semnæ (“venerable -ones”) stood near the Areopagos.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f540'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r540'>540</a>. </span>Some two or three lines have probably been lost here.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f541'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r541'>541</a>. </span>Probably an allusion to the silver-mine at Laureion, which -about the time formed a large element of the revenues of Athens, -and of which a tithe was consecrated to Athena.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f542'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r542'>542</a>. </span>Reference is made to another local sanctuary, the temple on -the Areopagos dedicated to the Olympian Zeus.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f543'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r543'>543</a>. </span>The figure of Athena, as identical with Victory, and so the -tutelary Goddess of Athens, was sculptured with out-spread -wings.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f544'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r544'>544</a>. </span>Cranaos, the son of Kecrops, the mythical founder of -Athens.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f545'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r545'>545</a>. </span>The sanctuaries of the Eumenides were crypt-like chapels, -where they were worshipped by the light of lamps or torches.</p> -</div> - -<div class='footnote' id='f546'> -<p class='c000'><span class='label'><a href='#r546'>546</a>. </span>Perhaps, “Children of Night, yourselves all childless left.”</p> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_1185'>1185</span> - <h2 id='p1185' class='c005'>FRAGMENTS</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div>38</div> - <div><span class='sc'>Aphrodite</span> <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">loquitur</span></i></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>The pure, bright heaven still yearns to blend with earth,</div> - <div class='line'>And earth is filled with love for marriage-rites,</div> - <div class='line'>And from the kindly sky the rain-shower falls</div> - <div class='line'>And fertilises earth, and earth for men</div> - <div class='line'>Yields grass for sheep, and corn, Demêter's gift;</div> - <div class='line'>And from its wedlock with the South the fruit</div> - <div class='line'>Is ripened in its season; and of this,</div> - <div class='line'>All this, I am the cause accessory.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div>123</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>So, in the Libyan fables, it is told</div> - <div class='line'>That once an eagle, stricken with a dart,</div> - <div class='line'>Said, when he saw the fashion of the shaft,</div> - <div class='line'>“With our own feathers, not by others' hands,</div> - <div class='line'>Are we now smitten.”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div>147</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Of all the Gods, Death only craves not gifts:</div> - <div class='line'>Nor sacrifice, nor yet drink-offering poured</div> - <div class='line'>Avails; no altars hath he, nor is soothed</div> - <div class='line'>By hymns of praise. From him alone of all</div> - <div class='line'>The powers of Heaven Persuasion holds aloof.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div>151</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>When 'tis God's will to bring an utter doom</div> - <div class='line'>Upon a house, He first in mortal men</div> - <div class='line'>Implants what works it out.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1186'>1186</span>162</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>The words of Truth are ever simplest found.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div>163</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>What good is found in life that still brings pain?</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div>174</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>To many mortals silence great gain brings.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div>229</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>O Death the Healer, scorn thou not, I pray,</div> - <div class='line'>To come to me: of cureless ills thou art</div> - <div class='line'>The one physician. Pain lays not its touch</div> - <div class='line'>Upon a corpse.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div>230</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>When the wind</div> - <div class='line'>Nor suffers us to leave the port, nor stay.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div>243</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And if thou wish to benefit the dead,</div> - <div class='line'>'Tis all as one as if thou injured'st them,</div> - <div class='line'>And they nor sorrow nor delight can feel:</div> - <div class='line'>Yet higher than we are is Nemesis,</div> - <div class='line'>And Justice taketh vengeance for the dead.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div>266</div> - <div class='c003'><span class='sc'>Thetis</span> <em>on the death of Achilles</em></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Life free from sickness, and of many years,</div> - <div class='line'>And in a word a fortune like to theirs</div> - <div class='line'>Whom the Gods love, all this He spake to me</div> - <div class='line'>As pæan-hymn, and made my heart full glad:</div> - <div class='line'>And I full fondly trusted Phœbos' lips</div> - <div class='line'>As holy and from falsehood free, of art</div> - <div class='line'>Oracular an ever-flowing spring,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1187'>1187</span>And He who sang this, He who at the feast</div> - <div class='line'>Being present, spake these things,—yea, He it is</div> - <div class='line'>That slew my son.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div>267</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>The man who does ill, ill must suffer too.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div>268</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Evil on mortals comes full swift of foot,</div> - <div class='line'>And guilt on him who doth the right transgress.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div>269</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Thou see'st a vengeance voiceless and unseen</div> - <div class='line'>For one who sleeps or walks or sits at ease:</div> - <div class='line'>It takes its course obliquely, here to-day,</div> - <div class='line'>And there to-morrow. Nor does night conceal</div> - <div class='line'>Men's deeds of ill, but whatsoe'er thou dost,</div> - <div class='line'>Think that some God beholds it.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div>270</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“All have their chance:” good proverb for the rich.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div>271</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Wise is the man who knows what profiteth,</div> - <div class='line'>Not he who knoweth much.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div>272</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Full grievous burden is a prosperous fool.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div>272<span class='fss'>A</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>From a just fraud God turneth not away.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div>273</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>There is a time when God doth falsehood prize.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1188'>1188</span>274</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>The polished brass is mirror of the form,</div> - <div class='line'>Wine of the soul.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div>275</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Words are the parents of a causeless wrath.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div>276</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Men credit gain for oaths, not oaths for them.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div>277</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>God ever works with those that work with will.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div>278</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Wisdom to learn is e'en for old men good.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div>281</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>The base who prosper are intolerable.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div>282</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>The seed of mortals broods o'er passing things,</div> - <div class='line'>And hath nought surer than the smoke-cloud's shadow.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div>283</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Old age hath stronger sense of right than youth.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div>286</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Yet though a man gets many wounds in breast,</div> - <div class='line'>He dieth not, unless the appointed time,</div> - <div class='line'>The limit of his life's span, coincide;</div> - <div class='line'>Nor does the man who by the hearth at home</div> - <div class='line'>Sits still, escape the doom that Fate decrees.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div>287</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>How far from just the hate men bear to death,</div> - <div class='line'>Which comes as safeguard against many ills.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1189'>1189</span>288</div> - <div class='c003'><em>To</em> <span class='sc'>Fortune</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Thou did'st beget me; thou too, as it seems,</div> - <div class='line'>Wilt now destroy me.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div>289</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>The fire-moth's silly death is that I fear.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div>290</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>I by experience know the race full well</div> - <div class='line'>That dwells in Æthiop land, where seven-mouthed Nile</div> - <div class='line'>Rolls o'er the land with winds that bring the rain,</div> - <div class='line'>What time the fiery sun upon the earth</div> - <div class='line'>Pours its hot rays, and melts the snow till then</div> - <div class='line'>Hard as the rocks; and all the fertile soil</div> - <div class='line'>Of Egypt, filled with that pure-flowing stream,</div> - <div class='line'>Brings forth Demêter's ears that feed our life.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div>291</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>This hoopoo, witness of its own dire ills,</div> - <div class='line'>He hath in varied garb set forth, and shows</div> - <div class='line'>In full array that bold bird of the rocks</div> - <div class='line'>Which, when the spring first comes, unfurls a wing</div> - <div class='line'>Like that of white-plumed kite; for on one breast</div> - <div class='line'>It shows two forms, its own and eke its child's,</div> - <div class='line'>And when the corn grows gold, in autumn's prime,</div> - <div class='line'>A dappled plumage all its form will clothe;</div> - <div class='line'>And ever in its hate of these 'twill go</div> - <div class='line'>Far off to lonely thickets or bare rocks.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div>292</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Still to the sufferer comes, as due from God,</div> - <div class='line'>A glory that to suffering owes its birth.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1190'>1190</span>293</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>The air is Zeus, Zeus earth, and Zeus the heaven,</div> - <div class='line'>Zeus all that is, and what transcends them all.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div>294</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Take courage; pain's extremity soon ends.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div>298</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>When Strength and Justice are true yoke-fellows,</div> - <div class='line'>Where can be found a mightier pair than they?</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c005'>RHYMED CHORUSES</h2> -</div> - -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_1191'>1191</span> - <h3 id='p1191' class='c013'>AGAMEMNON</h3> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Verses</span> 40-248</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in4'>Nine weary years are gone and spent</div> - <div class='line in4'>Since Menelaos' armament</div> - <div class='line in4'>Sped forth, on work of vengeance bent,</div> - <div class='line in12'>For Priam's guilty land;</div> - <div class='line in4'>And with him Agamemnon there</div> - <div class='line in4'>Throne, sceptre, army all did share;</div> - <div class='line in4'>And so from Zeus the Atreidæ bear,</div> - <div class='line in12'>Their twofold high command.</div> - <div class='line in4'>They a fleet of thousand sail,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Strong in battle to prevail,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Led from out our Argive coast,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Shouting war-cries to the host;</div> - <div class='line in4'>E'en as vultures do that utter</div> - <div class='line in4'>Shrillest screams as round they flutter,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Grieving for their nestlings lost,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Plying still their oary wings</div> - <div class='line in4'>In many lonely wanderings,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Robbed of all the sweet unrest</div> - <div class='line in4'>That bound them to their young ones' nest.</div> - <div class='line in4'>And One on high of solemn state,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Apollo, Pan, or Zeus the great,</div> - <div class='line in4'>When he hears that shrill wild cry</div> - <div class='line in4'>Of his clients in the sky,</div> - <div class='line in4'>On them, the godless who offend,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Erinnys slow and sure doth send.</div> - <div class='line in4'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1192'>1192</span>So 'gainst Alexandros then</div> - <div class='line in4'>The sons of Atreus, chiefs of men,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Zeus sent to work his high behest,</div> - <div class='line in4'>True guardian of the host and guest.</div> - <div class='line in4'>He, for bride of many a groom,</div> - <div class='line in4'>On Danai, Troïans sendeth doom,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Many wrestlings, sinew-trying</div> - <div class='line in4'>Of the knee in dust down-lying,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Many a spear-shaft snapt asunder</div> - <div class='line in4'>In the prelude of war's thunder.</div> - <div class='line in4'>What shall be, shall, and still we see</div> - <div class='line in4'>Fulfilled is destiny's decree.</div> - <div class='line in4'>Nor by tears in secret shed,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Nor by offerings o'er the dead,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Will he soothe God's vengeful ire</div> - <div class='line in4'>For altar hearths despoiled of fire.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in4'>And we with age outworn and spent</div> - <div class='line in4'>Are left behind that armament,</div> - <div class='line in4'>With head upon our staff low bent.</div> - <div class='line in4'>Weak our strength like that of boy;</div> - <div class='line in4'>Youth's life-blood, in its bounding joy,</div> - <div class='line in4'>For deeds of might is like to age,</div> - <div class='line in4'>And knows not yet war's heritage:</div> - <div class='line in4'>And the man whom many a year</div> - <div class='line in4'>Hath bowed in withered age and sere,</div> - <div class='line in4'>As with three feet creepeth on,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Like phantom form of day-dream gone</div> - <div class='line in4'>Not stronger than his infant son.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in4'>And now, O Queen, who tak'st thy name</div> - <div class='line in4'>From Tyndareus of ancient fame,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Our Clytæmnestra whom we own</div> - <div class='line in4'>As rightly sharing Argos' throne!</div> - <div class='line in4'>What tidings joyous hast thou heard,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Token true or flattering word,</div> - <div class='line in4'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1193'>1193</span>That thou send'st to every shrine</div> - <div class='line in4'>Solemn pomp in stately line,—</div> - <div class='line in4'>Shrines of Gods who reign in light,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Or those who dwell in central night,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Who in Heaven for aye abide,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Or o'er the Agora preside.</div> - <div class='line in4'>Lo, thy gifts on altars blaze,</div> - <div class='line in4'>And here and there through heaven's wide ways</div> - <div class='line in4'>The torches fling their fiery rays,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Fed by soft and suasive spell</div> - <div class='line in4'>Of the clear oil, flowing well</div> - <div class='line in4'>From the royal treasure-cell.</div> - <div class='line in4'>Telling what of this thou may,</div> - <div class='line in4'>All that's meet to us to say,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Do thou our haunting cares allay,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Cares which now bring sore distress,</div> - <div class='line in4'>While now bright hope, with power to bless,</div> - <div class='line in4'>From out the sacrifice appears,</div> - <div class='line in4'>And wardeth off our restless fears,</div> - <div class='line in4'>The boding sense of coming fate,</div> - <div class='line in4'>That makes the spirit desolate.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>Yes, it is mine to tell</div> - <div class='line'>What omens to our leaders then befell,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Giving new strength for war,</div> - <div class='line in8'>(For still though travelled far</div> - <div class='line'>In life, by God's great gift to us belong</div> - <div class='line in8'>The suasive powers of song,)</div> - <div class='line in8'>To tell how those who bear</div> - <div class='line'>O'er all Achæans sway in equal share,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Ruling in one accord</div> - <div class='line'>The youth of Hellas that own each as lord,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Were sent with mighty host</div> - <div class='line'>By mighty birds against the Troïan coast,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1194'>1194</span>Kings of the air to kings of men appearing</div> - <div class='line'>Near to the palace, on the right hand veering;</div> - <div class='line in8'>On spot seen far and near,</div> - <div class='line in8'>They with their talons tear</div> - <div class='line'>A pregnant hare with all her unborn young,</div> - <div class='line'>All her life's course in death's deep darkness flung.</div> - <div class='line'>Oh raise the bitter cry, the bitter wail;</div> - <div class='line in8'>Yet pray that good prevail!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>And then the host's wise seer</div> - <div class='line'>Stood gazing on the Atreidæ standing near,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of diverse mood, and knew</div> - <div class='line in8'>Those who the poor hare slew,</div> - <div class='line'>And those who led the host with shield and spear,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And spake his omens clear:</div> - <div class='line in8'>“One day this host shall go,</div> - <div class='line'>And Priam's city in the dust lay low,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And all the kine and sheep</div> - <div class='line'>Countless, which they before their high towers keep,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Fate shall with might destroy:</div> - <div class='line'>Only take heed that no curse mar your joy,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor blunt the edge of curb that Troïa waiteth,</div> - <div class='line'>Smitten too soon, for Artemis still hateth</div> - <div class='line in8'>The wingèd hounds that own</div> - <div class='line in8'>Her father on his throne,</div> - <div class='line'>Who slay the mother with the young unborn,</div> - <div class='line'>And looks upon the eagle's feast with scorn.</div> - <div class='line'>Ah! raise the bitter cry, the bitter wail;</div> - <div class='line in8'>Yet pray that good prevail.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Epode</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>For she, the Fair One, though her mercy shields</div> - <div class='line in2'>The lion's whelps, like dew-drops newly shed,</div> - <div class='line'>And yeanling young of beasts that roam the fields,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Yet prays her sire fulfil these omens dread,</div> - <div class='line in8'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1195'>1195</span>The good, the evil too.</div> - <div class='line'>And now I call on him, our Healer true,</div> - <div class='line'>Lest she upon the Danai send delays</div> - <div class='line'>That keep our ships through many weary days,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Urging a new strange rite,</div> - <div class='line'>Unblest alike by man and God's high law,</div> - <div class='line'>Evil close clinging, working sore despite,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Marring a wife's true awe.</div> - <div class='line in8'>For still there lies in wait,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Fearful and ever new,</div> - <div class='line'>Watching the hour its eager thirst to sate,</div> - <div class='line'>Vengeance on those who helpless infants slew.”</div> - <div class='line'>Such things, ill mixed with good, great Calchas spake,</div> - <div class='line'>As destined by the birds' strange auguries;</div> - <div class='line'>And we too now our echoing answer make</div> - <div class='line in8'>In loud and woeful cries:</div> - <div class='line'>Oh raise the bitter cry, the bitter wail;</div> - <div class='line in8'>Yet pray that good prevail.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>O Zeus, whoe'er Thou be,</div> - <div class='line in8'>If that name please thee well,</div> - <div class='line in8'>By that I call on Thee;</div> - <div class='line'>For weighing all things else I fail to tell</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of any name but Zeus;</div> - <div class='line in8'>If once for all I seek</div> - <div class='line'>Of all my haunting, troubled thoughts a truce,</div> - <div class='line in8'>That name I still must speak.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>For He who once was great,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Full of the might to war,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Hath lost his high estate;</div> - <div class='line'>And He who followed now is driven afar,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Meeting his Master too:</div> - <div class='line in8'>But if one humbly pay</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1196'>1196</span>With 'bated breath to Zeus his honour due,</div> - <div class='line in8'>He walks in wisdom's way,—</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>To Zeus, who men in wisdom's path doth train,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Who to our mortal race</div> - <div class='line'>Hath given the fixèd law that pain is gain;</div> - <div class='line in8'>For still through his high grace</div> - <div class='line'>True counsel falleth on the heart like dew,</div> - <div class='line in8'>In deep sleep of the night,</div> - <div class='line'>The boding thoughts that out of ill deeds grew;</div> - <div class='line'>This too They work who sit enthronèd in their might.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And then the elder leader of great fame</div> - <div class='line in8'>Who ruled the Achæans' ships,</div> - <div class='line'>Not bold enough a holy seer to blame</div> - <div class='line in8'>With words from reckless lips,</div> - <div class='line'>But tempered to the fate that on him fell;—</div> - <div class='line in8'>And when the host was vexed</div> - <div class='line'>With tarryings long, scant stores, and surging swell,</div> - <div class='line'>Chalkis still far off seen, and baffled hopes perplexed;</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe IV</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And stormy blasts that down from Strymon sweep,</div> - <div class='line'>And breed sore famine with the long delay,</div> - <div class='line'>Hurl forth our men upon the homeless deep</div> - <div class='line in8'>On many a wandering way,</div> - <div class='line'>Sparing nor ships, nor ropes, nor sailing gear,</div> - <div class='line'>Doubling the weary months, and vexing still</div> - <div class='line in8'>The Argive host with fear.</div> - <div class='line'>Then when as mightier charm for that dread ill,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Hard for our ships to bear,</div> - <div class='line'>From the seer's lips did “Artemis” resound,</div> - <div class='line'>The Atreidæ smote their staves upon the ground,</div> - <div class='line'>And with no power to check, shed many a bitter tear.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1197'>1197</span><span class='sc'>Antistrophe IV</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And then the elder of the chiefs thus cried:</div> - <div class='line'>“Great woe it is the Gods to disobey;</div> - <div class='line'>Great woe if I my child, my home's fond pride,</div> - <div class='line in8'>With my own hands must slay,</div> - <div class='line'>Polluting with the streams of maiden's blood</div> - <div class='line'>A father's hands, the holy altar near.</div> - <div class='line in8'>Which course hath least of good?</div> - <div class='line'>How can I loss of ships and comrades bear?</div> - <div class='line in8'>Right well may men desire,</div> - <div class='line'>With craving strong, the blood of maiden pure</div> - <div class='line'>As charm to lull the winds and calm ensure;</div> - <div class='line'>Ah, may there come the good to which our hopes aspire!”</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe V</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in4'>Then, when he his spirit proud</div> - <div class='line in4'>To the yoke of doom had bowed,</div> - <div class='line in4'>While the blasts of altered mood</div> - <div class='line in4'>O'er his soul swept like a flood,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Reckless, godless and unblest;</div> - <div class='line in4'>Thence new thoughts upon him pressed,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Thoughts of evil, frenzied daring,</div> - <div class='line in4'>(Still doth passion, base guile sharing,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Mother of all evil, hold</div> - <div class='line in4'>The power to make men bad and bold,)</div> - <div class='line in4'>And he brought himself to slay</div> - <div class='line in4'>His daughter, as on solemn day,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Victim slain the ship to save,</div> - <div class='line in4'>When for false wife fought the brave.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe V</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in4'>All her cries and loud acclaim,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Calling on her father's name,—</div> - <div class='line in4'>All her beauty fresh and fair,</div> - <div class='line in4'>They heeded not in their despair,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Their eager lust for conflict there.</div> - <div class='line in4'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1198'>1198</span>And her sire the attendants bade</div> - <div class='line in4'>To lift her, when the prayer was said,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Above the altar like a kid,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Her face and form in thick veil hid;</div> - <div class='line in4'>Yea, with ruthless heart and bold,</div> - <div class='line in4'>O'er her gracious lips to hold</div> - <div class='line in4'>Their watch, and with the gag's dumb pain</div> - <div class='line in4'>From evil-boding words restrain.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe VI</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>And then upon the ground</div> - <div class='line'>Pouring the golden streams of saffron veil,</div> - <div class='line in8'>She cast a glance around</div> - <div class='line in8'>That told its piteous tale,</div> - <div class='line'>At each of those who stood prepared to slay,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Fair as the form by skilful artist drawn,</div> - <div class='line'>And wishing, all in vain, her thoughts to say;</div> - <div class='line in2'>For oft of old in maiden youth's first dawn,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Within her father's hall,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Her voice to song did call,</div> - <div class='line'>To chant the praises of her sire's high state,</div> - <div class='line'>His fame, thrice blest of Heaven, to celebrate.</div> - <div class='line in8'>What then ensued mine eyes</div> - <div class='line'>Saw not, nor may I tell, but not in vain</div> - <div class='line in8'>The arts of Calchas wise;</div> - <div class='line in8'>For justice sends again,</div> - <div class='line'>The lesson “pain is gain” for them to learn:</div> - <div class='line in2'>But for our piteous fate since help is none,</div> - <div class='line'>With voice that bids “Good-bye,” we from it turn</div> - <div class='line in2'>Ere yet it come, and this is all as one</div> - <div class='line in8'>With weeping ere the hour,</div> - <div class='line in8'>For soon will come in power</div> - <div class='line'>To-morrow's dawn, and good luck with it come!</div> - <div class='line'>So speaks the guardian of this Apian home.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1199'>1199</span><span class='sc'>Verses</span> 346-471</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in4'>O great and sovran Zeus, O Night,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Great in glory, great in might,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Who round Troïa's towers hast set,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Enclosing all, thy close-meshed net,</div> - <div class='line in4'>So that neither small nor great</div> - <div class='line in4'>Can o'erleap the bondslave's fate,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Or woe that maketh desolate;</div> - <div class='line in4'>Zeus, the God of host and guest,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Worker of all this confessed,</div> - <div class='line in4'>He by me shall still be blest.</div> - <div class='line in4'>Long since, 'gainst Alexandros He</div> - <div class='line in4'>Took aim with bow that none may flee,</div> - <div class='line in4'>That so his arrows onward driven,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Nor miss their mark, nor pierce the heaven.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>Yes, they lie smitten low,</div> - <div class='line'>If so one dare to speak, by stroke of Zeus;</div> - <div class='line in8'>Well one may trace the blow;</div> - <div class='line'>The doom that He decreed their soul subdues.</div> - <div class='line in8'>And though there be that say</div> - <div class='line'>The Gods for mortal men care not at all,</div> - <div class='line'>Though they with reckless feet tread holiest way,</div> - <div class='line in8'>These none will godly call.</div> - <div class='line'>Now is it to the children's children clear</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of those who, overbold,</div> - <div class='line'>More than was meet, breathed Discord's spirit drear;</div> - <div class='line'>While yet their houses all rich store did hold</div> - <div class='line in8'>Beyond the perfect mean.</div> - <div class='line'>Ah! may my lot be free from all that harms,</div> - <div class='line in8'>My soul may nothing wean</div> - <div class='line'>From calm contentment with her tranquil charms;</div> - <div class='line in8'>For nought is there in wealth</div> - <div class='line'>That serves as bulwark 'gainst the subtle stealth</div> - <div class='line in8'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1200'>1200</span>Of Destiny and Doom,</div> - <div class='line'>For one who, in the pride of wanton mood,</div> - <div class='line'>Spurns the great altar of the Right and Good.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>Yea, a strange impulse wild</div> - <div class='line'>Urges him on, resistless in its might,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Atè's far-scheming child.</div> - <div class='line'>It knows no healing, is not hid in night,</div> - <div class='line in8'>That mischief lurid, dark;</div> - <div class='line'>Like bronze that will not stand the test of wear,</div> - <div class='line'>A tarnished blackness in its hue we mark;</div> - <div class='line'>And like a boy who doth a bird pursue</div> - <div class='line in8'>Swift-floating on the wing,</div> - <div class='line'>He to his country hopeless woe doth bring;</div> - <div class='line in8'>And no God hears their prayer,</div> - <div class='line'>But sendeth down the unrighteous to despair,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Whose hands are stained with sin.</div> - <div class='line in8'>So was it Paris came</div> - <div class='line'>His entrance to the Atreidæ's home to win,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And brought its queen to shame,</div> - <div class='line'>To shame that brand indelible hath set</div> - <div class='line'>Upon the board where host and guest were met.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And leaving to her countrymen to bear</div> - <div class='line'>Wild whirl of ships of war and shield and spear,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And bringing as her dower,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Death's doom to Ilion's tower,</div> - <div class='line'>She hath passed quickly through the palace gate,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Daring what none should dare;</div> - <div class='line'>And lo! the minstrel seers bewail the fate</div> - <div class='line in8'>That home must henceforth share;</div> - <div class='line'>“Woe for the kingly house and for its lord;</div> - <div class='line'>Woe for the marriage-bed and paths which still</div> - <div class='line in8'>A vanished love doth fill!</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1201'>1201</span>There stands he, wronged, yet speaking not a word</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of scorn from wrathful will,</div> - <div class='line'>Seeing with utter woe that he is left,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of her fair form bereft;</div> - <div class='line in8'>And in his yearning love</div> - <div class='line'>For her who now is far beyond the sea,</div> - <div class='line'>A phantom queen through all the house shall rove;</div> - <div class='line in8'>And all the joy doth flee</div> - <div class='line'>The sculptured forms of beauty once did give;</div> - <div class='line'>And in the penury of eyes that live,</div> - <div class='line in8'>All Aphroditè's grace</div> - <div class='line in8'>Is lost in empty space.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And spectral forms in visions of the night</div> - <div class='line'>Come, bringing sorrow with their vain delight:</div> - <div class='line in8'>For vain it is when one</div> - <div class='line in8'>Thinks that great joy is near,</div> - <div class='line'>And, passing through his hands, the dream is gone</div> - <div class='line in8'>On gliding wings, that bear</div> - <div class='line'>The vision far away on paths of sleep.”</div> - <div class='line in8'>Such woes were felt at home</div> - <div class='line'>Upon the sacred altar of the hearth,</div> - <div class='line'>And worse than these remain for those who roam</div> - <div class='line in8'>From Hellas' parent earth:</div> - <div class='line'>In every house, in number measureless,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Is seen a sore distress:</div> - <div class='line in8'>Yea, sorrows pierce the heart:</div> - <div class='line'>For those who from his home he saw depart</div> - <div class='line in8'>Each knoweth all too well;</div> - <div class='line'>And now, instead of warrior's living frame,</div> - <div class='line'>There cometh to the home where each did dwell</div> - <div class='line'>The scanty ashes, relics of the flame,</div> - <div class='line in8'>The urns of bronze that keep</div> - <div class='line in8'>The dust of those that sleep.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1202'>1202</span><span class='sc'>Strophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>For Ares, who from bodies of the slain</div> - <div class='line in8'>Reapeth a golden gain,</div> - <div class='line'>And holdeth, like a trafficker, his scales,</div> - <div class='line'>E'en where the torrent rush of war prevails,</div> - <div class='line in8'>From Ilion homeward sends</div> - <div class='line'>But little dust, yet burden sore for friends,</div> - <div class='line'>O'er which, smooth-lying in the brazen urn,</div> - <div class='line in8'>They sadly weep and mourn,</div> - <div class='line'>Now for this man as foremost in the strife,</div> - <div class='line'>And now for that who in the battle fell,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Slain for another's wife.</div> - <div class='line'>And muttered curses some in secret tell,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And jealous discontent</div> - <div class='line'>Against the Atreidæ who as champions led</div> - <div class='line in8'>The mighty armament;</div> - <div class='line'>And some around the wall, the goodly dead,</div> - <div class='line'>Have there in alien land their monument,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And in the soil of foes</div> - <div class='line'>Take in the sleep of death their last repose.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And lo! the murmurs which our country fill</div> - <div class='line in8'>Are as a solemn curse,</div> - <div class='line'>And boding anxious fear expecteth still</div> - <div class='line in8'>To hear of evil worse.</div> - <div class='line'>Not blind the Gods, but giving fullest heed</div> - <div class='line'>To those who cause a nation's wounds to bleed;</div> - <div class='line'>And the dark-robed Erinnyes in due time</div> - <div class='line in8'>By adverse chance and change</div> - <div class='line'>Plunge him who prospers though defiled by crime</div> - <div class='line'>In deepest gloom, and through its formless range</div> - <div class='line in8'>No gleams of help appear.</div> - <div class='line'>O'er-vaunted glory is a perilous thing;</div> - <div class='line'>For on it Zeus, whose glance fills all with fear,</div> - <div class='line in8'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1203'>1203</span>His thunderbolts doth fling.</div> - <div class='line in8'>That fortune fair I praise</div> - <div class='line'>That rouseth not the Gods to jealousy.</div> - <div class='line'>May I ne'er tread the devastator's ways,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Nor as a prisoner see</div> - <div class='line'>My life wear out in drear captivity!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Epode</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And now at bidding of the courier-flame,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Herald of great good news,</div> - <div class='line'>A murmur swift through all the city came;</div> - <div class='line'>But whether it with truth its course pursues,</div> - <div class='line'>Who knows? or whether God who dwells on high,</div> - <div class='line in8'>With it hath sent a lie?</div> - <div class='line'>Who is so childish, or of sense bereft,</div> - <div class='line in8'>As first to feel the glow</div> - <div class='line'>That message of the herald fire has left,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And then to sink down low,</div> - <div class='line'>Because the rumour changes in its sound?</div> - <div class='line in8'>It is a woman's mood</div> - <div class='line'>To accept a boon before the truth is found:</div> - <div class='line'>Too quickly she believes in tidings good,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And so the line exact</div> - <div class='line in8'>That marks the truth of fact</div> - <div class='line'>Is over-passed, and with quick doom of death</div> - <div class='line'>A rumour spread by woman perisheth.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Verses</span> 665-782</div> - <div class='c003'><span class='sc'>Strophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Who was it named her with such foresight clear?</div> - <div class='line in8'>Could it be One of might,</div> - <div class='line'>In strange prevision of her work of fear,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Guiding the tongue aright?</div> - <div class='line'>Who gave that war-wed, strife-upstirring one</div> - <div class='line in8'>The name of Helen, ominous of ill?</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1204'>1204</span>For 'twas through her that Hellas was undone,</div> - <div class='line in8'>That woes from Hell men, ships, and cities fill.</div> - <div class='line'>Out from the curtains, gorgeous in their fold,</div> - <div class='line'>Wafted by breeze of Zephyr, earth's strong child,</div> - <div class='line in8'>She her swift way doth hold;</div> - <div class='line'>And hosts of mighty men, as hunters bold</div> - <div class='line in8'>That bear the spear and shield,</div> - <div class='line'>Wait on the track of those who steered their way</div> - <div class='line'>Unseen where Simois flows by leafy field,</div> - <div class='line'>Urged by a strife that came with power to slay.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And so the wrath which doth its work fulfil</div> - <div class='line in8'>To Ilion brought, well-named,</div> - <div class='line'>A marriage marring all, avenging still</div> - <div class='line in8'>For friendship wronged and shamed,</div> - <div class='line'>And outrage foul on Zeus, of host and guest</div> - <div class='line in2'>The guardian God, from those who then did raise</div> - <div class='line'>The bridal hymn of marriage-feast unblest</div> - <div class='line in2'>Which called the bridegroom's kin to shouts of praise.</div> - <div class='line in8'>But now by woe oppressed</div> - <div class='line'>Priam's ancient city waileth very sore,</div> - <div class='line'>And calls on Paris unto dark doom wed,</div> - <div class='line in6'>Suffering yet more and more</div> - <div class='line'>For all the blood of heroes vainly shed,</div> - <div class='line'>And bearing through the long protracted years</div> - <div class='line'>A life of wailing grief and bitter tears.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>One was there who did rear</div> - <div class='line'>A lion's whelp within his home to dwell,</div> - <div class='line in8'>A monster waking fear,</div> - <div class='line'>Weaned from the mother's milk it loved so well:</div> - <div class='line in8'>Then in life's dawning light,</div> - <div class='line'>Loved by the children, petted by the old,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Oft in his arms clasped tight,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1205'>1205</span>As one an infant newly-born would hold,</div> - <div class='line'>With eye that gleamed beneath the fondling hand,</div> - <div class='line'>And fawning as at hunger's strong command.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>But soon of age full grown,</div> - <div class='line'>It showed the inbred nature of its sire,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And wrought unasked, alone,</div> - <div class='line'>A feast to be that fostering nurture's hire;</div> - <div class='line in8'>Gorged full with slaughtered sheep,</div> - <div class='line'>The house was stained with blood as with a curse</div> - <div class='line in8'>No slaves away could keep,</div> - <div class='line'>A murderous mischief waxing worse and worse,</div> - <div class='line'>Sent as from God a priest from Atè fell,</div> - <div class='line'>And reared within the man's own house to dwell.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>So I would say to Ilion then there came</div> - <div class='line in2'>Mood as of calm when every wind is still,</div> - <div class='line'>The gentle pride and joy of noble fame,</div> - <div class='line'>The eye's soft glance that all the soul doth thrill;</div> - <div class='line in8'>Love's full-blown flower that brings</div> - <div class='line in8'>The thorn that wounds and stings;</div> - <div class='line in8'>And yet she turned aside,</div> - <div class='line'>And of the marriage feast wrought bitter end,</div> - <div class='line'>Coming to dwell where Priam's sons abide,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Ill sojourner, ill friend,</div> - <div class='line'>Sent by great Zeus, the God of host and guest,</div> - <div class='line'>A true Erinnys, by all wives unblest.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>There lives a saying framed of ancient days,</div> - <div class='line in2'>And in men's minds imprinted firm and fast,</div> - <div class='line'>That great good fortune never childless stays,</div> - <div class='line in2'>But brings forth issue,—that on fame at last</div> - <div class='line in8'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1206'>1206</span>There rushes on apace</div> - <div class='line in8'>Great woe for all the race;</div> - <div class='line in8'>But I, apart, alone,</div> - <div class='line'>Hold a far other and a worthier creed:</div> - <div class='line'>The impious act is by ill issue known,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Most like the parent deed;</div> - <div class='line'>While still for all who love the Truth and Right,</div> - <div class='line'>Good fortune prospers, fairer and more bright.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe IV</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>But wanton Outrage done in days of old</div> - <div class='line in2'>Another wanton Outrage still doth bear,</div> - <div class='line'>And mocks at human woes with scorn o'erbold,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Or soon or late as they their fortune share.</div> - <div class='line in8'>That other in its turn</div> - <div class='line in8'>Begets Satiety,</div> - <div class='line'>And lawless Might that doth all hindrance spurn,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And sacred right defy,</div> - <div class='line'>Two Atès fell within their dwelling-place,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Like to their parent race.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe IV</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Yet Justice still shines bright in dwellings murk</div> - <div class='line in2'>And dim with smoke, and honours calm content;</div> - <div class='line'>But gold-bespangled homes, where guilt doth lurk,</div> - <div class='line in2'>She leaves with glance in horror backward bent,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And draws with reverent fear</div> - <div class='line in8'>To places holier far,</div> - <div class='line'>And little recks the praise the prosperous hear,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Whose glories tarnished are;</div> - <div class='line'>But still towards its destined goal she brings</div> - <div class='line in8'>The whole wide course of things.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in6'>Say then, son of Atreus, thou</div> - <div class='line in6'>Who com'st as Troïa's conqueror now,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1207'>1207</span>What form of welcome right and meet,</div> - <div class='line'>What homage thy approach to greet,</div> - <div class='line'>Shall I now use in measure true,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor more nor less than that is due?</div> - <div class='line'>Many men there are, I wis,</div> - <div class='line'>Who in seeming place their bliss,</div> - <div class='line'>Caring less for that which is.</div> - <div class='line'>If one suffers, then their wail</div> - <div class='line'>Loudly doth the ear assail;</div> - <div class='line'>Yet have they nor lot nor part</div> - <div class='line'>In the grief that stirs the heart;</div> - <div class='line'>So too the joyous men will greet</div> - <div class='line'>With smileless faces counterfeit:</div> - <div class='line'>But shepherd who his own sheep knows</div> - <div class='line'>Will scan the lips that fawn and gloze,</div> - <div class='line'>Ready still to praise and bless</div> - <div class='line'>With weak and watery kindliness.</div> - <div class='line'>Thou when thou the host did'st guide</div> - <div class='line'>For Helen—truth I will not hide—</div> - <div class='line'>In mine eyes had'st features grim,</div> - <div class='line'>Such as unskilled art doth limn,</div> - <div class='line'>Not guiding well the helm of thought,</div> - <div class='line'>And giving souls with grief o'erwrought</div> - <div class='line'>False courage from fresh victims brought,</div> - <div class='line'>But with nought of surface zeal,</div> - <div class='line'>Now full glad of heart I feel,</div> - <div class='line'>And hail thy acts as deeds well done:</div> - <div class='line'>Thou too in time shall know each one,</div> - <div class='line'>And learn who wrongly, who aright</div> - <div class='line'>In house or city dwells in might.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Verses</span> 947-1001</div> - <div class='c003'><span class='sc'>Strophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>Why thus continually</div> - <div class='line'>Do ever-haunting phantoms hover nigh</div> - <div class='line in8'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1208'>1208</span>My hearth that bodeth ill?</div> - <div class='line'>Why doth the prophet's strain unbidden still,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Unbought, flow on and on?</div> - <div class='line in8'>Why on my mind's dear throne</div> - <div class='line'>Hath faith lost all her former power to fling</div> - <div class='line'>That terror from me as an idle thing?</div> - <div class='line'>Yet since the ropes were fastened in the sand</div> - <div class='line in8'>That moored the ships to land,</div> - <div class='line'>When the great naval host to Ilion went,</div> - <div class='line'>Time hath passed on to feeble age and spent.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>And now as face to face,</div> - <div class='line'>Myself reporting to myself I trace</div> - <div class='line in8'>Their safe return; and yet</div> - <div class='line'>My mind, taught by itself, cannot forget</div> - <div class='line in8'>Erinnys' dolorous cry,</div> - <div class='line in8'>That lyreless melody,</div> - <div class='line in2'>And hath no strength of wonted confidence.</div> - <div class='line in2'>Not vain these pulses of the inward sense,</div> - <div class='line in2'>As my heart beateth in its wild unrest,</div> - <div class='line in10'>Within true-boding breast;</div> - <div class='line in2'>And hoping against hope, I yet will pray</div> - <div class='line in2'>My fears may all prove false and pass away.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in10'>Of high, o'erflowing health</div> - <div class='line in2'>There is no limit found that satisfies;</div> - <div class='line in8'>For soon by force or stealth,</div> - <div class='line in2'>As foe 'gainst whom but one poor wall doth rise,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Disease upon it presses, and the lot</div> - <div class='line in2'>Of fair good fortune onward moves until</div> - <div class='line in2'>It strikes on unseen reef where help is not.</div> - <div class='line in10'>But should fear move their will</div> - <div class='line in10'>For safety of their freight,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1209'>1209</span>With measured sling a part they sacrifice,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And so avert their fate,</div> - <div class='line'>Lest the whole house should sink no more to rise,</div> - <div class='line in8'>O'erwhelmed with misery;</div> - <div class='line'>Nor does the good ship perish utterly:</div> - <div class='line in8'>So too abundant gift,</div> - <div class='line'>From Zeus in double plenty, from the earth,</div> - <div class='line'>Doth the worn soul from anxious care uplift,</div> - <div class='line'>And turns the famished wail to bounding joy and mirth.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>But blood that once is shed</div> - <div class='line'>In purple stream of death upon the ground,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Who then, when life is fled,</div> - <div class='line'>A charm to call it back again hath found?</div> - <div class='line in2'>Else against him who raised the dead to life</div> - <div class='line'>Zeus had not sternly warred, as warning given</div> - <div class='line in2'>To all men; but if Fate were not at strife</div> - <div class='line in8'>With Fate that brings from Heaven</div> - <div class='line in8'>Help from the Gods, my heart,</div> - <div class='line'>Out-stripping speech, had given thought free vent.</div> - <div class='line in8'>But now in gloom apart</div> - <div class='line'>It sits and moans in sullen discontent,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And hath no hope that e'er</div> - <div class='line'>It shall an issue seasonably fair</div> - <div class='line in8'>From out the tangled skein</div> - <div class='line'>Of life's strange course unravel straight and clear,</div> - <div class='line'>While in the fever of continuing pain</div> - <div class='line'>My soul doth burden sore of troublous anguish bear.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_1210'>1210</span> - <h3 id='p1210' class='c001'>THE LIBATION-POURERS</h3> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Verses</span> 20-75</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Lo, from the palace door</div> - <div class='line'>We wend our way to pour</div> - <div class='line in6'>Gifts on the dead;</div> - <div class='line'>And in our bitter woe,</div> - <div class='line'>Our hands with many a blow</div> - <div class='line in6'>Smite breast and head.</div> - <div class='line'>On each fair cheek the nail</div> - <div class='line'>Has ploughed full many a trail,</div> - <div class='line'>And all to tatters torn</div> - <div class='line'>The garments we have worn;</div> - <div class='line'>The foldings of the vest</div> - <div class='line'>O'er maiden's swelling breast</div> - <div class='line in4'>Are roughly rent;</div> - <div class='line'>For now on us the chance</div> - <div class='line'>That shuts out joy and dance</div> - <div class='line in6'>Our fate hath sent.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>A spectral vision clear</div> - <div class='line'>Thrills every hair with fear,</div> - <div class='line'>In haunted sleep,</div> - <div class='line'>Breathing of dire distress,</div> - <div class='line'>From innermost recess</div> - <div class='line'>Its watch doth keep,</div> - <div class='line'>Breaking with cry of fright</div> - <div class='line'>The still deep hush of night:</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1211'>1211</span>All through the queenly bower</div> - <div class='line'>Sharp cry was heard that hour,</div> - <div class='line'>And they to whom 'twas given</div> - <div class='line'>To read decrees of Heaven,</div> - <div class='line in8'>In dream o'er-true,</div> - <div class='line'>By solemn pledges bound,</div> - <div class='line'>Declared that underground</div> - <div class='line'>The dead were wrathful found</div> - <div class='line in8'>'Gainst those that slew.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And so the godless queen</div> - <div class='line'>In eager haste is seen,—</div> - <div class='line'>Sends me with gifts like this,</div> - <div class='line'>Full graceless grace, I wis,</div> - <div class='line'>As if (O mother Earth,</div> - <div class='line'>To whom we owe our birth!)</div> - <div class='line in8'>To banish dread.</div> - <div class='line'>And I would fain delay</div> - <div class='line'>This prayer of mine to pray:</div> - <div class='line'>What ransom can men pay</div> - <div class='line in8'>For blood once shed?</div> - <div class='line'>Oh, hearth and home of woe!</div> - <div class='line'>Oh, utter overthrow!</div> - <div class='line'>Foul mists brood o'er our halls:</div> - <div class='line'>No ray of sunlight falls;</div> - <div class='line'>Thick darkness from the tomb</div> - <div class='line'>Of heroes makes the gloom</div> - <div class='line in8'>Yet more intense.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And awe that once we knew,</div> - <div class='line'>Strong, mighty to subdue,</div> - <div class='line'>Falling on every ear,</div> - <div class='line'>Thrilling each soul with fear,</div> - <div class='line in8'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1212'>1212</span>Is gone far hence.</div> - <div class='line'>There be that well may bow</div> - <div class='line'>In craven terror now,</div> - <div class='line'>For lo! Success enthroned</div> - <div class='line'>As more than God is owned.</div> - <div class='line'>But Vengeance will not fail</div> - <div class='line'>Ere long to turn the scale.</div> - <div class='line'>On some her strokes alight,</div> - <div class='line'>While yet their day is bright;</div> - <div class='line'>Some, as in twilight's gloom,</div> - <div class='line'>O'erflow with gathering doom;</div> - <div class='line'>Some endless night doth hold</div> - <div class='line'>In realm of darkness old.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And for the blood which Earth,</div> - <div class='line'>To whom it owed its birth,</div> - <div class='line'>Hath drunk, there still doth wait</div> - <div class='line'>A stern avenging Fate;</div> - <div class='line'>The stain of blood doth stay,</div> - <div class='line'>And will not pass away,</div> - <div class='line'>And nerves are thrilled with pain</div> - <div class='line'>In soul that sets in train</div> - <div class='line'>The plague that works amain</div> - <div class='line in8'>Its evil great.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>All help from him hath fled</div> - <div class='line'>Who with adulterous tread</div> - <div class='line'>Denies another's bed.</div> - <div class='line'>Though many streams should pour</div> - <div class='line'>Their waters o'er and o'er,</div> - <div class='line'>Those waters evermore</div> - <div class='line in8'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1213'>1213</span>Are poured in vain;</div> - <div class='line'>They cannot cleanse the guilt</div> - <div class='line'>Of blood that once is spilt,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Man's hand to stain.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Epode</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>But since to me by Heaven</div> - <div class='line'>The exile's life is given,</div> - <div class='line'>(Yea, far from home I know</div> - <div class='line'>The bondslave's cup of woe,)</div> - <div class='line'>I needs must yield assent</div> - <div class='line'>To good or ill intent,</div> - <div class='line'>Accepting their commands</div> - <div class='line'>Who rule with sceptred hands,—</div> - <div class='line'>Yea, I must hide my hate</div> - <div class='line'>In this my evil fate,</div> - <div class='line'>And under strong control</div> - <div class='line'>Keep my rebellious soul;</div> - <div class='line'>And now beneath my veil</div> - <div class='line'>I weep my woes' full tale;</div> - <div class='line'>For cares that vex and fret</div> - <div class='line'>My cheeks with tears are wet.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Verses</span> 576-639</div> - <div class='c003'><span class='sc'>Strophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Many dread forms of woe and fear the Earth</div> - <div class='line in4'>Doth breed; and Ocean's deep</div> - <div class='line'>Is full of foes men hate, of monstrous birth;</div> - <div class='line'>And Air's high pathways keep</div> - <div class='line'>Their flashing meteors; birds that wing their flight,</div> - <div class='line in4'>And things on earth that creep;</div> - <div class='line'>And one might tell the wrath of whirlwind's might,</div> - <div class='line in4'>When tempests wildly sweep.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1214'>1214</span><span class='sc'>Antistrophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>But who can tell man's purpose overbold?</div> - <div class='line in4'>Or woman's, prompt to dare?</div> - <div class='line'>Or the strong loves that men in bondage hold,</div> - <div class='line in4'>And bring woe everywhere?</div> - <div class='line'>Or strange conjunctions of the hearth and home?</div> - <div class='line in4'>But still the palm they bear,</div> - <div class='line'>The loves unloved that women overcome,</div> - <div class='line in4'>And hold dominion there.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And one whose thoughts are not o'erswift of wing,</div> - <div class='line in4'>May learn and ponder well</div> - <div class='line'>What purpose Thestios' child to act did bring,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Purpose most dire and fell,</div> - <div class='line'>Her burning thought who did her own child slay,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Kindling the torch of death</div> - <div class='line'>That with her child's life kept its equal way,</div> - <div class='line'>Since coming from his mother's womb he cried,</div> - <div class='line'>To that predestined day on which at last he died.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And yet another must I in my song</div> - <div class='line in4'>Devote to hate and scorn,</div> - <div class='line'>The murderess Skylla, who to deeds of wrong</div> - <div class='line in4'>By Minos' gifts was borne,</div> - <div class='line'>And for her foes' sake slew a man she loved</div> - <div class='line in4'>For Cretan chains gold-wrought;</div> - <div class='line'>She with dog's heart the deathless lock removed</div> - <div class='line'>From him, in deep sleep sunk; yet Hermes' power</div> - <div class='line'>She too was taught at last at her appointed hour.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>But since I tell my tale of loathly crime,</div> - <div class='line'>And of ill-omened marriage out of time,</div> - <div class='line in4'>Wedlock our house abhors,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1215'>1215</span>The schemes and plots of women steeped in guile</div> - <div class='line'>Against a warrior chief, a chief erewhile</div> - <div class='line in8'>The dread of foes in wars,</div> - <div class='line'>The foremost place I give to altar-hearth</div> - <div class='line'>Where no wrath burns and woman knows the worth</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of mood from daring free.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Yet of all ills the Lemnian first may stand,</div> - <div class='line'>The cry of loathing rings through all the land,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And still each crime of dread</div> - <div class='line'>A man will liken to the Lemnian ill;</div> - <div class='line'>And now by woe that comes from God's stern will</div> - <div class='line in8'>The race is gone and fled,</div> - <div class='line'>Of all men scorned, for no man looks with love</div> - <div class='line'>On deeds that to the high Gods hateful prove;</div> - <div class='line in8'>Is not this clear to see?</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe IV</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And lo! the sword sharp-pointed pierces deep,</div> - <div class='line in2'>E'en to the heart, the sword which Vengeance wields;</div> - <div class='line'>The lawless deed will not neglected sleep,</div> - <div class='line in2'>When men tread down what fear of high heaven shields;</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe IV</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>But still the block of Vengeance firm doth stand,</div> - <div class='line in2'>And Fate, as swordsmith, hammers blow on blow;</div> - <div class='line'>And then with thoughts that none can understand,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Erinnys comes far known, though working slow,</div> - <div class='line'>And to the old house brings the youthful heir,</div> - <div class='line in2'>That deeds of blood wrought out of olden time</div> - <div class='line in8'>May the due judgment bear</div> - <div class='line in8'>For each polluting crime.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1216'>1216</span><span class='sc'>Verses</span> 769-820</div> - <div class='c003'><span class='sc'>Strophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Oh, hear me, hear my prayer, thou mighty Lord!</div> - <div class='line in2'>Sire of all Gods that on Olympos dwell,</div> - <div class='line'>Hear Thou, and grant my longing heart's desire,</div> - <div class='line in2'>That those who wise of heart would fain do well</div> - <div class='line in8'>May see each prayer for right</div> - <div class='line in8'>Fulfilled in holiest might;</div> - <div class='line in8'>That prayer, O Zeus, I pray.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Do Thou protect him, yea, O Zeus, and bring</div> - <div class='line in2'>Before his foes on yonder secret way;</div> - <div class='line'>For if thou raise him high, then Thou, O king,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Shalt to thy heart's content</div> - <div class='line'>Receive a twofold, threefold recompence,</div> - <div class='line in8'>For that thine anger bent</div> - <div class='line in8'>Against each old offence.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Look on the son of one whom Thou did'st love,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Like orphan colt fast bound to car of woes;</div> - <div class='line'>Set Thou a mark that may as limit prove;</div> - <div class='line in2'>Ah, might one watch his footsteps as he goes,</div> - <div class='line in8'>In measured course and true,</div> - <div class='line in8'>This his own country through!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>And ye who in our home</div> - <div class='line'>Stand in the shrine with plenteous wealth full stored,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Hear, O ye Gods, and come,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Yea, come with one accord,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Lead him on, wash away</div> - <div class='line'>With vengeance new the blood of crime of old;</div> - <div class='line in8'>Let not the old guilt stay</div> - <div class='line'>To breed fresh offspring where our home we hold.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1217'>1217</span><span class='sc'>Mesode</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>But grant him good success,</div> - <div class='line'>O Thou who dost within the great cave dwell!</div> - <div class='line'>With upward glance of joy our chief's house bless,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And that he too, full well,</div> - <div class='line'>Freely and brightly with the dear, loved eyes,</div> - <div class='line'>May look from out the veil of cloudy skies.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>And then may Maia's son</div> - <div class='line'>Assist him, as is meet, in this his task!</div> - <div class='line in8'>Through Him success is won,</div> - <div class='line in8'>The boon that now we ask:</div> - <div class='line'>And many secret things will He make clear,</div> - <div class='line in8'>If that should be His will;</div> - <div class='line'>But should He choose the truth should not appear,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Before men's eyes He still</div> - <div class='line'>Brings darkness and the blackness of the night,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor is He clearer in the day's full light.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe IV</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>And then will we pour forth</div> - <div class='line'>All that our house contains of costliest worth,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Past evil to redeem,</div> - <div class='line'>And through the city we will raise the strain</div> - <div class='line'>Shrill-voiced of women's chant yet once again.</div> - <div class='line in8'>All this as good I deem;</div> - <div class='line'>This, this my gain increaseth more and more,</div> - <div class='line'>And far from those I love is sorrow's bitter stour.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>But thou, take courage when the time is come,</div> - <div class='line in8'>The time to act indeed,</div> - <div class='line'>And when she calls thee “child,” do thou strike home,</div> - <div class='line'>And let thy father's name for vengeance plead;</div> - <div class='line'>Do thy dread taskwork to the uttermost.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1218'>1218</span><span class='sc'>Antistrophe IV</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in2'>Let Perseus' heart within thy bosom dwell,</div> - <div class='line'>For thou dost work for each dear kindred ghost,</div> - <div class='line in2'>And those on high, a bitter boon and fell,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Completing there within</div> - <div class='line in8'>The deed of blood and sin,</div> - <div class='line'>And utterly destroying him whose hand</div> - <div class='line in8'>That crime of murder planned.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_1219'>1219</span> - <h3 id='p1219' class='c001'>EUMENIDES</h3> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Verses</span> 297-374</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Come then, and let us dance in solemn strain;</div> - <div class='line'>It is our will to chant our harsh refrain,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And tell how this our band</div> - <div class='line'>Works among men the tasks we take in hand.</div> - <div class='line'>In righteous vengeance find we full delight;</div> - <div class='line'>On him who putteth forth clean hands and pure</div> - <div class='line in8'>No wrath from us doth light;</div> - <div class='line'>Unhurt shall he through all his life endure;</div> - <div class='line'>But whoso, as this man, hath evil wrought,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And hides hands stained with blood,</div> - <div class='line'>On him we come, with power prevailing fraught,</div> - <div class='line in8'>True witnesses and good,</div> - <div class='line'>For those whom he has slain, and bent to win</div> - <div class='line'>Full forfeit-price for that his deed of sin.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>O Mother, Mother Night!</div> - <div class='line'>Who did'st bear me a penalty and curse</div> - <div class='line in2'>To those who see and those who see not light,</div> - <div class='line'>Hear thou; for Leto's son, in mood perverse,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Puts me to foulest shame,</div> - <div class='line'>In that he robs me of my trembling prey,</div> - <div class='line in8'>The victim whom we claim,</div> - <div class='line'>That we his mother's blood may wash away;</div> - <div class='line in8'>And over him as slain</div> - <div class='line'>Sing we this dolorous, frenzied, maddening strain,</div> - <div class='line'>The song that we, the Erinnyes, love so well,</div> - <div class='line'>That binds the soul as with enchanter's spell,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1220'>1220</span>Without one note from out the sweet-voiced lyre,</div> - <div class='line'>Withering the strength of men as with a blast of fire.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>For this our task hath Fate</div> - <div class='line in2'>Spun without fail to last for ever sure,</div> - <div class='line'>That we on man weighed down with deeds of hate</div> - <div class='line in2'>Should follow till the earth his life immure.</div> - <div class='line in8'>Nor when he dies can he</div> - <div class='line in8'>Boast of being truly free;</div> - <div class='line in8'>And over him as slain</div> - <div class='line'>Sing we this dolorous, frenzied, maddening strain,</div> - <div class='line'>The song that we, the Erinnyes, love so well,</div> - <div class='line'>That binds the soul as with enchanter's spell,</div> - <div class='line'>Without one note from out the sweet-voiced lyre,</div> - <div class='line'>Withering the strength of men as with a blast of fire.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Yea, at our birth this lot to us was given,</div> - <div class='line'>And from the immortal Ones who dwell in Heaven</div> - <div class='line in8'>We still must hold aloof;</div> - <div class='line'>None sits with us at banquets of delight,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Or shares a common roof,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor part nor lot have I in garments white;</div> - <div class='line'>My choice was made a race to overthrow,</div> - <div class='line'>When murder, home-reared, lays a loved one low;</div> - <div class='line'>Strong though he be, upon his track we tread,</div> - <div class='line'>And drain his blood till all his strength is fled.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Yea, 'tis our work to set another free</div> - <div class='line in2'>From tasks like this, and by my service due</div> - <div class='line'>To give the Gods their perfect liberty,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Relieved from task of meting judgment true;</div> - <div class='line'>For this our tribe from out his fellowship</div> - <div class='line in2'>Zeus hath cast out as worthy of all hate,</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1221'>1221</span>And from our limbs the purple blood-drops drip;</div> - <div class='line'>So with a mighty leap and grievous weight</div> - <div class='line in4'>My foot I bring upon my quivering prey,</div> - <div class='line in4'>With power to make the swift and strong give way,</div> - <div class='line'>An evil and intolerable fate.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And all the glory and the pride of men,</div> - <div class='line'>Though high exalted in the light of day,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Wither and fade away,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Of little honour then,</div> - <div class='line'>When in the darkness of the grave they stay,</div> - <div class='line in8'>By our attack brought low,</div> - <div class='line'>The loathèd dance through which in raiment black we go:</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>And through the ill that leaves him dazed and blind,</div> - <div class='line'>He still is all unconscious that he falls,</div> - <div class='line in8'>So thick a cloud enthrals</div> - <div class='line in8'>The vision of his mind:</div> - <div class='line'>And Rumour with a voice of wailing calls,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And tells of gathering gloom</div> - <div class='line'>That doth the ancient halls in darkness thick entomb.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe IV</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>So it abideth still;</div> - <div class='line'>Ready and prompt are we to work our will,</div> - <div class='line in8'>The dreaded Ones who bring</div> - <div class='line'>The dire remembrance of each deed of ill,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Whom mortals may not soothe with offering,</div> - <div class='line'>Working a task with little honour fraught,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Yea, all dishonoured, task the Gods detest,</div> - <div class='line in8'>In sunless midnight wrought,</div> - <div class='line in8'>By which alike are pressed</div> - <div class='line'>Those who yet live, and those who lie in gloom unblest.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1222'>1222</span><span class='sc'>Antistrophe IV</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>What mortal man then will not crouch in fear,</div> - <div class='line in8'>As he my work shall hear,</div> - <div class='line'>The task to me by destiny from Heaven</div> - <div class='line in8'>As from the high Gods given?</div> - <div class='line'>Yea, a time-honoured lot is mine I trow,</div> - <div class='line in8'>No shame in it I see,</div> - <div class='line'>Though deep beneath the earth my station be,</div> - <div class='line'>In gloom that never feels the sunlight's quickening glow.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Verses</span> 468-537</div> - <div class='c003'><span class='sc'>Strophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Now is there utter fall and overthrow,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Which new-made laws begin;</div> - <div class='line'>If he who struck the matricidal blow,</div> - <div class='line in8'>His right—not so, his utter wrong shall win,</div> - <div class='line'>This baseness will the minds of all men lead</div> - <div class='line in8'>To wanton, reckless thought,</div> - <div class='line'>And now for parents waits there woe, and deed</div> - <div class='line'>Of parricidal guilt by children wrought.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe I</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>For then no more shall wrath from this our band,</div> - <div class='line in2'>The Mænad troop that watch the deeds of men,</div> - <div class='line'>Come for these crimes; but lo! on either hand</div> - <div class='line in2'>I will let slip all evil fate, and then,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Telling his neighbours' grief,</div> - <div class='line'>Shall this man seek from that, and seek in vain,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Remission and relief,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor is there any certain cure for pain.</div> - <div class='line'>And lo! the wretched man all fruitlessly</div> - <div class='line in8'>For grace and help shall cry.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Henceforth let no man in his anguish call,</div> - <div class='line'>When he sore-smitten by ill-chance shall fall,</div> - <div class='line in8'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1223'>1223</span>Uttering with groan and moan,</div> - <div class='line'>“O mighty Justice, O Erinnyes' throne!”</div> - <div class='line'>So may a father or a mother wail,</div> - <div class='line'>Struck by new woe, and tell their sorrow's tale;</div> - <div class='line in8'>For low on earth doth lie</div> - <div class='line'>The home where Justice once her dwelling had on high.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe II</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Yea, there are times when reverent Awe should stay</div> - <div class='line in8'>As guardian of the soul;</div> - <div class='line'>It profits much to learn through suffering</div> - <div class='line in8'>The bliss of self-control.</div> - <div class='line'>Who that within the heart's full daylight bears</div> - <div class='line in8'>No touch of holy awe,</div> - <div class='line'>Be it or man or State that casts out fear,</div> - <div class='line'>Will still own reverence for the might of law?</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Nor life that will no sovran rule obey,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor one down-crushed beneath a despot's sway,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Shalt thou approve;</div> - <div class='line'>God still gives power and strength for victory</div> - <div class='line'>To all that in the golden mean doth lie.</div> - <div class='line'>All else, as they in diverse order move,</div> - <div class='line in8'>He scans with watchful eye.</div> - <div class='line'>With this I speak a word in harmony,</div> - <div class='line in8'>That of irreverence still</div> - <div class='line in8'>Outrage is offspring ill,</div> - <div class='line in8'>While from the soul's true health</div> - <div class='line'>Comes the much-loved, much-prayed-for joy and wealth.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe III</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in8'>Yes, this I bid thee know;</div> - <div class='line'>Bow thou before the altar of the Right,</div> - <div class='line in8'>And let no wandering glance</div> - <div class='line in8'>That looks at gain askance</div> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_1224'>1224</span>Lead thee with godless foot to scorn or slight.</div> - <div class='line'>Know well the appointed penalty shall come;</div> - <div class='line'>The doom remaineth sure and will at last strike home.</div> - <div class='line'>Wherefore let each man pay the reverence due</div> - <div class='line in8'>To those who call him son;</div> - <div class='line'>By each to thronging guests let honour true</div> - <div class='line in8'>In loyal faith be done.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Strophe IV</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>But one who with no pressure of constraint</div> - <div class='line'>Of his free will draws back from evil taint,</div> - <div class='line in8'>He shall not be unblest,</div> - <div class='line'>Nor ever sink by utter woe oppressed.</div> - <div class='line in8'>But this I still aver,</div> - <div class='line'>That he whose daring leads him to transgress,</div> - <div class='line'>The chaos wild of evil deeds to stir,</div> - <div class='line in8'>In sharp and sore distress,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Against his will will slacken sail ere long,</div> - <div class='line'>When, as his timbers crash before the blast,</div> - <div class='line in8'>He feels the tempest strong.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c002'> - <div><span class='sc'>Antistrophe IV</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-l'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Then in the midst of peril he at last</div> - <div class='line'>Shall call on those who then will hear him not.</div> - <div class='line in8'>Yea, God still laughs to scorn</div> - <div class='line'>The man by evil tide of passions borne,</div> - <div class='line in8'>Swayed by thoughts wild and hot,</div> - <div class='line'>When he beholdeth one whose boast was high</div> - <div class='line'>He ne'er should know it, sunk in misery,</div> - <div class='line'>And all unable round the point to steer;</div> - <div class='line in2'>And so his former pride of prosperous days</div> - <div class='line'>He wrecks upon the reefs of Vengeance drear,</div> - <div class='line in2'>And dies with none to weep him or to praise.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c014'> - <div>THE END</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='tnotes'> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c005'>TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES</h2> -</div> - <ol class='ol_1 c002'> - <li>Added missing target for footnote on p. <a href='#p17'>17</a>. - - </li> - <li>Silently corrected typographical errors. - - </li> - <li>Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed. - </li> - </ol> - -</div> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Æschylos Tragedies and Fragments, by Æschylos - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ÆSCHYLOS TRAGEDIES AND FRAGMENTS *** - -***** This file should be named 53174-h.htm or 53174-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/3/1/7/53174/ - -Produced by Richard Tonsing, Eric Eldred and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - 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