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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/77336-0.txt b/77336-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8841920 --- /dev/null +++ b/77336-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,15839 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77336 *** + + + + +[Illustration: MORLEY’S UNIVERSAL LIBRARY] + + Ballantyne Press + BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO. + LONDON AND EDINBURGH + + + + + HECUBA + + _AND OTHER PLAYS_ + + BY + EURIPIDES + + TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH VERSE BY + MICHAEL WODHULL + + _WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY HENRY MORLEY_ + LL.D., PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH LITERATURE AT + UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON + + LONDON + GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS + BROADWAY, LUDGATE HILL + GLASGOW AND NEW YORK + 1888 + + PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO. + LONDON AND EDINBURGH + + + + +MORLEY’S UNIVERSAL LIBRARY. + + + 1. _Sheridan’s Plays._ + 2. _Plays from Molière._ By English Dramatists. + 3. _Marlowe’s Faustus_ and _Goethe’s Faust_. + 4. _Chronicle of the Cid._ + 5. _Rabelais’ Gargantua_ and the _Heroic Deeds of Pantagruel_. + 6. _Machiavelli’s Prince._ + 7. _Bacon’s Essays._ + 8. _Defoe’s Journal of the Plague Year._ + 9. _Locke on Civil Government and Filmer’s “Patriarcha.”_ + 10. _Butler’s Analogy of Religion._ + 11. _Dryden’s Virgil._ + 12. _Scott’s Demonology and Witchcraft._ + 13. _Herrick’s Hesperides._ + 14. _Coleridge’s Table-Talk._ + 15. _Boccaccio’s Decameron._ + 16. _Sterne’s Tristram Shandy._ + 17. _Chapman’s Homer’s Iliad._ + 18. _Mediæval Tales._ + 19. _Voltaire’s Candide_, and _Johnson’s Rasselas_. + 20. _Jonson’s Plays and Poems._ + 21. _Hobbes’s Leviathan._ + 22. _Samuel Butler’s Hudibras._ + 23. _Ideal Commonwealths._ + 24. _Cavendish’s Life of Wolsey._ + 25 & 26. _Don Quixote._ + 27. _Burlesque Plays and Poems._ + 28. _Dante’s Divine Comedy._ LONGFELLOW’S Translation. + 29. _Goldsmith’s Vicar of Wakefield, Plays, and Poems._ + 30. _Fables and Proverbs from the Sanskrit._ (_Hitopadesa._) + 31. _Lamb’s Essays of Elia._ + 32. _The History of Thomas Ellwood._ + 33. _Emerson’s Essays, &c._ + 34. _Southey’s Life of Nelson._ + 35. _De Quincey’s Confessions of an Opium-Eater, &c._ + 36. _Stories of Ireland._ By Miss EDGEWORTH. + 37. _Frere’s Aristophanes: Acharnians, Knights, Birds._ + 38. _Burke’s Speeches and Letters._ + 39. _Thomas à Kempis._ + 40. _Popular Songs of Ireland._ + 41. _Potter’s Æschylus._ + 42. _Goethe’s Faust: Part II._ ANSTER’S Translation. + 43. _Famous Pamphlets._ + 44. _Francklin’s Sophocles._ + 45. _M. G. Lewis’s Tales of Terror and Wonder._ + 46. _Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation._ + 47. _Drayton’s Barons’ Wars, Nymphidia, &c._ + 48. _Cobbett’s Advice to Young Men._ + 49. _The Banquet of Dante._ + 50. _Walker’s Original._ + 51. _Schiller’s Poems and Ballads._ + 52. _Peele’s Plays and Poems._ + 53. _Harrington’s Oceana._ + 54. _Euripides: Alcestis and other Plays._ + 55. _Praed’s Essays._ + 56. _Traditional Tales._ ALLAN CUNNINGHAM. + 57. _Hooker’s Ecclesiastical Polity. Books I.-IV._ + 58. _Euripides: The Bacchanals and other Plays._ + 59. _Izaak Walton’s Lives._ + 60. _Aristotle’s Politics._ + 61. _Euripides: Hecuba and other Plays._ + +“Marvels of clear type and general neatness.”—_Daily Telegraph._ + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +We left the history of the House of Tantalus with a reference to Helen, +as we find her in the translated play which is among those which here +complete the collection of the extant works of Euripides. + +Menelaus sent ambassadors to Troy to demand back Helen, his wife, whom +Paris had carried off. The counsels of Antenor were set aside at Troy, +by the persuasions of Paris that gave occasion to the Siege of Troy. +Agamemnon, on the throne of the deposed Thyestes, had extended his +dominion. Homer gave him command over a hundred ships in the expedition +against Troy. Some were from Mycene, which although but six or seven +miles from Argos had been capital of a separate kingdom until it was +reunited to Argos after the defeat and death of Eurystheus; and when +Agamemnon succeeded his father Atreus, he enlarged and beautified Mycene. +Twenty-eight unsuccessful suitors of Helen were summoned by Menelaus to +contribute aid, and under command of the strongest of the confederates, +Agamemnon—who was the brother of Menelaus, and who then had by his wife +Clytemnestra three daughters, Iphigenia, Chrysothemis, and Electra, also +one son, Orestes, then an infant—the expedition sailed for Troy. + +But first, when the confederate fleets met as agreed, in the haven of +Aulis they were stayed by a dead calm. Guidance was sought from the +Oracle, and the soothsayer Calchas reminded Agamemnon of a vow made in +the year of Iphigenia’s birth that he would sacrifice to Diana the most +beautiful production of the year. That was his daughter, Iphigenia, +whom now Diana claimed. The fleet would remain bound in Aulis until +the sacrifice of Iphigenia. The story of the sacrifice, of the anger +of the maiden’s mother Clytemnestra, and her lover Achilles, is told +by Euripides in his “Iphigenia in Aulis.” The Goddess in the act of +sacrifice miraculously substituted a hind for the daughter, whom she +wafted in a cloud to her temple among the Scythians at Tauris, where she +became a Priestess, and where it was the custom of the barbarous people +to sacrifice every Greek who landed on their shores. + +In the siege of Troy, Paris was slain by the arrows of Philoctetes. Helen +then married his brother Deiphobus, whom she betrayed to the Greeks. When +she came again into the hands of Menelaus, he was soon reconciled to her. +In returning from the ten years’ siege of Troy, many of the companions +of Agamemnon were lost by wreck on the coast of Eubœa, where the father +of Palamedes, to avenge the unjust killing of his son in the camp of the +Greeks, had set up false lights. Agamemnon came safely to Argos with the +captive prophetess Cassandra, whom he intended for himself. This was +a new affront to Clytemnestra; who remembered the murder of her first +husband Tantalus and her first infant, who remembered also the sacrifice +of Iphigenia, and who had found a paramour in Ægisthus, son of Thyestes. +Clytemnestra murdered Agamemnon with an axe as he was coming out of the +bath, and then married Ægisthus, who took Agamemnon’s throne. + +The young Orestes was saved from his stepfather by a faithful servant, +who carried him to Phocis, and there put him under the protection of +Strophius. Electra remained at Argos and was married to a peasant, lest a +husband powerful in the State should help to restore to their birthrights +the children of Agamemnon. + +When Orestes had passed out of childhood, he went for guidance to the +Oracle of Apollo at Delphi, and was directed to avenge the murder of his +father. He went then, with his inseparable friend Pylades, in disguise to +Argos, and was received in a cottage on the boundary of Argos, by Electra +and her peasant husband. He learnt that the peasant, strongly attached to +the family of Agamemnon, had cancelled the wrong intended by Ægisthus, +and had never claimed rights of a husband. Electra was still a maiden +princess. Brother and sister then devised and carried out a plan for the +killing of their mother Clytemnestra and Ægisthus. + +But when the hands of Orestes were stained with his mother’s blood, the +Furies rose from Hell, and drove him to distraction. Six days after the +murder of Clytemnestra, the citizens of Argos met to pass sentence on +Orestes and Electra. Menelaus after a voyage from Troy of seven years’ +long delays, then landed at Nauplia near Argos, and would have helped +his nephew Orestes; but he gave up Orestes and Electra to the people of +Argos upon being told by Tyndarus that if he interfered he should never +return to Sparta. The Council of Argos gave leave to Orestes and Electra +to carry out upon themselves its sentence of death. After consulting with +Pylades they resolved to kill Helen and seize their uncle’s one daughter, +Hermione, as hostage. Helen had vanished; Menelaus breathed revenge; +Apollo descended to save Orestes from his uncle, and from the people, by +declaring that Orestes had done what the gods required. But Apollo bade +him cleanse away pollution of his mother’s blood by a year’s banishment, +after which he was to submit himself to the judgment of the Areopagus at +Athens. + +Before the Areopagus one of the Furies was his accuser, Apollo witnessed +in his favour. The votes of the Court were equal, and Athené gave the +casting vote for his acquittal. But still the Furies were implacable, +and Orestes, again appealing to Apollo’s Oracle, was ordered to bring +the statue of Diana from Tauris to Athens. Orestes sailed upon this +mission with Pylades, whom he had affianced to his sister Electra. When +the friends landed on the coast of Tauris, the barbarous people seized +them and they were carried to Iphigenia to be sacrificed according to +the custom of the land. When on the point of being sacrificed, discovery +was made, and, with help of Minerva, not only the image of the goddess +Diana, but also Iphigenia her priestess, was conveyed to Athens, in whose +territories, at Brauronia, Iphigenia remained priestess until her death. + +Meanwhile Menelaus had married his only daughter, Hermione, to +Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles. Neoptolemus, who had offended Apollo +by making the god answerable for the death of Achilles, went to Delphi +to appease his wrath. Orestes, who sought Hermione for wife, went also +to Delphi and persuaded the people there that Neoptolemus sought plunder +of the temple. Neoptolemus was, therefore, murdered by the people of +Delphi, as he was going unarmed to the temple to propitiate the god. Then +Orestes carried off Hermione, and married her, at the same time when his +sister Electra was married to Pylades. The plays of Euripides here leave +Orestes; ruler on the throne of Agamemnon, reconciled to Menelaus, and +married to Hermione, through whom, by right of her mother Helen and her +father Menelaus, he may hope to bring also under his rule the dominions +of Sparta. + +Here ends an abstract of an abstract of the History of the House of +Tantalus, as given by Michael Wodhull, Esq., to show the relations to +each other of the stories upon which Euripides based many of his plays. + +This volume completes our set of English versions of all extant plays of +Euripides. + + H. M. + +_April 1888_ + + + + +TO THE READERS OF THE UNIVERSAL LIBRARY. + + +The next volume of this Library, published in May 1888, will complete our +household edition of Rabelais with the Sequel to Pantagruel. This will +be followed in June by “A Miscellany” of short works of special interest +taken from different periods of English life. The sixty-three volumes of +the Universal Library, re-arranged in historical order, will then form +a completed series, and the supply of standard literature in shilling +monthly volumes will be left to other editors whose good work in this +direction has been called into existence by the success of the Universal +Library, which on its first appearance broke new ground. + +The work done in these volumes will be continued, without change of aim, +in a new series that has been planned to permit issue of large books +without the crowding of type which, in this series, has been now and +then found necessary. In the New Series, there will be a complete change +of form. Substantial and handsome volumes of the best literature will +be published in alternate months at a price that will add not more than +three shillings to the present annual cost of “The Universal Library.” +The name of the new Library will change from the Universal to the +Particular. Its books may be named from their _habitat_, and they will +usually be edited where the eye raised from the paper and ink rests upon +Carisbrooke Castle. + + THE FIRST VOLUME OF + Morley’s Carisbrooke Library + _Will be published on the First of October, 1888_. + + H. M. + + + + +EURIPIDES. + + + + +HECUBA. + + +PERSONS OF THE DRAMA. + + POLYDORE’S GHOST. + HECUBA. + CHORUS OF CAPTIVE TROJAN DAMES. + POLYXENA. + ULYSSES. + FEMALE ATTENDANT OF HECUBA. + AGAMEMNON. + POLYMESTOR. + TALTHYBIUS. + + +SCENE.—THE THRACIAN CHERSONESUS. + +THE GHOST OF POLYDORE. + + Leaving the cavern of the dead, and gates + Of darkness, where from all the gods apart + Dwells Pluto, come I Polydore, the son + Of Hecuba from royal Cisseus sprung, + And Priam, who, when danger threatened Troy, + Fearing his city by the Grecian arms + Would be laid low in dust, from Phrygia’s realm + In privacy conveyed me to the house + Of Polymestor, of his Thracian friend, + Who tills the Chersonesus’ fruitful soil, + Ruling a nation famed for generous steeds; + But secretly, with me, abundant gold + My father sent, that his surviving children + Might lack no sustenance, if Ilion’s walls + Should by the foe be levelled with the ground. + I was the youngest of all Priam’s sons, + By stealth he therefore sent me from the realm; + Nor could my feeble arm sustain the shield, + Or launch the javelin; but while yet entire + Each ancient landmark on our frontiers stood, + The turrets of the Phrygian state remained + Unshaken, and my brother Hector’s spear + Prospered in battle; nurtured by the man + Of Thrace, my father’s friend, I, wretched youth, + Grew like a vigorous scion. But when Troy, + When Hector failed, when my paternal dome + Was from its basis rent, and Priam’s self, + My aged father, at the altar bled + Which to the gods his pious hands had reared, + Butchered by curst Achilles’ ruthless son; + Me, his unhappy guest, my father’s friend + Slew for the sake of gold, and having slain, + Plunged me into the sea, that he might keep + Those treasures in his house. My breathless corse, + In various eddies by the rising waves + Of ocean tost, lies on the craggy shore, + Unwept, unburied. But by filial love + For Hecuba now prompted, I ascend + A disembodied ghost, and thrice have seen + The morning dawn, to Chersonesus land, + Since my unhappy mother came from Troy. + But all the Grecian army, in their ships, + Here anchoring on this coast of Thrace remain + Inactive; for appearing on his tomb + Achilles, Peleus’ son, restrained the troops, + Who homeward else had steered their barks, and claims + Polyxena my sister, as a victim + Most precious at his sepulchre to bleed; + And her will he obtain, nor will his friends + Withhold the gift; for fate this day decrees + That she shall die: my mother must behold + Two of her slaughtered children’s corses, mine, + And this unhappy maid’s—that in a tomb + I may be lodged, where the firm beach resists + The waves, I to her servant will appear, + Since from the powers of hell I have obtained + The privilege of honourable interment, + And that a mother’s hand these rites perform: + I shall accomplish what my soul desired. + But on the aged Hecuba’s approach, + Far hence must I retreat; for from the tent + Of Agamemnon she comes forth, alarmed + By my pale spectre. O my wretched mother, + How art thou torn from princely roofs to view + This hour of servitude! what sad reverse + Of fortune! some malignant god hath balanced + Thy present misery ’gainst thy former bliss. + + [_Exit._ + +HECUBA, _attended by_ TROJAN DAMSELS. + + HEC. Forth from these doors, ye gentle virgins, lead me, + A weak old woman: O ye nymphs of Troy, + Support your fellow-servant, once your queen + Bear me along, uphold my tottering frame, + And take me by this aged hand; your arm + Shall be my staff to lean on, while I strive + My tardy pace to quicken. O ye lightnings + Of Jove, O Night in tenfold darkness wrapt, + By such terrific phantoms from my couch + Why am I scared? Thou venerable earth, + Parent of dreams that flit on raven wing; + The vision I abhor, which I in sleep + This night have seen, relating to my son, + Who here is fostered in the Thracian realm, + And to Polyxena my dearest daughter; + For I too clearly saw and understood + The meaning of that dreadful apparition; + Ye tutelary gods of this domain, + Preserve the only anchor of our house, + My son, who dwells in Thracian fields, o’erspread + With snow, protected by his father’s friend. + Some fresh event awaits us, and ere long + By accents most unwelcome shall the ear + Of wretchedness be wounded: till this hour, + By such incessant horrors, such alarms, + My soul was never seized. Where shall I view + The soul of Helenus, on whom the god + Bestowed prophetic gifts, ye Phrygian maids? + Where my Cassandra to unfold the dream? + With bloody fangs I saw a wolf, who slew + A dappled hind, which forcibly he tore + From these reluctant arms, and what increased + My fears, was this—Achilles’ spectre stalked + Upon the summit of his tomb, and claimed + A gift, some miserable Trojan captive. + You therefore I implore, ye gods, avert + Such doom from my loved daughter. + +CHORUS, HECUBA. + + CHOR. I to thee, + To thee, O Hecuba, with breathless speed, + Fly from the tents of our imperious lords, + Where I by lot have been assigned, and doomed + To be a slave, driven by the pointed spear + From Troy; by their victorious arms the Greeks + Have made me captive: nothing can I bring, + Thy sorrows to alleviate; but to thee + Laden with heaviest tidings am I come + The herald of affliction. For ’tis said, + Greece in full council hath resolved thy daughter + A victim to Achilles shall be given. + The warrior mounting on his tomb, thou know’st, + Appeared in golden armour, and restrained + The fleet just ready to unfurl its sails, + Exclaiming, “Whither would ye steer your course, + Ye Greeks, and leave no offering on my grave?” + A storm of violent contention rose, + And two opinions in the martial synod + Of Greece went forth; the victim, some maintained, + Ought on the sepulchre to bleed, and some + Such offering disapproved. But Agamemnon, + Who shares the bed of the Prophetic Dame, + Espoused thy interest; while the sons of Theseus, + Branches from the Athenian root, discussed + The question largely in each point of view, + But in the same opinion both concurred, + And said that never should Cassandra’s love + To great Achilles’ valour be preferred: + Equally balanced the debate still hung, + When he, that crafty orator, endued + With sweetest voice, the favourite of the crowd, + Laertes’ son, persuaded all the host, + Not to reject the first of Grecian chiefs, + And yield the preference to a victim slave: + Lest some vindictive ghost, before the throne + Of Proserpine arising, might relate + How Greece, unmindful of her generous sons, + Who nobly perished for their native land, + From Ilion’s fields departed. In a moment + Ulysses will come hither, from thy breast, + And aged arms to drag the tender maid. + But to the temples, to the altars, go, + In suppliant posture clasp Atrides’ knees, + Invoke the gods of heaven and hell beneath, + For either thou wilt by thy prayers avert + Thy daughter’s fate, else must thou at the tomb + Behold the virgin fall distained with gore, + And gushing from her neck a crimson stream. + + HEC. Wretch that I am! ah me! what clamorous sounds, + What words, what plaints, what dirges shall I find, + Expressive of the anguish which I feel? + Opprest by miserable old age, bowed down + Under a load of servitude too heavy + To be endured: what sanctuary remains, + What valiant race, what city will protect me? + The hoary Priam is no more, my sons + Are now no more. Or to this path, or that, + Shall I direct my steps? or whither go? + Where shall I find some tutelary god? + Ye Phrygian captives, messengers of ill, + O ye who with unwelcome tidings fraught, + Come hither, ye have ruined me. The orb + Of day shall never rise to fill this breast + With any comfort more. Ye luckless feet, + Bear an infirm old woman to the tent + Of our captivity. Come forth, my daughter, + Come forth and listen to thy mother’voice, + That thou may’st know the rumour I have heard, + In which thy life is interested. + +POLYXENA, HECUBA, CHORUS. + + POLYX. O mother, + What mean you by those shrieks? what fresh event + Proclaiming, from my chamber, like a bird, + Have you constrained me, urged by fear, to speed + My flight? + + HEC. Ah, daughter! + + POLYX. With foreboding voice, + Why do you call me? these are evil omens. + + HEC. Alas! thy life, Polyxena. + + POLYX. Speak out, + Nor aggravate the horrors yet untold + By long suspense. I fear, O mother, much + I fear. What mean those oft repeated groans? + + HEC. Thou child of a most miserable mother! + + POLYX. Why speak you thus? + + HEC. The Greeks, with one consent, + Resolve that on the tomb of Peleus’ son + Thou shalt be sacrificed. + + POLYX. What boundless woes + Are these which to your daughter you announce! + Yet, O my mother, with the tale proceed. + + HEC. Of a most horrible report I speak, + Which says, that, by the suffrage of the Greeks, + It is resolved to take away thy life. + + POLYX. O, my unhappy mother, doomed to suffer + Wrongs the most dreadful, doomed to lead a life + Of utter wretchedness: what grievous curse, + Such as no language can express, on you + Hath some malignant demon hurled! no more + Can I, your daughter, share the galling yoke + Of servitude with your forlorn old age; + For like some lion’s whelp, or heifer bred + Upon the mountains, hurried from your arms + Shall you behold me, and with severed head + Consigned to Pluto’s subterraneous realms + Of darkness, there among the silent dead, + Wretch that I am, shall I be laid. These tears + Of bitter lamentation I for you, + For you, O mother, shed; but my own life + I heed not, nor the shame, nor fatal stroke, + For I in death a happier lot obtain. + + CHOR. To thee, O Hecuba, with hasty step + Behold Ulysses some new message brings. + +ULYSSES, HECUBA, POLYXENA, CHORUS. + + ULY. Though I presume the counsels of our troops + And their decision are already known + To thee, O woman, yet must I repeat + Th’ unwelcome tidings; at Achilles’ tomb, + Polyxena, thy daughter, have the Greeks + Resolved to slay; me to attend the virgin + Have they commanded: but Achilles’ son + Is at the altar destined to preside, + And be the priest. Know’st thou thy duty then? + Constrain us not to drag her from those arms + With violence, nor strive with me; but learn + The force of thy inevitable woes: + For there is wisdom, e’en when we are wretched, + In following reason’s dictates. + + HEC. Now, alas! + It seems a dreadful struggle is at hand, + With groans abounding and unnumbered tears. + I died not at the time I ought to die, + Neither did Jove destroy me; he still spares + My life, that I may view fresh woes, yet greater, + Wretch that I am, than all my former woes. + But if a slave, who not with bitter taunt, + Or keen reproach, her questions doth propose, + Might speak to freemen, now ’tis time for you + To cease, and give me audience while I ask—— + + ULY. Allowed, proceed; for I without reluctance + Will grant thee time. + + HEC. Remember you when erst + You came to Troy a spy, in tattered garb + Disguised, and from your eyes upon your beard + Fell tears extorted by the dread of death? + + ULY. I well remember: for by that event + My inmost heart was touched. + + HEC. But Helen knew you, + And told me only. + + ULY. I can ne’er forget + Into what danger I was fallen. + + HEC. My knees + You in a lowly posture did embrace. + + ULY. And to thy garment clung with faltering hand. + + HEC. At length I saved and from our land dismissed you. + + ULY. Hence I the solar beams yet view. + + HEC. What language + Did you then hold, when subject to my power? + + ULY. Full many were the words which I devised + To save my life. + + HEC. Doth not your guilt appear + From your own counsels? Though your tongue avows + The generous treatment you from me received + No benefit on me do you confer, + But strive to harm me. O ungrateful race + Of men, who aim at popular applause + By your smooth speeches; would to Heaven I ne’er + Had known you, for ye heed not how ye wound + Your friends, whene’er ye can say ought to win + The crowd. But what pretence could they devise + For sentencing this virgin to be slain? + Are they constrained by fate, with human victims, + To drench the tomb on which they rather ought + To sacrifice the steer? or doth Achilles + Demand her life with justice, to retaliate + Slaughter on them who slaughtered? But to him + Hath she done nought injurious. He should claim + Helen as victim at his tomb, for she + His ruin caused by leading him to Troy. + If it was needful that some chosen captive + Distinguished by transcendent charms should die, + We were not meant; for the perfidious daughter + Of Tyndarus is most beauteous, and her crimes + To ours at least are equal. Justice only + In this debate supports me: hear how large + The debt which ’tis your duty to repay + On my petition: you confess you touched + My hand, and these my aged cheeks, in dust + Grovelling a suppliant; yours I now embrace, + From you the kindness which I erst bestowed + Again implore, and sue to you: O tear not + My daughter from these arms, nor slay the maid: + Sufficient is the number of the slain. + In her I yet rejoice, in her forget + My woes; she, for the loss of many children, + Consoles me, I in her a country find, + A nurse, a staff, a guide. The mighty ought not + To issue lawless mandates, nor should they, + On whom propitious fortunes now attend, + Think that their triumphs will for ever last: + For I was happy once, but am no more, + My bliss all vanished in a single day. + Yet, O my friend, revere and pity me, + Go to the Grecian host, admonish them + How horrible an action ’twere to slay + These captive women whom at first ye spared, + And pitied when ye dragged them from the altars. + For by your laws ’tis equally forbidden + To spill the blood of freemen, or of slave. + Although you weakly argue, will your rank + Convince them: for the self-same speech, when uttered + By the ignoble, and men well esteemed, + Comes not with equal force. + + CHOR. The human soul + Is not so flinty as to hear the woes + And plaintive strains thou lengthen’st out, nor shed + The sympathizing tear. + + ULY. To me attend, + O Hecuba, nor through resentment deem + That from a foe such counsels can proceed: + I am disposed to save thee, and now hold + No other language: but will not deny + What I to all have said; since Troy is taken, + On the first warrior of the host who asks + A victim, should thy daughter be bestowed. + The cause why many cities are diseased + Is this: the brave and generous man obtains + No honourable distinction to exalt him + Above the coward. But from us, O woman, + Achilles claims such homage, who for Greece + Died nobly. Is not this a foul reproach, + If, while our friends yet live, we seek their aid, + But after death ungratefully forget + Past services? Should armed bands once more + Assemble, and renew the bloody strife, + Will not some hardy veteran thus exclaim: + “Shall we go forth to battle, or indulge + The love of life, now we have seen the dead + Obtain no honours?” While from day to day + I live, though I have little, yet that little + For every needful purpose will suffice. + But may conspicuous trophies o’er my grave + Be planted, for such tribute to my name + Will last to after-ages. If thou call + Thy sufferings piteous, hear what in reply + We have to urge; amidst the Grecian camp + Are many aged dames, as miserable + As thou art, with full many a hoary sire, + And weeping bride, torn from her valiant lord, + O’er whose remains hath Ida’s dust been strewn. + Support thy woes: if with mistaken zeal + We have resolved to honour the deceased, + Our crime is ignorance: but ye barbarians + Pay no distinction to your friends, no homage + To the illustrious dead; hence Greece prevails; + But ye from your pernicious counsels reap + The bitter fruits they merit. + + CHOR. Ah, what ills + Ever attend the captive state, subdued + By brutal violence, and forced t’ endure + Unseemly wrongs. + + HEC. Those words I vainly spoke + Thy slaughter to avert, in air were lavished; + But, O my daughter, if thy power exceed + Thy mother’s, like the nightingale send forth + Each warbled note, to save thy life, excite, + By falling at his knees, Ulysses’ pity, + And on this ground, because he too hath children, + Entreat him to compassionate thy doom. + + POLYX. I see thee, O Ulysses, thy right hand + Beneath thy robe concealing, see thee turn + Thy face away, lest I should touch thy beard. + Be of good cheer; I’ll not call down the wrath + Of Jove who guards the suppliant, but will follow + Thy steps, because necessity ordains + And ’tis my wish to die; if I were loth, + I should appear to be an abject woman, + And fond of life: but what could lengthened life + Avail to me, whose father erst was lord + Of the whole Phrygian realm? Thus first I drew + My breath beneath the roofs of regal domes; + Then was I nurtured with the flattering hope + That I should wed a monarch, and arrive + At the proud mansion of some happy youth. + Ill-fated princess, thus I stood conspicuous + Amid the dames and brightest nymphs of Troy, + In all but immortality a goddess; + But now am I a slave, and the first cause + Which makes me wish to die, is that abhorred + Unwonted name; else some inhuman lord + With gold perchance might purchase me, the sister + Of Hector, and full many a valiant chief, + Might make me knead the bread, and sweep the floor, + And ply the loom, and pass my abject days + In bitterness of woe: some servile mate + Might bring dishonour to my bed, though erst + I was deemed worthy of a sceptred king: + Not thus. These eyes shall to the last behold + The light of freedom. O ye shades receive + A princess. Lead me on then, O Ulysses, + And as thou lead’st despatch me, for no hope, + No ground for thinking, I shall e’er be happy, + Can I discern: yet hinder not by word + Or deed the steadfast purpose I have formed; + But, O my mother, in this wish concur + With me, that I may die ere I endure + Such wrongs as suit not my exalted rank. + For whosoe’er hath not been used to taste + Of sorrow, bears indeed the galling yoke, + Yet is he grieved, when he to such constraint + Submits his neck: but they who die may find + A bliss beyond the living; for to live + Ignobly were the utmost pitch of shame. + + CHOR. A great distinction, and among mankind + The most conspicuous, is to spring from sires + Renowned for virtue; generous souls hence raise + To heights sublimer an ennobled name. + + HEC. Thou, O my daughter, well indeed hast spoken; + Yet these exalted sentiments of thine + To me will cause fresh grief; but, if the son + Of Peleus must be gratified, and Greece + Avoid reproach, Ulysses, slay not her, + But me, conducting to Achilles’ tomb, + Transpierce with unrelenting hand. I bore + Paris, whose shafts the son of Thetis slew. + + ULY. Not thee for victim, O thou aged dame, + But her, Achilles’ spectre hath demanded. + + HEC. Yet slay me with my daughter; so shall earth, + And the deceased who claims these hateful rites, + A twofold portion drink of human gore. + + ULY. Enough in her of victims; let no more + Be added: would to Heaven we were not bound + To offer up this one! + + HEC. The dread behests + Of absolute necessity require, + That with my daughter I should die. + + ULY. What mean’st thou? + I know no lord to counteract my will. + + HEC. Her, as the ivy clings around the oak, + Will I embrace. + + ULY. Not if to wiser counsels + Thou yield just deference. + + HEC. I will ne’er consent + My daughter to release. + + ULY. Nor will I go, + And leave her here. + + POLYX. Attend to me, my mother, + And, O thou offspring of Laertes, treat + The just emotions of parental wrath + With greater mildness. But, O hapless woman, + Contend not with our conquerors. Would you fall + Upon the earth and wound your aged limbs, + Thrust from me forcibly, by youthful arms + Torn with disgrace away? Provoke not wrongs + Unseemly; O, my dearest mother, give + That much-loved hand, and let me join my cheek + To yours; for I no longer shall behold + The radiant orb of yonder sun. Now take + A last farewell, O you who gave me birth; + I to the shades descend. + + HEC. But I the light + Am doomed to view, and still remain a slave. + + POLYX. Unwedded, reft of promised bridal joys. + + HEC. Thou, O my daughter, claim’st the pitying tear: + But I am a most miserable woman. + + POLYX. There shall I sleep among the realms beneath, + From you secluded. + + HEC. What resource, alas! + For me, the wretched Hecuba is left? + Where shall I finish this detested life? + + POLYX. Born free, I die a slave. + + HEC. I too, bereft + Of all my children. + + POLYX. What commands to Hector, + Or to your aged husband, shall I bear? + + HEC. Tell them I of all women am most wretched. + + POLYX. Ye paps which sweetly nourished me—— + + HEC. Alas! + My child’s untimely miserable fate. + + POLYX. Farewell, my mother, and my dear Cassandra. + + HEC. To others in that language speak; be theirs + The happiness thy mother cannot taste. + + POLYX. And thou, my brother Polydore, who dwell’st + Among the Thracians, famed for generous steeds—— + + HEC. If yet he live; but this I greatly doubt, + Because I am in all respects so wretched. + + POLYX. He lives, and when the hour of death is come, + Will close your eyes. + + HEC. I’m prematurely dead + While yet alive, bowed down to earth by woe. + + POLYX. Now bear me hence, Ulysses, o’er my face + Casting a veil: for ere I at the altar + Am slain, this heart is melted by the plaints + Of my dear mother, and my tears augment + Her sorrows. O thou radiant light; for still + Am I permitted to invoke thy name, + But can enjoy thee only till I meet + The lifted sword, and reach Achilles’ tomb. + + [_Exeunt_ ULYSSES _and_ POLYXENA. + + HEC. I faint, my limbs are all unnerved; return, + My daughter, let me touch that hand once more, + Leave me not childless. O, my friends, I perish; + Ah, would to Heaven I could see Spartan Helen, + In the same state, that sister to the sons + Of Jove, for by her beauteous eyes was Troy, + That prosperous city, with disgrace o’erthrown. + +CHORUS. + + ODE. + + I. 1. + + Ye breezes, who the ships convey, + That long becalmed at anchor lay, + Nor dared to quit the strand; + As the swift keel divides the wave, + Say whither am I borne a slave, + Ordained to tread the Doric land, + Or Phthia, where beset with reeds, + Apidanus, the sire of limpid rills, + Winding a-down the channelled hills, + Waters the fruitful meads? + + I. 2. + + Or to that isle, with dashing oar + Impelled, shall I my woes deplore, + And on the sacred earth, + Where first the palm and laurel rose, + Memorials of Latona’s throes, + Which to the twins divine gave birth, + Teach the harmonious strain to flow; + With Delos’ nymphs Diana’s praise resound, + Her hair with golden fillet bound, + And never-erring bow? + + II. 1. + + Or, pent in some Athenian tower, + Devoted to Minerva’s power, + On the robe’s tissued ground + While, shadowed by my needle, spread + Expressive forms, in vivid thread, + Picture the goddess whirling round + Her chariot with unrivalled speed; + Or represent the Titan’s impious crew, + Whom Jove’s red lightnings overthrew, + Those monsters doomed to bleed? + + II. 2. + + Alas! my sons, a valiant band, + My fathers, and my native land, + Ye shared the general fate. + Sacked by the Greeks, Troy’s bulwarks smoke, + But I, constrained to bear the yoke, + Shall soon behold some foreign state, + To ignominious bondage led; + And leaving vanquished Asia Europe’s slave, + Debarred an honourable grave, + Ascend the victor’s bed. + +TALTHYBIUS, HECUBA, CHORUS. + + TAL. Where, O ye Phrygian damsels, shall I find + The wretched Hecuba, who erst was queen + Of Ilion? + + CHOR. Prostrate near you on the ground, + Wrapt in her mantle, there she lies. + + TAL. Great Jove! + What shall I say? that thou from Heaven look’st down + Upon mankind, or have they rashly formed + A vain opinion, deeming that the race + Of gods exist, though fortune governs all? + Ha! was not this the queen of wealthy Phrygia, + And was not she the happy Priam’s wife? + But her whole city by the hostile spear + Is now destroyed, while she a slave, bowed down + By age, and childless, stretched upon the ground, + Defiles with dust her miserable head. + Old as I am, yet gladly would I die + Rather than sink into abhorred disgrace. + Arise, unhappy woman, O lift up + That feeble body, and that hoary head. + + HEC. Away! O suffer this decrepit frame + To rest. Why move me! Whosoe’er thou art, + What mean’st thou? why dost thou molest th’ afflicted? + + TAL. Talthybius: me, the herald of the Greeks, + O woman, Agamemnon hath despatched + To fetch you. + + HEC. Com’st thou, by the Greeks ordained, + My friend, to slay me also at the tomb? + How welcome were such tidings; let us go, + With speed conduct me thither. + + TAL. To inter + Your daughter, I invite you; both the sons + Of Atreus, and the assembled Grecian host, + Have sent me for that purpose. + + HEC. Ah! what say’st thou? + Thou com’st not to inform me I must die, + But to unfold the most disastrous tidings. + Then art thou lost, my daughter, from the arms + Of thy fond mother torn; of thee, my child + Am I bereft. But how did ye destroy her, + Respectfully, or with the ruthless hand + Of hostile rage? Speak, though it wound my soul. + + TAL. A second time, in pity to your daughter, + You make me weep; for now while I relate + Her sufferings, tears bedew these swimming eyes, + Such as I shed when at the tomb she perished. + To view the sacrifice the Grecian host + Were all assembled: taking by the hand + Polyxena, on the sepulchral hillock + Achilles’ son then placed her: I drew near, + Attended by the chosen youths of Greece, + To hold the tender victim, and prevent + Her struggles. But Achilles’ son, uplifting + With both his hands a cup of massive gold, + Poured forth libations to his breathless sire; + And gave a sign to me, through the whole camp + Strict silence to proclaim. I in the midst + Stood up and cried: “Be mute, ye Greeks, let none + Presume to speak, observe a general silence.” + The troops obeyed, and through their crowded ranks + Not e’en a breath was heard, while in these words + The chief expressed his purpose: “Son of Peleus, + My father, the propitiatory drops + Of these libations which invite the dead + Accept; O come and quaff the crimson blood + Of this pure virgin, whom to thee all Greece + And I devote; be thou benign, O grant us + Securely to weigh anchor, to unbind + Our halsers, and on all of us bestow + A happy voyage to our native land + From vanquished Troy.” He ceased, and in his prayer + Joined the whole army, when the chief unsheathed + His golden-hilted sword, and gave a sign + To chosen youths of Greece to hold the virgin, + Which she perceived, and in these words addressed + The warriors: “O ye Argives, who laid waste + My city, willingly I die, let no man + Confine these arms, I with undaunted breast + Will meet the stroke. I by the gods conjure you + Release, and slay me as my rank demands + Like one born free; for I from mighty kings + Descend, and in the shades beneath should blush + To be accounted an ignoble slave.” + Through all the host ran murmurs of assent, + And royal Agamemnon bade the youths + Release the virgin; they their monarch’s voice, + Soon as they heard, obeyed; our lord’s behests + The princess too revering, from her shoulder + Down to her waist rent off the purple robe, + Displayed her bosom like some statue formed + In exquisite proportion, and to earth + Bending her knee, in these affecting words + Expressed herself: “If at my breast thou aim + The wound, strike here; if at my neck, that neck + Is ready bared.” Half willing, and half loth, + Through pity for the maid, he with keen steel + Severed the arteries; streams of blood gushed forth: + Yet even thus, though at her latest gasp, + She showed a strong solicitude to fall + With decency, while stood the gazing host + Around her: soon as through the ghastly wound + Her soul had issued, every Greek was busied + In various labours; o’er the corse some strewed + The verdant foliage, others reared a pyre + With trunks of fir: but he who nothing brought, + From him who with funereal ornament + Was laden, heard these taunts: “O slothful wretch, + Bear’st thou no robe, no garland, hast thou nought + To give in honour of this generous maid?” + Such their encomiums on thy breathless daughter. + You, of all women, who in such a child + Were happiest, now most wretched I behold. + + CHOR. Fate, the behests of the immortal gods + Accomplishing, with tenfold weight hath caused + This dreadful curse to fall on Priam’s house, + And on our city. + + HEC. ’Midst unnumbered ills + I know not, O my daughter, whither first + To turn my eyes, for if on one I touch, + Another hinders me, and I again, + By a long train of woes succeeding woes, + To some fresh object am from thence called off; + Nor can I from my tortured soul efface + The grief thy fate occasions; yet the tale + Of thy exalted courage checks my groans, + Which else had been immoderate. No just cause + Have we for wonder, if the barren land + Cheered by Heaven’s influence, with benignant suns + Yields plenteous harvests, while a richer soil + Deprived of every necessary aid + Bears weeds alone. But ’midst the human race + The wicked man is uniformly wicked, + The good still virtuous, nor doth evil fortune + Corrupt his soul; the same unsullied worth + He still retains. Is this great difference owing + To birth, or education? We are taught + What virtue is, by being nurtured well, + And he who thoroughly hath learnt this lesson, + Guided by the unerring rule of right, + Can thence discern what’s base.—My soul in vain + Hath hazarded these incoherent thoughts. + But, O Talthybius, to the Greeks repair, + And strict injunctions give, that no man touch + My daughter’s corse, but let the gazing crowd + Be driven away. For in a numerous host + Its multitudes break loose from all restraints, + The outrages of mariners exceed + Devouring flame, and whosoe’er abstains + From mischief, by his comrades is despised. + But, O my aged servant, take and dip + That urn in ocean’s waves, and hither bring, + Filled with its water, that the last sad rites + To my departed daughter I may pay, + And lave the corse of that unwedded bride, + Of that affianced virgin: but alas! + Whence with such costly gifts as she deserves, + Her tomb can I adorn? My present state + Affords them not, but what it doth afford + Will I bestow, and from the captive dames + Appointed to attend me, who reside + Within these tents, some ornaments collect. + If, unobserved by their new masters, aught + They have secreted. O ye splendid domes, + Ye palaces once happy, which contained + All that was rich and fair; O Priam thou + The sire, and I who was the aged mother + Of an illustrious race, how are we dwindled + To nothing, stripped of all our ancient pride! + Yet do we glory, some in mansions stored + With gold abundant, others when distinguished + Among the citizens by sounding titles. + Vain are the schemes which with incessant care + We frame, and all our boastful words are vain. + The happiest man is he who, by no ill + O’ertaken, passes through life’s fleeting day. + + [_Exit_ HECUBA. + +CHORUS. + + ODE. + + I. + + By Heaven was my devoted head + Menaced with impending ill, + What time the pines, whose branches spread + Their tutelary shade o’er Ida’s hill, + Were laid by Phrygian Paris low, + That his adventurous bark might stem the tide, + From Sparta’s coast to waft the fairest bride + On whom the solar beams their golden radiance throw. + + II. + + Surrounding labours were at hand + Leagued with the behests of fate; + Then did such madness seize the land, + As called down vengeance from a foreign state. + The royal swain with dazzled eyes + Gave that decree, the source of all our woes, + When from three rival goddesses he chose + Bright Venus, and pronounced that she deserved the prize. + + III. + + The spear and death hence raged around, + Hence were my mansions levelled with the ground; + Staining with tears Eurotas’ tide, + Too deeply grieved to share the victor’s pride, + The Spartan virgin too in vain + Bewails her favoured youth untimely slain, + While, sprinkling ashes o’er their vest + And hoary head, the matrons bend + O’er their sons’ urns; their groans to Heaven ascend, + They tear their cheeks, and beat their miserable breast. + +ATTENDANT, CHORUS. + + ATT. Where is the wretched Hecuba, my friends, + Who in her woes surpasses all, or male, + Or of the female race? her none can rob + Of her just claim, pre-eminence in grief. + + CHOR. With the harsh sounds of that ill-boding tongue, + O wretch, what mean’st thou? wilt thou never cease + To be th’ unwelcome herald of affliction? + + ATT. Most grievous are the tidings which I bring + To Hecuba, nor easy were the task + In words auspicious to make known to mortals + Such dire calamities. + + CHOR. From her apartment + She seasonably comes forth to give thee audience. + +HECUBA, ATTENDANT, CHORUS. + + ATT. O most unfortunate, whose woes exceed + All that the power of language can express, + My queen, you perish, doomed no more to view + The blessed light; of children, husband, city, + Bereft and ruined. + + HEC. Nothing hast thou told + But what I knew, thou only com’st t’ insult me: + Yet wherefore dost thou bring to me this corse + Of my Polyxena, o’er whom ’twas said + The Grecian host with pious zeal all vied + To heap a tomb? + + ATT. She knows not, but laments + For the deceased Polyxena alone, + And to her recent woes is yet a stranger. + + HEC. Ah, bring’st thou the inspired prophetic head, + And the dishevelled tresses of Cassandra? + + ATT. You speak of one yet living, but bewail not + This the deceased: survey the naked corse + Of him whose death to you will seem most strange + And most unlocked for. + + HEC. Ha, I see my son, + My dearest Polydore, whom he of Thrace + Beneath his roof protected. I am ruined; + Now utterly I perish. O my son, + For thee, for thee I wake the frantic dirge, + By that malignant demon which assumed + Thy voice, thy semblance, recently apprized + Of this calamity. + + ATT. O wretched mother, + Know you then what was your son’s fate? + + HEC. A sight + Incredible and new to me is that + Which I behold: for from my former woes + Spring woes in long succession, and the day + When I shall cease to weep, shall cease to groan, + Will never come. + + CHOR. The woes which we endure + Alas! are dreadful. + + HEC. O my son, thou son + Of an ill fated mother, by what death + Didst thou expire? through what disastrous cause + Here liest thou prostrate? ah, what bloody hand—— + + ATT. I know not; on the shore his corse I found. + + HEC. Cast up by the impetuous waves, or pierced + With murderous spear? + + ATT. The surges of the deep + Had thrown it on the sand. + + HEC. Alas! too well + I comprehend the meaning of the dream + Which to these eyes appeared: the spectre borne + On sable pinions no illusion proved, + When, O my son, thee, thee it represented + No longer dwelling in the realms of light. + + CHOR. Instructed by that vision, canst thou name + The murderer? + + HEC. ’Twas my friend, the Thracian king, + With whom in secrecy his aged sire + Had placed him. + + CHOR. Ha! what mean’st thou? to possess + That gold by slaying him? + + HEC. O, ’twas a deed + Unutterable, a deed without a name, + Surpassing all astonishment, unholy, + And not to be endured. Where now the laws + Of hospitality? Accursed man, + How cruelly hast thou with reeking sword + Transpierced this unresisting boy, nor heard + The gentle voice of pity! + + CHOR. Hapless queen, + How hath some demon, thy malignant foe, + Rendered thee of all mortals the most wretched: + But I behold great Agamemnon come, + And therefore, O my friends, let us be silent. + +AGAMEMNON, HECUBA, CHORUS. + + AGA. Whence this delay? why go you not t’ inter, + O Hecuba, your daughter, whom Talthybius + Directed that no Greek might be allowed + To touch? We therefore have with your request + Complied, nor moved the corse. But you remain + Inactive, which I wonder at, and come + To fetch you, for each previous solemn rite + That best might please, if aught such rites can please, + Have we performed. But ah, what Trojan youth + Do I behold lie breathless in the tent? + For that he was no Greek, the garb informs me + In which he’s clad. + + HEC. Thou wretch, for of myself + I speak, when thee, O Hecuba, I name; + What shall I do, at Agamemnon’s knees + Fall prostrate, or in silence bear my woes? + + AGA. Why weep, with face averted, yet refuse + T’ inform me what hath happened? who is he? + + HEC. But from his knees, if, deeming me a slave + And enemy, the monarch should repel me, + This would but make my sorrows yet more poignant. + + AGA. I am no seer, nor can I uninformed + Trace out the secret purpose of your soul. + + HEC. Am I mistaken then, while I suppose + A foe in him who doth not mean me ill? + + AGA. If ’tis your wish I should not be apprized, + We both are of one mind; you will not speak, + And I as little am disposed to hear. + + HEC. Without his aid no vengeance for my child + Can I obtain: yet why deliberate thus? + Prosper or fail I must take courage now. + O royal Agamemnon, by those knees + A suppliant I conjure you, by that beard, + And that right hand, victorious o’er your foes. + + AGA. What do you wish for? To obtain your freedom? + This were not difficult. + + HEC. No, give me vengeance + On yonder guilty wretch, and I am willing + To linger out the remnant of my life + In servitude. + + AGA. Then why implore our aid? + + HEC. For reasons you suspect not. Do you see + That breathless corse o’er which my tears I shed? + + AGA. The corse I see; but cannot comprehend + What follows next. + + HEC. Him erst I bore and nurtured. + + AGA. Is the deceased, O miserable dame, + One of your children? + + HEC. Not of those who fell + Beneath Troy’s walls. + + AGA. What! had you other sons? + + HEC. Yes, him you see, born in an evil hour. + + AGA. But where was he when Ilion was destroyed? + + HEC. His father, apprehensive of his death, + Conveyed him thence. + + AGA. From all the other children + Which then he had, where placed he this apart? + + HEC. In this same region where his corse was found. + + AGA. With Polymestor, sovereign of the land? + + HEC. He, to preserve that execrable gold, + Was hither sent. + + AGA. But, by what ruthless hand, + And how, was he despatched? + + HEC. By whom beside? + The murderer was his friend, the Thracian king. + + AGA. Was he thus eager? O abandoned wretch, + To seize the gold! + + HEC. E’en thus; soon as he knew + Troy was o’erthrown. + + AGA. But where did you discover + The body, or who brought it? + + HEC. On the shore + This servant found it. + + AGA. Or in quest of him + Or other task then busied? + + HEC. To fetch water + To lave Polyxena’s remains she went. + + AGA. When he had slain him, it appears, his friend + Did cast him forth. + + HEC. He to the waves consigned + The stripling’s mangled corse. + + AGA. O wretched woman, + Surrounded by immeasurable woes. + + HEC. I am undone; no farther ill remains + For me t’ experience. + + AGA. Ah! what woman e’er + Was born to such calamities? + + HEC. Not one + Exists, whose sorrows equal mine, unless + You of Calamity herself would speak. + Yet hear the motive why I clasp your knees. + If I appear to merit what I suffer, + I must be patient; but if not, avenge + My wrongs upon the man who ’gainst his guest + Such treachery could commit, who, nor the gods + Of Erebus beneath, nor those who rule + In Heaven above regarding, this vile deed, + Did perpetrate, e’en he with whom I oft + Partook the feast, on whom I showered each bounty, + Esteeming him the first of all my friends; + Yet, when at Ilion’s palace with respect + He had been treated, a deliberate scheme + Of murder forming, he destroyed my son, + On whom he deigned not to bestow a tomb, + But threw his corse into the briny deep. + Though I indeed am feeble, and a slave, + Yet mighty are the gods, and by their law + The world is ruled: for by that law we learn + That there are gods, and can mark out the bounds + Of justice and injustice; if such law + To you transmitted, be infringed, if they + Who kill their guests, or dare with impious hand + To violate the altars of the gods, + Unpunished ’scape, no equity is left + Among mankind. Deeming such base connivance + Unworthy of yourself, revere my woes, + Have pity on me, like a painter take + Your stand to view me, and observe the number + Of my afflictions; once was I a queen, + But now am I a slave; in many a son + I once was rich, but now am I both old + And of my children reft, without a city, + Forlorn, and of all mortals the most wretched. + But whither would you go? With you I seem + To have no interest. Miserable me! + Why do we mortals by assiduous toil, + And such a painful search as their importance + Makes requisite, all other arts attain, + Yet not enough intent on the due knowledge + Of that sole empress of the human soul + Persuasion, no rewards bestow on those + Who teach us by insinuating words + How to procure our wishes? who can trust + Hereafter in prosperity? That band + Of my heroic sons is now no more, + Myself a captive, am led forth to tasks + Unseemly, and e’en now these eyes behold + The air obscured by Ilion’s rising smoke. + It might be vain perhaps, were I to found + A claim to your assistance on your love: + Yet must I speak: my daughter, who in Troy + Was called Cassandra, the prophetic dame, + Partakes your bed; and how those rapturous nights + Will you acknowledge, or to her how show + Your gratitude for all the fond embraces + Which she bestows, O king, or in her stead + To me her mother? In the soul of man + Th’ endearments of the night, by darkness veiled, + Create the strongest interest. To my tale + Now listen: do you see that breathless corse? + Each act of kindness which to him is shown, + Upon a kinsman of the dame you love + Will be conferred. But, in one point my speech + Is yet deficient. By the wondrous arts + Of Dædalus, or some benignant god, + Could I give voice to each arm, hand, and hair, + And each extremest joint, they round your knees + Should cling together, and together weep, + At once combining with a thousand tongues. + O monarch, O thou light of Greece, comply, + And stretch forth that avenging arm to aid + An aged woman, though she be a thing + Of nought, O succour: for the good man’s duty + Is to obey the dread behests of justice, + And ever punish those who act amiss. + + CHOR. ’Tis wonderful, indeed, how all events + Happen to mortals, and the dread behests + Of fate, uncircumscribed by human laws, + Constrain us to form amities with those + To whom the most inveterate hate we bore, + And into foes convert our former friends. + + AGA. To you, O Hecuba, your son, your fortunes, + And your entreaties, is my pity due. + I in obedience to the gods and justice + Wish to avenge you on this impious friend, + Could I appear your interests to espouse, + Without the troops suspecting that I slay + The Thracian monarch for Cassandra’s sake: + My terrors hence arise; the host esteem + Him our ally, and the deceased a foe: + What though you held him dear, his fate, the loss + Of you alone, affects not the whole camp. + Reflect too, that you find me well disposed + To share your toils, and in your cause exert + My utmost vigour; but, what makes me slow, + Is a well-grounded fear of blame from Greece. + + HEC. Alas! there’s no man free: for some are slaves + To gold, to fortune others, and the rest, + The multitude or written laws restrain + From acting as their better judgment dictates. + But since you are alarmed, and to the rabble + Yield an implicit deference, from that fear + I will release you; only to my schemes + Be privy, if some mischief I contrive + Against the murderer of my son: but take + No active part. If, when the Thracian suffers, + As he shall suffer, ’mongst the Greeks a tumult + Break forth, or they attempt to succour him, + Restrain them, without seeming to befriend + My interests. As for what remains, rely + On me, and I will manage all things well. + + AGA. How then? what mean you? With that aged hand + To wield a sword, and take away the life + Of that barbarian, or by drugs endued + With magic power? the help you need, what arts + Can furnish? what strong arm have you to fight + Your battles? whence will you procure allies? + + HEC. These tents conceal a group of Trojan dames. + + AGA. Mean you those captives whom the Greeks have seized. + + HEC. With them I on the murderer will inflict + Due punishment. + + AGA. How can the female sex + O’er men obtain a conquest? + + HEC. Numbers strike + A foe with terror, and the wiles of women + Are hard to be withstood. + + AGA. They may strike terror, + But in their courage I no trust can place. + + HEC. What? did not women slay Ægyptus’ sons, + And in their rage exterminate each male + From Lemnos? But leave me to find out means + How to effect my purpose. Through the camp + In safety this my faithful servant send; + And thou, when to my Thracian friend thou com’st, + Say, “Hecuba, erst Queen of Troy, invites + Thee and thy children, on thy own account, + No less than hers, because she to thy sons + And thee the self-same message must deliver.” + The newly slain Polyxena’s interment + Defer, O Agamemnon; in one flame + That when their kindred corses are consumed; + The brother with the sister, who demand + A twofold portion of their mother’s grief + Together may be buried in one grave. + + AGA. These rites shall be performed, which could the troops + Set sail, I needs must have denied: but now, + Since Neptune sends not an auspicious breeze, + Expecting a more seasonable voyage, + Here must we wait. But may success attend you; + For ’tis the common interest of mankind, + Of every individual, every state, + That he who hath transgressed should suffer ill. + And fortune crown the efforts of the virtuous. + + [_Exit_ AGAMEMNON. + +CHORUS. + + I. 1. + + No more, O Troy, thy dreaded name + Conspicuous in the lists of fame, + ’Midst fortresses impregnable shall stand, + In such thick clouds an armed host + Pours terrors from the Grecian coast. + And wastes thy vanquished land: + Shorn from thy rampired brow the crown + Of turrets fell; thy palaces o’erspread + With smoke lie waste, no more I tread + Thy wonted streets, my native town. + + I. 2. + + I perished at the midnight hour, + When, aided by the banquet’s power, + Sleep o’er my eyes his earliest influence shed; + Retiring from the choral song, + The sacrifice and festive throng, + Stretched on the downy bed + The bridegroom indolently lay, + His massive spear suspended on the beam, + No more he saw the helmets gleam. + Or nautic troops in dread array. + + II. 1. + + While me the golden mirror’s aid, + My flowing tresses taught to braid + In graceful ringlets with a fillet bound, + Just as I cast my robe aside, + And sought the couch; extending wide + Through every street this sound + Was heard; “O when, ye sons of Greece, + This nest of robbers levelled with the plain, + Will ye behold your homes again? + When shall these tedious labours cease?” + + II. 2. + + Then from my couch up starting, drest + Like Spartan nymph in zoneless vest, + At Dian’s shrine an ineffectual prayer + Did I address; for hither led, + First having viewed my husband dead, + Full oft I in despair, + As the proud vessel sailed from land, + Looked back, and saw my native walls laid low, + Then fainting with excess of woe + At length lost sight of Ilion’s strand. + + III. + + Helen that sister to the sons of Jove, + And Paris Ida’s swain, + With my curses still pursuing, + For to them I owe my ruin, + Me they from my country drove, + Never to return again, + By that detested spousal rite + On which Hymen never smiled, + No, ’twas some demon who with lewd delight + Their frantic souls beguiled: + Her may ocean’s waves no more + Waft to her paternal shore. + +POLYMESTOR, HECUBA, CHORUS. + + POLYM. For thee, O Priam, my unhappy friend, + And you, my dearest Hecuba, I weep, + Beholding your distress, your city taken, + Your daughter newly slain: alas! there’s nought + To be relied on; fame is insecure, + Nor can the prosperous their enjoyments guard + Against a change of Fortune, for the gods + Backward and forward turn her wavering wheel, + And introduce confusion in the world, + That we, because we know not will happen, + May worship them. But of what use are plaints + Which have no virtue to remove our woes? + If you my absence censure, be appeased, + For in the midst of Thracia’s wide domains + I from these coasts was distant at the time + Of your arrival: soon as I returned, + When from the palace I was issuing forth, + This your attendant met me, and delivered + The message, hearing which, I hither came. + + HEC. O Polymestor, wretched as I am, + I blush to see thy face; because thou erst + In happier days didst know me, I with shame + Appear before thee in my present fortunes. + Nor can I look at thee with steadfast eyes: + But this thou wilt not deem to be a mark + Of enmity: the cause of such behaviour + Is only custom, which forbids our sex + To gaze on men. + + POLYM. No wonder you thus act + Under such circumstances. But what need + Have you of me, and wherefore did you send + To fetch me from the palace? + + HEC. I in private + A secret of importance would disclose + To thee and to thy children. From these tents + Give orders for thy followers to depart. + + POLYM. [_to his attendants, who retire_.] + Withdraw; this solitary spot is safe. + For you and the confederate Grecian host + Are all attached to me. But ’tis incumbent + On you t’ inform me what my prosperous fortunes + Can yield to succour my unhappy friends! + For this is what I wish to do. + + HEC. Say first, + If he, my son, whom this maternal hand + And his fond father in thy mansions placed, + My Polydore, yet live. I’ll then pursue + My questions. + + POLYM. Yes, in him you still are blest. + + HEC. How kind, how worthy of thyself that speech, + My dearest friend! + + POLYM. What farther would you know? + + HEC. If haply yet the youth remember aught + Of me his mother. + + POLYM. Much he wished to come + And visit you in private. + + HEC. Is the gold + He brought from Troy preserved? + + POLYM. I keep it safe + In my own palace. + + HEC. Keep it if thou wilt: + But covet not the treasures of thy friends. + + POLYM. I do not covet them; my utmost wish + Is to enjoy, O woman, what I have. + + HEC. Know’st thou then, what to thee and to thy sons + I want to say? + + POLYM. I know not; till in words + Your thoughts are signified. + + HEC. Bestow such love + On Polydore as thou receiv’st from me. + + POLYM. What is it that to me and to my children + You would disclose? + + HEC. The spot, where deep in earth, + The ancient treasures of all Priam’s house + Lie buried. + + POLYM. Is this secret what you wish + Should to your son be mentioned? + + HEC. Yes, by thee, + Because thou art a virtuous man! + + POLYM. But wherefore + Did you require these children should be present? + + HEC. For them to know the secret, if thou die, + Will be of great advantage. + + POLYM. You have spoken + Well and discreetly. + + HEC. Know’st thou where at Troy + Minerva’s temple stands? + + POLYM. Is the gold there? + But by what mark shall I the spot distinguish? + + HEC. Above the surface rises a black stone. + + POLYM. Will you describe the place yet more minutely? + + HEC. The gold I in thy custody would place, + Which I from Ilion hither bring. + + POLYM. Where is it? + Concealed beneath your garment? + + HEC. ’Midst a heap + Of spoils laid up within yon tents. + + POLYM. Where mean you? + These are the Grecian mariners’ abode. + + HEC. In separate dwellings have they placed the captives? + + POLYM. But how can we rely upon the faith + Of those within? doth no man thither come? + + HEC. There’s not a Greek within; we are alone: + But enter thou these doors: for now the host, + Impatient to weigh anchor, would return + From Ilion to their homes. Thou with thy children + T’ accomplish all the dread behests of fate, + Shalt thither go where thou hast lodged my son. + + [_Exeunt_ HECUBA _and_ POLYMESTOR. + + CHOR. Thou hast not yet received the blow, + But justice sure will lay thee low. + Like him who headlong from on high + Falls where no friendly haven’s nigh, + Into the ocean’s stormy wave, + Here shalt thou find a certain grave: + For twofold ruin doth impend + O’er him who human laws pursue, + And righteous gods indignant view: + Thee shall the hope of gain mislead, + Which prompts thee to advance with speed, + And Pluto’s loathed abode descend: + Soon shalt thou press th’ ensanguined strand, + Slain by a woman’s feeble hand. + + POLYM. [_within._] Ah me, the light that visited these eyes + is darkened. + + SEMICHOR. Heard ye, O my friends, the shriek + Of yonder Thracian? + + POLYM. [_within._] Yet again, alas, + My children’s foul and execrable murder! + + SEMICHOR. My friends, some recent mischief hath within + Been perpetrated. + + POLYM. [_within._] Though your feet are swift, + Ye shall not ’scape, for through the walls I’ll burst + My passage. + + SEMICHOR. With a forceful hand, behold + He brandishes the javelin. Shall we rush + To seize him? This important crisis bids us + Assist our queen and Phrygia’s valiant dames. + + HEC. Now do thy worst, and from their hinges rend + Yon massive gates; no more canst thou impart + To those lost eyes their visual orbs, nor see + Thy sons, whom I have slain, to life restored. + +HECUBA, CHORUS. + + CHOR. Hast thou, my honoured mistress, caught the Thracian, + Over this treacherous friend hast thou prevailed, + And all thy threats accomplished? + + HEC. Ye shall see him + Before the tent, without delay, deprived + Of sight, advancing with unsteady foot, + And the two breathless corses of his sons, + Whom I, assisted by the noblest matrons + Of Troy, have slain. Th’ atonement he hath paid + To my revenge, is just. But now behold + He issues forth: I will retire and shun + The Thracian chief’s unconquerable rage. + +POLYMESTOR, HECUBA, CHORUS. + + POLYM. Ah, whither am I going? wretched me! + Where am I? what supports me? With these hands + Groping my way like some four-footed beast, + How shall I turn me, to the right or left, + That I those murderous Phrygian dames may seize + Who have destroyed me? Impious and accurst + Daughters of Ilion, in what dark recess + Do they escape me? Would to heaven, O Sun, + Thou to these bleeding eyeballs could’st afford + A cure, that thou my blindness could’st remove. + But hush, I hear those women’s cautious tread. + How shall I leap upon them? with their flesh + How shall I glut my rage, and for a feast + To hungry tigers cast their mangled bones, + In just requital of the horrid wrongs, + Which I from them, ah wretched me, have suffered? + But whither, by what impulse am I borne, + Leaving the corses of my sons exposed + To hellish Bacchanalians, as they lie + Torn by the dogs, and on the mountain’s ridge + Cast forth unburied! Where shall I stand still? + Or whither shall I go? Like some proud bark + Towed into harbour, which contracts its sails; + I to that fatal chamber which contains + The corses of my murdered sons rush onward + With speed involuntary. + + CHOR. Hapless man, + How art thou visited by woes too grievous + To be endured! but by dread Jove thy foe, + On him whose deeds are base, it is ordained + That the severest punishments await. + + POLYM. Rouse, O ye Thracians, armed with ponderous spears, + Arrayed in mail, for generous steeds renowned, + A hardy race, whom Mars himself inspires. + To you, O Grecian troops, and both the sons + Of Atreus, I with clamorous voice appeal: + Come hither, I implore you by the gods. + Do any of you hear me? Is there none + Who will assist? Why loiter ye? Those women, + Those captives have destroyed me. Horrid wrongs + Have I endured; ah me, the foul reproach! + But whither shall I turn, or whither go? + Through the aërial regions shall I wing + My swift career to that sublime abode + Where Sirius or Orion from his eyes + Darts radiant flames? or, to perdition doomed, + Shall I descend to Pluto’s sable flood? + + CHOR. He merits pardon, whosoe’er assailed + By ills too grievous to be borne, shakes off + The loathed encumbrance of a wretched life. + +AGAMEMNON, POLYMESTOR, HECUBA, CHORUS. + + AGA. Hearing thy shrieks I came. For Echo, child + Of craggy mountains, in no gentle note + Wafted those sounds tumultuous through the host. + Had we not known that by the Grecian spear + The towers of vanquished Phrygia are o’erthrown, + Such uproar would have caused no small alarm. + + POLYM. My dearest friend, soon as I heard your voice, + I instantly perceived ’twas Agamemnon. + See you my sufferings? + + AGA. Wretched Polymestor! + Who hath destroyed thee? who bereaved of sight + Thy bleeding orbs, and those thy children slew? + Whoe’er the author of such deeds, his rage + Was dreadful sure ’gainst thee and ’gainst thy sons. + + POLYM. With the assistance of those captive dames, + Me Hecuba hath murdered, more than murdered. + + AGA. What mean’st thou? Are you guilty of the crime + With which he charges you? and have you dared + To perpetrate an action thus audacious? + + POLYM. Ah me! what said you? Is she near at hand? + Inform me where to find, that I may seize her, + And scatter wide to all the fowls of heaven + Her mangled corse. + + AGA. Ha! what is thy design? + + POLYM. Allow me, I conjure you by the gods, + To grasp her with this frantic arm. + + AGA. Desist, + And casting forth all rancour from thy heart, + Now plead thy cause; that, hearing both apart, + I with unbiassed justice may decide, + If thou these sufferings merit’st. + + POLYM. I will speak. + There was one Polydore, the youngest son + Of those whom Hecuba to Priam bore; + Him erst removing from the Phrygian realm, + His sire to me consigned, that in my palace + He might be nurtured, when that hoary king + The fall of Troy suspected: him I slew: + But hear my motives for the deed, to prove + How justly and how prudently I acted. + Your enemy, that boy, if he survived + The ruin of his country, might, I feared, + Collect the scattered citizens of Troy, + And there again reside. I also feared, + That when the Greeks knew one of Priam’s line + Was living, with a second fleet invading + The shores of Phrygia, they again might drain + Of their inhabitants our Thracian fields, + Involving us, their neighbours, in the vengeance + They on their foes at Ilion wreak. To us + Already hath such neighbourhood, O king, + Proved baneful. But, apprized of her son’s fate, + Hecuba drew me hither, on pretence + She would inform me where in massive gold + The hidden treasures of old Priam’s race + Beneath Troy’s ruins were secured. Alone, + She with my children brought me to this tent, + That none beside might know. With bended knee, + While on a couch I sat, some on my left, + And others on my right, as with a friend, + Full many of the Trojan damsels took + Their places, holding up against the sun + My robe, the woof of an Edonian loom: + Some feigned t’ admire it, others viewed my spear, + And stripped me of them both. From hand to hand + The matrons, seeming to caress my children, + Removed them far from their unhappy sire: + And after their fond speeches, in an instant, + (Could you believe it?) snatching up the swords, + Which they beneath their garments had concealed, + They stabbed my sons, whom while I strove to aid, + In hostile guise their comrades held my arms + And feet: if I looked up, they by the hair + Confined me; if I moved my hands, my struggles + Proved ineffectual, through the numerous band + Of women who assailed me, and to close + The scene of my calamity, accomplished + A deed with more than common horror fraught, + For they tore out my bleeding eyes, and fled. + But, like a tiger starting up, I chased + These ruthless fiends, and with a hunter’s speed + Each wall examined, dashing to the ground, + And breaking what I seized. These cruel wrongs, + While I your interests study to maintain, + O Agamemnon, and despatch your foe, + Have I endured. To spare a long harangue, + The whole of what ’gainst woman hath been said + By those of ancient times, is saying now, + Or shall be said hereafter, in few words + Will I comprise; nor ocean’s waves, nor earth, + Nurture so vile a race, as he who most + Hath with the sex conversed, but knows too well. + + CHOR. Curb that audacious virulence of speech, + Nor, by thy woes embittered, thus revile + All womankind; the number of our sex + Is great, and some there are, whom as a mark + To envy, their distinguished worth holds forth, + Though some are justly numbered with the wicked. + + HEC. O Agamemnon, never ought the tongue + To have a greater influence o’er mankind + Than actions; but whoever hath done well, + Ought to speak well; and he, whose deeds are base, + To use unseemly language, nor find means + By specious words to colour o’er injustice. + Full wise indeed are they to whom such art + Is most familiar: but to stand the test + Of time not wise enough; for they all perish, + Not one of them e’er ’scapes. These previous thoughts + To you, O mighty king, have I addressed. + But now to him I turn, and will refute + The fallacies he uttered. What pretence + Hast thou for saying, that to free the Greeks + From such a second war, and for the sake + Of Agamemnon, thou didst slay my son? + For first, O villain, the barbarian race + With Greece, nor will, nor ever can be friends. + What interest roused thy zeal? Didst thou expect + To form a nuptial union? Wert thou moved + By kindred ties, or any secret cause? + Greece with a fleet forsooth would have returned + To lay thy country waste. Who, canst thou think, + Will credit such assertions? If the truth + Thou wilt confess, gold and thy thirst of gain + Were my son’s murderers. Why, when Troy yet flourished, + Why, when the city was on every side + Fenced by strong bulwarks, why, when Priam lived, + And Hector wielded a victorious spear, + Didst thou not, if thou hadst designed to act + In Agamemnon’s favour, at the time + When thou didst nurture my unhappy son, + And in thy palace shelter, either slay, + Or to the Greeks surrender up the youth + A living prisoner? But when Ilion’s light + Was utterly extinguished, when the smoke + Declared the city subject to our foes, + The stranger thou didst murder, at thy hearth + Who sought protection. To confirm thy guilt, + Now hear this farther charge: if thou to Greece + Hadst been a friend indeed, thou should’st have given + The gold thou say’st thou keep’st, not for thine own, + But Agamemnon’s sake, among the troops + Who suffer want, and from their native land + Have for a tedious season been detained. + But thou from those rapacious hands e’en now + Canst not endure to part with it, but hoard’st it + Still buried in thy coffers: as became thee, + Hadst thou trained up my son, hadst thou to him + Been a protector, great is the renown + Thou would’st have gained; for in distress the good + Are steadfast; but our prosperous fortunes swarm + With friends unbidden. Hadst thou been in want, + And Polydore abounded, a sure treasure + To thee would he have proved: but now no longer + In him hast thou a friend; thou of thy gold + Hast lost th’ enjoyment, thou thy sons hast lost, + And art thyself thus wretched. But to you, + O Agamemnon, now again I speak: + If you assist him, you will seem corrupt; + For you will benefit a man devoid + Of honour, justice, piety, or truth; + It might be said that you delight in evil; + But, I presume not to reproach my lords. + + CHOR. How doth a virtuous cause inspire the tongue + With virtuous language! + + AGA. On a stranger’s woes + Reluctant I pronounce, but am constrained; + For shame attends the man who takes in hand + Some great affair, and leaves it undecided. + Know then, to me thou seem’st not to have slain + Thy guest through an attachment to my cause, + Nor yet to that of Greece, but that his gold + Thou might’st retain: though in this wretched state + Thou speak to serve thy interests. Among you + Perhaps the murder of your guests seems light; + We Greeks esteem it base. If I acquit thee + How shall I ’scape reproach? Indeed I cannot: + Since thou hast dared to perpetrate the crime, + Endure the consequence. + + POLYM. Too plain it seems, + Ah me! that, vanquished by a female slave, + Here shall I perish by ignoble hands. + + HEC. Is not this just for the atrocious deed + Which thou hast wrought? + + POLYM. My children, wretched me! + And these quenched orbs. + + HEC. Griev’st thou, yet think’st thou not + That I lament my son? + + POLYM. Malignant woman, + Do you rejoice in taunting my distress? + + HEC. In such revenge have not I cause for joy? + + POLYM. Yet not so hastily, when ocean’s wave—— + + HEC. Shall in a bark convey me to the shores + Of Greece? + + POLYM. Shall whelm you in its vast abyss + Fall’n from the shrouds. + + HEC. Raised thither by what impulse? + + POLYM. Up the tall mast you with swift foot shall climb. + + HEC. On feathered pinions borne, or how? + + POLYM. With form + Canine endued, and eyeballs glaring fire. + + HEC. Whence didst thou learn that I such wondrous change + Shall undergo? + + POLYM. Bacchus, the Thracian seer, + Gave this response. + + HEC. To thee did he unfold + Nought of the grievous sufferings thou endur’st? + + POLYM. Then could you ne’er have caught me by your wiles. + + HEC. But on this change of being, after death, + Or while I yet am living, shall I enter? + + POLYM. After your death, and men shall call your tomb—— + + HEC. By my new form, or what is it thou mean’st? + + POLYM. The sepulchre of that vile brute, an object + Conspicuous to the mariner. + + HEC. I care not; + My vengeance is complete. + + POLYM. Cassandra too, + Your daughter, must inevitably bleed. + + HEC. Abomination! On thy guilty head + These curses I retort. + + POLYM. Her shall the wife + Of Agamemnon slay, who sternly guards + His royal mansion. + + HEC. Such a frantic deed + As this may Tyndarus’ daughter ne’er commit! + + POLYM. She next uplifting the remorseless axe + Shall smite her lord. + + AGA. Ha! madman, dost thou court + Thy ruin? + + POLYM. Slay me; for the murderous bath + Awaits you, when to Argos you return. + + AGA. Will ye not drag him from my sight by force? + + POLYM. Hear you with grief what I announce? + + AGA. My followers, + Why stop ye not the miscreant’s boding mouth? + + POLYM. This mouth be closed for ever: I have spoken. + + AGA. Will ye not cast him with the utmost speed + Upon some desert island, since he dares + To speak with such licentiousness? Depart, + O wretched Hecuba, and both those corses + Deposit in the grave. But, as for you, + Ye to your lord’s pavilions must repair, + O Phrygian dames: for I perceive the gales + Rising to waft us homeward; may success + Attend the voyage to our native land! + And in our mansions may we find all well, + Freed from these dangers! + + CHOR. To the haven go, + And to the tents, my friends, t’ endure the toils + Our lords impose: for thus harsh fate enjoins. + + + + +HERCULES DISTRACTED. + + +PERSONS OF THE DRAMA. + + AMPHITRYON. + MEGARA. + CHORUS OF THEBAN OLD MEN. + HERCULES. + LYCUS. + IRIS. + A FIEND. + MESSENGER. + THESEUS. + + +SCENE.—BEFORE THE ALTAR OF JUPITER, AT THE ENTRANCE OF THE HOUSE OF +HERCULES IN THEBES. + +AMPHITRYON, MEGARA. + + AMP. Is there on earth, a stranger to the man + Who shared the same auspicious nuptial bed + With Jove, Amphitryon born at Argos, sprung + From Perseus’ son Alcæus, me the sire + Of Hercules? He in these regions dwelt, + Where from the soil a helmed crop arose; + Mars, a small number of that race, preserved, + Whose children’s children people Cadmus’ city. + Hence Creon king of Thebes, Menæceus’ son, + Derives his birth, and Creon is the sire + Of this unhappy Megara, to grace + Whose hymeneal pomp, each Theban erst + Attuned the jocund lute, into my house + When Hercules conducted her. But leaving + This realm where I resided, and his consort + And kindred, my son chose to fix his seat + Within the walls of Argos, of that city + Erected by the Cyclops, whence I fled + Stained with Electryon’s gore: but to alleviate + My woes, and in his native land obtain + A quiet residence, this great reward + He on Eurystheus promised to bestow, + That he would rid the world of every pest: + Harassed by Juno’s stings, or envious fate, + With her conspiring: but, his other labours + Accomplished, he through Tænarus’ jaws at length + Went to the house of Pluto, to drag forth + Into the realms of day hell’s triple hound: + He thence returns not. But an old tradition + Among the race of Cadmus hath prevailed, + That Lycus, Dirce’s husband, erst bore rule + Over this city, till Jove’s sons, Amphion + And Zethus, who on milk-white coursers rode, + Became its sovereigns. Lycus’ son who bears + His father’s name, no Theban, but arriving + From the Eubœan state, slew royal Creon, + And having slain him, seized the throne, invading + The city with tumultuous broils convulsed. + But the affinity which we have formed + With Creon, seems to be my greatest curse: + For while my son stays in the realms beneath, + Lycus th’ egregious monarch of this land + Would with the children of Alcides kill + His consort, by fresh murders to extinguish + The past, and kill me too (if one through age + So useless may be numbered among men), + Lest when the boys attain maturer age, + They should avenge their grandsire Creon’s death. + But I (for my son left me here to tend + His children, and direct the house, since he + Entered the subterraneous realms of night), + With their afflicted mother, lest the race + Of Hercules should bleed, for an asylum + Have chosen this altar of protecting Jove, + Which my illustrious son for a memorial + Of his victorious arms did here erect, + When he in battle had subdued the Minyans. + But we, though destitute of every comfort, + Of food, drink, clothing, though constrained to lie + On the bare pavement, here maintain our seat, + For every hospitable door is barred + Against us, and we have no other hope + Of being saved. Some of our friends I see + Are faithless, and the few who prove sincere, + Too weak to aid us. Such is the effect + Of adverse fortune o’er the race of men; + May he to whom I bear the least attachment, + Never experience that unerring test + Of friendship. + + MEG. Thou old man, who erst didst storm + The Taphian ramparts, when thou with renown + Didst lead the host of Thebes; the secret will + Of Heaven, how little can frail mortals know! + For to me too of no avail have proved + The fortunes of my father, who elate + With wealth and regal power (whence at the breasts + Of its possessors spears are hurled by those + Whose souls the lust of mad ambition fires), + And having children, gave me to thy son, + Joining a noble consort in the bonds + Of wedlock with Alcides, through whose death + These blessings are all fled. Now I, and thou, + Old man, are doomed to perish with the sons + Of Hercules, whom, as the bird extends + Her sheltering wings over her callow brood, + I guard. By turns they come and question me: + “O mother, whither is my father gone? + What is he doing? when will he return?” + Though now too young sufficiently to feel + How great their loss, thus ask they for their sire. + I change the theme, and forge a soothing tale, + But am with wonder smitten when the doors + Creak on their massive hinges, and at once + They all start up, that at their father’s knees + They may fall prostrate. But what hope hast thou + Of saving us, or what support, old man? + For I to thee look up. We from the bounds + Of these domains unnoticed cannot ’scape; + Mightier than us, a watchful guard is placed + At every avenue, and in our friends + No longer for protection can we trust. + Explain thyself, if thou hast any scheme, + By which thou from impending death canst save us; + But let us strive to lengthen out the time, + Since we are feeble. + + AMP. ’Tis no easy task + In such a situation, O my daughter, + To form a sure and instantaneous judgment. + + MEG. What is there wanting to complete thy woes, + Or why art thou so fond of life? + + AMP. That blessing + I still enjoy, still cherish pleasing hopes. + + MEG. I also hope, old man: but it is folly + To look for what we never can attain. + + AMP. We by delaying might avert our fate. + + MEG. But I in this sad interval of time + Feel piercing anguish. + + AMP. The auspicious gales + Of fortune, O my daughter, yet may waft + Both you and me out of our present troubles, + If e’er my son your valiant lord return. + But O be pacified yourself, and cause + Your children to dry up their streaming tears; + With gentle language and delusive tales + Beguile them, though all fraudful arts are wretched. + For the disasters which afflict mankind + Are wearied out; the stormy winds retain not + Their undiminished force; nor are the blest + Perpetually blest: for all things change, + And widely differ from their former state. + The valiant man is he who still holds fast + His hopes; but to despair bespeaks the coward. + +CHORUS, AMPHITRYON, MEGARA. + + CHOR. Propped on my faithful staff, from home, + And from the couch of palsied age, + In melancholy guise I roam, + Constrained to chaunt funereal strains, + As the expiring swan complains, + A war of words alone I wage, + In semblance, but a flitting sprite, + An airy vision of the night. + I totter; yet doth active zeal + This faithful bosom still inspire. + Ye children who have lost your sire, + Thou veteran, and thou aged dame, + Doomed for thy lord these griefs to feel, + Whose Pluto’s dreary mansions claim; + O weary not your tender feet. + Like steeds by galling harness bound, + To turn the ponderous mill around, + I would advance my friends to meet, + Yet are my utmost efforts vain, + This shattered frame I scarce sustain: + Draw near, O take this trembling hand, + And holding fast my robe, support + My steps, thy needful aid I court, + Because I am too weak to stand. + Lead on the chief, though now by years + Bowed down, who marshalled on the strand, + His comrades erst a hardy band; + With him in youth we launched our spears, + Nor then belied our native land. + See how their eyes dart liquid fire, + Those children emulate their sire; + But still hereditary fate, + Pursues with unrelenting hate + Their tender years, nor can their charms + Redeem them from impending harms. + What valiant champions of thy cause, + O Greece, thy violated laws, + When these thy great supports shall fail, + Torn from thy fostering land wilt thou bewail. + But I behold the monarch of the realm, + Tyrannic Lycus, who these doors approaches. + +LYCUS, AMPHITRYON, MEGARA, CHORUS. + + LYC. This question (if I may) I to the sire + And consort of Alcides would propose + (But, as your king, I have a right to make + Any inquiries I think fit): How long + Seek ye to spin out life? What farther hope + Have ye in view, what succour to ward off + The stroke of death? Expect ye that the father + Of these deserted children, who lies stretched + Amid the realms beneath will thence return, + That ye bely your rank, and meanly utter + These clamorous plaints on being doomed to die? + Through Greece hast _thou_ diffused an idle boast, + That Jove enjoyed thy consort, and begot + An offspring like himself; while _you_ exulted + In being called wife to the first of heroes. + But what great action hath your lord performed, + In having slain that hydra at the lake, + Or the Nemæan lion whom with snares + He caught, and then did arrogantly boast + That he had strangled in his nervous arms? + Will these exploits enable you to vie + With me? and for such merit am I bound + To spare the sons of Hercules, who gained + A name which he deserved not? He was brave + In waging war with beasts, in nought beside, + With his left hand he never did sustain + The shield, nor faced he the protended spear, + But with his bow, that weapon of a dastard, + Was still prepared for flight: such arms afford + No proof of courage; but the truly brave + Is he who in the ranks where he is stationed + Maintains his ground, and sees with steadfast eye + Those ghastly wounds the missile javelin gives. + Old man, I act not thus through cruelty, + But caution; for I know that I have slain + Creon _her_ father, and possess his throne. + These children therefore will not I allow + To live till they attain maturer years, + Lest they should punish me for such a deed. + + AMP. Jove will assert the cause of his own son. + But as for me, O Hercules, my care + Shall be to prove the folly of this tyrant: + For thy illustrious name I will not suffer + To be reproached. First from a hateful charge + (And that of cowardice I deem most hateful), + Calling the gods to witness, am I bound + To vindicate thy honour. I appeal + To Jove’s own thunder, and th’ impetuous steeds, + Which drew Alcides’ chariot when he sped + Those winged arrows to transpierce the flanks + Of earth-born giants, and among the gods + Triumphant revelled at the genial board. + Go next to Pholoe’s realm, thou worst of kings, + And ask the Centaurs’ monstrous brood, what man + They judge to be most brave, whether that title + Belongs not to my son, who only bears, + As you assert, the semblance of a hero? + But should you question the Eubœan mount + Of Dirphys, where your infancy was nurtured, + It cannot sound your praise: you have performed + No glorious action for your native land + To testify, yet scorn that wise invention + The quiver fraught with shafts: attend to me + And I will teach you wisdom. By his arms + Encumbered, stands the warrior who is sheathed + In ponderous mail, and through the fears of those + Who fight in the same rank, if they want courage, + Loses his life; nor, if his spear be broken, + Furnished with nought but courage, from his breast + Can he repel the wound; but he who bends + With skilful hand the bow, hath this advantage, + Which never fails him: with a thousand shafts + He smites the foe, no danger to himself + Incurring, but securely stands aloof, + And wreaks his vengeance while they gaze around, + Without perceiving whence the weapon comes: + His person he exposes not, but takes + A guarded post: for what in war displays + The greatest prudence, is to vex the foe, + Nor rush at random on their pointed spears. + Such reasoning on the subject in debate + With yours indeed agrees not: but what cause + Have you for wishing to destroy these children? + How have they injured you? In one respect + I deem you wise, because you dread the race + Of valiant men, and feel yourself a coward: + Yet is it hard on us, if we must bleed + Your apprehensions to remove; you ought + To suffer all we would inflict, from us + Whose merit is superior far to yours, + Were Jove impartial. Would you therefore wield + The sceptre of this land, let us depart + As exiles from the realm, or you shall meet + With strict retaliation, when the gales + Of wavering fortune alter. O thou land + Of Cadmus (for to thee I now will speak, + But in reproachful accents), such protection + Afford’st thou to the sons of Hercules, + Who singly warring with the numerous host + Of Minyæ, caused the Thebans to lift up + Their free-born eyes undaunted? I on Greece + No praises can bestow, nor will pass over + In silence its base treatment of my son, + For ’twas its duty in these children’s cause, + Bearing flames, pointed spears, and glittering mail, + To have marched forth, and recompensed the toils + Of their great father, who hath purged the sea + And land from all its monsters. Such protection + Nor doth the Theban city, O my children, + Nor Greece afford you; but ye now look up + To me a feeble friend who can do nought, + But plead for you with unavailing words. + For all the vigour which I once possessed + Hath now deserted me; old age assails + My trembling limbs and this decrepit frame. + Were I again endued with youthful strength, + I would snatch up my javelin, and defile + With gore the yellow ringlets on the head + Of that oppressor, whom his fear should drive + Beyond the most remote Atlantic bounds. + + CHOR. Are there not causes such as may provoke + Those who are virtuous to express their thoughts, + Though destitute of eloquence? + + LYC. ’Gainst me + Speak what thou wilt, for thou art armed with words, + But for injurious language by my deeds + Will I requite thee. Go, send woodmen, some + To Helicon, some to Parnassus’ vale, + Bid them fell knotted oaks, and having borne them + Into the city, heap their ponderous trunks + Around the altar, and with kindled flames + Consume the bodies of this hated race; + So shall they learn that Creon the deceased + No longer is the ruler of this land, + But that I wield the sceptre. As for you + Who thwart my counsels, O ye aged men, + Not for the sons of Hercules alone + Shall ye lament, but for those evil fortunes + Which ye and your own house are doomed to suffer: + But this shall ye remember, that to me, + Your monarch, ye are slaves. + + CHOR. O ye the race + Of earth, whom Mars erst sowed, when he had torn + From the huge dragon’s jaws th’ envenomed teeth, + With those right hands why will ye not uplift + The staves on which ye lean, and with his gore + Defile the head of this unrighteous man, + Not born at Thebes, but in a foreign realm, + From inconsiderate youths who gains that homage + Which he deserves not? but in evil hour + O’er me shalt thou bear rule, nor shall my wealth + Acquired by many toils be ever thine: + Go, act the tyrant in Eubœa’s land, + From whence thou hither cam’st: for while I live, + The sons of Hercules thou ne’er shalt slay, + Nor is their mighty father plunged so deep + Beneath earth’s surface, that he cannot hear + His children’s outcries. Thou to whom this land + Owes its destruction dost possess the throne: + But he its benefactor is deprived + Of the rewards he merits. Me thou deem’st + Officious, for protecting those I love + E’en in the grave, where friends are needed most. + O my right arm, how dost thou wish to wield + The spear, but through enfeebling age hast lost + Thy vigour: else would I have quelled thy pride + Who dar’st to call me slave, and in this Thebes, + Where thou exult’st, with glory dwelt. A city + Diseased through mutiny and evil counsels + Is void of wisdom, or would ne’er have chosen + Thee for its lord. + + MEG. Ye veterans, I applaud + Your zeal; for indignation at the wrongs + His friends endure becomes the virtuous friend. + But let not anger ’gainst your lord expose you + To suffer in our cause. My judgment hear, + Amphitryon, if to thee in aught I seem + To speak discreetly. I these children love + (And how can I help loving those I bore?) + For whom I have endured the painful throes + Of childbirth. And to die is what I think of + As of a thing most dreadful; but the man + Who with necessity contends I hold + An idiot. But let us, since die we must, + Not perish in the flames to furnish scope + Of laughter to our foes, which I esteem + An ill beyond e’en death: for much is due + To the unsullied honour of our house, + For thee who erst in arms hast gained renown, + To die with cowardice, were a reproach + Not to be borne. My lord, though I forbear + To dwell on his just praises, is so noble, + He would not wish these children saved, to bear + The imputation of an evil name: + For through the conduct of degenerate sons + Reproach oft falls on their illustrious sires; + And the examples which my husband gave me, + I ought not to reject. But view what grounds + Thou hast for hope, that I of these may form + A proper estimate. Dost thou expect + Thy son to issue from the realms beneath? + What chief deceased from Pluto’s loathed abode + Did e’er return? Can we by gentle words + Appease this tyrant? No: we ought to fly + From fools who are our foes: but to the wise + And generous yield; for we with greater ease + May make a friend of him in whom we find + A sense of virtuous shame. But to my soul + This thought occurs, that we, the children’s sentence, + By our entreaties, haply might obtain + Converted into exile: yet this too + Is wretched, at th’ expense of piteous need + To compass our deliverance. For their friends + Avoid the face of guests like these, and look + No longer kindly on the banished man + After one day is over. Rouse thy courage, + And bleed with us, thee too, since death awaits. + By thy great soul, O veteran, I conjure thee. + Although the man who labours to repel + Evils inflicted by Heaven’s wrath, is brave, + Yet doth such courage border upon frenzy: + For what the fates ordain, no god can frustrate. + + CHOR. While yet these arms retained their youthful strength, + Had any one insulted thee, with ease + Could I have quelled him; but I now am nothing: + On thee, Amphytrion, therefore ’tis incumbent + To think how best thou may’st henceforth ward off + Th’ assaults of fortune. + + AMP. No unmanly fear, + No wish to lengthen out this life, prevents + My voluntary death: but I would save + The children of my son, though I appear + To grasp at things impossible. Behold + I bare my bosom to the sword; pierce, slay, + Or cast me from the rock. But I, O king, + For this one favour sue to you; despatch + Me and this hapless dame before the children, + Lest them we view, most execrable sight, + In death’s convulsive pangs, to her who bore them, + And me their grandsire, shrieking out for aid. + But as for all beside, do what you list, + For we have now no bulwark which from death + Can save us. + + MEG. I entreat one favour more, + Which to us both will equally be grateful. + Permit me in funereal robes to dress + My children; for that purpose be the gates + Thrown open (for the palace now is closed + Against us) that they from their father’s house + This small advantage may obtain. + + LYC. Your wishes + Shall be complied with. I my servants bid + Unbar the gates. Go in, bedeck yourselves; + The costly robes I grudge not: but no sooner + Shall ye have put them on, than I to you + Will come, and plunge you in the shades beneath. + + [_Exit_ LYCUS. + + MEG. Follow your hapless mother, O my children, + To your paternal house, where, though our wealth + Be in the hands of others, our great name + We still preserve. + + AMP. O Jove, ’twas then in vain + That thou didst deign to share my nuptial couch, + In vain too, of thy son have I been styled + The father, for thou hast not proved the friend + Thou didst appear to be. I, though a man, + Exceed in virtue thee a mighty god; + Because I to their foes have not betrayed + The sons of Hercules: but thou, by stealth, + Entering my chamber, to another’s wife + Without permission cam’st; yet know’st not how + To save thy friends; thou surely art a god + Either devoid of wisdom, or unjust. + + [_Exeunt_ AMPHITRYON _and_ MEGARA. + +CHORUS. + + ODE. + + I. 1. + + For Linus’ death, by all the tuneful Nine + Bewailed, doth Phœbus’ self complain, + And loudly uttering his auspicious strain, + Smite with a golden quill the lyre; but mine + Shall be the task, while songs of praise + I chaunt and twine the laureate wreath, + His matchless fortitude t’ emblaze, + Who sought hell’s inmost gloom, the dreary shades beneath; + Whether I call the hero son of Jove, + Or of Amphitryon; for the fame + To which his labours have so just a claim, + Must e’en in death attract the public love: + In the Nemæan forest first he slew + That lion huge, whose tawny hide + And grinning jaws extended wide, + He o’er his shoulders threw. + + I. 2. + + The winged arrows whizzing from his bow, + Did on their native hills confound + The Centaurs’ race with many a deadly wound: + Alcides’ matchless strength doth Peneus know, + Distinguished by his limpid waves, + The fields laid waste of wide extent, + With Pelion, and the neighbouring caves + Of Homoles, uprooting from whose steep ascent, + Tall pines that cast a venerable shade, + The monsters armed their forceful hands, + And strode terrific o’er Thessalia’s lands: + Then breathless on th’ ensanguined plain he laid + That hind distinguished by her golden horns, + And still in Dian’s temple seen + His prize, to glad the huntress queen, + Oenöe’s walls adorns. + + II. 1. + + The chariot with triumphal ensigns graced + Ascending, to his stronger yoke + He Diomedes’ furious coursers broke, + Scorning the bit, in hateful stalls who placed + By their fell lord, the flesh of man + Raging devoured, accursed food; + A stream from their foul mangers ran, + Filled with unholy gore, and many a gobbet crude. + O’er Hebrus’ silver tide at the command + Of Argos’ unrelenting king + Eurystheus, he these captive steeds did bring, + Close to Anauros’ mouth on Pelion’s strand. + Inhuman Cycnus, son of Mars, next felt + The force of his resounding bow, + Unsocial wretch, the stranger’s foe, + Who in Amphanea dwelt. + + II. 2. + + Then came he to th’ harmonious nymphs, that band + Who in Hesperian gardens hold + Their station, where the vegetative gold + Glows in the fruitage; with resistless hand + To snatch the apple from its height; + The dragon wreathed his folds around + The tree’s huge trunk, portentous sight, + In vain; that monster fell transfixed with many a wound. + Into those straits of the unfathomed main + He entered, with auspicious gales, + Where feared the mariner t’ unfurl his sails, + And fixing limits to the watery plain + His columns reared: then from the heavens’ huge load + The wearied Atlas he relieved, + His arm the starry realms upheaved, + And propped the gods’ abode. + + III. 1. + + Foe to the Amazons’ equestrian race + He crossed the boisterous Euxine tide, + And gave them battle by Mæotis’ side. + What friends through Greece collected he to face + Hippolita, th’ intrepid maid, + That he the belt of Mars might gain, + And tissued robe with golden braid. + Still doth exulting Greece the virgin’s spoils retain, + Lodged in Mycene’s shrine, with gore imbrued, + The dog of Lerna’s marshy plain, + Who unresisting multitudes had slain, + The hundred-headed hydra, he subdued, + Aided by fire, and winged shafts combined, + These from his well-stored quiver flew, + And triple-formed Geryon slew, + Fierce Erythræa’s hind. + + III. 2. + + But having finished each adventurous strife, + At length in evil hour he steers + To Pluto’s mansion, to the house of tears, + The goal of labour, there to end his life, + Thence never, never to return; + His friends dismayed forsake these gates, + In hopeless solitude we mourn. + Hell’s stern award is passed, the boat of Charon waits + To their eternal home his sons to bear, + Most impious lawless homicide! + For thee, O Hercules, thee erst his pride, + Thy sire now looks with impotent despair. + Had I the strength which I possessed of yore, + I with my Theban friends, arrayed + In brazen arms, thy sons would aid: + But youth’s blest days are o’er. + + Clad in funereal vestments I behold + The children of Alcides erst the great, + With his loved wife and his decrepit sire + Conducting them. O wretched me! no longer + Can I restrain the fountain of these tears + Which gush incessant from my aged eyes. + +MEGARA, AMPHITRYON, CHORUS. + + MEG. Come on. What priest, what butcher is at hand + To slay these wretched children, or transpierce + My bosom? Now the victims stand prepared + For their descent to Pluto’s loathed abode. + By force, my children, are we borne along + United in th’ unseemly bands of death; + Decrepit age with helpless infancy + And intermingled matrons. O dire fate + Of me and of my sons, whom these sad eyes + Shall never more behold! Alas! I bore, + I nurtured you, to be the scorn, the sport, + Of our inveterate foes, and by their hands + To perish. Each fond hope, which from the words + Of your departed father erst I formed, + Hath proved fallacious. The deceased to _thee_ + Allotted Argos, in Eurystheus’ palace + Wert _thou_ to dwell a mighty king, and wield + The sceptre of Pelasgia’s fruitful land, + Then with the lion’s hide himself had worn + Thy front he covered: _you_ were to ascend + The throne of Thebes for brazen chariots famed, + Possessing my hereditary fields, + Such were the hopes of your exulting sire, + Who to _your_ hand consigned that ponderous mace + Deceitful gift of Dædalus: on _thee_, + Thou little one, he promised to bestow + Oecalia, which his shafts had erst laid waste: + To you all three, these realms in threefold portions + Did he distribute; for your father’s views + Were all magnanimous: but I marked out + Selected consorts for you, and formed schemes + Of new affinities, from the domains + Of Athens, Sparta, and the Theban city; + That binding up your cables, and secure + From the tempestuous deep, ye might enjoy + A happy life: these prospects now are vanished: + For to your arms hath changeful Fortune given + The Destinies to be your brides, while tears + Are your unhappy mother’s lustral drops. + Your grandsire celebrates the nuptial feast, + O’er which he summons Pluto to preside, + The father of your consorts. But, alas! + Whom first of you my children, or whom last + To this fond bosom shall I clasp, on whom + Bestow a kiss, whom in my arms sustain? + How like the bee with variegated wings + Shall I collect the sorrows of you all, + And blend the whole together in a flood + Of tears exhaustless? O my dearest lord, + If any of those spirits who reside + In Pluto’s realms beneath, can hear the voice + Of mortals, in these words to thee I speak: + O Hercules, thy father and thy sons + Are doomed to bleed; I perish too who erst + On thy account was by the world called happy. + Protect us, come, and to these eyes appear, + Though but a ghost; thy presence will suffice: + For these thy children’s murderers, when with thee + Compared, are dastards. + + AMP. To appease the powers + Of hell beneath, O woman, be thy care. + But lifting to the skies my suppliant hands, + I call on thee, O Jove, that, if thou mean + To be a friend to these deserted children, + Thou interpose without delay and save them, + For soon ’twill be no longer in thy power: + Thou oft hast been invoked; but all my prayers + Are ineffectual; die, it seems, we must. + But, O ye aged men, the bliss which life + Can yield is small, contrive then how to pass + As sweetly as is possible the hours + Which fate allots you, e’en from morn till night + Shaking off every grief: for Time preserves not + Our hopes entire, but on his own pursuits + Intent, deserts us, borne on rapid wings. + Look but on me, amid the sons of men + Conspicuous erst performing glorious deeds; + And yet hath Fortune in one single day + Taken all from me, like a feather wafted + Into the trackless air. I know not him + To whom collected stores of wealth or fame + Are durable. Farewell, for this, my comrades, + Is the last time ye shall behold your friend. + +HERCULES, MEGARA, AMPHITRYON, CHORUS. + + MEG. Ha! O thou aged man, do I behold + My dearest husband? How shall I find utterance? + + AMP. I know not, O my daughter; for I too + Am with amazement seized. + + MEG. This sure is he + Who as we heard was in the realms beneath; + Else doth some vision in the noontide glare + Delude our senses. But what frantic words + Were those I spoke as if ’twas all a dream? + This is no other than thy real son, + Thou aged man. Come hither, O my children, + Cling to your father’s robe, with speed advance, + Quit not your hold, for ye in him shall find + An equal to our great protector Jove. + + HER. All hail, thou mansion, and thou vestibule + Of my abode; thee with what joy once more + Do I behold, revisiting the light. + Ha! what hath happened? I my children see + With garlands on their temples, and my wife + Amidst a throng of men, my father too + Weeping for some mischance. I’ll go to them, + And ask the cause. What recent ill, O woman, + Hath happened to this house? + + MEG. My dearest lord, + O thou who to thy aged father com’st + A radiant light, in safety hast thou reached, + At this important crisis, the abodes + Of those thou lov’st. + + HER. What mean you by these words? + What tumults, O my sire, are we involved in? + + MEG. We are undone; but, O thou aged man, + Forgive, if I’ve anticipated that + Thou would’st have said to him: for in some points + Our sex are greater objects of compassion + Than males. I deem my children dead; I too + Am perishing. + + HER. O Phœbus! with what preludes + Do you begin your speech? + + MEG. My valiant brothers, + And aged sire, alas! are now no more. + + HER. Who slew them, how, or with what weapon? + + MEG. Lycus, + The monarch of this city, was their murderer. + + HER. With arms did he oppose them, or prevail, + When foul sedition through the land diffused + Its pestilent contagion? + + MEG. By revolt + He holds the sceptre of the Theban realm. + + HER. But wherefore hath this sudden panic reached + You and my aged sire? + + MEG. He would have slain + Thy father, me, and these defenceless children. + + HER. What mean you? could he fear my orphan race? + + MEG. Lest they hereafter might avenge the death + Of Creon. + + HER. But what garb is this they wear, + Which suits some corse? + + MEG. Already in these vestments + For our funereal rites are we arrayed. + + HER. And were ye on the point of perishing + By violence? Ah me! + + MEG. Our friends desert us; + For we have heard that thou wert dead. + + HER. Whence rose + This comfortless depression of the soul? + + MEG. Eurystheus’ heralds the sad tidings bore. + + HER. But for what cause did ye forsake my house, + My sacred Lares? + + MEG. From his bed thy sire + Was forcibly dragged forth. + + HER. So void of shame + Was Lycus as to treat his age with scorn? + + MEG. Shame dwells not near the shrine of brutal force. + + HER. Were we thus destitute of friends when absent? + + MEG. What friends abide with him who is unhappy? + + HER. But did they scorn the battles which I fought + Against the Minyans? + + MEG. I to thee repeat it, + Calamity is friendless and forlorn. + + HER. Will ye not cast from your dishevelled hair + These wreaths of Pluto? will ye not look up + To yon bright sun, and ope your eyes to view + Scenes far more pleasing than the loathsome shades + Of hell beneath? But I, for wrongs like these + Demand my vengeful arm, with speed will go + And overturn the house of that new king, + His impious head I to the ravenous hounds + Lopped from his trunk will cast, and each base Theban + Who with ingratitude repays my kindness + With this victorious weapon smite: my shafts + The rest shall scatter, till Ismenos’ channel + Be choked up with the corses of the slain, + And Dirce’s limpid fountain stream with gore. + For whom, in preference to my wife, my children, + And aged father, shall I aid? Farewell, + Ye labours which unwittingly I strove + T’ accomplish, mindless of these dearest pledges; + In their defence I equally am bound + To yield up life, if for their father they + Were doomed to bleed. What! shall we call it noble + To war against the hydra or the lion, + And execute the mandates of Eurystheus, + If I avert not my own children’s death? + No longer else shall I, as erst, be styled + Alcides the victorious. + + CHOR. It is just + Parents should aid their sons, their aged sire, + And the dear partner of the nuptial bed. + + AMP. My son, this mighty privilege is yours, + To be the best of friends to those you love, + And a determined foe to those you hate. + But be not too impetuous. + + HER. In what instance + Have I been hastier, O my honoured sire, + Than it becomes me? + + AMP. To support his cause, + The king hath many, who in fact are poor, + Though fame accounts them rich; they raised a tumult, + And caused the ruin of the state, to plunder + Their neighbours; for the fortunes they possessed + Are through their own extravagance and sloth + Reduced to nothing. As the gates you entered, + These could not fail to see you: O beware + Lest since you by your foes have been perceived, + You perish when you least foresee your danger, + Oppressed by numbers. + + HER. Though all Thebes beheld me, + I care not. But when I descried a bird + Of evil omen perched aloof, I knew + That there had some calamity befallen + My house, and therefore with presaging soul + In secrecy I entered these domains. + + AMP. Draw near with pious awe, my son, salute + The Lares, and display that welcome face + In your paternal mansions. For to drag + Your wife and children forth, with me your sire + To murder us, the king himself will come. + But all will prosper, if you here remain, + And a secure asylum will you find, + Nor through the city spread a loud alarm + Ere your designs succeed. + + HER. Thus will I act, + For thou hast rightly spoken; I am entering + The palace. From the sunless caves beneath + Of Proserpine, after a long delay + Returning, first to our domestic gods + Will I be mindful to address my vows. + + AMP. Have you indeed then visited the house + Of Pluto, O my son? + + HER. And thence the dog + With triple-head brought to these realms of light. + + AMP. Conquered in battle, or on you bestowed + By hell’s indulgent goddess? + + HER. I prevailed + O’er him in combat, and have been so happy + As to behold the far-famed mystic orgies. + + AMP. But is the beast lodged in Eurystheus’ palace? + + HER. Him Cthonia’s groves and Hermion’s walls + confine. + + AMP. Knows not Eurystheus that you are returned + Into this upper world? + + HER. He doth not know: + For I came first to learn what passes here. + + AMP. But wherefore in the realms beneath, so long + Did you remain? + + HER. I there prolonged may stay, + My sire, to bring back Theseus from the shades. + + AMP. And where is he, gone to his native land? + + HER. He went to Athens, pleased with his escape + From the infernal regions. But attend + Your father to the palace, O my sons, + Which now ye enter in a happier state + Than when ye left it: but take courage, cease + To pour forth floods of tears; and, O my wife, + Collect thyself, let all thy terrors cease, + And loose my garments; for I have not wings, + Nor would I vanish from my friends. Alas! + Their hold they quit not, but cling faster still, + And faster to my vest. Because ye stand + Upon the verge of ruin, I will take + And bear you hence, as by the ship light boats + Are guided o’er the deep: for I refuse not + The care my children claim. Here all mankind + Are on a level, they of nobler rank + And mean condition, to their progeny + Bear equal love. The gifts of fortune vary, + Some have abundant wealth, and some are poor; + But the whole human race feels this attachment. + + [_Exeunt_ HERCULES _and_ MEGARA, _with the children_. + +CHORUS. + + ODE. + + I. + + Youth is light, and free from care + But now a burden on my head + Heavier than Ætna’s rock, old age, I bear. + Before these eyes its sable veil is spread. + Not for the wealth of Asiatic kings, + Or heaps of gold that touched yon roof sublime, + Ere would I barter life’s enchanting prime; + Hence wealth a brighter radiance flings, + And poverty itself can charm: + But thou, curst dotage, art the sum + Of every fancied, every real harm; + May’st thou be plunged beneath the deep, nor come + To peopled town, or civilized abode, + Go wing thy distant flight along th’ aërial road. + + I. 2. + + Did the gods with sapient care + Mete out their bounty to mankind, + The good, the gift of twofold youth should share + Unquestioned token of a virtuous mind, + Behold life’s son its blest career renew, + While the degenerate sleep to wake no more. + We by these means distinctly might explore + Their merits with as clear a view, + As sailors, who each starry spark + Enumerate that adorns the skies. + But now the gods have by no certain mark + Directed whom we for their worth should prize, + Whom shun as wicked: uninformed we live, + Revolving time hath nought but plenteous wealth to give. + + II. 1. + + Mindful of its ancient themes, + This faltering tongue shall ne’er refuse, + Oft as I wander by their haunted streams, + To blend each gentle grace and tuneful muse: + O may I dwell among the harmonious choirs, + My brows still circled with a laureate wreath! + Still shall the bard, a hoary veteran, breathe + The strains Mnemosuné inspires: + While memory wakes, I ne’er will cease + Th’ exploits of Hercules to sing; + Where Bromius yields the purple vine’s increase, + Where Libyan pipes and the lute’s sevenfold string + Are heard in dulcet unison; to praise + The Nine who aid the dance, I’ll wake my choral lays. + + II. 2. + + Delian virgins at the gate + Assembled, festive pæans sing, + The triumphs of Latona’s son relate, + And nimbly vaulting form their beauteous ring. + Into thy temple, by devotion led, + O Phœbus, will I raise my parting breath; + The swan thus warbles at the hour of death: + Though hoary hairs my cheeks o’erspread. + How great the hero’s generous love, + Whose merits aid our votive song, + Alcides the resistless son of Jove; + Those trophies, which to noble birth belong + By him are all surpassed, his forceful hand + Restoring peace, hath cleansed this monster-teeming land. + +LYCUS, AMPHITRYON, CHORUS. + + LYC. Forth from the portals at due season comes + Amphitryon; for ’tis long since ye were decked + In robes and trappings such as suit the dead. + But go, command the children and the wife + Of Hercules without these gates t’ appear, + Because ye have engaged that ye will die + By your own hands. + + AMP. You persecute, O king, + Me whom already fortune hath made wretched, + And with sharp taunts insult my dying race: + Although in power supreme, you ought to act + With moderation; but since you impose + This harsh necessity, we must submit, + And execute your will. + + LYC. Where’s Megara? + Where are the children of Alcmena’s son? + + AMP. To me she seems, as far as I can guess, + From looking through the door—— + + LYC. What grounds hast thou + For this opinion? + + AMP. In a suppliant posture + To sit before the Lares. + + LYC. And implore them + With unavailing plaints to save her life. + + AMP. In vain too calls she on her lord deceased. + + LYC. But he is absent, he can ne’er return. + + AMP. Unless some god should raise him up again. + + LYC. Go thou, and from the palace lead her hither. + + AMP. ’Twould make me an accomplice in the murder, + If this I acted. + + LYC. Since thy soul recoils, + I, whom such idle scruples cannot move, + Will with their mother bring the children forth. + Follow my steps, my servants, that at length + We may behold sweet peace succeed our toils. + + [_Exit_ LYCUS. + + AMP. Depart: for to that place the Fates ordain + You now are on the road; perhaps the sequel + Will be another’s province: but expect, + Since you have done amiss, to suffer vengeance. + He, O ye veterans, at a lucky hour + Enters the palace, for on ambushed swords + His feet will stumble, while the villain hopes + Those he would murder are too near at hand + To ’scape: but I will go to see him fall + A breathless corse: for when our foe endures + The just requital of his impious deeds, + There is a joy resulting from his death. + + [_Exit_ AMPHITRYON. + + CHOR. Changed are our evil fortunes. To the shades + He who was erst a mighty king descends. + O justice, and ye dread vicissitudes + Of fate, ordained by Heaven! + + 1st SEMICHOR. Thou art at length + Gone thither, where by death thou for those taunts, + With which thou o’er the virtuous didst exult, + Shalt make atonement. + + 2nd SEMICHOR. My delight bursts forth + In floods of tears: for now is come that day + The tyrant deemed would never visit him. + + 1st SEMICHOR. But let us also look into the palace, + My aged friend, and mark if yonder miscreant + Be punished as I wish. + + LYC. [_within._] Ah me! ah me! + + CHOR. That melody most grateful to mine ear + Beneath yon roofs commences; nor is death + Far distant; for these cries the monarch utters + Are but a prelude to the fatal stroke. + + LYC. [_within._] Ye realms of Cadmus, I through treachery perish! + + 2nd SEMICHOR. Others have perished by that bloody hand. + Since then the retribution thou endur’st + Is just, endure it bravely. + + 1st SEMICHOR. Where is he + Who uttered ’gainst the blest immortal powers + His foolish blasphemies, and called the gods + Too weak to punish him? + + 2nd SEMICHOR. That impious man + Is now no more. Yon vaulted roofs are silent, + Let us begin the harmonious choral lay; + For, as I wished, our comrades prove victorious. + +CHORUS. + + ODE. + + I. 1. + + The sumptuous banquet, with th’ enlivening dance + Now every Theban shall employ; + Dried are our tears, and past mischance + Yields to the lyre abundant themes of joy: + Stretched low in dust the tyrant lies; + But he, who by an ancient right + Obtains the sceptre, is our king; + From Acheron’s loathed stream behold him rise, + Revisiting the cheerful realms of light, + And hope, unlooked for, doth fresh transports bring. + + I. 2. + + The gods take cognizance of broken trust, + Nor are they deaf to holy prayer. + On gold and fortune, power unjust + Attends; man’s reason is too weak to bear + The joint temptations. Heaven at length, + Whose kind protection we invoke, + Deigning with pity to behold + Our woes, to the neglected laws their strength + Restoring, with vindictive fury broke + The sable car which bore the god of gold. + + II. 1. + + Now let the flowery wreath, the victor’s pride, + Adorn Ismenos; let each street employ + The hours in dance and social joy; + Let Dirce from the silver wave arise, + And old Asopus’ daughters by her side, + Forsaking their paternal stream, + Conspire to aid our rapturous theme, + And for Alcides claim the victor’s prize. + Ye Pythian rocks, with waving forests crowned, + And seats of Helicon’s melodious choir, + Come every nymph, with cheerful sound, + Visit these walls which to the clouds aspire; + In helmed crop here warriors filled the plains. + Whose lineage undecayed from age to age remains. + + II. 2. + + O ye, the partners of one nuptial bed, + Happy Amphitryon, sprung from mortal race, + And Jove, who rushed to the embrace + Of bright Alcmena; for of thee aright, + Though erst, O Jove, I doubted, was it said + Thou didst enjoy that beauteous dame; + With the renown his triumphs claim, + Time through the world displays Alcides’ might, + Emerged from grisly Pluto’s realms abhorred, + Who quits the darksome caverns of the earth, + To me a far more welcome lord, + Than yon vile tyrant of ignoble birth. + Now to the bloody strife we lift our eyes; + The vengeful sword is bared, if Justice haunt the skies. + + SEMICHOR. Ha! are we all by the same panic seized? + My aged friends, what spectre, hovering o’er + The palace, do I see? Those tardy feet + Raise from the ground, precipitate thy flight, + Be gone.—From me, O Pæan, mighty king, + Avert these evils. + +IRIS, A FIEND, CHORUS. + + IRIS. O, ye aged men, + Be not dismayed: the fiend whom ye behold + Is daughter of old Night, and I am Iris, + The gods’ ambassadress. We are not come + To harm your city; for we only war + Against one man, who, sprung ’tis said from Jove + And from Alcmena: till he had performed + Severest labours, fate preserved his life; + Nor did his father Jove permit, or me, + Or Juno, e’er to hurt him: but, each toil + Eurystheus’ hate enjoined, now he hath finished, + Those oft-polluted hands with recent gore + Will Juno stain, by urging him to slay + His children: in this scheme I too conspire. + Come on then, armed with a relentless heart, + Unwedded daughter of the pitchy Night; + Instil into that hero’s breast such frenzy + As shall o’erturn his reason, and constrain him + To perpetrate this murder; his wild steps + Goad onward, throw the bloody cable forth, + That having sent this band of graceful sons, + Slain by their father’s arm, adown the gulf + Of Acheron, th’ effects of Juno’s wrath + And mine, he may experience; for the gods + Would be mere things of no account, but great + Would be the power of man, if he escaped + Unpunished. + + FIEND. I from noble parents spring, + Night is my mother; and that blood which streamed + From the foul wound of Ouranus, my sire: + To me belongs this praise, I ’gainst my friend + No envious rancour feel, nor with delight + Invade them; but this counsel would suggest + To you and Juno, ere I see you rush + Into a fatal error, if my words + Can move you: he into whose house you send me + Is not obscure, or in the realms beneath, + Or yet among the gods: for when o’er lands, + Impervious erst, and o’er the stormy waves, + He had established peace, he to the gods + Their ancient honours, which by impious men + Had been abolished, singly did restore. + I therefore would dissuade you from contriving + ’Gainst him these mischiefs. + + IRIS. Blame not thou the schemes + Devised by Juno and by me. + + FIEND. Your steps + Into a better path, from that which leads + To evil, would I turn. + + IRIS. The wife of Jove + Sent thee not hither to act thus discreetly. + + FIEND. Witness, thou sun, reluctant I obey. + But if constrained to be the instrument + Of Juno’s wrath and yours, I with such speed + As when the hounds obey the huntsman’s voice, + Your signal will attend; nor shall the deep + Upheaving with a groan its troubled waves, + The earthquake, or the thunderbolt, whose blast + Is winged with fate, outstrip me, when I rush + Into the breast of Hercules: the gates + Will I burst open, and assail the house, + First causing his devoted sons to bleed; + Nor shall their murderer know that his own hand + Slew those whom he begot, till he is rescued + From the distraction I inspire. Behold + He at the barrier stands, and shakes his head, + And rolls in silence his distorted eyes, + Flaming with anger. To contain his breath + No longer able, like a bull, prepared + To make the terrible assault, he bellows, + And calls the Furies from the dire abyss + Of Tartarus. Thee I to a greater height + Of frenzy soon will rouse, and through thy soul + Cause my terrific clarion to resound. + O noble Iris, to Olympus’ height + Now wing your swift career, while I, unseen, + Will enter the abodes of Hercules. + + [_Exeunt_ IRIS _and the_ FIEND. + + CHOR. Thou city, groan; thy choicest flower, + The son of Jove, is cropped: O Greece, + Thy benefactor’s fatal hour + Impends. To thee for ever lost, + Assailed by that infernal pest, + The dauntless chief, deprived of peace, + Shall feel his agonizing breast + With horrible distraction tossed. + Hence in her brazen chariot went + The raging fiend, on mischief bent; + She urges with a scorpion goad + Her steeds along th’ ethereal road. + That hundred-headed child of Night. + With all those hissing snakes around, + From her envenomed eyeballs bright + The Gorgon thus directs the wound. + Soon changed by Heaven’s supreme decree, + Is man’s short-lived felicity. + Ye infants, soon shall ye expire, + Slain by your own distracted sire. + Ah me! thy son, without delay, + Shall be left childless, mighty Jove; + For on his tortured soul shall prey + Yon fiend, and by the powers above + Vengeance commissioned to destroy. + O mansion erst the scene of joy! + To form a prelude to this dance, + Neither the cheering timbrel’s sound, + Nor sportive Menades advance; + Here human gore shall stream around, + Instead of that refreshing juice, + Which Bacchus’ purple grapes produce. + Away, ye children, danger’s nigh, + For he who wakes this hostile strain, + Traces your footsteps as ye fly; + Nor will the fiend with fruitless rage, + A war beneath those mansions wage. + Alas! we sink o’erwhelmed with woe, + My tears shall never cease to flow. + I wail the grandsire hoar with age, + The mother too who bore that train + Of lovely children, but in vain. + Lo, what a tempest shakes the wall, + And makes th’ uprooted mansion fall! + What mean’st thou, frantic son of Jove? + The hellish uproar thou dost raise, + Filling the palace with amaze, + Is such as vexed the realms above, + Till issuing with victorious might, + Pallas invincible in fight + The huge Enceladus oppressed, + And piled all Ætna on his breast. + +MESSENGER, CHORUS. + + MES. O ye whose heads are whitened o’er with age! + + CHOR. Why dost thou call me with so loud a voice? + + MES. Atrocious are the mischiefs which have happened + Within the palace. + + CHOR. I need now call in + No other seer. The boys are slain. Ah me! + + MES. Indulge your groans, for such events as these + Demand them. + + CHOR. By a foe, e’en by the hand + Of their own sire, in whom that foe they found. + + MES. No tongue can utter woes beyond what we + Have suffered. + + CHOR. What account hast thou to give + Of the dire fate the father on his sons + Inflicted? Sent by the avenging gods, + Say why such mischiefs visited this house, + And how the children miserably fell. + + MES. To purify the house were victims brought + Before Jove’s altar, after Hercules + Had slain and cast the monarch of this land + Forth from these doors. Beside the victor stood + His band of graceful children, with his sire + And Megara. The sacred vase was borne + Around the altar: from ill-omened words + We all abstained. But while Alcmena’s son + In his right hand a kindled torch sustained, + Ready to dip it in the lustral water, + He made a silent stand; on this delay + The children steadfastly observed their sire, + But he no longer was the same; his eyes + Were seized with strong convulsions, from their fibres + Blood started forth, his bearded cheeks with foam + Were covered: he midst bursts of laughter wild + Cried: “Wherefore need I kindle, O my father, + The fire for sacrifice, ere I have slain + Eurystheus, in a double toil engaged, + When I at once might better finish all? + Soon as I hither bring Eurystheus’ head, + These hands which reek already with the gore + Of Lycus, will I cleanse. Pour forth those waters + Upon the ground, and cast your urns away. + Who brings my bow, my club? I to Mycene + Will go: let spades and levers be prepared, + That I from their foundations may o’erturn + Those walls which with the plummet and the line + The Cyclops reared.” Then eager to depart, + Although he had no chariot, yet he talked + As if he had one, fancying that he mounted + The seat, and with his hand as with a thong + Drove the ideal steeds. His servants laughed, + And at the same time trembled; till one cried + (As on each other they with eager eyes + Were gazing), “Doth my master sport with us, + Or is he frantic?” Meanwhile through the palace + Backward and forward he with hasty step + Was walking: but no sooner did he reach + That spacious hall, where at the genial board + The men are wont t’ assemble, than he said + That he was come to Nisus’ ancient city, + And to th’ imperial dome: and on the floor, + As if reclining at the genial board, + Bade us set forth the banquet. But the pause + Which intervened was short, ere he exclaimed, + That he was traversing the Isthmian rocks + O’ergrown with woods; then casting off his mantle + He strove though there was no antagonist + With whom to strive, proclaimed himself the victor, + The name of that imaginary foe + Announcing, over whom he had prevailed: + But ’gainst Eurystheus he anon did utter + Menaces the most horrible, and talk + As if he at Mycene had been present. + His father strove to hold his vigorous arm, + And said to him; “What mean you, O my son? + What wanderings into distant realms are these? + Hath not the blood of him you have just slain + Distracted you?” Then for Eurystheus’ sire + Mistaking his own father, as he strove + To touch his hand, repelled the trembling suppliant: + Against his sons, the quiver and the bow, + Thinking to slay the children of Eurystheus, + He next made ready; they with terror smitten + Ran different ways; the first beneath the robes + Of his unhappy mother skulked; a second + Flew to the shade the lofty column formed: + Under the altar quivering like a bird, + The last concealed himself: their mother cried, + “What mean’st thou, O thou father, would’st thou slay + Thy sons?” Amphitryon too, that aged man, + And all the servants shrieked. But round the pillar + The boy pursuing, he at length turned short, + And meeting him, as foot to foot they stood, + Transfixed his liver with a deadly shaft; + Supine he fell, and with his streaming gore + Distained the sculptured pillars, at whose base + He breathed his last. But, with a shout, Alcides + Uttered these boasts: “One of Eurystheus’ brood + Slain by this arm, for the inveterate hate + His father bore me, to atone, here lies + A breathless corse.” Against another then, + Who to the basis of the altar fled, + And hoped to ’scape unseen, he bent his bow; + But ere he gave the wound, the wretched youth + Fell at his father’s knees, stretched forth his hands + To touch his chin, or twine around his neck, + And cried: “O spare my life, my dearest sire, + Yours, I am yours indeed; nor will you slay + Eurystheus’ son.” But he with glaring eyes + Looked like a Gorgon, while the boy pressed on + So close, he had no scope to aim the shaft, + But as the smith the glowing anvil smites, + Full on his auburn tresses he discharged + The ponderous mace, the crashing bones gave way. + Scarce had he slain the second, when he ran + To butcher his third son o’er both their corses: + But the unhappy mother in her arms + Caught up, into an inner chamber bore + The child, and closed the doors: but he, as if + He had indeed been at the Cyclops’ city, + With levers from their hinges forced them, pierced + His wife and offspring with a single shaft, + And then to slay his aged father rushed + With speed impetuous: but a spectre came, + Which to our eyes the awful semblance bore + Of Pallas brandishing her pointed spear, + And threw a rocky fragment at the breast + Of Hercules, which checked his murderous frenzy, + And plunged him into sleep. Upon the ground + Headlong he fell, where ’midst the ruins lay, + Rent from its pedestal a broken column: + But rallying from our flight, we, by his sire + Assisted, to the pillar bound him fast + With thongs, that on his wakening from this trance + He might commit no more atrocious deeds. + There doth he taste an inauspicious sleep, + First having slain his children and his consort. + I know no mortal more completely wretched. + + [_Exit_ MESSENGER. + + CHOR. There was a murder in the Argive land + Most wondrous and unparalleled through Greece + In days of yore, which the confederate daughters + Of Danaus perpetrated; but their crimes + By the dire fate of Progne’s only son + Were far surpassed. I of a bloody deed + Now speak which they committed, they whose voice + Equals the Muses’ choir; but thou who spring’st + From Jove himself, hast in thy frenzy slain + All thy three sons; for them what groans, what tears, + What invocations to the shades beneath, + Or songs shall I prepare to soothe the rage + Of grisly Pluto? Shivered on the ground + The portals of that lofty mansion view, + Behold the corses of the children stretcht + Before their miserable sire, whose senses, + Since he hath slain them, in profoundest sleep + Are buried. Mark those knotty cords around + The brawny limbs of Hercules, entwined + And to the columns in the palace fixed. + But old Amphitryon, like a bird who wails + Over its callow brood, with tardy step + Comes hither in the bitterness of grief. + +AMPHITRYON, CHORUS. + + _The Palace gates thrown open, discover_ HERCULES + _stretched on the ground and sleeping_. + + AMP. Ye aged Thebans, will ye not be silent, + Will ye not suffer him dissolved in sleep + His miseries to forget? + + CHOR. These tears, these groans, + To you, O venerable man, I pay, + To those slain children, and the chief renowned + For his victorious conflicts. + + AMP. Farther still + Retire; forbear, forbear those clamorous sounds, + Lest his repose ye break, and from a trance + The sleeper rouse. + + CHOR. How dreadful was this slaughter! + + AMP. Ha! ha! begone, for he in wild confusion + Is starting up. Why will ye not lament, + Ye aged men, in a more gentle tone? + Lest roused from sleep he burst his chains, destroy + The city, smite his sire, and with the ground + Lay these proud mansions level. + + CHOR. This I hold + Impossible. + + AMP. Be silent, I will mark + Whether he breathe: O let me place my ear + Still closer. + + CHOR. Sleeps he? + + AMP. An accursed repose, + Alas! he tastes, who hath his consort slain, + And slain his sons with that resounding bow. + + CHOR. Now wail. + + AMP. I wail those children’s fate. + + CHOR. Your son, + Alas! old man, our equal pity claims. + + AMP. Observe strict silence, for again he rises + And turns around: I will conceal myself + Beneath that roof. + + CHOR. Be of good cheer: night seals + The eyelids of your son. + + AMP. Mark, mark me well, + I am so wretched that without reluctance + I can bid life adieu: but if he kill + Me too who am his father, guilt on guilt + Shall he accumulate, and join the stings + Of parricide to those which from the Furies + Who haunt him, he already doth endure. + + CHOR. Better you then had died, when you prepared + T’ avenge the slaughtered brothers of Alcmena, + And stormed the fortress of the Taphian isle. + + AMP. Fly, leave the palace instantly; avoid + That frantic man, who from his sleep is roused, + For adding soon fresh slaughter to the past, + With Bacchanalian transport shall he range + Through Cadmus’ city. + + CHOR. Why hast thou, O Jove, + Hated thy son so bitterly, and plunged him + Into this sea of troubles? + + HER. [_waking._] Ha! I breathe, + And view each wonted object, air, and earth, + And these bright solar beams. Into what storm, + What dreadful perturbation of the soul + Have I been plunged! all heated I transpire, + Not from my lungs, but from my feverish heart. + Behold me! wherefore am I bound with chains, + Like a disabled ship towed into haven, + And by this youthful chest and nervous arm + Joined to a broken pillar? Here I sit + Contiguous to the corses of the slain; + My winged shafts lie scattered on the ground, + With that unerring bow which erst I bore + In war to guard me, and with care preserved. + Sent by Eurystheus, am I then arrived + A second time at the drear shades beneath? + Neither the rock of Sisyphus, nor Pluto, + Nor Ceres’ sceptred daughter, do I see. + I sure am stricken senseless with amazement, + And know not where I am. But ho! what friend + Is near, or at a distance, who will come + To give me information? For each object + Which I was erst acquainted with seems strange. + + AMP. Shall I approach this scene of my afflictions + Ye aged men? + + CHOR. I will attend your steps, + Nor meanly in calamity betray you. + + HER. Why dost thou weep, my sire, and veil those eyes, + Retiring far from thy beloved son? + + AMP. My son—for though unhappy, you are mine. + + HER. But what calamity do I endure + That causes thee to shed these tears? + + AMP. Your woes + Are such, that any god, if he endured + The same, would groan. + + HER. This hath a dreadful sound: + But you, my fortunes have not yet explained. + + AMP. Because if you your senses have recovered, + Yourself behold them. + + HER. Tell me what thou mean’st— + If to my charge thou lay’st some recent crime. + + AMP. If you no longer to the powers of hell + Are subjected, the truth will I unfold. + + HER. Alas! how darkly thou again allud’st + To what my soul suspects. + + AMP. Your looks I watch + To see if reason wholly be restored. + + HER. I recollect not that I e’er was frantic. + + AMP. [_to the_ CHORUS.] + Shall I unbind the shackles of my son, + Or how must we proceed? + + HER. Say who was he + That bound me? for with scorn have I been treated. + + AMP. Thus much of your afflictions may you know: + Forbear all farther questions. + + HER. Is thy silence + Sufficient then to teach me what I wish + To learn? + + AMP. O Jove, dost thou behold the curses + Hurled on thy son from envious Juno’s throne? + + HER. What dire effects of her inveterate rage + Have I endured? + + AMP. Of that vindictive goddess + No longer think: but to your own afflictions + Attend. + + HER. Alas! I utterly am ruined! + What farther ill wouldst thou disclose? + + AMP. See there + The corses of your murdered children lie. + + HER. Alas! what dreadful objects strike these eyes! + + AMP. My son, against your progeny you waged + An inauspicious war. + + HER. Why talk of war? + Who slew them? + + AMP. You, your arrows, and the cause + Of all these mischiefs, that remorseless goddess. + + HER. What mean’st thou, or what crime have I committed, + My father, O thou messenger of ill? + + AMP. By frenzy urged. But you such questions ask, + As I with grief must answer. + + HER. Have I murdered + My consort also? + + AMP. All these deeds of horror + That single arm did perpetrate. + + HER. Alas! + A cloud of griefs surrounds me. + + AMP. For this cause + Your fortunes I lament. + + HER. Have I demolished + My own house too, with Bacchanalian rage + Inspired? + + AMP. The whole of what I know amounts + To this, that you are most completely wretched. + + HER. Where did this fatal madness seize me first? + + AMP. As round the altar, you, a flaming brand, + To expiate the foul murder which distains + Your hands, were bearing. + + HER. Ah! why lengthen out + A guilty life, when of my dearest children + I am become the murderer? Why delay + To leap from the high rock, or with a sword + Transpierce this bosom, on myself their blood + Avenging? or t’ avert that infamy + Which waits me, shall I rush into the flames? + But Theseus comes to bar these desperate counsels, + My kinsman and my friend; in a true light + To him shall I appear, and the pollution + I have incurred by slaying my own sons + Will be conspicuous to my dearest comrade. + What shall I do? or where can I find out + A solitude impervious to my woes? + On rapid wings, O could I mount, or plunge + Into the nether regions of the earth? + Give me a veil to darken o’er my head. + For ’tis with shame I think on the offence + Caused by this deed: but to myself alone + Ascribing the defilement of their blood, + I wish not to contaminate the guiltless. + +THESEUS, AMPHITRYON, HERCULES, CHORUS. + + THE. An armed squadron of Athenian youths + I hither bring, who near Asopus’ stream + Are stationed to assist your son in battle. + For to the city of Erectheus’ race + A rumour came, that Lycus, having seized + The sceptre of this land, is waging war + ’Gainst you. O aged man, I to repay + The benefits which Hercules conferred + On me, whom from the deary shades beneath + In safety he redeemed, on your behalf + Attend, if of this arm, or of my troops, + Ye need the help. But, ha, what means the floor + With weltering corses heaped? hath my design + Proved ineffectual? am I then arrived + Too late to remedy the dreadful mischiefs + Which have already ta’en effect? who slew + Those children, or whose consort was the dame + Whom I behold? for where the boys are laid, + No signs appear of any battle fought: + But sure I of some other recent ill + Now make discovery. + + AMP. O thou goddess, throned + Upon that hill where verdant olives spring. + + THE. Why speak you to me in this piteous tone, + And with such prelude? + + AMP. Grievous are the ills + Which we endure through Heaven’s severe behest. + + THE. What boys are they o’er whose remains you weep? + + AMP. Them did my miserable son beget, + And when begotten slay, this impious murder + He dared to perpetrate. + + THE. Express yourself + In more auspicious terms. + + AMP. I wish t’ obey + Th’ injunctions thou hast given. + + THE. What dreadful words + Are these which you have uttered? + + AMP. In a moment + Were we undone. + + THE. What mean you, what hath happened? + + AMP. This frenzy seized him sprinkled with the venom, + Which from the hundred-headed hydra flowed. + + THE. Such Juno’s wrath. But who, O aged man, + Stands ’mong the dead? + + AMP. My son, my valiant son, + Inured to many toils, who in that war + Where earth’s gigantic brood were slain, advanced + Among the gods to the Phlegræan field + Armed with his buckler. + + THE. Ah, what mighty chief + Was e’er so wretched? + + AMP. Scarcely shalt thou know + A man with greater labours vexed, and doomed + To wander through more regions. + + THE. But why veils he + Beneath that robe his miserable head? + + AMP. Because thy presence, friendship’s sacred ties + Added to those of kindred, and the gore + Of his slain children, fill his soul with shame. + + THE. I with his griefs am come to sympathize; + Uncover him. + + AMP. That garment from your eyes + Remove, display your visage to the sun. + It ill becomes my dignity to weep: + Yet I a suppliant strive to touch your beard, + Your knees, your hand, and shed these hoary tears. + O curb your soul, my son, whose fierceness equals + That of the lion, else ’twill hurry you + To bloody impious rage, and make you add + Mischiefs to mischiefs. + + THE. Ho! on thee I call, + On thee, who to that seat of misery seem’st + Fast riveted; permit thy friends to see + Thy face: for darkness hath no cloud so black + As to conceal thy woes. Why dost thou wave + Thy hand and point to those whom thou hast slain, + Lest by this converse I pollute myself? + I am not loth to share thy woes; I erst + Was happy (which my soul is ever bound + To recollect with gratitude) when thou + From hell’s loathed gloom, the mansion of the dead, + Didst safely bear me to the realms of light. + For I abhor th’ attachment of those friends + Which time impairs, him too who would enjoy + Their better fortunes, but refuse to sail + In the same bark with those who prove unblest. + Rise up, unveil thy miserable head + And look on me. A noble mind sustains + Without reluctance what the gods inflict. + + HER. Did you, O Theseus, see me slay my children? + + THE. I heard, and now behold the ills thou speak’st of. + + HER. Then why didst thou uncover to the sun + My guilty head? + + THE. Why not? canst thou, a man, + Pollute the gods? + + HER. Avaunt, O wretch, avaunt, + For I am all contagion. + + THE. To a friend + No mischief from his friend can be transmitted. + + HER. Your conduct I applaud, nor will deny + That I have served you. + + THE. I who erst received + Those favours at thy hands, now pity thee. + + HER. I am indeed an object of your pity, + From having slain my sons. + + THE. For thee I weep, + Because to me thou heretofore wert kind + When vexed by other ills. + + HER. Did you e’er meet + With those who were more wretched? + + THE. Thy afflictions + Are of such giant bulk, that they to heaven + Reach from this nether world. + + HER. Hence am I ready + For instant death. + + THE. Canst thou suppose the gods + Regard thy threats? + + HER. Self-willed are they and cruel, + And I defy the gods. + + THE. Restrain thy tongue, + Lest thou by uttering such presumptuous words + Increase thy sufferings. + + HER. I with woes am fraught + Already, nor remains there space for more. + + THE. But what design’st thou? whither art thou borne + With frantic rage? + + HER. In death will I return + To those abodes beneath, whence late I came. + + THE. Thou speak’st the language of a vulgar man. + + HER. Exempt from all calamity yourself, + On me these admonitions you bestow. + + THE. Are these fit words for Hercules to use, + Who many toils endured? + + HER. I had not suffered + Thus much, if any bounds had circumscribed + My labours. + + THE. Benefactor of mankind, + And their great friend? + + HER. From them no aid I find; + But Juno triumphs. + + THE. Greece will not permit thee + To perish unregarded. + + HER. Hear me now, + That I with reason your advice may combat; + To you will I explain both why it is + And long hath been impossible for me + To live; and first, because from him, I spring, + Who, having slain the father of Alcmena, + Defiled with murder, wedded her who bore me. + When thus the basis of a family + Is laid in guilt, the children must be wretched. + But Jove (or some one who assumed the name + Of Jove) begot me; hence to Juno’s hate + Was I obnoxious. Yet, O let not this + Offend thine ear, old man, for thee, not Jove, + I deem my real sire. While yet I hung + An infant at the breast, Jove’s wife by stealth + Sent snakes into my cradle to destroy me. + But after I attained the bloom of manhood, + Of what avail were it, should I recount + The various labours I endured, what lions, + What typhons with a triple form, what giants, + Or what four-footed centaurs, who in crowds + Rushed to the battle, by this arm were slain? + How I despatched the hydra too, that monster + With heads surrounded, branching out anew, + And having suffered many toils beside, + Went to the mansions of the dead, to bring + Hell’s triple-headed dog into the realms + Of light, for thus Eurystheus had enjoined? + But I at last, wretch that I am, this murder + Did perpetrate, and my own children slay, + That to their utmost summit I might raise + The miseries of this house. My fate is such + That in my native Thebes I must not dwell: + But if I here continue, to what temple + Or friends can I repair? for by such curses + I now am visited, that none will dare + To speak to me. To Argos shall I go? + How can I, when my country drives me forth? + To any other city should I fly, + The consequence were this: with looks askance + I should be viewed as one well known, and harassed + With these reproaches by malignant tongues: + “Is not this he, the son of Jove, who murdered + His children and his consort? from this land + Shall not th’ accursed miscreant be expelled?” + To him who was called happy once, such change + Is bitterness indeed: as for the man + Whose sufferings are perpetual, him, when wretched, + No kinsman pities. I to such a pitch + Of woe shall come, I deem, at length, that earth, + Uttering a voice indignant, will forbid me + To touch its surface, ocean, o’er its waves, + And every river, o’er its streams, to pass. + I shall be like Ixion then, with chains + Fixed to the wheel. ’Twere better that no Greek + With whom I in my happier days conversed + Should see me more. What motive can I have + For living? or to me of what avail + Were it to keep possession of this useless + And this unholy being? flushed with joy, + Let Jove’s illustrious consort, in the dance, + Strike with her sandals the resplendent floor + Of high Olympus: for she now hath gained + Her utmost wish, and from his basis torn + The first of Grecian warriors. Who can pray + To such a goddess, who, with envy stung, + Because Jove loved a woman, hath destroyed + The benefactors of the Grecian realm, + Those blameless objects of her hate? + + THE. This mischief + Springs from no god except the wife of Jove. + Well dost thou judge, in saying that ’tis easier + To give thee wholesome counsel, than endure + Such agonies. But no man ’scapes unwounded + By fortune, and no god; unless the songs + Of ancient bards mislead. Have not the gods + Among themselves formed lawless marriages? + Have they not bound in ignominious chains + Their fathers, to obtain a throne? In heaven + Yet dwell they, and bear up beneath the load + Of all their crimes. But what canst thou allege, + If thou, frail mortal as thou art, those ills + Immoderately bewail’st to which the gods + Without reluctance yield? from Thebes retire, + Since thus the laws ordain; and follow me + To Pallas’ city: when thy hands are there + Cleansed from pollution, I to thee will give + A palace, and with thee divide my wealth. + The presents which the citizens to me + Appropriated, when twice seven blooming victims + I by the slaughter of the Cretan bull + Redeemed, on thee will I bestow. For portions + Of land are through the realm to me assigned: + These, while thou liv’st henceforth shall by thy name + Be called: but after death, when to the shades + Of Pluto thou descend’st, with sacrifice + And with the sculptured tomb, shall Athens grace + Thy memory. For her citizens have gained + This fairest wreath from every Grecian state, + By yielding succour to the virtuous man + Their glories are augmented: and to thee + Will I repay with gratitude the kindness + Which thou deserv’st for saving me; for thou + Hast need of friends at present: but no friend + Is wanted when the gods confer renown; + For, if he wills, Jove’s aid is all-sufficient. + + HER. You hold a language foreign to my griefs. + But I suppose not that the gods delight + In lawless nuptials, that their hands are bound + With galling chains, nor did I e’er believe, + Nor can I be convinced, that one bears rule + Over another. For a deity + If he be truly such, can stand in need + Of no support. But by some lying bard + Those miserable fables were devised. + Although I am most wretched, yet I thought + I might be charged with cowardice for leaving + These realms of light. For he who bears not up + ’Gainst adverse fortune, never can withstand + The weapon of his foe. I am resolved + To wait for death with firmness: to your city + Meantime will I retreat, and am most grateful + For your unnumbered gifts. Unnumbered labours + Have I been erst acquainted with; from none + Did I e’er shrink, these eyes did never stream + With tears, nor thought I that I e’er should come + To such a pitch of meanness as to weep: + But now, it seems, must Fortune be obeyed. + I am content. Thou, O my aged sire, + Behold’st my exile, thou in me behold’st + The murderer of my children: to the tomb + Consign their corses with funereal pomp, + And o’er them shed the tributary tear: + For me the laws allow not to perform + This office. Let their mother, e’en in death, + Clasp to her breast, and in her arms sustain, + Our wretched offspring, whom in evil hour + I slew reluctant. But when thou with earth + Hast covered them, thy residence still keep + Here in this city, miserably indeed, + Yet on thy soul lay this constraint, to bear + With me the woes which I most deeply feel. + The very sire, ye children, who begot, + Murdered you; no advantage ye derive + From what this arm by all my labours gained, + And from your father’s triumphs no renown. + Have not I slain thee too who didst preserve + My bed inviolate, and o’er my house + Long watch with patient care? Ah me! my wife, + My sons: but how much more to be lamented + Am I myself, from them for ever torn? + Ye melancholy joys of kisses lavished + On their remains, and ye my loathed companions, + The weapons which I still retain, but doubt + Whether to keep or dash them to the ground; + For they, while at my side they hang, will seem + To utter these reproachful words: “With us + Thy consort and thy children hast thou slain, + Yet thou the very instruments preserv’st + Which were their murderers.” After such a charge + Can I still bear them? what can I allege? + But stripping off those arms with which through Greece + I have achieved full many glorious deeds, + Shall I expose myself to those who hate me, + And die ignobly? I must not abandon + But keep them still, though sorrowing. Aid me, Theseus, + In this one enterprise; to Argos go + And for your friend obtain the great reward + Promised for dragging from the shades of hell + That execrable hound: lest if by you + Deserted, I through grief for my slain children + Should come to some calamitous end. Thou realm + Of Cadmus, and ye citizens of Thebes, + With tresses shorn, in concert weep; the tomb + Of my slain children visit, there bewail, + In one funereal dirge, the dead, and me; + For smitten with the same dire scourge of fate + By Juno, we all perish. + + THE. Hapless man, + Arise; enough of tears. + + HER. I cannot rise, + These limbs are now grown stiff. + + THE. Calamity + Subdues the valiant. + + HER. Would I were a stone, + Insensible to sufferings! + + THE. Cease these plaints; + And to the friend who comes to serve thee, give + Thy hand. + + HER. But let me not wipe off the blood + Upon your garments. + + THE. Wipe it off, nor scruple, + For I object not. + + HER. Of my sons bereft, + In you the likeness of a son I find. + + THE. Fling round my neck thine arm: I’ll lead the way. + + HER. A pair of friends: though one of us be wretched. + Such, O my aged father, is the man + We ought to make a friend. + + THE. His native realm + Produces an illustrious progeny. + + HER. Turn me around, that I may see my sons. + + THE. Hoping such philtre may thy griefs appease. + + HER. This earnestly I wish for, and would clasp + My father to this bosom. + + AMP. Here, lo, here! + For what my son desires, to me is grateful. + + THE. Of all the labours thou didst erst achieve, + Hast thou thus lost the memory? + + HER. All those ills + Were less severe than what I now experience. + + THE. Should any one behold thee grown unmanly, + He could not praise thee. + + HER. Though to you I seem + Degraded to an abject life, I trust + That I my former courage shall resume. + + THE. Where now is the illustrious Hercules? + + HER. What had you been, if still you in the shades + Had miserably dwelt? + + THE. Then sunk my courage + Beneath the meanest of the human race. + + HER. Why then persist in saying that my woes + Have quite subdued me? + + THE. Onward! + + HER. Good old man, + Farewell. + + AMP. Farewell too, O my son. + + HER. My children + Inter as I directed. + + AMP. O, my son, + But who will bury me? + + HER. I. + + AMP. When will you + Come hither? + + HER. After thou hast for my children + Performed that pious office. + + AMP. How? + + HER. I’ll fetch thee + From Thebes to Athens.—Bear into the palace + My children’s corses which pollute the ground. + But as for me, who have disgraced and plunged + My house in ruin, I will follow Theseus, + Towed like a battered skiff. Whoe’er prefers + Wealth or dominion to a steadfast friend, + Judges amiss. + + CHOR. Most wretched, drowned in tears, + Reft of our great protector, we depart. + + + + +THE CHILDREN OF HERCULES. + + +PERSONS OF THE DRAMA. + + IOLAUS. + COPREUS. + CHORUS OF ATHENIAN OLD MEN. + DEMOPHOON. + MACARIA. + ALCMENA. + MESSENGER. + EURYSTHEUS. + + +SCENE.—BEFORE THE ALTAR OF JUPITER, IN THE FORUM AT MARATHON, A CITY IN +THE ATHENIAN DOMINIONS. + +IOLAUS. + + Long have I held this sentiment: the just + Are born the streams of bounty to diffuse + On all around them; while the man whose soul + Is warped by interest, useless in the State, + Untractable and harsh to every friend, + Lives only for himself; in words alone + This doctrine I imbibed not. Through a sense + Of virtuous shame and reverence for my kindred + When I in peace at Argos might have dwelt, + I singly shared the toils of Hercules, + While he on earth remained; but now he dwells + In heaven, I guard his children, though protection + Be what I need myself. For when their sire + Forsook this nether world, Eurystheus strove + Immediately to slay us; but I ’scaped + From that oppressor’s fangs, and though to me + Lost is my country, I have saved my life. + But we poor vagabonds, from city fly + To some fresh city, ever forced to change + Our dwelling; for Eurystheus deems it meet + To add this wrong to former wrongs, he sends + His heralds wheresoe’er he hears we settle, + And claims and drives us forth from every land; + No slight resentment from the Argive realm + Against our friends denouncing, he reminds them + Of his own prosperous fortunes; when they see + My weakness, and these little ones bereft + Of their great father, to superior might + They crouch, and force the suppliant to depart. + But with the exiled race of Hercules + A voluntary exile, I partake + Their evil fortunes, steadfastly resolved + Not to betray them; by malignant tongues + It never shall be said, “Oh, mark these orphans! + Since their sire’s death their kinsman Iolaus + Protects them not.” But, exiled from all Greece, + On reaching Marathon and the domain + Subject to the same rulers, here we sit + Before the altars of the gods, and sue + For their assistance. In this region dwell + Two sons of Theseus, I am told, by lot + Who portion out this realm, they from Pandion + Descend, and to these children are allied. + We therefore undertook our present journey + To the Athenian realm; two aged guides + Conduct the hapless wanderers; my attention + Is to the boys devoted; but Alcmena, + Entering the adjacent temple, in her arms + Tenderly clasps the female progeny + Of her departed son. Amid the crowd + We fear to introduce these tender virgins, + Or place them at the altars of the gods. + But Hyllus and his brothers, more mature + In years, inquire in what far distant land + A fortress for our future residence + We yet can find, if we from these domains + By force should be expelled. My sons, come hither, + Cling to this garment; for to us I see + Eurystheus’ herald coming, by whose hate, + We wanderers, banished from each friendly realm, + Are still pursued. Thou, execrable miscreant, + Perish thyself, and perish he who sent thee: + For to the noble father of these children + Oft hath that tongue enjoined severest toils. + +COPREUS, IOLAUS. + + COP. What, think’st thou unmolested to enjoy + This pleasant seat, and have thy vagrant steps + Entered at length a city prompt to fight + Thy battles? for the man who will prefer + Thy feeble arm to that of great Eurystheus, + Exists not. Hence! why in these useless toils + Dost thou persist? thou must return to Argos + Where they have doomed thee to be stoned. + + IOL. Not thus: + For in this altar shall I find protection, + And this free country on whose soil we tread. + + COP. Wilt thou constrain me then to have recourse + To violence? + + IOL. With forceful hand, nor me + Nor these poor children shalt thou hence expel. + + COP. Ere long shalt thou perceive that thou hast uttered + Erroneous prophesies. + + IOL. This ne’er shall be + Long as I live. + + COP. Depart, for I will seize them + ’Gainst thy consent, and to Eurystheus’ power + Surrender up, for they to him belong. + + IOL. Aid me, ye ancient citizens of Athens, + For we, though suppliants, forcibly are torn + E’en from Jove’s public altar, and the wreaths + Twined round our sacred branches are polluted; + Shame to your city, insult to the gods. + +CHORUS, IOLAUS, COPREUS. + + CHOR. What clamorous voices from yon altars rise? + What mischiefs are impending? + + IOL. See a man + Burdened with age, wretch that I am! lie prostrate. + + CHOR. Who threw thee down? what execrable hand—— + + IOL. ’Tis he, O stranger, he who to your gods + Yielding no reverence, strives with impious force + E’en now, to drag me from this hallowed seat + Before Jove’s altar. + + CHOR. He! But from what land + Cam’st thou, old man, to this confederate state + Formed of four cities? From the distant coast + Of steep Eubœa did ye ply your oars? + + IOL. The life I lead, O stranger, is not that + Of vagrant islanders; but in your realm + From famed Mycene’s bulwarks I arrive. + + CHOR. Among thy countrymen, old man, what name + Thou bear’st, inform me. + + IOL. Ye perchance knew somewhat + Of Iolaus, great Alcides’ comrade, + A name not quite unnoticed by renown. + + CHOR. I formerly have heard of him: but say + Who is the father of that infant race, + Whom with thy arm thou guid’st? + + IOL. These are the sons + Of Hercules, O strangers, they, to you, + And to your city, humble suppliants come. + + CHOR. On what account, inform me; to demand + An audience of the state? + + IOL. That to their foes + They may not be surrendered up, nor torn + Forcibly from the altars of your gods, + And carried back to Argos. + + COP. But thy lords + Who bear rule over thee, and hither trace + Thy steps, will ne’er be satisfied with this. + + CHOR. O stranger, ’tis our duty to revere + The suppliants of the gods: with forceful hand + Shall no man drag thee from this holy spot, + This seat of the immortal powers; dread justice + Shall guard thee from the wrong. + + COP. Out of your land + The vagrant subjects of Eurystheus drive, + As I admonish; and this hand shall use + No violence. + + CHOR. How impious is that city + Which disregards the helpless stranger’s prayer! + + COP. ’Twere best to interfere not in these broils, + And to adopt some more expedient counsels. + + CHOR. You, therefore, to the monarch of this realm + Should have declared your errand, ere thus far + You had proceeded: but with brutal force + These strangers from the altars of the gods + Presume not to convey, and to this land + Of freedom yield due reverence. + + COP. But what king + Rules this domain and city? + + CHOR. Theseus’ son, + Renowned Demophoon. + + COP. Better I with him + This contest could decide: for all I yet + Have spoken, is but a mere waste of words. + + CHOR. Behold, he hither comes in haste, and with him, + To hear this cause, his brother Acamas. + +DEMOPHOON, IOLAUS, COPREUS, CHORUS. + + DEM. Since by thy speed, old man, thou hast outstripped + Thy juniors, and already reached the shrine + Of Jove, inform me what event hath caused + This multitude t’ assemble. + + CHOR. There the sons + Of Hercules in suppliant posture sit, + And with their wreaths, as you behold, O king, + Adorn the altar; that is Iolaus, + The faithful comrade of their valiant sire. + + DEM. How needed their distress these clamorous shrieks? + + CHOR. [_turning towards_ COPREUS.] + He raised the uproar, when by force he strove + To bear them hence, and on his knees, to earth + Threw the old man, till I for pity wept. + + DEM. Although he in the habit which he wears + Adopts the mode of Greece, such deeds as these + Speak the barbarian. But without delay + On thee it is incumbent now to tell me + The country whence thou cam’st. + + COP. I am an Argive; + Thus far to solve your question: but from whence + I come, and on what errand, will I add; + Mycene’s king, Eurystheus, sends me hither + To fetch these vagrants home: yet I, O stranger, + Will with abundant justice, in my actions, + As well as words, proceed; myself an Argive, + I bear away these Argives, I but seize + The fugitives who from my native land + Escaped, when by the laws which there prevail + They were ordained to bleed. We have a right, + Because we are the rulers of the city, + To execute the sentence we enact + ’Gainst our own subjects. To the sacred hearths + Of many other states when they repaired, + We urged the self-same reasons, and none ventured + To be the authors of their own destruction. + But haply they in you may have perceived + A foolish tenderness, and hither come, + Desperate themselves, you also to involve + In the same perils, whether they succeed + Or fail in the emprise: for they no hope + Can cherish, while you yet retain your reason, + That you alone, in all the wide extent + Of Greece, whose various regions they have traversed, + Should pity those calamities which rise + But from their own imprudence. Now compare + Th’ alternative proposed; by sheltering them + In these dominions, or allowing us + To bear them hence, what gain may you expect? + Side but with us, these benefits are yours: + Eurystheus’ self, and Argos’ numerous troops, + Will aid this city with their utmost might; + But if, by their seducing language moved, + Ye harbour groundless pity for their woes, + Arms must decide the strife. Nor vainly think + We will desist till we have fully tried + The temper of our swords. But what excuse + Have ye to plead? Of what domains bereft + Are ye provoked to wage a desperate war + With the Tirynthian Argives? What allies + Will aid you? What pretext can ye allege + To claim funereal honours for the slain? + The curses of your city will await + Such conduct; for the sake of that old man, + Whom I may justly call a tomb, a shadow, + And those unfriended children, should you step + Into the yawning gulf. Suppose the best + Which possibly can happen, that a prospect + Of future good hence rises; distant hopes + Fall short of present gain. In riper years + Ill can these youths be qualified to fight + Against the Argive host (if this elate + Your soul with hope), and ere that wished event + There is a length of intermediate time + In which ye may be ruined; but comply + With my advice; on me no gift bestow, + Let me but take what to ourselves belongs, + Mycene shall be yours. But oh, forbear + To act as ye are wont, nor form a league + With those of no account, when mightier friends + May be procured. + + DEM. Who can decide a cause + Or ascertain its merits till he hear + Both sides distinctly? + + IOL. In your land, O king, + This great advantage, freedom of reply + To the malignant charge against me urged, + I find, and no man, as from other cities, + Shall drive me hence. But we have nothing left + For which it now behoves us to contend + With him, nor aught, since that decree hath passed, + To do with Argos; from our native land + We are cast forth. In this distressful state, + How can he drag us back again with justice + As subjects of Mycene, to that realm + Which hath already banished us? We there + Are only foreigners. But why should he + Whom Argos dooms to exile, by all Greece + Be also exiled? Not by Athens sure; + For ne’er will Athens from its blest domains + Expel the race of Hercules, appalled + By Argos’ menaced wrath. For neither Trachis, + Nor is that city of Achaia here, + Whence thou by boasting of the might of Argos + In words like those which thou hast uttered now, + These suppliants didst unjustly drive away + Though seated at the altars. If thy threats + Here too prevail, no longer shall we find + Freedom, not e’en in Athens; but I know + Full well the generous temper of its sons, + And rather would they die. For to the brave + Shame is a load which renders life most hateful. + Enough of Athens—for immoderate praise + Becomes invidious; I remember too + How oft I have been heretofore distressed + By overstrained encomiums. But on you + How greatly ’tis incumbent to protect + These children will I show, since o’er this land + You rule; for Pittheus was the son of Pelops, + From Pittheus Æthra sprung, from Æthra Theseus + Your father; from your ancestors to those + Of your unhappy suppliants I proceed; + Alcides was the son of thundering Jove + And of Alcmena; from Lysidice, + Daughter of Pelops, did Alcmena spring, + One common grandsire gave your grandame birth, + And theirs; so near in blood are you to them; + But, O Demophoon, what beyond the ties + Of family you to these children owe + Will I inform you, and relate how erst + With Theseus in one bark I sailed, and bore + Their father’s shield, when we that belt, the cause + Of dreadful slaughter, sought; and from the caves + Of Pluto, Hercules led back your sire. + This truth all Greece attests. They in return + From you implore this boon, that to their foes + They may not be surrendered up, nor torn + By force from these your tutelary gods, + And banished from this realm. For to yourself + ’Twere infamous and baneful to your city + Should suppliants, exiles, sprung from ancestors + The same with yours (ah, miserable me! + Behold, behold them!) with a forceful arm + Be dragged away. But to your hands, and beard, + Lifting these hallowed branches, I entreat you + Slight not Alcides’ children, undertake + Their cause; and, oh, to them become a kinsman, + Become a friend, a father, brother, lord, + For better were it to admit these claims, + Than suffer them to fall beneath the rage + Of Argive tyrants. + + CHOR. I with pity heard + Their woes, O king, but now I clearly see + How noble birth to adverse fortune yields; + For though they spring from an illustrious sire, + Yet meet they with afflictions they deserve not. + + DEM. Three powerful motives urge me, while I view + The misery which attends you, not to spurn + These strangers; first dread Jove, before whose altars + You with these children sit; next kindred ties, + And services performed in ancient days, + Give them a claim to such relief from me + As from their godlike father mine obtained; + And last of all that infamy which most + I ought to loathe; for if I should permit + A foreigner this altar to despoil, + I in a land of freedom shall no longer + Appear to dwell, but to surrender up, + Through fear, the suppliants to their Argive lords, + In this extreme of danger. Would to heaven + You had arrived with happier auspices; + But tremble not lest any brutal hand + Should from this hallowed altar force away + You and the children. Therefore go thou back + To Argos, and this message to Eurystheus + Deliver; tell him too if there be aught + Which ’gainst our guests he can allege, the laws + Are open; but thou shalt not drag them hence. + + COP. Not if I prove that it is just, and bring + Prevailing reasons? + + DEM. How can it be just + To drive away the suppliant? + + COP. Hence no shame + Shall light on me, but ruin on your head. + + DEM. Should I permit thee to convey them hence + In me ’twere base indeed. + + COP. Let them be banished + From your domains, and I elsewhere will seize them. + + DEM. Thou fool, who deem’st thyself more wise than + Jove! + + COP. All villains may, it seems, take refuge here. + + DEM. This altar of the gods, to all affords + A sure asylum. + + COP. In a different light, + This to Mycene’s rulers will appear. + + DEM. Am not I then the monarch of this realm? + + COP. Offer no wrong to them, if you are wise. + + DEM. Do ye then suffer wrong when I refuse + To violate the temples of the gods? + + COP. I would not have you enter on a war + Against the Argives. + + DEM. Equally inclined + Am I to peace, yet will not I yield up + These suppliants. + + COP. Hence am I resolved to drag + Those who belong to me. + + DEM. Thou then to Argos + Shalt not with ease return. + + COP. Soon will I make + Th’ experiment and know. + + DEM. If thou presume + To touch them, thou immediately shalt rue it. + + COP. I by the gods conjure you not to strike + A herald. + + DEM. Strike I will, unless that herald + Learn to behave discreetly. + + CHOR. Go. And you, + O king, forbear to touch him. + + COP. I retire: + For weak in combat is a single arm. + But I again shall hither come, and bring + A host of Argives armed with brazen spears: + Unnumbered warriors wait for my return. + The king himself, Eurystheus, is their chief; + He on the borders of Alcathous’ realm + Waits for an answer. He in glittering mail, + Soon as he hears your arrogant reply, + To you, your subjects, this devoted realm, + And all its wasted forests will appear, + For we in vain at Argos should possess + A band so numerous of heroic youths, + If we chastised not your assuming pride. + + [_Exit_ COPREUS. + + DEM. Away, detested miscreant; for I fear not + Thy Argos: and thou ne’er, by dragging hence + These suppliants, shalt disgrace me: for this city + As an appendage to the Argive realm + I hold not, but its freedom will maintain. + + CHOR. ’Tis time each sage precaution to exert, + Ere to the confines of this land advance + The troops of Argos: for Mycene’s wrath + Is terrible in combat, and more fierce + Than heretofore will they invade us now. + For to exaggerate facts beyond the truth + Is every herald’s custom. To his king, + How many specious tales do you suppose + Of the atrocious insults he endured, + He will relate, and add how he the loss + Of life endangered? + + IOL. To the sons devolve + No honours which exceed the being born + Of an illustrious and heroic sire, + And wedding into virtuous families. + But on that man no praise will I bestow, + Who by his lusts impelled, among the wicked + A nuptial union forms; hence to his sons + Disgrace, instead of pleasure, he bequeaths. + For noble birth repels adversity + Better than abject parentage. When sinking + Under the utmost pressure of our woes, + We find these friends and kinsmen, who alone + Amid the populous extent of Greece + Stand forth in our behalf. Ye generous youths, + Now give them your right hands, and in return + Take those of your protectors: O my sons, + Draw near: we have made trial of our friends. + If ye again behold your native walls, + Possess the self-same mansions, and the honours + Which your illustrious father erst enjoyed; + These deem your saviours and your friends, nor wield + Against their fostering land the hostile spear. + On your remembrance let these benefits + Be ever stamped, and hold this city dear; + For they deserve your reverence, who from us + Repel so great a nation, such a swarm + Of fierce Pelasgian troops: and, though they see + Our poverty and exile, have refused + To yield us up, or banish from their realm. + Both while I live, and after the cold grave + Receives me at the destined hour, my friend, + I with loud voice your merits will applaud, + Approaching mighty Theseus, and my words + Shall soothe your father’s ear when I recount + With what humanity you have received us, + And how protected the defenceless sons + Of Hercules: by your illustrious birth + Distinguished, you the glories of your sire + Through Greece maintain: sprung from a noble lineage + Yet are you one among that chosen few + Who in no instance deviate from the virtues + Of your great ancestry: although ’mid thousands + Scarce is a single instance to be found + Of those who emulate their father’s worth. + + CHOR. This country, in a just and honest cause, + Is ever prompt to succour the distressed. + Hence in its friends’ behalf hath it sustained + Unnumbered toils, and now another conflict + I see impending. + + DEM. Rightly hast thou spoken, + And in such toils I feel a conscious pride. + These benefits shall never be forgotten; + But an assembly of the citizens + I instantly will summon, and arrange + A numerous squadron, to receive the onset + Of fierce Mycene’s host, first sending spies + To meet them, lest they unawares assail us. + For the bold warrior, who without delay + Goes forth to battle, keeps the foe aloof. + I also will collect the seers, and slay + The victims; but do you, old man, meanwhile + Enter the palace with these children, leaving + Jove’s altar: for my menial train are there, + Who will with fond solicitude attend you, + Although I am not present: but go in. + + IOL. I will not leave the altar; on this seat + We supplicants will remain, and pray to Jove, + That prosperous fortunes may attend your city. + But when you from this conflict are with glory + Released, we to your palace will repair; + Nor are the gods, who war on our behalf, + O king, inferior to the gods of Argos. + For o’er that city, Jove’s majestic consort, + Juno, but here Minerva doth preside. + This I maintain, that nought ensures success + Beyond the aid of mightier deities, + Nor will imperial Pallas be subdued. + + [_Exit_ DEMOPHOON. + +CHORUS. + + ODE. + + I. + + Boast as thou wilt, and urge thy proud demand, + This nation disregards thy ire, + Thou stranger from the Argive land. + Nor can thy sounding words control + The steadfast purpose of my soul: + Great Athens, by her lovely choir + Distinguished, shall unstained preserve + Her ancient glory, nor from virtue swerve; + But thou, devoid of wisdom, dost obey + The son of Sthenelus, the tyrant’s impious sway, + + II. + + Who com’st amidst an independent state, + In nought inferior to the strength + Of Argos, and with brutal hate + Dar’st, though a foreigner, to seize + The exiles, who our deities + Implore, and in these realms at length + From their distress obtain a shield: + Thou e’en to sceptred monarchs will not yield, + Yet no just plea thy subtle tongue hath found. + How can such conduct warp the man whose judgment’s sound? + + III. + + Peace is the object of my dear delight: + But thou, O tyrant, thou whose breast + Well may I deem by frenzy is possest, + If ’gainst this city thou exert thy might, + Pant’st after trophies which thou ne’er shalt gain. + Bearing targe and brazen lance + Others with equal arms advance. + O thou, who fondly seek’st th’ embattled plain, + Shake not these turrets, spare the haunt + Of every gentle grace.—Thou wretch, avaunt. + +DEMOPHOON, IOLAUS, CHORUS. + + IOL. Why com’st thou hither, O my son, with eyes + Expressive of affliction? from the foe + What recent information canst thou give? + Do they delay their march, are they at hand, + Or bring’st thou any tidings? for the threats + That herald uttered sure will be accomplished. + Blest in the favour of the gods, the tyrant + Exults, I know, and arrogantly deems + That he o’er Athens shall prevail; but Jove + Chastises the presumptuous. + + DEM. Argos comes + With numerous squadrons, and its king Eurystheus, + Myself beheld him. It behoves the man + Who claims the merit of an able chief, + Not to depend upon his spies alone + To mark the foe’s approach. But with his host + He hath not yet invaded these domains, + But halting on yon mountain’s topmost ridge + Observes (I from conjecture speak) the road + By which he may lead forth his troops to battle, + And where he in this realm with greatest safety + May station them. Already have I made + Each preparation to repel their onset. + The city is in arms, the victims stand + Before the altars, with their blood t’ appease + The wrath of every god, and due lustrations + Are sprinkled by the seers, that o’er our foes + We may obtain a triumph, and preserve + This country. Every prophet who expounds + The oracles, convening, have I searched + Into each sage response of ancient times, + Or public or concealed, on which depends + The welfare of the realm. In all beside + Differ Heaven’s mandates: but one dread behest + Runs through the several auspices, to Ceres + They bid me sacrifice some blooming maid + Who from a nobler sire derives her birth. + Zeal have I shown abundant in your cause, + But will not slay my daughter, nor constrain + Any Athenian citizen to make + Such an abhorred oblation: for the man + Exists not, who is so devoid of reason, + As willingly to yield his children up + With his own hands. But what afflicts me most + Is this: tumultuous crowds appear; some cry, + ’Tis just that we the foreign suppliants aid, + But others blame my folly. If no means + Can be devised to satisfy them all, + Soon will a storm of civil war arise. + See thou to this, and think of some expedient, + How ye and how this country may be saved, + Without the citizens’ calumnious tongues + My fame assailing. For I rule not here + With boundless power, like a barbarian king; + Let but my deeds be just, and in return + Shall I experience justice. + + CHOR. Will not Jove + Suffer this city to exert its courage, + And aid these hapless strangers as we wish? + + IOL. Our situation, O my sons, resembles + That of the mariners, who having ’scaped + The storm’s relentless fury, when in sight + Of land, are from the coast by adverse winds + Driven back into the deep. Thus from this realm + Just as we reach the shore, like shipwrecked men, + Are we expelled. O inauspicious Hope, + Why didst thou soothe me with ideal joy, + Although it was ordained that thou should’st leave + Thy favours incomplete? The king deserves + At least to be excused, if he consent not + To slay his subjects’ daughters; to this city + My praise is due, and if the gods would place me + In the same prosperous fortunes, from my soul + Your benefits should never be effaced. + But now, alas! no counsel can I give + To you, my children. Whither shall we turn? + What god have we neglected? To what land + Have we not fled for shelter? We must perish, + We shall be yielded up. My being doomed + To die, I heed but for this cause alone, + That by my death I shall afford delight + To our perfidious foes. But, O my sons. + For you I weep, I pity you, I pity + Alcmena, aged mother of your sire, + Oh, most unhappy in a life too long! + I too am wretched, who unnumbered toils + Have fruitlessly endured; it was ordained, + It was ordained, alas! that we should fall + Into the hands of our relentless foes, + And meet a shameful, miserable death. + Know you, what still remains for you to do, + On my behalf? For all my hopes of saving + The children are not vanished. In their stead + Me to the Argive host surrender up, + O king, and rush not into needless danger, + Yet save these children. To retain a love + Of life becomes me not; I yield it up + Without regret. It is Eurystheus’ wish + The rather to seize me, and to expose + To infamy, because I was the comrade + Of Hercules; for frenzy hath possessed + His soul. The wise man, e’en in those he hates, + Had rather find discretion than a want + Of understanding; for a foe endued + With sense will pay due reverence to the vanquished. + + CHOR. Forbear, old man, thus hastily to blame + This city; for to us though it might prove + More advantageous, yet to our disgrace + Would it redound, should we betray our guests. + + DEM. A generous, but impracticable, scheme + Is that thou hast proposed: for Argos’ king + In quest of thee no squadrons hither leads. + What profit to Eurystheus from the death + Of one so old as thou art could arise? + He wants to murder _these_: for to their foes + The rising blossoms of a noble race, + To whom the memory of their father’s wrongs + Is present, must be dreadful: for all this + He cannot but foresee. But if thou know + Of any other counsel more expedient, + Adopt it; for my soul hath been perplexed, + Since that oracular response I heard + Which fills me with unwelcome apprehensions. + + [_Exit_ DEMOPHOON. + +MACARIA, IOLAUS, CHORUS. + + MAC. Deem not that I, O strangers, am too bold + Because I from my chamber venture forth; + This is my first request: for silence, joined + With modesty and a domestic life, + Is woman’s best accomplishment. I heard + Your groans, O Iolaus, and advanced + Though not appointed by our house to act + As their ambassadress; in some degree + Yet am I qualified for such an office, + I have so great an interest in the weal + Of these my brothers; on my own account + I also wish to hear if any ill, + Added to those you have already suffered, + Torture your soul. + + IOL. Not now for the first time, + On thee, O daughter, most of all the children + Of Hercules my praise can I bestow: + But our ill-fated house, just as it seemed + Emerging from its past disgraces, sinks + Afresh into inextricable ruin. + The king informs us, that the seers, whose voice + Expounds the will of heaven, have signified + No bull nor heifer, but some blooming maid + Who from a noble sire derives her birth, + Must be the victim, if we would redeem + The city and ourselves from utter ruin; + Here then are we perplexed: for his own children + He says he will not sacrifice, nor those + Of any of his subjects. Though to me + Indeed he speaks not plainly, in some sort + He intimates, that if we by no means + Can extricate ourselves from these distresses, + We must find out some other land to flee to, + For he this realm would from destruction save. + + MAC. May we indulge the hope of our escape + Upon these terms? + + IOL. These only: in all else + With prosperous fortunes crowned. + + MAC. No longer dread + The spear of Argos, for myself, old man, + Am ready, ere they doom me to be slain, + And here stand forth a voluntary victim. + For what could we allege on our behalf, + If Athens condescend to undergo + Dangers so great, while we who have imposed + These toils on others, though within our reach + Lie all the means of being saved, yet shrink + From death? Not thus: we should provoke the laugh + Of universal scorn, if, with loud groans, + We suppliants, at the altars of the gods, + Should take our seats, and prove devoid of courage, + From that illustrious father though we spring. + How can the virtuous reconcile such conduct? + This to our glory would forsooth redound + (O may it never happen!) when this city + Is taken, should we fall into the hands + Of our triumphant foes, when after all + Some noble maid reluctant must be dragged + To Pluto’s loathed embrace. But from these realms + Cast forth, should I become an abject vagrant, + Must I not blush when any one inquires, + “Why came ye hither with your suppliant branches + Too fond of life? Retreat from these domains, + For we no aid to cowards will afford.” + But if when these are dead, my single life + Be saved, I cannot entertain a hope + That I shall e’er be happy: through this motive + Have caused full many to betray their friends. + For who with a deserted maid will join, + Or in the bonds of wedlock, or desire + That I to him a race of sons should bear? + I therefore hold it better far to die, + Than to endure, without deserving them, + Such foul indignities, as can seem light + To her alone, who, from a noble race + Like mine, descends not: to the scene of death + Conduct, with garlands crown me, and prepare + If ye think fit, th’ initiatory rites; + Ye hence the foe shall conquer: for this soul + Shrinks not with mean reluctance. I engage + For these my brothers, and myself, to bleed + A willing victim; for with ease detached + From life, I have imbibed this best of lessons, + To die with firmness in a glorious cause. + + CHOR. Alas! what language shall I find, t’ express + My admiration of the lofty speech + I from this virgin hear, who for her brothers + Resolves to die? What tongue can utter words + More truly generous; or what man surpass + Such deeds as these? + + IOL. Thou art no spurious child, + But from the godlike seed of Hercules, + O daughter, dost indeed derive thy birth. + Although thy words are such as cannot shame, + Thy fate afflicts me. Yet will I propose + What may with greater justice be performed. + Together call the sisters of this maid, + And to atone for the whole race, let her + On whom th’ impartial lot shall fall, be slain; + But without such decision ’tis not just + That thou should’st die. + + MAC. I will not die as chance + The lot dispenses; for I hence should forfeit + All merit: name not such a scheme, old man. + If me ye will accept, and of my zeal + Avail yourselves, I gladly yield up life + Upon these terms, but stoop not to constraint. + + IOL. The speech thou now hast uttered soars beyond + What thou at first didst say, though that was noble: + But thou thy former courage dost surpass + By this fresh instance of exalted courage, + The merit of thy former words, by words + More meritorious. Daughter, I command not, + Nor yet oppose thy death: for thou by dying + Wilt serve thy brothers. + + MAC. You in cautious terms + Command me: fear not, lest on my account + You should contract pollution: for to die + Is my free choice. But follow me, old man, + For in your arms would I expire: attend, + And o’er my body cast the decent veil: + To dreadful slaughter dauntless I go forth, + Because I from that father spring, whose name + With pride I utter. + + IOL. At the hour of death + I cannot stand beside thee. + + MAC. Grant but this, + That when I breathe my last, I may be tended + By women, not by men. + + IOL. It shall be thus, + O miserable virgin: for in me + ’Twere base, if I neglected any rite + That decency enjoins, for many reasons; + Because thy soul is great, because ’tis just, + And of all women I have ever seen, + Because thou art most wretched. But from these + And from thy aged kinsman, if thou wish + For aught, to me thy last behests address. + + MAC. Adieu, my venerable friend, adieu! + Instruct these boys in every branch of wisdom, + And make them like yourself, they can attain + No higher pitch; strive to protect them still, + And for their sake that valued life prolong; + Your children we, to you our nurture owe. + Me you behold, mature for bridal joys, + Dying to save them. But may ye, my band + Of brothers who are here, be blest, and gain + All those advantages, which to procure + For you, the falchion shall transpierce my breast. + Revere this good old man, revere Alcmena + Your father’s aged mother, and these strangers. + Should ye be ever rescued from your woes, + Should gracious Heaven permit you to revisit + Your native land, forget not to inter, + With such magnificence as I deserve, + Your benefactress, for I have not proved + Deficient in attention to your welfare, + But die to save our family. To me + These monumental honours shall suffice + Instead of children, or the virgin state, + If there be aught amid the realms beneath, + But ’tis my wish there may not: for if grief + On us frail mortals also there attend, + I know not whither any one can turn: + For by the wise hath death been ever deemed + The most effectual cure for every ill. + + IOL. O thou, distinguished by thy lofty soul, + Be well assured thy glory shall outshine + That of all other women; both in life + And death, shalt thou be honoured by thy friends. + But ah, farewell! for with ill-omened words + I tremble lest we should provoke the goddess, + Dread Proserpine, to whom thou now art sacred. + + [_Exit_ MACARIA. + + My sons I perish: grief unnerves my frame; + Support and place me in the hallowed seat: + And, O my dearest children, o’er my face + Extend this garment: for I am not pleased + With what is done: yet, had not Heaven’s response + Found this completion, we must all have died; + For we must then have suffered greater ills + Than these, which are already most severe. + +CHORUS. + + ODE. + + In just proportion, as the gods ordain, + Is bliss diffused through life’s short span, + Or sorrow portioned out to man: + No favoured house can still maintain + From age to age its prosperous state, + For swift are the vicissitudes of fate, + Who now assails pride’s towering crest, + Now makes the drooping exile blest. + From destiny we cannot fly; + No wisdom can her shafts repel; + But he who vainly dares her power defy + Compassed with endless toils shall dwell. + Ask not from Heaven with impious prayer, + Blessings it cannot grant to man, + Nor waste in misery life’s short span + O’erwhelmed by querulous despair. + The nymph goes forth to meet a noble death, + Her brothers and this land to save, + And fame, with tributary breath + Shall sound her praises in the grave. + For dauntless virtue finds a way + Through labours which her progress would delay. + Such deeds as these, her father grace, + And add fresh splendour to her race, + But if with reverential awe thou shed + Over the virtuous dead + A tear of pity, in that tear I’ll join, + Inspired with sentiments like thine. + +SERVANT, IOLAUS, CHORUS. + + SER. Ye children, hail! but where is Iolaus, + That aged man; and hath your grandame left + Her seat before the altar? + + IOL. Here am I, + If aught my presence can avail. + + SER. On earth + Why art thou stretched, what means that downcast look? + + IOL. Domestic cares have harrowed up my soul. + + SER. Lift up thy head, arise. + + IOL. I am grown old, + And all my strength is vanished. + + SER. But to thee + I bring most joyful tidings. + + IOL. Who art thou? + Where have I seen thee? I remember not. + + SER. Hyllus’ attendant, canst thou not distinguish + These features? + + IOL. O my friend, art thou arrived + To snatch me from despair? + + SER. Most certainly: + Moreover the intelligence I bring + Will make thee happy. + + IOL. Thee I call, come forth, + Alcmena, mother of a noble son, + And listen to these acceptable tidings: + Full long thy soul, for those who now approach, + Was torn with grief, lest they should ne’er return. + +ALCMENA, SERVANT, IOLAUS, CHORUS. + + ALC. Whence with your voice resounds this echoing dome, + O Iolaus, is another herald + From Argos come, who forcibly assails you? + My strength indeed is small, yet be assured + Of this, presumptuous stranger, while I live + Thou shalt not bear them hence. May I no more + Be deemed the mother of that godlike son, + When I submit to this. But if thou dare + To touch the children, with two aged foes + Ignobly wilt thou strive. + + IOL. Be of good cheer, + Thou hoary matron, banish these alarms; + No herald with a hostile message comes + From Argos. + + ALC. Why then raised you that loud voice, + The harbinger of fear? + + IOL. That from the temple + Thou might’st come forth, and join us. + + ALC. What you mean + I comprehend not. Who is this? + + IOL. He tells us + Thy grandson marches hither. + + ALC. Hail, O thou + Who bear’st these welcome tidings? but what brings him + To these domains? Where is he? What affairs + Prevented him from coming hither with thee, + To fill my soul with transport? + + SER. He now marshals + The forces which attend him. + + ALC. In this conference + Am I no longer then allowed to join? + + IOL. Thou art: but ’tis my business to inquire + Into these matters. + + SER. Which of his transactions + Say art thou most solicitous to know? + + IOL. The number of the troops he leads? + + SER. Is great, + I cannot count them. + + IOL. The Athenian chiefs + Are sure apprized of this. + + SER. They are apprized, + And the left wing is formed. + + IOL. Then the whole host + Arrayed in arms is ready for the battle. + + SER. The victims to a distance from the ranks + Already are removed. + + IOL. But at what distance + Is the encampment of the Argive warriors? + + SER. So near that we their leader can distinguish. + + IOL. What is he doing; marshalling our foes? + + SER. This we conjecture: for I could not hear + His voice: but I must go; for I my lord + Will not abandon when he nobly braves + The dangers of the field. + + IOL. I too with thee + Will join him; for the same are our intentions, + As honour bids us, to assist our friends. + + SER. Unwisely hast thou spoken. + + IOL. With my friends + Shall not I then the stubborn conflict share? + + SER. That strength which erst was thine is now no more. + + IOL. Can I not pierce their shields? + + SER. Thou may’st: but first, + More likely, fall thyself. + + IOL. No foe will dare + To meet me face to face. + + SER. By thy mere looks, + With that debilitated arm, no wound + Canst thou inflict. + + IOL. My presence in the field + Will to our troops give courage, and augment + Their number. + + SER. Of small service to thy friends + Will thy appearance prove. + + IOL. Detain me not: + I for some glorious action am prepared. + + SER. Thou hast the will to act, but not the power. + + IOL. I will not be reproached for loitering here, + Say what thou wilt beside. + + SER. But without arms + How wilt thou face yon warriors sheathed in mail? + + IOL. The various implements of war are lodged + Beneath these roofs; with freedom will I use, + And if I live, return them; if I die, + The god will not demand them back again. + Go then into the temple, and reach down + Those martial trappings from the golden nails + On which they hang, and bring them to me swiftly. + For this were infamous, while some are fighting, + If others loiter slothfully behind. + + [_Exit_ SERVANT. + + CHOR. Time hath not yet debased that lofty soul + ’Tis vigorous, though thy body be decayed. + Why should’st thou enter on these fruitless toils, + Which only injure thee, and to our city + Can be of little service? on thy age + Should’st thou reflect, and lay aside attempts + That are impossible, for by no arts + The long-lost force of youth canst thou regain. + + ALC. What schemes are these? distempered in your mind, + Me and my children mean you to abandon? + + IOL. The battle is man’s province: to thy care + Them I consign. + + ALC. But if you die, what means + Have I of being saved? + + IOL. The tender care + Of the surviving children of thy son. + + ALC. Should they too meet with some severe mishap, + Which may the gods forbid. + + IOL. These generous strangers + Will not betray thee; banish every fear. + + ALC. In them I trust: I have no other friend. + + IOL. Jove too, I know, is mindful of thy toils. + + ALC. I will not speak in disrespectful terms + Of Jove: but whether he his plighted troth + Have kept, full well he knows. + + SER. [_returning._] Thou here behold’st + The brazen panoply, now haste to sheathe + Thy limbs in mail; the battle is at hand, + And Mars detests a loiterer: if thou fear + Accoutrements so ponderous, to the field + Advance disarmed, nor till thou join the ranks + Wear these unwieldy trappings; for meantime + I in my hands their burden will sustain. + + IOL. Well hast thou spoken; with those arms attend me + Ready for the encounter, place a spear + In my right hand, and under my left arm + Hold me, and guide my steps. + + SER. Shall I conduct + A warrior like a child? + + IOL. I must tread sure, + Else ’twere an evil omen. + + SER. Would thy power + Equalled thy zeal. + + IOL. Haste: greatly ’twill afflict me + If, left behind, I cannot join the fray. + + SER. Slow are thy steps, and hence thou deem’st I move not. + + IOL. Behold’st thou not the swiftness of my pace? + + SER. Thou to thyself I see appear’st to hasten, + Although thou gain’st no ground. + + IOL. When in the field + Thou seest me, thou wilt own I speak the truth. + + SER. What great exploit achieving? I could wish + That thou might’st prove victorious. + + IOL. Through his shield + Some foe transfixing. + + SER. We at length may reach + Th’ embattled plain, but this I greatly fear. + + IOL. Ah, would to heaven, that thou, my withered arm, + Again wert vigorous, as in former days + Thee I remember, when thou didst lay waste + The Spartan realms with Hercules; thus fight + My battles now, and singly will I triumph + Over Eurystheus, for that dastard fears + To face the dangers of th’ embattled field: + Too apt in our ideas to unite + Valour with wealth, yet to the prosperous man + Superior wisdom falsely we ascribe. + + [_Exeunt_ IOLAUS _and_ SERVANT. + +CHORUS. + + ODE. + + I. 1. + + O fostering Earth, resplendent Moon, + Who gladd’st the dreary shades of night, + And thou, enthroned at broadest noon, + Hyperion, ’midst exhaustless light, + To me propitious tidings bring, + Raise to the skies a festive sound, + And waft the gladsome notes around, + Till, from the palace of our king, + They echo through Minerva’s fane: + My house, my country, to maintain + Against the ruthless spoiler’s pride, + Menaced because this realm extends + Protection to its suppliant friends, + I with the sword our contest will decide. + + I. 2. + + Although there seem just cause for dread, + When cities like Mycene blest, + Whose triumphs fame hath widely spread + Enter this region to invest + Our bulwarks, harbouring ruthless hate. + Think, O my country, think what shame, + Should we reject the suppliant’s claim + Appalled by Argos’ haughty state. + Resistless Jove shall aid the spear + I brandish unappalled by fear; + The tribute of eternal praise + From all that breathe, to him is due: + Nor magnified by our weak view + Shall men above the gods their trophies raise. + + II. 1. + + Descend with venerable mien, + O thou our guardian and our queen, + For on thy fostering soil we stand, + These walls were reared by thy command, + Drive from our menaced gates the lawless host, + Suppress that Argive tyrant’s boast; + For if by you unaided, is this hand + Too weak their fury to withstand. + + II. 2. + + Thee, O Minerva, we adore, + Thy altar ever streams with gore: + We on each moon’s concluding day + To thee our public homage pay; + Through every fane harmonious numbers sound, + Sweet minstrelsy then breathes around, + And th’ echoing hills their nightly dance repeat + As the nymphs move with agile feet. + +SERVANT, ALCMENA, CHORUS. + + SER. O royal dame, the message that to you + I bring, is both concise, and what reflects + On me abundant glory to relate, + In fight have we prevailed, and trophies reared + On which the armour of your foes is hung. + + ALC. This day hath brought thee hither, O my friend, + Thy freedom for such tidings to receive: + But one anxiety there still remains + To which thou leav’st me subject; much I fear + For the important lives of those I love. + + SER. They live, and have obtained from all the host + The greatest fame. + + ALC. And Iolaus too, + My aged friend? + + SER. Yet more, he hath performed + Through the peculiar favour of the gods + Exploits most memorable. + + ALC. What glorious deed + Hath he achieved in fight? + + SER. From an old man, + He is grown young again. + + ALC. Thou speak’st of things + Most wonderful. But first, how fought our friends + With such success, I wish thee to inform me. + + SER. All that hath passed, at once will I relate + When, to each other in the field opposed, + We had arranged both armies, and spread forth + The van of battle to its full extent, + Hyllus alighting from his chariot, stood + In the midway ’twixt either host, and cried: + “Thou leader of the Argive troops, who com’st + With hostile fury to invade this land, + Thy interests recommend what I propose, + Nor can Mycene suffer from the loss + If thou deprive her of a single warrior; + Therefore with me encounter hand to hand, + And if thou slay me, seize and bear away + The sons of Hercules; but if thou die, + My palace and hereditary rank + Permit me to enjoy.” The troops assented, + And praised what he had spoken as the means + Of finishing their labours, and a proof + Of his exalted courage. But Eurystheus + Unmoved by reverence for th’ assembled host + Who heard the challenge, and with terror smitten, + Forgot the general’s part, nor dared to face + The lifted spear, but acted like a dastard: + Yet he who was thus destitute of courage + Came to enslave the sons of Hercules. + Hyllus again retreated to his rank; + The prophets too, when they perceived no peace + Could be effected by a single combat, + Without delay the blooming virgin slew, + Auspicious victim, from whose pallid lips + Her trembling spirit fled. The lofty car + Some mounted, o’er their sides while others flung + Their bucklers to protect them. To his host, + Meantime the king of Athens, in a strain + Worthy of his exalted courage, spoke: + “Ye citizens, the land to which ye owe + Your nourishment and birth, now claims your aid.” + Equally loth to sully the renown + Of Argos and Mycene, in like terms + The foe besought his partners of the war + Their utmost vigour to exert. No sooner + Had the loud signal by Etruria’s trump + Been given, than they in thickest battle joined. + Think with what crash their brazen shields resounded, + What groans and intermingled shouts were heard! + First through our lines the host of Argos burst, + And in their turn gave way: then foot to foot, + And man to man opposed, in stubborn conflict + We all persisted: multitudes were slain; + But in this language either chief his troops + Encouraged: “O ye citizens of Athens, + O ye who till the fruitful Argive field, + Will ye not from your native land repel + The foul disgrace?” But with our utmost efforts + Scarce could we put to flight the Argive host. + When Iolaus saw young Hyllus break + The ranks of battle, he with lifted hands + Entreated him to place him in his car, + Then seized the reins, and onward in pursuit + Of the swift coursers of Eurystheus drove. + As to the sequel; from report alone + Let others speak, I tell what I have seen: + While through Pallenè’s streets he passed, where rise + Minerva’s altars, soon as he descried + The chariot of Eurystheus, he a prayer + Addressed to blooming Hebe, and to Jove, + That for that single day he might recover + The pristine vigour of his youth, and punish + His foes as they deserve. You now shall hear + What a miraculous event ensued; + Two stars ’bove Iolaus’ chariot stood, + And overshadowed it with gloomy clouds, + Which, by the wise ’tis said, were Hercules + Your son, and blooming Hebe: from that mist + Which veiled the skies, the chief grown young again, + Displayed his vigorous arms, and near the rocks + Of Scyron, seized Eurystheus in his car. + Binding his hands with chains, he hither brings + The Argive tyrant, a distinguished prize, + Who once was happy; but on all mankind + Loudly inculcates by his present fortunes + This lesson: not too rashly to ascribe + Felicity to him who in appearance + Is prosperous, but to wait till we behold + His close of life; for fortune day by day + Doth waver. + + CHOR. Thou great author of success, + O Jove, at length am I allowed to view + The day, by which my terrors are dispelled. + + ALC. ’Twas late indeed, when thou, O Jove, didst look + On my afflictions; yet am I to thee + Most grateful for the kindness thou hast shown me. + And though I erst believed not that my son + Dwells with the gods, I clearly know it now. + Now, O my children, ye from all your toils + Shall be set free, and of Eurystheus, doomed + With shame to perish, burst the galling yoke, + Behold your father’s city, the rich fields + Of your inheritance again possess, + And sacrifice to your paternal gods, + From whom excluded, in a foreign land + Ye led a wandering miserable life. + But with what sage design yet undisclosed, + Hath Iolaus spared Eurystheus’ life, + Inform me: for to us it seems unwise + Not to avenge our wrongs when we have caught + Our enemies. + + SER. He through respect to you + Hath acted thus, that you might see the tyrant + Vanquished, and rendered subject to your power, + Not by his own consent, but in the yoke + Bound by necessity; for he was loth + To come into your presence, ere he bleed, + And suffer as he merits. But farewell, + O venerable matron, and remember + The promise you first made when I began + These tidings, and, oh, set me free: for nought + But truth should from ingenuous lips proceed. + + [_Exit_ SERVANT. + +CHORUS. + + ODE. + + I. 1. + + To me the choral song is sweet, + When the shrill flute and genial banquet meet, + If Venus also grace the festive board: + I taste a more refined delight + Now I behold my friends (transporting sight!) + To unexpected happiness restored. + For in this nether world, eventful Fate, + And Saturn’s offspring Time, full many a change create. + + I. 2. + + Follow the plain and beaten way, + From Justice, O my country, never stray, + Nor cease the powers immortal to revere. + To heights scarce short of frenzy rise + The errors of that mortal, who denies + Assent to truths confirmed by proofs so clear. + Jove’s power by signal judgments is descried, + Oft as his vengeance blasts the towering crest of pride. + + II. 1. + + In heavenly mansions with the blest, + Thy son, O venerable dame, doth rest; + He hath confuted those invidious tales, + That to loathed Pluto’s house he came + Soon as he perished in that dreadful flame: + He under roofs of burnished gold regales, + On the soft couch of lovely Hebe placed; + Them two, both sprung from Jove, O Hymen, thou hast graced. + + II. 2. + + Events, which strike man’s wondering eyes, + From a variety of causes rise. + For fame relates how Pallas saved the sire, + And from her city far renowned, + Her race, protection have the children found; + She hath suppressed th’ o’erweening tyrant’s ire, + Whose violence no laws could ere control; + Curse on such boundless pride, that fever of the soul. + +MESSENGER, EURYSTHEUS, ALCMENA, CHORUS. + + MES. Your eyes indeed behold, O royal dame, + Yet shall this tongue declare that we have brought + Eurystheus hither, unexpected sight, + Reverse of fortune his presumptuous soul + Foresaw not, this oppressor little deemed + That he should ever fall into your hands, + When from Mycene, by the Cyclops’ toil + Erected, he those squadrons led, and hoped + With pride o’erweening to lay Athens waste; + But Heaven our situation hath reversed: + And therefore with exulting Hyllus joins + The valiant Iolaus, in erecting + Trophies to Jove the author of our conquest. + But they to you commanded me to lead + This captive, wishing to delight your soul: + For ’tis most grateful to behold a foe + Fall’n from the height of gay prosperity. + + ALC. Com’st thou, detested wretch? at length hath Justice + O’ertaken thee? First hither turn thy head, + And dare to face thine enemies: for, dwindled + Into a vassal, thou no longer rul’st. + Art thou the man (for I would know the truth) + Who didst presume to heap unnumbered wrongs, + Thou author of all mischief, on my son + While yet he lived, wherever now resides + His dauntless spirit? For in what one instance + Didst thou not injure him? At thy command, + Alive he travelled to th’ infernal shades; + Thou sent’st, and didst commission him to slay + Hydras and lions. Various other mischiefs, + Which were by thee contrived, I mention not, + For an attempt to speak of them at large + Would be full tedious. Nor was it enough + For thee to venture on these wrongs alone, + But thou, moreover, from each Grecian state + Me and these children hast expelled, though seated + As suppliants at the altars of the gods, + Confounding those whose locks are grey through age + With tender infants. But thou here hast found + Those who were men indeed, and a free city + Which feared thee not. Thou wretchedly shalt perish, + And pay this bitter usury to atone + For all thy crimes, whose number is so great + That it were just thou more than once shouldst die. + + MES. You must not kill him. + + ALC. Then have we in vain + Taken him captive. But what law forbids + His being slain? + + MES. The rulers of this land + Consent not. + + ALC. Is it not by them esteemed + A glorious action to despatch our foes? + + MES. Not such as they have seized alive in battle. + + ALC. Is Hyllus satisfied with this decree? + + MES. He, in my judgment, will forsooth act rightly, + If he oppose what Athens shall enjoin. + + ALC. The captive tyrant ill deserves to live, + Or longer view the sun. + + MES. In this first instance + They did amiss, when by their swords he died not. + + ALC. Is it not just that he should suffer still? + + MES. He who will slay him is not to be found. + + ALC. What shall I say if some adventurous hand—— + + MES. If you do this, you will incur great censure. + + ALC. I love this city, I confess: but no man, + Since he is fall’n into my power, shall force + This prisoner from me: let them call me bold + And more presumptuous than becomes a woman, + I am resolved to execute my purpose. + + MES. Full well I know the hatred which you bear + To this unhappy man is terrible, + And such as merits pardon. + + EUR. Be convinced + Of this, O woman, that I cannot flatter, + Nor to preserve this wretched life say aught, + Whence they may brand me with a dastard’s name. + For I with much reluctance undertook + This contest; near in blood am I to thee, + And of that race whence sprung thy son Alcides. + But whether I consented, or was loth, + Me Juno caused by her immortal power + To harbour this dire frenzy in my breast. + Since I became his foe, since I resolved + Upon this strife, much mischief I devised, + And brooded o’er it many a tedious night, + That after I had wearied out and slain + Those I abhorred, I might no longer lead + A life of fear: for well I knew thy son + Was no mere cipher, but a man indeed: + Though strong my hate, on him will I confer + The praise he merits from his valiant deeds. + But after he was dead, was I not forced, + Because I was a foe to these his sons, + And knew what bitter enmity ’gainst me + They from their sire inherited, to leave + No stone unturned, to slay, to banish them, + And plot their ruin? Could I have succeeded + In these designs, my throne had stood secure. + If thou my prosperous station hadst obtained, + Wouldst thou not have attempted to hunt down + The lion’s whelps, instead of suffering them + At Argos unmolested to reside? + Thou canst prevail on no man to give credit + To such assertions: therefore, since my foes + Forbore to slay me, when prepared to lose + My life in battle, by the laws of Greece, + If I now die, my blood will fix a stain + Of lasting guilt on him who murders me. + This city hath discreetly spared my life, + More influenced by its reverence for the gods + Than by the hatred which to me it bears. + My answer to the charges thou hast urged + Against me, having heard, esteem me now + A suppliant, and though wretched, still a king, + For such is my condition: though to die + I wish not, yet can I without regret + Surrender up my life. + + CHOR. To you, Alcmena, + A little wholesome counsel would I give, + This captive monarch to release, since such + The pleasure of the city. + + ALC. If he die, + And to the mandates of th’ Athenian realm + I still submit, what mischief can ensue? + + CHOR. ’Twere best of all. But how can these two things + Be reconciled? + + ALC. I will inform you how + This may with ease be done. I, to his friends, + When slain will yield him up, and with this land + Comply in the disposal of his corse: + But he shall die to sate my just revenge. + + EUR. Destroy me if thou wilt; to thee I sue not: + But on this city, since it spared my life + Through pious reverence, and forbore to slay me, + Will I bestow an ancient oracle + Of Phœbus, which in future times shall prove + More advantageous than ye now suppose; + For after death, so have the Fates decreed, + My corse shall ye inter before the temple + Of the Pallenian maid: to you a friend + And guardian of your city, shall I rest + Beneath this soil for ever; but a foe + To those who spring from this detested race + When with their armies they invade this land + Requiting with ingratitude your kindness: + Such strangers ye protect. But thus forewarned, + Why came I hither? Through a fond belief + That Juno was with far superior power + To each oracular response endued, + And that my cause she ne’er would have betrayed. + On me waste no libations, nor let gore + Be poured forth on the spot of my interment, + For I to punish these their impious deeds, + Will cause them with dishonour to return: + From me shall ye receive a double gain, + For you I will assist, and prove to them + Most baneful e’en in death. + + ALC. Why are ye loth + To slay this man, if what ye hear be true, + That welfare to this city hence will spring, + And your prosperity? For he points out + The safest road. Alive he is a foe, + But after he is dead will prove a friend. + Ye servants bear him hence, and to the dogs + Cast forth without delay his breathless corse: + Think not, presumptuous wretch, that thou shalt live + Again t’ expel me from my native land. + + CHOR. With this am I well pleased. My followers, go. + For hence in our king’s sight shall we stand guiltless. + + + + +RHESUS. + + +PERSONS OF THE DRAMA. + + CHORUS OF TROJAN SENTINELS. + HECTOR. + ÆNEAS. + DOLON. + A SHEPHERD. + RHESUS. + ULYSSES. + DIOMEDE. + PARIS. + MINERVA. + THE MUSE. + THE CHARIOTEER OF RHESUS. + + +SCENE.—BEFORE HECTOR’S TENT AT THE GATES OF TROY. + +CHORUS, HECTOR. + + CHOR. Let some swift sentinel to Hector’s tent + Go and inquire if any messenger + Be yet arrived, who recent tidings bears + From those, who during the fourth nightly watch + Are by the host deputed. On your arm + Sustain your head, unfold those low’ring eyelids, + And from your lowly couch of withered leaves, + O Hector, rise, for it is time to listen. + + HEC. Who comes? art thou a friend? pronounce the watchword. + Who are ye, that by night approach my bed? + Speak out. + + CHOR. We guard the camp. + + HEC. Why com’st thou hither + With this tumultuous haste? + + CHOR. Be of good cheer. + + HEC. I am. Hast thou discovered in the camp + This night some treachery? + + CHOR. None. + + HEC. Why then deserting + The post where thou art stationed, dost thou rouse + The troops, unless thou through this midnight gloom + Bring some important tidings? know’st thou not + That near the Argive host we under arms + Take our repose. + + CHOR. Prepare your brave allies: + Go to their chambers, bid them wield the spear, + Rouse them from slumber, and despatch your friends + To your own troop; caparison the steeds. + Who bears the swift alarm to Pantheus’ son? + Who to Europa’s offspring, Lycia’s chief? + Where are the priests who should inspect the victims? + Who leads the light-armed squadron to the field? + And where are Phrygia’s archers? Let each bow + Be strung. + + HEC. Thy tidings are in part alarming, + In part thou giv’st us courage, though thou speak + Nought plainly. By the terrifying scourge + Of Pan hast thou been smitten, that thou leav’st + Thy station to alarm the host? Explain + These clamorous sounds. What tidings shall I say + Thou bring’st? Thy words are many, but their drift + I comprehend not. + + CHOR. All night long, O Hector, + The Grecian camp hath kindled fires, the torches + Amid their fleet are blazing, and the host + Tumultuous rush to Agamemnon’s tent, + At midnight calling on the king t’ assemble + A council: for the sailors never yet + Were thus alarmed. But I, because I fear + What may ensue, these tidings hither bring, + Lest you should charge me with a breach of duty. + + HEC. Full seasonably thou com’st, although thou speak + Words fraught with terror: for these dastards hope + They in their barks shall from this shore escape + Ere I discover them: their kindled fires + Prove this suspicion. Thou, O partial Jove, + Hast robbed me of my triumph, like the prey + Torn from the lion, ere I have destroyed + With this avenging spear the Grecian host. + Had not the sun withdrawn his radiant beams, + I the successful battle had prolonged + Till I had burnt their ships, and hewn a way + Through their encampments, and in slaughter drenched + My bloody hand. I would have fought by night + And taken my advantage of the gales + Sent by auspicious fortune: but the wise, + And seers who knew the will of Heaven, advised me + To wait but till to-morrow’s dawn appeared, + And then sweep every Grecian from the land. + But now no longer will they stay to prove + The truth of what my prophets have foretold: + For cowards in the midnight gloom are brave. + Instantly therefore through the host proclaim + These orders: “Take up arms, and rouse from sleep;” + Pierced through the back as to the ships he flies, + So shall full many a dastard with his gore + Distain the steep ascent; the rest fast bound + In galling chains shall learn to till our fields. + + CHOR. O Hector, ere you learn the real fact, + You are too hasty: for we know not yet + That they are flying. + + HEC. Wherefore then by night + Are those fires kindled through the Grecian camp? + + CHOR. I am not certain, though my soul full strongly + Suspects the cause. + + HEC. If thou fear this, thou tremblest + At a mere shadow. + + CHOR. Such a light ne’er blazed + Before among the foes. + + HEC. Nor such defeat + In battle, did they e’er till now experience. + + CHOR. This have you done; look now to what remains. + + HEC. I give this short direction: take up arms + Against the foe. + + CHOR. Behold! Æneas comes: + Sure, from his haste, some tidings, which deserve + His friends’ attentive ear, the warrior brings. + +ÆNEAS, HECTOR, CHORUS. + + ÆNE. What mean the watch, O Hector, who by night + Were to their stations in the camp assigned, + That they, with terror smitten, at your chamber + In a nocturnal council have assembled? + And why is the whole army thus in motion? + + HEC. Put on thy arms, Æneas. + + ÆNE. What hath happened? + Are you informed that in this midnight gloom + The foe hath formed some stratagem? + + HEC. They fly! + They mount their ships. + + ÆNE. What proof have you of this? + + HEC. All night their torches blaze; to me they seem + As if they would not wait to-morrow’s dawn: + But, kindling fires upon their lofty decks, + They sure fly homeward from this hostile land. + + ÆNE. But why, if it be thus, prepare your troops + For battle? + + HEC. As they mount the deck, this spear + Shall overtake the dastards; I their flight + Will harass: for ’twere base, and prejudicial + As well as base, when Heaven delivers up + The foe into our hands, to suffer those + Who wronged us to escape without a conflict. + + ÆNE. Ah! would to Heaven you equally stood foremost + In wisdom, as in courage: but one man + By bounteous Nature never was endued + With knowledge universal: various gifts + Doth she dispense, to you the warrior’s palm, + To others sapient counsels: now you hear + Their torches blaze, you thence infer the Greeks + Are flying, and would lead the troops by night + Over the trenches: but when you have passed + The yawning fosse, should you perceive the foes + Instead of flying from the land, resist, + With dauntless courage, your protended spear, + If you are vanquished, to these sheltering walls + You never can return: for in their flight + How shall the troops o’er slanting palisades + Escape, or, how the charioteer direct + Over the narrow bridge his crashing wheels? + If you prevail, you have a foe at hand, + The son of Peleus, from your flaming torches + Who will protect the fleet, nor suffer you + Utterly to destroy the Grecian host + As you expect; for he is brave. Our troops + Let us then leave to rest from martial toils, + And sleep beside their shields. That we despatch + Amid the foe some voluntary spy, + Is my advice: if they prepare for flight, + Let us assail the Greeks; but if those fires + Are kindled to ensnare us, having learned + The enemy’s intentions, let us hold + A second council on this great emprise. + Illustrious chief, I have declared my thoughts. + +CHORUS. + + I. + + These counsels I approve: thy wayward scheme, + O Hector, change, and think the same: + For perilous commands I deem, + Given by the headstrong chief, deserve our blame. + Why send not to the fleet a spy, + Who may approach the trenches, and descry + With what intent our foes upon the strand + Have kindled many a flaming brand? + + HEC. Ye have prevailed, because ye all concur + In one opinion: but depart, prepare + Thy fellow-soldiers, for perhaps the host + May by the rumours of our nightly council + Be put in motion. I will send a spy + Among the Greeks; and if we learn what schemes + They have devised, the whole of my intentions + To thee will I immediately reveal + In person. With confusion and dismay + But if the foe precipitate their flight, + Give ear, and follow where the clanging trump + Summons thee forth, for then I cannot wait, + But will this night attack the Grecian host, + Storm their entrenchments, and destroy their fleet. + + ÆNE. Despatch the messenger without delay. + For you now think discreetly, and in me + Shall find, when needed, in your bold emprise + A firm associate. + + [_Exit_ ÆNEAS. + + HEC. What brave Trojan, present + At this our conference, as a spy will go + T’ explore the Grecian navy? to this land + What generous benefactor will arise? + Who answers? for I singly cannot serve + The cause of Troy and its confederate bands + In every station. + + DOL. For my native realm, + Facing this danger, to the fleet of Greece + I as a spy will go; and when I’ve searched + Into the progress of our foes, return: + But I on these conditions undertake + The toilsome enterprise—— + + HEC. Thou well deserv’st + Thy name, and to thy country art a friend, + O Dolon; for this day thy father’s house, + Which is already noble, thou exalt’st + With double fame. + + DOL. I therefore ought to strive: + But after all my labours let me reap + A suitable reward. If gain arise + From the performance of the task enjoined, + We feel a twofold joy. + + HEC. This were but just: + I contradict thee not: name thy reward; + Choose what thou wilt, except the rank I bear. + + DOL. Your rich domains I wish not to possess. + + HEC. To thee a daughter of imperial Priam + In marriage shall be given. + + DOL. With my superiors + I will not wed. + + HEC. Abundant gold is ours, + If thou prefer this stipend. + + DOL. My own house + With wealth is furnished, I am far remote + From want. + + HEC. What then dost thou desire that Troy + Contains? + + DOL. When you have conquered the proud Greeks, + Promise to give me—— + + HEC. I will give thee all + That thou canst ask, except my royal captives. + + DOL. Slay them; I seek not to withhold your arm + From cutting off the vanquished Menelaus. + + HEC. Is it thy wish, Oileus’ son to thee + Should be consigned? + + DOL. The hands of princes, nurtured + Effeminately, are not formed to till + The stubborn soil. + + HEC. From which of all the Greeks + Taken alive wouldst thou receive his ransom? + + DOL. Already have I told you, that at home + I have abundant riches. + + HEC. Thou shalt choose + Among our spoils. + + DOL. For offerings let them hang + High in the temples of the gods. + + HEC. What gift + Greater than these canst thou from me require? + + DOL. Achilles’ steeds: for when I stake my life + On Fortune’s die, ’twere reasonable to strive + For such an object as deserves my toils. + + HEC. Although thou in thy wishes to possess + Those steeds hast interfered with me: for sprung + From an immortal race themselves immortal + They bear Pelides through the ranks of war, + Neptune, ’tis said, the king of ocean, tamed them + And gave to Peleus: I, who prompted thee + To this emprise, will not bely thy hopes, + But to adorn thy noble father’s house, + On thee Achilles’ generous steeds bestow. + + DOL. This claims my gratitude: if I succeed, + My courage will for me obtain a palm, + Such as no Phrygian ever won before: + Nor should you envy me, for joys unnumbered + And the first station in the realm, are yours. + + [_Exit_ HECTOR. + +CHORUS. + + II. + + The danger’s great, but great rewards allure + Thee, generous youth, t’ assert thy claim, + Thrice blest if thou the gift procure, + Yet will thy toils deserve immortal fame: + Th’ allies of kings let grandeur tend, + May Heaven and Justice thy emprise befriend, + For thou already seem’st to have acquired + All that from man can be desired. + + DOL. I am resolved to go: but my own doors + First must I enter, and myself attire + In such a garb as suits my present scheme, + Thence will I hasten to the Argive fleet. + + CHOR. What other dress intend’st thou to assume + Instead of that thou wear’st? + + DOL. Such as befits + My errand and the stealth with which I travel. + + CHOR. We ought to gain instruction from the wise. + What covering hast thou chosen for thy body? + + DOL. I to my back will fit the tawny hide + Of a slain wolf, will muffle up my front + With the beast’s hairy visage, fit my hands + To his fore-feet, thrust into those behind + My legs, and imitate his savage gait; + Approaching undiscovered by the foe, + The trenches and the ramparts that defend + The navy: but whenever I shall come + To desert places, on two feet I mean + To travel: such deception have I framed. + + CHOR. May Hermes, Maïa’s offspring, who presides + O’er well-conducted fallacies, assist + Thy journey thither, and with safety lead + Thy homeward steps! for well thou understand’st + The business; there is nought which yet thou need’st + But good success. + + DOL. I shall return in safety, + And having slain Ulysses, or the son + Of Tydeus, bring to you their ghastly heads: + For omens of assured success are mine: + Then say that Dolon reached the Grecian fleet. + These hands distained with gore, my native walls + Will I revisit ere the sun arise. + + [_Exit_ DOLON. + +CHORUS. + + ODE. + + I. 1. + + O thou, who issuing with majestic tread + From Delian, Lycian, or Thymbræan fanes, + Twang’st thy unerring bow; on Phrygia’s plains, + Apollo, thy celestial influence shed, + Hither come with nightly speed, + The enterprising chief to lead + Through mazes undiscovered by our foes; + Aid thy loved Dardanian line, + For matchless strength was ever thine, + Constructed by thy hand Troy’s ancient bulwarks rose. + + I. 2. + + Speed Dolon’s journey to the Grecian fleet, + Let him espy th’ entrenchments of their host; + Again in triumph from the stormy coast + Conduct the warrior to his native seat; + May he mount that chariot drawn + By steeds that browsed the Phthian lawn + When our brave lord, the Mars of Greece, hath slain; + Coursers of unrivalled speed, + Which erst to Eacus’ seed + To Peleus, Neptune gave who rules the billowy main. + + II. 1. + + His country, his paternal walls, to save, + The generous youth explores the anchored fleet: + From me such worth shall due encomiums meet. + How few with hardy bosoms stem the wave, + When Hyperion veils his face, + And cities tremble on their base! + At this dread crisis Phrygian heroes rise, + Mysian chiefs, uncurbed by fear, + Brandish with nervous arm the spear, + Curst be the lying tongue that slanders my allies. + + II. 2. + + In savage guise now Dolon stalks arrayed, + With step adventurous o’er the hostile ground: + What Grecian chief shall feel the deadly wound, + While the wolf’s hide conceals his glittering blade? + Weltering first in crimson gore, + May Menelaus rise no more; + Next may the victor, Agamemnon’s head + Bear to Helen, stung with grief + At her affinity to that famed chief + Who in a thousand ships to Troy his squadrons led. + +A SHEPHERD, HECTOR, CHORUS. + + SHEP. Most gracious monarch, may I ever greet + My lords with tidings such as now I bring! + + HEC. Full oft misapprehension clouds the soul + Of simple rustics: to thy lord in arms + Thou of thy fleecy charge art come to speak + At this unseemly crisis: know’st thou not + My mansion, or the palace of my sire? + There ought’st thou to relate how fare thy flock. + + SHEP. We shepherds are, I own, a simple race, + Yet my intelligence deserves attention. + + HEC. Such fortunes as befall the fold, to me + Relate not, for I carry in this hand + The battle and the spear. + + SHEP. I too am come + Such tidings to unfold; for a brave chief, + Your friend, the leader of a numerous host, + Marches to fight the battles of this realm. + + HEC. But from what country? + + SHEP. Thrace, and he is called + The son of Strymon. + + HEC. Didst thou say, that Rhesus + Hath entered Ilion’s fields? + + SHEP. You comprehend me, + And have anticipated half my speech. + + HEC. Why doth he travel over Ida’s hill, + Deserting that broad path where loaded wains + With ease might move? + + SHEP. I have no certain knowledge; + Yet may we form conjectures; ’tis a scheme + Most prudent, with his host to march by night + Because he hears the plain with hostile bands + Is covered: but us rustics he alarmed, + Who dwell on Ida’s mount, the ancient seat + Of Ilion’s first inhabitants, by night + When through that wood, the haunt of savage beasts + The warrior trod: for with a mighty shout + The Thracian host rushed on, but we, our flocks, + With terror smitten, to the summit drove, + Lest any Greek should come to seize the prey, + And waste your crowded stalls: till we discovered + Voices so different from the Hellenian tribes, + That we no longer feared them. I advanced, + And in the Thracian language made inquiry + Of the king’s vanguard, as they moved along + To explore a passage for the host, what name + Their leader bore, sprung from what noble sire, + To Ilion’s walls he came, the friend of Priam. + When I had heard each circumstance I wished + To know, I for a time stood motionless, + And saw majestic Rhesus, like a god, + High in his chariot, drawn by Thracian steeds + Whiter than snow, a golden beam confined + Their necks, and o’er his shoulders hung a shield + Adorned with sculptures wrought in massive gold; + Like that which in Minerva’s Ægis flames, + Bound on the courser’s front, a brazen Gorgon + Tinkled incessant with alarming sound. + The numbers of an army so immense + I cannot calculate; the horse were many, + Many the ranks of troops with bucklers armed, + And archers; and a countless multitude, + Like infantry in Thracian vests arrayed + Brought up the rear. Such is th’ ally who comes + On Troy’s behalf to combat; nor by flight, + Nor by withstanding his protended spear, + Can Peleus’ son escape him. + + CHOR. When the gods + Are to a realm propitious, each event + Is easily converted into bliss. + + HEC. Since I in battle prosper, and since Jove + Is on our side, I shall have many friends; + But those we need not who in former time + Our toils partook not, with malignant blast + When on the sails of Ilion Mars had breathed. + Rhesus hath shown too plainly what a friend + He is to Troy, for to the feast he comes, + Yet was he absent when the hunters seized + Their prey, nor did he share the toils of war. + + CHOR. You justly scorn such friends; yet, O receive + Those who would aid the city. + + HEC. We who long + Have guarded Ilion can defend it now. + + CHOR. Are you persuaded you have gained already + A triumph o’er the foes? + + HEC. I am persuaded, + And when to-morrow’s sun the heaven ascends + This shall be proved. + + CHOR. Beware of what may happen; + Jove oft o’erthrows the prosperous. + + HEC. I abhor + These tardy succours. + + SHEP. O, my lord, ’twere odious, + Should you reject with scorn the proffered aid + Of our allies: the sight of such a host + Will strike the foe with terror. + + CHOR. Since he comes + But as a guest, not partner in the war, + Let him approach your hospitable board, + For little thanks are due from Priam’s sons + To such confederates. + + HEC. Prudent are thy counsels, + Thou too hast rightly judged: and in compliance + With what the messenger hath said, let Rhesus + Refulgent in his golden arms draw near, + For Ilion shall receive him as her friend. + + [_Exit_ SHEPHERD. + +CHORUS. + + ODE. + + I. 1. + + Daughter of Jove, forbear to wreak + Impending vengeance, though the tongue, + O Nemesis, its boastful strain prolong: + I the free dictates of my soul will speak. + Thou com’st, brave son of that illustrious spring, + Thou com’st thrice welcome to our social hall: + At length doth thy Pierian mother bring + Her favoured child, while ling’ring in his fall, + Adorned by many a bridge, thee with paternal call. + + I. 2. + + Doth Strymon summon to the field: of yore + When he the tuneful Muse addressed, + A gliding stream he sought her snowy breast, + Thee, lovely youth, the yielding goddess bore: + To us thou com’st a tutelary power + Yoking thy coursers to the fervid car: + O Phrygia! O my country! at this hour + Hastes thy deliverer glittering from afar, + Him may’st thou call thy Jove, thy thunderbolt of war. + + II. 1. + + While swiftly glides th’ unheeded day, + Again shall Troy without control + Chant the young loves, and o’er the foaming bowl + The sportive contest urge ’midst banquets gay; + But Atreus’ sons desponding cross the wave, + And sail from Ilion to the Spartan strand. + Accomplish what thy friends foretold, O save + These menaced walls by thy victorious hand, + Return with laurels crowned, and bless thy native land. + + II. 2. + + To dazzle fierce Pelides’ sight, + Before him wave thy golden shield + Obliquely raised, that meteor of the field, + Vault from thy chariot with unrivalled might, + And brandish with each dexterous hand a lance; + Whoever strives with thee shall ne’er return + To Argive fanes, and join Saturnia’s dance, + He by the spear of Thrace in combat slain, + Shall lie a breathless corse on Troy’s exulting plain. + + Hail, mighty chief! ye Thracian realms, the mien + Of him ye bore speaks his exalted rank. + Observe those nervous limbs with plated gold + Incased, and hearken to those tinkling chains + Which on his shield are hung. A god, O Troy, + E’en Mars himself, from Strymon’s current sprung, + And from the Muse, brings this auspicious gale. + +RHESUS, HECTOR, CHORUS. + + RHE. Thou brave descendant of a noble sire, + Lord of this realm, O Hector, I accost thee + After a tedious absence, and rejoice + In thy success, for to the turrets reared + By Greece, thou now lay’st siege, and I am come + With thee those hostile bulwarks to o’erthrow, + And burn their fleet. + + HEC. Son of the tuneful Muse, + And Thracian Strymon’s stream, I ever love + To speak the truth, for I am not a man + Versed in duplicity; long, long ago, + Should you have come to succour Troy, nor suffered, + Far as on you depended, by our foes + This city to be ta’en. You cannot say + That uninvited by your friends you came not, + Because you marked not our distress. What heralds, + What embassies to you did Phrygia send, + Beseeching you, the city to protect, + What sumptuous presents did she not bestow? + But you, our kinsman, who derive your birth + From a barbarian stem, to Greece betrayed + Us, a barbarian nation, though from ruling + Over a petty state, by this right arm + I raised you to the wide-extended throne, + When round Pangæum and Pæonia’s realm + Rushing upon the hardiest Thracian troops + I broke their ranks of battle, and subdued + The people to your empire: but you spurn + My benefits, nor come with speed to succour + Your friends in their distress. Though they who spring not + From the same ancestors, observed our summons; + Of whom full many in yon field of death + Have tombs heaped o’er them, a most glorious proof + Of faith unshaken; others under arms + Their chariots mount, and steadfastly endure + The wintry blasts, the parching flames of heaven, + Nor on a gay convivial couch reclined + Like you, O Rhesus, drain the frequent bowl. + That you may know I yet can stand alone, + Such conduct I resent; this to your face + I speak. + + RHE. I also am the same: my language + Is plain and honest; I am not a man + Of mean duplicity. My soul was tortured + With greater anguish far than thou couldst feel, + Because I was not present in this land; + But Scythia’s tribes who near our confines dwell + Made war against me just as I to Troy + Was journeying; I had reached the Euxine shore + To sail with Thracia’s host, the Scythian blood + There stained our spears, and my brave troops expired + ’Midst intermingled slaughter: this event + Hindered my reaching Troy, and aiding thee + In battle. Having conquered them, and taken + For hostages their children, them I bound + To pay me annual tribute; with my fleet + Then crossed the Hellespont, and marched on foot + Through various realms, nor, as thou proudly say’st, + Drained the intoxicating bowl, nor slept + Beneath a gilded roof, but to such blasts + As cover with thick ice the Thracian wave, + Or through Pæonia howl, was I exposed + Wrapped in this mantle many a sleepless night. + But I, though late, am in due season come: + For this is the tenth year since thou hast waged + An ineffectual war, day after day + By thee is idly lavished, while the die + Of battle ’twixt the Argive host and thine + Spins doubtful ere it fall. But it for me + Will be sufficient that the sun once mount + The heavens, while I their bulwarks storm, invade + Their fleet, and slay the Greeks. To my own home + I the next day from Ilion will return, + Thy toils soon ending: let no Trojan bear + A shield: for with this spear will I subdue + The boasters, though ’twas late ere I arrived. + + CHOR. My soul this language doth approve, + Such friends as thou art sent by Jove, + But humbly I that god beseech, + To pardon thy presumptuous speech. + The navy launched from Argos’ strand, + Though freighted with a daring band, + Neither in former times, nor now + Contained a chief more brave than thou. + How shall Achilles’ self withstand, + Or Ajax meet, thy vengeful hand? + O may the morn with orient ray + Exhibit that auspicious day, + When thou the victor’s prize shalt gain + And dye with crimson gore the plain. + + RHE. Soon with exploits like these will I atone + For my long absence: but, with due submission + To Nemesis, I speak; when from the foe + We have delivered this beleaguered city + And seized their spoils for offerings to the gods; + With thee to Argos will I go, invade, + And ravage with victorious arms, all Greece, + To teach them in their turn what ’tis to suffer. + + HEC. Could I escape from the impending stroke, + And with that safety which we erst enjoyed + These walls inhabit, I to Heaven should pay + Full many a grateful vow: but as for Argos, + As for the Grecian states, to lay them waste + By arms were far less easy than you speak of. + + RHE. Is it not said the bravest chiefs of Greece + Came hither? + + HEC. Them I hold not in contempt, + But long have kept at bay. + + RHE. When these are slain, + We therefore each obstruction have removed. + + HEC. Forbear to think of distant prospects now, + While our immediate interests lie neglected. + + RHE. Art thou so tame as to endure such wrongs + Without retorting them? + + HEC. While I maintain + What I possess, my empire is sufficient. + But freely take your choice, or in the left + Or the right wing, or centre of our host + Display your shield, and range your troops around. + + RHE. I singly will encounter all our foes, + O Hector; but if thou esteem it base + Not to assist me when I burn their fleet, + Because thou hast already toiled so long, + Oppose me to Achilles in the front + Of battle. + + HEC. We at him no spear must aim. + + RHE. Yet was I told he sailed for Troy. + + HEC. He sailed, + And still is here, but angry with the chiefs, + Refuses to assist them. + + RHE. In the camp + Of Greece, say who is second in renown? + + HEC. Ajax, I deem, and Tydeus’ son are equal + To any; but most fluent in his speech, + And with sufficient fortitude inspired, + Is that Ulysses, from whom Troy hath suffered + Insults the most atrocious; for by night, + Entering Minerva’s fane, he stole her image, + And bore it to the Grecian fleet: disguised + In tattered vest, that vile impostor next + Entered the gates, and cursed the Argive host, + Sent as a spy to Ilion; having slain + The sentinels, he through the gates escaped, + And in some fraudful scheme is ever found: + At the Thymbræan temple is he stationed + Hard by our ramparts, we in him contend + With a most grievous pest. + + RHE. The valiant man + Is never mean enough to slay his foes + By stealth, he loves to meet them face to face; + But, as for him, the recreant chief thou nam’st, + Who lurking with a thievish purpose frames + These dark contrivances, as through the gates + I sally forth to combat, I will seize him; + Driven through his back, my spear shall leave the miscreant + Food for the vultures, for the impious robber + Who spoils the temples of the gods deserves + No better fate. + + HEC. Now choose, for it is night, + The spot for an encampment: I will show you + A separate quarter where your troops must sleep. + But mark me well, Apollo is the watchword; + In case of an emergency, announce + This signal to the Thracian host. + + [_Exit_ RHESUS. + + Extend + The watch beyond the lines, and there receive + Dolon our spy, who sallied forth t’ explore + The navy of our foes; if he be safe + He, by this time, the trenches must approach. + + [_Exit_ HECTOR. + +CHORUS. + + I. + + Who comes this rampart to defend? + The times assigned us sentinels is o’er; + Yon fading constellation shines no more + Now the seven Pleiades the heaven ascend, + In ether view the eagle glide. + Wake! what means this long delay? + Rise and watch; now dawns the day? + Saw ye the moon diffuse her radiance wide? + Aurora is at hand: but at the gate + (For Dolon sure returns) what faithful guard shall wait? + + SEMICHOR. To whom did the first watch belong? + + SEMICHOR. ’Tis said + Choræbus, son of Mygdon, is their chief. + + SEMICHOR. Who in his room was stationed? + + SEMICHOR. The Pæonians + Called from their tent Cilicia’s hardy troops. + + SEMICHOR. The Mysians summoned us. + + SEMICHOR. Haste, let us seek + The fifth division of the watch, and rouse + Lycia’s brave warriors as by lot ordained. + +CHORUS. + + II. + + Hark! couched on her ill-omened nest, + Fell murderess of her son, in varied strains + Near Simois’ banks the nightingale complains: + What sounds melodious heave her throbbing breast! + The flocks on Ida wont to feed + Still browse o’er that airy height, + Soothing the cold ear of night, + Hark to the murmurs of the pastoral reed. + Sleep on our closing eyelids gently steals; + Sweet are its dews when morn her earliest dawn reveals. + + SEMICHOR. But wherefore doth not he draw near whom Hector + Sent to explore the fleet? + + SEMICHOR. He hath so long + Been absent that I tremble. + + SEMICHOR. If he fell + Into some ambush, and is slain, we soon + Shall have sufficient cause for fear. + + SEMICHOR. But haste, + Rouse Lycia’s warriors as by lot ordained. + + [_Exit_ CHORUS. + +ULYSSES, DIOMEDE. + + ULY. Heard’st thou, O Diomede, the sound of arms, + Or in these ears did empty murmurs ring? + + DIO. No; but the steely trappings which are linked + To yonder chariots, rattled, and I too + With vain alarm was seized, till I perceived + The coursers, who their clanging harness shook. + + ULY. Beware, lest in this gloom of night thou stumble + Upon the sentinels. + + DIO. Though in the dark + We tread, I with such caution will direct + My steps as not to err. + + ULY. But, should’st thou wake them, + Thou know’st the watchword of their host. + + DIO. I know + It is Apollo; this I heard from Dolon. + + ULY. Ha! I perceive our foes have left these chambers. + + DIO. Here, Dolon told us, is the tent of Hector: + ’Gainst him I wield this javelin. + + ULY. What hath happened? + Is the whole squadron too elsewhere removed? + + DIO. Perchance they too ’gainst us may have contrived + Some stratagem. + + ULY. For Hector now is brave + Since he hath conquered. + + DIO. How shall we proceed? + For in this chamber him we cannot find, + And all our hopes are vanished. + + ULY. To the fleet + Let us in haste return: for him some god + Protects, and crowns him with triumphant wreaths: + We must not strive ’gainst Fortune’s dread behests. + + DIO. Then to Æneas will we go, or Paris + That Phrygian most abhorred, and with our swords + Lop off their heads. + + ULY. But how, in darkness wrapt, + Canst thou direct thy passage through the troops, + To slay them without danger? + + DIO. Yet ’twere base, + Back to the Grecian fleet should we return, + No fresh exploit performing ’gainst the foe. + + ULY. What means this language? hast thou not performed + A great exploit? have we not slain the spy + Who to our navy went, and are not these + The spoils of Dolon? how canst thou expect + To spread a general havoc through their troops? + Comply; let us retire: may Fortune speed + Our progress homeward. + +MINERVA, ULYSSES, DIOMEDE. + + MIN. With affliction stung, + Why from the Trojan camp do ye retire? + Although the gods forbid you to destroy + Hector or Paris, heard ye not that Rhesus, + A mighty chief, with numerous troops is come + To Troy? If he outlives this night, nor Ajax, + Nor can Achilles hinder him from wasting + The camp of Greece, demolishing your walls, + And forcing a wide passage through your gates + With his victorious spear: him slay, and all + Is yours; but go not to the couch of Hector, + Nor hope to leave that chief a weltering trunk, + For he must perish by another hand. + + ULY. Dread goddess, O Minerva, I distinguished + Thy well-known voice: for midst unnumbered toils + Thou ever dost support me: but, oh say, + Where sleeps the mighty warrior thou hast named, + And in what part of the barbarian host + Have they assigned his station? + + MIN. Near at hand, + And separate from the Phrygian troops, he lies; + Hector hath placed him just without the lines + Till morn arise; conspicuous in the gloom + Of night, and close beside their sleeping lord, + Yoked to the car his Thracian coursers stand, + White as the glossy plumage of the swan: + Them bear away when ye have slain their lord, + A glorious prize, for the whole world can boast + No car beside drawn by such beauteous steeds. + + ULY. Either do thou, O Diomede, transpierce + The Thracian soldiers, or to me consign + That task; meanwhile seize thou the steeds. + + DIO. To slay + The foe be mine; do you the coursers guide, + For you are practised in each nicer art, + And quick of apprehension. To each man + Should that peculiar station be assigned + In which he can be useful. + + MIN. But to us + Paris I see is coming, who hath heard + A doubtful rumour from the watch, that foes + Enter the trenches. + + DIO. Hath he any comrade, + Or marches he alone? + + MIN. Alone he seems + To go to Hector’s chamber, to announce + That there are foes discovered in the camp. + + DIO. Is it not first ordained that he shall die? + + MIN. You can no more, the Destinies forbid: + For Hector must not perish by your hand; + But haste to him on whom ye came to wreak + Fate’s dreadful purposes: myself meanwhile + Assuming Venus’ form, who ’midst the toils + Of battle by her tutelary care + Protects him, will with empty words detain + Paris your foe. Thus much have I declared: + Yet he, whom you must smite, though near at hand, + Nor knows, nor hears, the words which I have uttered. + + [_Exeunt_ ULYSSES _and_ DIOMEDE. + +PARIS, MINERVA. + + PAR. General and brother, Hector, thee I call: + Yet sleep’st thou? doth not this important hour + Demand thy vigilance? some foes approach, + Robbers or spies. + + MIN. Be of good cheer; for Venus + Protects you: I in all your battles feel + An interest, mindful of the prize I gained + Favoured by you, and am for ever grateful: + Now to the host of Ilion I conduct + Your noble Thracian friend, who from the Muse, + Harmonious goddess, and from Strymon springs. + + PAR. To Troy and me thou ever art a friend. + In thy behalf when I that judgment gave, + I boast that for this city I obtained + The greatest treasure life affords. But hither, + Hearing an indistinct account, I come; + For ’mong the guards there hath prevailed a rumour, + That Grecian spies have entered Ilion’s walls: + Though the astonished messenger who bore + These tidings, saw them not himself, nor knows + Who saw them: I on this account am going + To Hector’s tent. + + MIN. Fear nought; for in the camp + No new event hath happened. To arrange + The Thracian troops is Hector gone. + + PAR. Thy words + Are most persuasive, and to them I yield + Implicit credence. From all fears released, + I to my former station will return. + + MIN. Go and depend upon my guardian care + To see my faithful votaries ever blest; + For you in me shall find a zealous friend. + + [_Exit_ PARIS. + +ULYSSES, DIOMEDE, MINERVA. + + MIN. But now to you, my real friends, I speak. + Son of Laertes, O conceal your sword, + For we have slain the Thracian chief, and seized + His coursers, but our foes have ta’en th’ alarm + And rush upon you, therefore fly with speed, + Fly to the naval ramparts. Why delay + To save your lives when hostile throngs approach? + + [_Exit_ MINERVA. + +CHORUS, ULYSSES, DIOMEDE. + + CHOR. Come on, strike, strike, destroy. Who marches yonder? + Look, look, ’tis him I mean! these are the robbers + Who in the dead of night alarmed our host. + Hither, my friends, haste hither; I have seized them. + What answer mak’st thou? tell me whence thou cam’st, + And who thou art. + + ULY. No right hast thou to know; + Insult me, and this instant thou shalt die. + + CHOR. Wilt thou not, ere this lance transpierce thy breast, + Repeat the watchword? + + ULY. That thou soon shalt hear; + Be satisfied. + + 1st SEMICHOR. Come on, my friends, strike! strike! + + 2nd SEMICHOR. Hast thou slain Rhesus? + + ULY. I have slain the man + Who would have murdered thee: forbear. + + 1st SEMICHOR. I will not. + + 2nd SEMICHOR. Forbear to slay a friend. + + 1st SEMICHOR. Pronounce the watchword. + + ULY. Apollo. + + 2nd SEMICHOR. Thou art right; let not a spear + Be lifted up against him. + + 1st SEMICHOR. Know’st thou whither + Those men are gone? + + 2nd SEMICHOR. We saw not. + + 1st SEMICHOR. Follow close + Their steps, or we must call aloud for aid. + + 2nd SEMICHOR. Yet were it most unseemly to disturb + Our valiant comrades with our nightly fears. + + [_Exeunt_ ULYSSES _and_ DIOMEDE. + +CHORUS. + + ODE. + + I. + + What chief is he, who moved along; + What daring plunderer fleet and strong, + Shall boast he ’scaped my vengeful hand? + How overtake his rapid flight? + To whom compare him, who by night, + With dauntless step passed through our armed band + And slumbering guards? doth he reside + In Thessaly, near ocean’s boisterous tide + In Locris, or those islands scattered o’er + The waves? whence comes he to this fell debate? + What power supreme doth he adore? + + 1st SEMICHOR. Was this Ulysses’ enterprise, or whose? + + 2nd SEMICHOR. If we may form our judgment from the past, + Who but Ulysses—— + + 1st SEMICHOR. Think’st thou that it was? + + 2nd SEMICHOR. Why not? + + 1st SEMICHOR. He is an enterprising foe. + + 2nd SEMICHOR. What bravery? whom do you applaud? + + 1st SEMICHOR. Ulysses. + + 2nd SEMICHOR. Praise not the treacherous weapon of a robber. + +CHORUS. + + II. + + He entered Ilion once before, + With foam his eyes were covered o’er, + In tatters hung his squalid vest; + He artfully concealed his sword, + And sued for fragments from our board; + Shorn was his head, and like a beggar dressed; + He cursed with simulated hate + Th’ Atrides, rulers of the Grecian state. + May just revenge his forfeit life demand: + Would he had perished as his crimes deserve, + Before he reached the Phrygian land. + + 1st SEMICHOR. Whether this deed was by Ulysses wrought + It matters not, I shrink with fear, for Hector + Will to us guards impute the blame. + + 2nd SEMICHOR. What charge + Can he allege? + + 1st SEMICHOR. He will suspect. + + 2nd SEMICHOR. Why shrink + With terror? + + 1st SEMICHOR. ’Twixt our ranks they passed. + + 2nd SEMICHOR. Who passed? + + 1st SEMICHOR. They, who this night have entered Phrygia’s camp. + +CHARIOTEER OF RHESUS, CHORUS. + + CHA. Alas! intolerable stroke of fate! + + 1st SEMICHOR. Be silent. + + 2nd SEMICHOR. Rouse! for some one may have fallen + Into the snare. + + CHA. O dire calamity + Of Troy’s allies, the Thracians! + + 1st SEMICHOR. Who is he + That groans? + + CHA. Ah! wretched me, and O thou king + Of Thrace, who in an evil hour beheld’st + Accursed Ilion; what an end of life + Was thine! + + CHOR. But which of our allies art thou? + For o’er these eyes the gloom of night is spread, + And I discern thee not. + + CHA. Where shall I find + Some of the Trojan chiefs? beneath his shield + O where doth Hector taste the charms of sleep? + To which of Ilion’s leaders shall I tell + All we have suffered? and what wounds unseen + Some stranger hath on us with ruthless hand + Inflicted? but he vanished and hath heaped + Conspicuous sorrows on the Thracian realm. + + CHOR. Some terrible disaster to the troops + Of Thrace it seems hath happened, if aright + I comprehend what I from him have heard. + + CHA. Our host is utterly destroyed, our king + Hath been despatched by some foul secret stroke. + How am I tortured by a deadly wound, + Yet know not to what cause I must impute + My perishing! ’Twas by the Fates ordained, + That I, and Rhesus, who to Ilion led + Auxiliar troops, ingloriously should bleed. + + CHOR. He in no riddle hath expressed the tale + Of our misfortunes; he asserts too clearly + That our allies are slain. + + CHA. We are most wretched, + And to our wretchedness have joined disgrace, + A twofold evil. For, to die with glory, + If glory must be purchased at the expense + Of life, is very bitterness I deem + To him who bleeds (for what can make amends + For such a loss as life); but to the living + Is he the source of pride, from him his house + Derives renown. But we, alas! like fools, + Ignobly perish. Hector in the camp + No sooner fixed our station, and pronounced + The watchword, than we slept upon the plain, + O’ercome with toil; no sentinels were stationed + To watch our troops by night, nor were our arms + Duly arranged, and to the harnessed steeds + Hung no alarm bell; for our monarch heard + That ye had proved victorious, and with ruin + Threatened the Grecian fleet. Immersed we lay + In luckless slumber; till disturbed in mind + I started up, and with a liberal hand + Measured the coursers’ food, resolved betimes + To yoke them for the battle. I beheld + Two men, who, in the midnight darkness, walked + Around our camp; but when I moved, they fled, + And disappeared immediately; with threats + I bade them keep aloof: ’twas my conjecture + That robbers, some of our own countrymen, + Approached: they answered not, nor know I more. + Returning to my tent, again I slept, + And forms tremendous hovered in my dream. + For near my royal master, as I stood, + I saw two visionary wolves ascend + Those coursers’ backs which I was wont to guide, + Oft lashing with their tails they forced them on, + Indignant breathing as they champed the bit, + And struggling with dismay; but in attempting + To drive away these ravenous beasts, I woke, + Roused by the terrors of the night, and heard, + Soon as I raised my head, expiring groans; + The tepid current of my master’s blood, + Yet gasping in the agonies of death, + Besprinkled me. As from the couch I leaped + Unarmed, and sought for weapons, some strong warrior + Smote with his sword my ribs; the ghastly wound + Displayed his might: prostrate I sunk to earth. + Bearing the steeds away, and glittering car, + They by the swiftness of their feet escaped, + Tortured with pain, too faint to stand, I know + Too well the dire calamity these eyes + Beheld; but cannot say, or through what means, + Or by the hand of whom, my lord was slain: + Yet can I guess that by our friends we suffer. + + CHOR. O charioteer of Thracia’s wretched king, + Be well assured this deed was by our foes + Committed. For lo! Hector’s self, apprized + Of this calamity, draws near; he feels + Such anguish as he ought for thy disasters. + +HECTOR, CHARIOTEER OF RHESUS, CHORUS. + + HEC. O ye accursed authors of this mischief, + How did those spies, who by the foe were sent + Thus, to your infamy, escape, and spread + Dire havoc through the host; both as they entered + And as they left the camp? Yet, unmolested, + Ye suffered them to pass. Who should be punished + But you? for you, I say, were stationed here + To watch the camp; but they without a wound + Are vanished, laughing at the Phrygian troops + For their unmanly cowardice, and me + Their leader. Be assured, by Jove I swear, + All-gracious father, or the scourge or death + Shall wait you for such guilt, else deem that Hector + Is but a thing of nought, a very coward. + + CHOR. Great is, alas! my danger, mighty prince, + The foe stole in while I to you conveyed + Those tidings, that the Greeks around their ships + Had kindled fires: through all the live-long night + These watchful eyes have ne’er been sealed by sleep. + By Simois’ holy fountain I conjure you, + My royal lord, impute no blame to me, + For I am wholly guiltless. If you learn + That in my deeds or words I have offended, + Plunge me alive beneath earth’s deepest vault; + I ask no mercy. + + CHA. Why dost thou upbraid + These for the guilt? by plausible harangues + Wouldst thou impose on thy barbarian friends; + O thou barbarian, thou the bloody deed + Didst perpetrate; nor can our slaughtered comrades, + Nor we who linger pierced with ghastly wounds, + Admit that ’twas another. There requires + A long and subtle speech to make me think + Thou didst not basely murder thy allies, + Because the beauty of our steeds attracted + Thy admiration, and on their account + Hast thou slain those who at thy earnest prayer + Landed on Ilion’s shore; they came, they died. + With greater decency than thou observ’st, + Who dost assassinate thy friends, did Paris + The rites of hospitality infringe. + Pretend not that some Grecian came unseen + And smote us. Who subdued the Phrygian host, + Who reached our quarters unobserved by Hector? + Thou with the Trojan army wert before us; + But who was wounded, who among thy troops + Expired, when through their ranks as thou pretend’st + The foe to us advanced? But I was wounded, + And they, whom a more grievous ill o’ertook, + No more behold the sun. To be explicit, + I charge no Greek: what foe could come by night + And find out Rhesus’ tent, unless some god + Had told the murderers, for they sure knew nought + Of his arrival? therefore all this mischief + Must be thy sole contrivance. + + HEC. Our allies + Have long assisted us since first the Greeks + This realm invaded; and I never heard + They to my charge imputed any crime. + Could I begin with thee? by such desire + For beauteous steeds may I be never seized, + As to induce me to destroy my friends. + Ulysses was the author of this deed. + What Greek could have accomplished or contrived + Such an exploit, but he? Him much I fear: + My soul is also troubled lest he light + On Dolon too, and slay him, for ’tis long + Since he went forth, nor doth he yet return. + + CHA. I know not that Ulysses whom thou nam’st, + Nor did a foe inflict this ghastly wound. + + HEC. Therefore retain, since thus to thee it seems, + Thy own opinion. + + CHA. O my native land, + Might I but die in thee! + + HEC. Thou shalt not die: + For of the dead the number is sufficient. + + CHA. Reft of my lord, but whither shall I turn? + + HEC. Thou in my house shalt careful treatment find, + And healing balsams. + + CHA. Shall the ruthless hands + Of murderers dress my wounds? + + HEC. He will not cease + Alleging the same charge. + + CHA. Perdition seize + The author of this bloody deed! my tongue + Has fixed no charge, as thou pretend’st, on thee; + But Justice knows. + + HEC. Conduct him to my palace + With speed, that we may ’scape his clamorous plaints. + But you must go, and to the citizens + Proclaim, acquainting Priam, and the elders + Who sit in council, first, that I direct + The bodies of the slain shall be interred + With due respect beside the public road. + + [_Exit_ CHARIOTEER, _supported by one of_ + HECTOR’S _Attendants_. + + CHOR. Why from the summit of exalted bliss + Into fresh woes hath some malignant god + Plunged Troy, why caused this sad reverse of fortune? + +_The_ MUSE _appears in the air_, HECTOR, CHORUS. + + CHOR. High o’er our heads what deity, O king, + Is hovering? in her hands a recent corse + She bears: I shudder at the dreadful sight. + + MUSE. Ye Trojans, mark me well: for I a Muse + Who by the wise am worshipped, hither come, + One of the nine famed sisters, having seen + The wretched fate of this my dearest son, + Who by the foe was slain: but he who smote + The generous youth, Ulysses, that dissembler, + At length shall suffer as his crimes deserve. + + ODE. + + I. + + Parental anguish rends my breast, + For thee my son, my son, I grieve, + Thy mother sinks with woes oppressed. + Why didst thou take this road, why leave + Thy home, and march to Ilion’s gate, + Where death did thy arrival wait? + Oft with maternal zeal I strove + Thy luckless courage to restrain, + And oft thy sire opposed in vain. + But now with ineffectual love, + My dearest son, thee now no more, + Thee, O my son, must I deplore. + + CHOR. As far as bosoms, by no kindred ties + United, can partake a mother’s grief, + Do I bewail thy son’s untimely fate. + + MUSE. + + II. + + On him your tenfold vengeance shed + From Oeneus who derives his birth, + Smite base Ulysses’ perjured head, + Ye fiends who desolate the earth; + Through them with agonizing pain + I mourn my valiant offspring slain; + May Helen too partake their doom, + Who from her bridal mansions fled, + And sought th’ adulterer’s Phrygian bed; + For thou in Troy art to the tomb + By her consigned; and many a state + Bewails its bravest warriors’ fate. + + Much while on earth, and since thy murmuring ghost + Was plunged in Orcus’ dreary mansions more, + O offspring of Philammon, didst thou wound + My soul: that arrogance which caused thy ruin, + That contest with Pieria’s choir, gave birth + To this unhappy youth: for having passed + The rapid current, with incautious step + Approaching Strymon’s genial bed, we mounted + Pangæum’s summit, for its golden mines + Distinguished; each melodious instrument + Around us in full concert breathed; our strife + Was there decided with the Thracian minstrel; + That Thamyris who dared blaspheme our art, + We of his eyes deprived. But since I bore + Thee, O my son, through deference for my sisters, + And for my own reputed chastity, + Thee to the watery mansions of thy sire + I sent; and Strymon, to no human care, + But to the nymphs who haunt his limpid founts, + For nurture did consign thee; from those virgins + When, O my dearest son, thou hadst received + The best of educations, thou becam’st + Monarch of Thrace, the first of men. I felt + No boding apprehensions of thy death; + By thee, while marshalled on thy native ground, + Athirst for blood the dauntless squadrons moved. + But thee I cautioned, for I knew thy fate, + That thou to Troy shouldst never go; but thee + Th’ ambassadors of Hector and the Senate, + By oft repeated messages, persuaded + To come to the assistance of thy friends. + Yet think not, O Minerva, thou sole cause + Of my son’s fate, that thou these watchful eyes + Hast ’scaped; Ulysses and the son of Tydeus + Were not the authors of this bloody deed, + Although they gave the wound. We sister Muses + Honour thy city, in thy land we dwell. + Orpheus, the kinsman of this hapless youth + Whom thou hast slain, dark mysteries did unfold; + And by Apollo, and our sister choir, + Thy venerable citizen Musæus + Was taught to soar beyond each warbled strain + Of pristine melody: but in return + For all these favours, bearing in my arms + My son, I utter this funereal dirge; + But I no other minstrel will employ. + + CHOR. Falsely the wounded Thracian charioteer + Charged us with a conspiracy to slay him. + + HEC. Full well I knew, there needed not a seer + T’ inform me, that he perished by the arts + Of Ithacus. But was it not my duty + When I my country saw by Grecian troops + Besieged, to send forth heralds to my friends, + Requesting them to aid us? I did send, + And Rhesus came, by gratitude constrained, + Illustrious partner of my toils. His death + Lamenting, will I raise a tomb to grace + The corse of my ally, and o’er the flame + Strew tissued vests: for with confederate arms + Dauntless he came, though piteous was his death. + + MUSE. They shall not plunge him in the yawning grave, + Such vows will I address to Pluto’s bride, + Daughter of fruitful Ceres, to release + His ghost from the drear shades beneath: she owes + To Orpheus’ friends such honours. But henceforth, + Dead as it were to me, will he no more + Behold the sun, we ne’er must meet again, + Nor shall he see his mother, but shall lie + Concealed beneath the caverns of that land + With silver mines abounding, from a man + Exalted to a god, restored to life, + The priest of Bacchus, and of him who dwells + Beneath Pangeum’s rock, a god adored + By those who haunt his orgies. But ere long + To yonder goddess of the briny waves + Shall I bear doleful tidings: for by fate + It is decreed, her offspring too shall die; + But first our sisterhood, in choral plaints, + Will sing of thee, O Rhesus, and hereafter + Achilles, son of Thetis, shall demand + Our elegiac strains, not she who slew + Thee, hapless youth, Minerva, can redeem him; + Such an inevitable shaft is stored + In Phœbus’ quiver. O ye pangs that rend + A mother’s breast, ye toils the lot of man; + They who behold you in your real light + Will live without a progeny, nor mourn + With hopeless anguish o’er their children’s tomb. + + [_Exit the_ MUSE. + + CHOR. To bury the deceased with honours due, + Will be his mother’s care: but if, O Hector, + Thou mean’st to execute some great emprise, + ’Tis now the time: for morn already dawns. + + HEC. Go, and this instant bid our comrades arm, + Harness the steeds: but while ye in these toils + Are busied, ye the signal must await, + Th’ Etrurian trumpet’s clangour; for I trust + I first shall o’er the Grecian host prevail, + Shall storm their ramparts, and then burn their fleet, + And that Hyperion’s orient beams will bring + A day of freedom to Troy’s valiant race. + + CHOR. Obey the monarch: clad in glittering mail + Let us go forth, and his behests proclaim + To our associates; for that god who fights + Our battles, haply will bestow success. + + + + +THE TROJAN CAPTIVES. + + +PERSONS OF THE DRAMA. + + NEPTUNE. + MINERVA. + HECUBA. + CHORUS OF CAPTIVE TROJAN DAMES. + TALTHYBIUS. + CASSANDRA. + ANDROMACHE. + MENELAUS. + HELEN. + + +SCENE.—BEFORE THE ENTRANCE OF AGAMEMNON’S TENT IN THE GRECIAN CAMP NEAR +TROY. + +NEPTUNE. + + From the Ægean deep, in mazy dance + Where Nereus’ daughters glide with agile feet, + I Neptune hither come. For round the fields + Of Ilion, since Apollo and myself + With symmetry exact reared many a tower + Hewn from the solid rock; the love I bore + The city where my Phrygian votaries dwelt, + Laid waste by Greece, where smoke e’en now ascends + The heavens, hath ne’er been rooted from this breast, + For on Parnassus bred, the Phocian chief + Epeus, by Minerva’s arts inspired, + Framed with a skilful hand, and through the gates + Sent that accursed machine, the horse which teemed + With ambushed javelins. Through forsaken groves, + Through the polluted temples of the gods, + Flow tides of crimson slaughter; at the base + Of altars sacred to Hercæan Jove, + Fell hoary Priam. But huge heaps of gold + And Phrygian plunder, to the fleet of Greece + Are sent: the leaders of the host that sacked + This city, wait but for a prosperous breeze, + That after ten years absence they their wives + And children may with joy behold. Subdued + By Juno, Argive goddess, and Minerva, + Who leagued in Phrygia’s overthrow, I leave + Troy the renowned, and my demolished shrines. + For when pernicious solitude extends + O’er cities her inexorable sway, + Abandoned are the temples of the gods, + None comes to worship there. Scamander’s banks + Re-echo many a shriek of captive dames + Distributed by lot; th’ Arcadians, some, + Some the Thessalians gain, and some the sons + Of Theseus leaders of th’ Athenian troops: + But they whom chance distributes not, remain + Beneath yon roof selected by the chiefs + Of the confederate army. Justly deemed + A captive, among them is Spartan Helen: + And if the stranger wishes to behold + That wretched woman, Hecuba lies stretched + Before the gate, full many are her tears, + And her afflictions many: at the tomb + Of stern Achilles her unhappy daughter + Polyxena died wretchedly, her lord + The royal Priam, and her sons are slain, + That spotless virgin too whom from his shrine + Apollo with prophetic gifts inspired, + Cassandra, spurning every sacred rite, + Did Agamemnon violently drag + To his adulterous bed. But, O farewell, + Thou city prosperous once; ye splendid towers, + Had not Minerva’s self ordained your fall, + Ye still on your firm basis might remain. + +MINERVA, NEPTUNE. + + MIN. May I accost the god who to my sire + In blood is nearest, mighty, through high Heaven + Revered, and lay aside our ancient hate? + + NEP. ’Tis well, thou royal maid: an interview + ’Twixt those of the same house, is to the soul + An efficacious philtre. + + MIN. I applaud + Those who are temperate in their wrath, and bring + Such arguments, O monarch, as affect + Both you and me. + + NEP. From all th’ assembled gods + Some new commission bear’st thou, or from Jove, + Or what celestial power? + + MIN. From none of these. + But in the cause of Troy, whose fields we tread, + I to your aid betake me, and would join + Our common strength. + + NEP. Hast thou then laid aside + Thy former hate, to pity Troy, consumed + By the relentless flames? + + MIN. First, thither turn + Your views: to me will you unfold your counsels, + And aid the schemes I would effect? + + NEP. With joy: + But I meanwhile would thy designs explore, + Whether thou com’st on the behalf of Greece, + Or Troy. + + MIN. The Trojans, erst my foes, I wish + To cheer, and to embitter the return + Of the victorious Grecian host. + + NEP. What means + This change of temper? to excess thou hat’st + And lov’st at random. + + MIN. Know you not the insult + Which hath been shown to me, and to my temple? + + NEP. I know that Ajax violently tore + Cassandra thence. + + MIN. Yet by the Greeks unpunished + He ’scaped, and e’en uncensured. + + NEP. Though the Greeks + O’erthrew Troy’s walls through thy auxiliar might—— + + MIN. And for this very cause will I conspire + With you to punish them. + + NEP. I am prepared + For any enterprise thou wilt. What mean’st thou? + + MIN. Their journey home I am resolved to make + Most inauspicious. + + NEP. While they yet remain + Upon the shore, or ’midst the briny waves? + + MIN. As to their homes from Ilion’s coast they sail. + For Jove will send down rain, immoderate hail, + And pitchy blasts of air: he promises + To give me too his thunderbolts to smite + The Greeks and fire their ships; but join your aid, + Cause the Ægean deep with threefold waves, + And ocean’s whirlpools horribly to rage, + Fill with their courses the unfathomed caves + Beneath Eubœa’s rocks, that Greece may learn + My shrines to reverence, nor provoke the gods. + + NEP. It shall be done: there need not many words + To recommend thy suit. My storms shall rouse + Th’ Ægean deep; the shores of Myconè, + Scyros with Lemnos, all the Delian rocks, + And steep Caphareus with full many a corse + Will I o’erspread. But mount Olympus’ height, + And from the Thunderer’s hand his flaming shafts + Receiving, mark when the devoted host + Of Greece weigh anchor. Frantic is the man + Who dares to lay the peopled city waste, + Temples with tombs profaning, and bereaves + Of their inhabitants those sacred vaults + Where sleep the dead; at length shall vengeance smite + That hardened miscreant in his bold career. + + [_Exeunt._ + +_The Scene opens, and discovers_ HECUBA _on a couch_. + + HEC. Arise, thou wretch, and from the dust uplift + Thy drooping head; though Ilion be no more, + And thou a queen no longer, yet endure + With patience Fortune’s change, and as the tide + Or as capricious Fortune wills, direct + Thy sails, nor turn against the dashing wave + Life’s stubborn prow, for chance must guide thy voyage. + Alas! for what but groans belongs to me + Whose country, children, husband, are no more? + Oh, mighty splendour of my sires, now pent + In a small tomb, how art thou found a thing + Of no account! What portion of my woes + Shall I suppress, or what describe, how frame + A plaintive strain? Now fixed on this hard couch, + Wretch that I am, are my unwieldy limbs. + Ah me! my head, my temples, ah, my side! + Oh, how I wish to turn, and to stretch forth + These joints! My tears shall never cease to flow, + For like the Muse’s lyre, th’ affecting tale + Of their calamities consoles the wretched. + Ye prows of those swift barks which to the coast + Of fated Ilion, from the Grecian ports + Adventurous launched amid the purple wave, + Accompanied by inauspicious pæans + From pipes, and the shrill flute’s enlivening voice, + While from the mast devolved the twisted cordage + By Egypt first devised, ye to the bay + Of Troy did follow Menelaus’ wife, + Helen, abhorred adult’ress, who disgraced + Castor her brother, and Eurotas’ stream: + She murdered Priam, sire of fifty sons, + And me the wretched Hecuba hath plunged + Into this misery. Here, alas! I sit + In my loathed prison, Agamemnon’s tent; + From princely mansions dragged, an aged slave, + My hoary tresses shorn, this head deformed + With baldness. But, alas! ye hapless wives + Of Ilion’s dauntless warriors, blooming maids, + And brides affianced in an evil hour, + Together let us weep, for Ilion’s smoke + Ascends the skies. Like the maternal bird, + Who wails her callow brood, I now commence + A strain far different from what erst was heard + When I on mighty Priam’s sceptred state + Proudly relying, led the Phrygian dance + Before the hallowed temples of the gods. + + [_She rises, and comes forth from the tent._ + +SEMICHORUS, HECUBA. + + SEMICHOR. O Hecuba, what mean these clamorous notes, + These shrieks of woe? for from the vaulted roof + Thy plaints re-echoing smite my distant ear, + And fresh alarms seize every Phrygian dame + Who in these tents enslaved deplores her fate. + + HEC. E’en now, my daughter, at the Grecian fleet + Th’ exulting sailors ply their oars. + + SEMICHOR. Ah me! + What mean they? will they instantly convey me + Far from my ruined country? + + HEC. By conjecture + Alone am I acquainted with our doom. + + SEMICHOR. Soon shall we hear this sentence: “From these doors + Come forth ye Trojan captives, for the Greeks + Are now preparing to return.” + + HEC. O cease, + My friends, nor from her chambers hither bring + Cassandra, frantic prophetess, defiled + By Argive ruffians, for the sight of her + Would but increase my griefs. + + SEMICHOR. Troy, wretched Troy, + Thou art no more, they to whom fate ordains + No longer on thy fostering soil to dwell + Are wretched, both the living and the slain. + +CHORUS, HECUBA. + + CHOR. Trembling I come from Agamemnon’s tent, + Of thee my royal mistress to inquire + Whether the Greeks have doomed me to be slain, + And whether yet along the poop arranged + The mariners prepare to ply their oars. + + HEC. Deprived of sleep through horror, O my daughter, + I hither came: but on the road I see + A Grecian herald. + + CHOR. Tell me to what lord + Am wretched I consigned. + + HEC. E’en now the lot + Is casting to decide your fate. + + CHOR. What chief + To Argos, or to Phthia, me shall bear, + Or to some island, sorrowing, far from Troy? + + HEC. To whom shall wretched I, and in what land + Become a slave, decrepit like the drone + Through age, mere semblance of a pallid corse, + Or flitting spectre from the realms beneath? + Shall I be stationed or to watch the door, + Or tend the children of a haughty lord, + Erst placed at Troy in rank supreme? + + CHOR. Alas! + + HEC. With what loud plaints dost thou revive thy woes! + + CHOR. I never more through Ida’s loom shall dart + The shuttle, nor behold a blooming race + Of children, in those lighter tasks employed + Which suit the young and beauteous, to the couch + Of some illustrious Greek conveyed, the joys + Which night and fortune yields are lost to me; + Or filled with water, from Pirene’s spring + Shall I be doomed to bear the ponderous urn. + + HEC. O could we reach the famed and happy realm + Of Theseus, distant from Eurotas’ tide, + And curst Therapne’s gates, where I should meet + Perfidious Helen, and remain a slave + To Menelaus, who demolished Troy. + + CHOR. By fame’s loud voice I am informed, the vale + Of Peneus, at Olympus base, abounds + With wealth and plenteous fruitage. + + HEC. This I make + My second option, next the blest domain + Of Theseus. + + CHOR. I am told that Vulcan’s realm + Of Ætna, opposite Phœnicia’s coast + The mother of Sicilian hills, is famed + For palms obtained by valour. Through the realm + Adjacent, bordering on th’ Ionian deep, + Crathis the bright, for auburn hair renowned, + The tribute of its holy current pours, + And scatters blessings o’er a martial land. + But lo, with hasty step a herald comes + Bearing some message from the Grecian host! + What is his errand? for we now are slaves + To yon proud rulers of the Doric realm. + +TALTHYBIUS, HECUBA, CHORUS. + + TAL. O Hecuba, full oft, you know, to Troy + I, as their herald, by the Grecian host + Have been despatched; you cannot be a stranger + To me, Talthybius, who to you, and all, + One message bring. + + HEC. This, this, my dearest friends, + Is what I long have feared. + + TAL. The lots are cast + Already, if your terrors thence arose. + + HEC. Alas, to what Thessalian city saidst thou, + Or to the Phthian, or the Theban realm + Shall we be carried? + + TAL. To a separate lord + Hath each of you distinctly been assigned. + + HEC. To whom, alas, to whom am I allotted? + What Phrygian dames do happier fortunes wait? + + TAL. I know; but be distinct in your inquiries, + Nor ask at once a multitude of questions. + + HEC. Say who by lot hath gained my wretched daughter + Cassandra? + + TAL. Her the royal Agamemnon + His chosen prize hath taken. + + HEC. As a slave + To tend his Spartan wife? ah, me! + + TAL. No slave, + But concubine. + + HEC. What, Phœbus’ votive maid, + To whom the god with golden tresses gave + This privilege, that she should pass her life + In celibacy? + + TAL. With the shafts of love + Hath the prophetic nymph transpierced his breast. + + HEC. My daughter, cast the sacred keys away, + And rend the garlands thou with pride didst wear. + + TAL. Is it not great for captives to ascend + The regal couch? + + HEC. But where is she whom late + Ye took away, and whither have ye borne + That daughter? + + TAL. Speak you of Polyxena, + Or for whom else would you inquire? + + HEC. On whom + Hath chance bestowed her? + + TAL. At Achilles’ tomb + It is decreed that she shall minister. + + HEC. Wretch that I am! for his sepulchral rites + Have I then borne a priestess? but what law + Is this, what Grecian usage, O my friend? + + TAL. Esteem your daughter happy; for with her + All now is well. + + HEC. What saidst thou? doth she live? + + TAL. ’Tis her peculiar fate to be released + From all affliction. + + HEC. But, alas! what fortune + Attends the warlike Hector’s captive wife, + How fares it with the lost Andromache? + + TAL. Her to Achilles’ son hath from the band + Of captives chosen. + + HEC. As to me who need + For a third foot, the staff which in these hands + I hold, whose head is whitened o’er with age, + To whom am I a slave? + + TAL. By lot the king + Of Ithaca Ulysses hath obtained you. + + HEC. Alas! alas! let your shorn temples feel + The frequent blow; rend your discoloured cheeks. + Ah me! I am allotted for a slave + To a detestable and treacherous man, + Sworn foe of justice, to that lawless viper, + With double tongue confounding all, ’twixt friends + Exciting bitter hate. Ye Trojan dames, + O shed the sympathizing tear: I sink + Beneath the pressure of relentless fate. + + CHOR. Thy doom, O queen, thou know’st: but to what chief, + Hellenian or Achaian, I belong + Inform me. + + TAL. Peace! Conduct Cassandra hither + With speed, ye guards, into our general’s hands + When I his captive have delivered up, + That we the rest may portion out. Why gleams + That blazing torch within? would Ilion’s dames + Their chambers fire? what mean they? doomed to leave + This land, and to be borne to Argive shores, + Are they resolved to perish in the flames? + The soul, inspired with an unbounded love + Of freedom, ill sustains such woes. Burst open + The doors, lest, to their honour and the shame + Of Greece, on me the censure fall. + + HEC. They kindle + No conflagration, but, with frantic step, + My daughter, lo! Cassandra rushes hither. + +CASSANDRA, TALTHYBIUS, HECUBA, CHORUS. + + CAS. Avaunt! the sacred flame I bring + With reverential awe profound, + And wave the kindled torch around, + O Hymen, thou benignant king. + The bridegroom comes with jocund pride, + I too am styled a happy bride, + My name through Argos’ streets shall ring, + O Hymen, thou benignant king! + While thou attend’st my father’s bier, + O Hecuba, with many a tear, + While Ilion’s ramparts overthrown + From thee demand th’ incessant groan, + Ere the bright sun withhold his ray, + E’en in the glaring front of day, + I bid the nuptial incense blaze + To thee, O Hymen, thee whose power + Invoking at her bridal hour + The bashful virgin comes. Yon maze + Encircling, ’mid the choral dance, + As ancient usage bids, advance, + And in thy hand a flaming pine, + O mother, brandish. God of wine, + Thy shouting votaries hither bring, + As if in Ilion thou hadst found + Old Priam still a happy king. + Range that holy group around, + O Phœbus, in thy laureate mead, + Thy temple, shall the victim bleed. + Let Hymen, Hymen, Hymen, sound. + My mother, for the dance prepare, + Vault nimbly, and our revels share. + At Hymen’s shrine, my friends, prolong + Your vows, awake th’ ecstatic song; + In honour of my bridal day, + Chant, Phrygian nymphs, the choral lay, + And celebrate the chief whom fate + Ordains to be Cassandra’s mate. + + CHOR. Wilt thou not stop the princess, lest she rush + With frantic step amid the Grecian host? + + HEC. O Vulcan, wont to light the bridal torch, + Now dost thou brandish an accursed flame; + My soul foresaw not this. Alas! my daughter, + I little thought, that ’midst the din of arms, + Or while we crouch beneath the Argive spear, + Thou couldst have celebrated such espousals. + Give me the torch, for while with frantic speed + Thou rushest on, it trembles in thy hand. + Nor yet have thy afflictions, O my daughter, + Brought back thy wandering reason, thou remain’st + Disordered as before. Ye Trojan dames, + Remove yon blazing pines, and in the stead + Of these her bridal songs let tears express + The anguish of your souls. + + CAS. O mother, place + A laureate wreath on my victorious brow, + Exulting lead me to the monarch’s bed. + And if for thee too slowly I advance, + Drag me along by force; for I am now + No more the spouse of Phœbus; but that king + Of Greece, famed Agamemnon, shall in me + Take to his arms a bride more inauspicious + Than even Helen’s self: him will I smite, + And lay his palace waste, in great revenge + For my slain sire and brothers. But I cease + These menaces, and speak not of the axe + Which shall smite me and others, or the conflict + My wedlock shall produce, whence by the hands + Of her own son a mother shall be slain, + And th’ overthrow of Atreus’ guilty house. + This city will I prove to have been happier + Than the victorious Greeks (for though the gods + Inspire, I curb the transports of my soul), + Who for one single woman, to regain + The beauteous Helen only, wasted lives + Unnumbered. Their wise leader, in the cause + Of those he hated, slew whom most he loved; + He to his brother yielded up his daughter, + Joy of his house, for that vile woman’s sake, + Who with her own consent, and not by force, + Was borne away. But at Scamander’s banks + When they arrived, they died, though not by exile + Torn from their country, or their native towers: + But them who in embattled fields were slain + Their children saw not, nor in decent shroud + Were they enwrapped by their loved consorts’ hands, + But lie deserted on a foreign coast: + Their sorrows also who remained at home + Are similar; in widowhood forlorn + Some die; and others, of their own brave sons + Deprived, breed up the children of a stranger; + Nor at their slighted tombs is blood poured forth + To drench the thirsty ground. Their host deserves + Praises like these. ’Tis better not to speak + Of what is infamous, nor shall my Muse + Record the shameful tale. But, first and greatest + Of glories, in their country’s cause expired + The Trojans; the remains of those who fell + In battle, by their friends borne home, obtained + Sepulchral honours in their native soil, + That duteous office kindred hands performed: + While every Phrygian who escaped the sword + Still with his wife and children did reside, + Joy to the Greeks unknown. Now hear the fate + Of Hector, him whom thou bewail’st, esteemed + The bravest of our heroes, by the Greeks + Landing on Ilion’s coast the warrior fell; + In their own country had the foe remained, + His valour ne’er had been displayed: but Paris + Wedded the daughter of imperial Jove, + In her possessing an illustrious bride. + It is the wise man’s duty to avoid + Perilous war. After the die is cast, + He who undaunted meets the fatal stroke, + Adds to his native city fair renown; + But the last moments of a coward shame + The land which gave him birth. Forbear to weep, + My mother, for thy ruined country’s fate; + Weep not because thou seest thy daughter borne + To Agamemnon’s bed, for by these spousals + Our most inveterate foes shall I destroy. + + CHOR. How sweetly ’midst the sorrows of thy house + Thou smil’st! ere long perchance wilt thou afford + A melancholy instance that thy strains + Are void of truth. + + TAL. Had not Apollo fired + E’en to distraction thy perverted soul, + Thou on my honoured leader, ere he quit + The shores of Ilion, shouldst not unavenged + Pour forth these omens. But, alas! the great, + And they who in th’ opinion of mankind + Are wise, in no respect excel the vulgar. + For the dread chieftain of the Grecian host, + The son of Atreus, loves with boundless passion + This damsel frantic as the Mænades. + Myself am poor, yet would not I accept + A wife like her. Since thou hast lost thy reason, + I to the winds consign thy bitter taunts + ’Gainst Argos, with the praises thou bestow’st + On Troy. Thou bride of Agamemnon, come, + Follow me to the fleet. But when Ulysses + Would bear you hence, O Hecuba, obey + The summons, you are destined to attend + A queen called virtuous by all those who come + To Ilion. + + CAS. Arrogant, detested slave! + All heralds are like thee, the public scorn, + Crouching with abject deference to some king + Or city. Say’st thou, “To Ulysses’ house + My mother shall be borne?” Of what account + Were then the oracles Apollo gave + Uttered by me his priestess, which declare, + “She here shall die?” I spare the shameful tale. + He knows not, the unhappy Ithacus, + What evils yet await him, in the tears + Of me and every captive Phrygian maid, + While he exults, and deems our misery gain. + Ten more long years elapsed beyond the term + Spent in besieging Ilion, he alone + Shall reach his country; witness thou who dwell’st + ’Midst ocean’s straits tempestuous, dire Charybdis, + Ye mountains where on human victims feast + The Cyclops, with Ligurian Circe’s isle, + Whose wand transforms to swine, the billowy deep, + Covered with shipwrecks, the bewitching Lotus, + The sacred Oxen of the Sun, whose flesh + Destined to utter a tremendous voice + The banquet shall embitter: he at length, + In a few words his history to comprise, + Alive must travel to the shades beneath, + And hardly ’scaping from a watery grave + In his own house find evils numberless. + But why do I recount Ulysses’ toils? + Lead on, that I the sooner in the realms + Of Pluto, with that bridegroom may consummate + My nuptials. Ruthless miscreant as thou art, + Thou in the tomb ignobly shalt be plunged + At midnight; nor shall the auspicious beams + Of day illumine thy funereal rites, + O leader of the Grecian host, who deem’st + That thou a mighty conquest hast achieved. + Near to my lord’s remains, and in that vale, + Where down a precipice the torrent foams, + My corse shall to the hungry wolves be thrown, + The corse of Phœbus’ priestess. O ye wreaths + Of him whom best of all the gods I loved, + Adieu, ye symbols of my holy office, + I leave those feasts the scenes of past delight, + Torn from my brows avaunt, for I retain + My chastity unsullied still; the winds + To thee shall waft them, O prophetic king. + Where is your general’s bark, which I am doomed + T’ ascend? the rising breezes shall unfurl + Your sails this instant; for in me ye bear + One of the three Eumenides from Troy. + Farewell, my mother, weep not for my fate, + O my dear country, my heroic brothers, + And aged father, in the realms beneath, + Ere long shall ye receive me: but victorious + Will I descend among the mighty dead, + When I have laid th’ accursed mansions waste + Of our destroyers, Atreus’ impious sons. + + [_Exeunt_ CASSANDRA _and_ TALTHYBIUS. + + CHOR. Attendants of the aged Hecuba, + Behold ye not your mistress, how she falls + Upon the pavement speechless? Why neglect + To prop her sinking frame! Ye slothful nymphs, + Raise up this woman, whom a weight of years + Bows to the dust. + + HEC. Away, and on this spot + Allow me, courteous damsels, to remain: + No longer welcome as in happier days + Are your kind offices; this humble posture, + This fall best suits my present lowly state, + Best suits what I already have endured + And still am doomed to suffer. O ye gods, + In you I call upon no firm allies, + Yet sure ’tis decent to invoke the gods + When we by adverse fortune are opprest. + First, therefore, all the blessings I enjoyed + Would I recount, hence shall my woes demand + The greater pity. Born to regal state, + And with a mighty king in wedlock joined, + A race of valiant sons did I produce; + I speak not of their numbers, but the noblest + Among the Phrygian youths, such as no Trojan, + Nor Grecian, nor barbarian dame could boast: + Them saw I fall beneath the hostile spear, + And at their tomb these tresses cut: their sire, + The venerable Priam, I bewailed not, + From being told of his calamitous fate + By others, but these eyes beheld him slain, + E’en at the altar of Hercæan Jove, + And Ilion taken. I those blooming maids + Have also lost, whom with maternal love + I nurtured for some noble husband’s bed; + They from these arms are torn: nor can I hope + Or to be seen by them, or e’er to see + My children more. But last of all, to crown + My woes, an aged slave, shall I be borne + To Greece; and in such tasks will they employ me + As are most grievous in the wane of life; + Me, who am Hector’s mother, at the door + Stationed to keep the keys, or knead the bread, + And on the pavement stretch my withered limbs, + Which erst reposed upon a regal couch, + And in such tattered vestments, as belie + My former rank, enwrap my wasted frame. + Wretch that I am, who, through one woman’s nuptials, + Have borne, and am hereafter doomed to bear, + Such dreadful ills. O my unhappy daughter, + Cassandra, whom the gods have rendered frantic, + With what sad omens hath thy virgin zone + Been loosed! and where, Polyxena, art thou, + O virgin most unfortunate? but none + Of all my numerous progeny, or male + Or female, comes to aid their wretched mother. + Why, therefore, would ye lift me up? what room + Is there for hope? me who with tender foot + Paced through the streets of Troy, but now a slave, + Drag from the palace to the rushy mat + And stony pillow, that where’er I fall + There may I die, through many, many tears + Exhausted. Of the prosperous and the great + Pronounce none happy till the hour of death. + +CHORUS. + + ODE. + + I. + + Prepare, O Muse, prepare a song + Expressive of the fall of Troy; + The sympathetic dirge prolong + And banish every note of joy. + I with loud voice of Ilion’s fate will speak, + Sing how the foe our ramparts stormed + Through the machine their treachery formed, + The vehicle of many a daring Greek, + Who burst like thunder from that wooden steed, + With gorgeous trappings graced, in mimic state, + Concealing armed bands, which passed the Scæan gate, + They whom such semblance could mislead, + The unsuspecting crowd, + As on Troy’s citadel they stood, + Exclaimed; “Henceforth our toils shall cease, + Come on, and to Minerva’s fane convey + This holy image, pledge of peace.” + What veteran paused? what youth but led the way? + Enlivening songs breathed round in notes so sweet, + That gladly they received the pestilential cheat. + + II. + + Then did all Phrygia’s race combine + Through their devoted gates to bear, + Enclosed in the stupendous pine + The fraud of Greece, that latent snare, + To glut Minerva with Dardanian blood, + To pacify th’ immortal maid, + They the huge mass with ropes conveyed: + Thus the tall bark, into the briny flood + Too ponderous to be borne, is rolled along: + Till they had lodged it in th’ ill-omened fane + Of her to whom we owe our ruined country’s bane. + After their toil and festive song, + The cloud-wrapped evening spread + Her veil o’er each devoted head, + Shrill Phrygian voices did resound, + And Libya’s flutes accompanied the choir, + While nymphs high vaulting from the ground, + Mixed their applauses with the chorded lyre, + And from each hearth the flames with radiance bright, + While heedless warriors slept, dispelled the shades of night. + + III. + + Then o’er the genial board, to her who reigns + In woodland heights, Diana, child of Jove, + I waked the choral strains. + But soon there flew a dismal sound + Pergamus’ wide streets around: + The shrieking infant fondly strove + To grasp the border of a mother’s vest, + And with uplifted hands its little fears expressed: + Mars from his ambush by Minerva’s aid + Conspicuous issued and the fray began, + Thick gore adown our altars ran, + And many a slaughtered youth was laid + A headless trunk on the disfigured bed, + That Greece might shine with laureate wreaths arrayed, + By Troy while fruitless tears are shed. + +ANDROMACHE, HECUBA, CHORUS. + + CHOR. Seest thou, Andromache, O queen, this way + Advancing, wafted in a foreign car? + Eager to cling to the maternal breast + Close follows her beloved Astyanax, + The son of Hector. + + HEC. Whither art thou borne, + O wretched woman, on a chariot placed + ’Midst Hector’s brazen armour, and those spoils + From captive Phrygian chiefs in combat torn, + With which Achilles’ son from Ilion’s siege + Triumphant, will the Phthian temples grace? + + AND. Our Grecian masters drag me hence. + + HEC. Alas! + + AND. Why with your groans my anguish strive t’ assuage? + + HEC. Oh! + + AND. I by griefs am compassed—— + + HEC. Mighty Jove! + + AND. And dread vicissitudes of fate. + + HEC. My children. + + AND. We once were blest. + + HEC. Now are those prosperous days + No more; and Ilion is no more. + + AND. Most wretched! + + HEC. My noble sons. + + AND. Alas! + + HEC. Alas my—— + + AND. Woes. + + HEC. O piteous fortune—— + + AND. Of the city—— + + HEC. Wrapt + In smoke. + + AND. Return, my husband, O return. + + HEC. In clamorous accents thou invok’st my son, + Whom Pluto’s realms detain, unhappy woman. + + AND. Thy consort’s tutelary power. + + HEC. And thou, + Whose courage long withstood the Grecian host, + Thou aged father of our numerous race, + Lead me, O Priam, to the shades beneath. + + AND. Presumptuous are such wishes. + + HEC. We endure + These grievous woes. + + CHOR. While ruin overwhelms + Our city, for on sorrows have been heaped + Fresh sorrows, through the will of angry Heaven, + Since in an evil hour thy son was snatched + From Pluto, who, determined to avenge + Those execrable nuptials, with the ground + Hath levelled Pergamus’ beleaguered towers. + Near Pallas’ shrine the corses of the slain + Weltering in gore to vultures lie exposed, + And Ilion droops beneath the servile yoke. + Thee, O my wretched country, I with tears + Forsake: e’en now thou view’st the piteous end + Of all thy woes, and my loved native house. + + HEC. My children! O my desolated city! + Your mother is bereft of every joy. + + CHOR. What shrieks, what plaints resound! what floods of tears + Stream in our houses! but the dead forget + Their sorrows, and for ever cease to weep. + + HEC. To those who suffer, what a sweet relief + Do tears afford! the sympathetic Muse + Inspires their plaints. + + AND. O mother of that chief, + Whose forceful javelin thinned the ranks of Greece, + Illustrious Hector, seest thou this? + + HEC. I see + The gods delight in raising up the low, + And ruining the great. + + AND. Hence with my son, + A captive am I hurried; noble birth + Subject to these vicissitudes now sinks + Into degrading slavery. + + HEC. Uncontrolled + The power of fate: Cassandra from these arms + But now with brutal violence was torn! + + AND. A second Ajax to thy daughter seems + To have appeared. Yet hast thou other griefs. + + HEC. All bounds, all numbers they exceed; with ills + Fresh ills as for pre-eminence contend. + + AND. Polyxena, thy daughter, at the tomb + Of Peleus’ son hath breathed her last, a gift + To the deceased. + + HEC. Wretch that I am, alas! + Too clearly now I understand the riddle + Which in obscurer terms Talthybius uttered. + + AND. I saw her bleed, and lighting from this car + Covered her with the decent shroud and wailed + O’er her remains. + + HEC. Alas! alas! my child + To bloody altars dragged by impious hands, + Alas! alas! how basely wert thou slain! + + AND. Most dreadfully she perished; yet her lot + Who perished is more enviable than mine. + + HEC. Far different, O my daughter, is the state + Of them who live, from them who breathe no more: + For the deceased are nothing: but fair hope, + While life remains, can never be extinct. + + AND. Thou whom, although I sprung not from thy womb, + I deem a mother, to my cheering words + With patience listen, they will yield delight + To thy afflicted soul. ’Tis the same thing + Ne’er to be born, or die; but better far + To die, than to live wretched: for no sorrow + Affects th’ unconscious tenant of the grave. + But he who once was happy, he who falls + From fortune’s summit down the vale of woe, + With an afflicted spirit wanders o’er + The scenes of past delight. In the cold grave, + Like one who never saw the blessed sun, + Polyxena remembers not her woes. + But I who aimed the dextrous shaft, and gained + An ample portion of renown, have missed + The mark of happiness. In Hector’s house + I acted as behoves each virtuous dame. + First, whether sland’rous tongues assail or spare + The matron’s chastity, an evil name, + Her who remains not at her home, pursues: + Such vain desires I therefore quelled, I stayed + In my own chamber, a domestic life + Preferring, and forbore to introduce + Vain sentimental language, such as gains + Too oft the ear of woman: ’twas enough + For me to yield obedience to the voice + Of virtue, that best monitor. My lord + With placid aspect and a silent tongue + I still received, for I that province knew + In which I ought to rule, and when to yield + Submission to a husband’s will. The fame + This conduct gained me, reached the Grecian camp, + And proved my ruin: for when I became + A captive, Neoptolemus resolved + To take me to his bed, and in the house + Of murderers I to slavery am consigned. + If shaking off my Hector’s loved remembrance + To this new husband I my soul incline, + I shall appear perfidious to the dead; + Or, if I hate Achilles’ son, become + Obnoxious to my lords; though some assert + That one short night can reconcile th’ aversion + Of any woman to the nuptial couch; + I scorn that widow, reft of her first lord, + Who listens to the voice of love, and weds + Another. From her comrade torn, the mare + Sustains the yoke reluctant, though a brute + Dumb and irrational, by nature formed + Subordinate to man: but I in thee + Possessed a husband, O my dearest Hector, + In wisdom, fortune, and illustrious birth, + For me sufficient, great in martial deeds: + A spotless virgin-bride, me from the house + Of my great father, didst thou first receive; + But thou art slain, and I to Greece must sail + A captive, and endure the servile yoke! + Is not the death of that Polyxena, + Whom thou, O Hecuba, bewail’st, an ill + More tolerable than those which I endure? + For hope, who visits every wretch beside, + To me ne’er comes; to me no promised joys + Afford a flattering prospect to deceive + This anxious bosom; for ’tis sweet to think + E’en of ideal bliss. + + CHOR. Thou art involved + In the same sufferings, and in plaintive notes + Bewailing thy calamity, inform’st me + What treatment to expect. + + HEC. I ne’er did mount + A ship, yet I from pictures and report + These matters know: amidst a moderate storm, + Such as they hope to weather out, the sailors + To save themselves, exert a cheerful toil: + This to the rudder, to the shattered sails + That goes, a third laborious at the pump + Draws off the rising waters; but if vanquished + By the tempestuous ocean’s rage, they yield + To fortune, and consigning to the waves + Their vessel, are at random driven along. + Thus I am mute beneath unnumbered woes, + Nor can this tongue expatiate, for the gods + Such torrents pour as drown my feeble voice! + But, O my daughter, cease to name the fate + Of slaughtered Hector, whom no tears can save. + Pay due attention to thy present lord, + With amorous glances and a fond compliance + Receiving him; act thus, and thou wilt cheer + Our friends, and this my grandson educate + A bulwark to fallen Ilion, that his race + The city may rebuild, and dwell in Troy. + But a fresh topic of discourse ensues. + What servant of the Greeks do I behold + Again draw near, t’ announce some new design? + +TALTHYBIUS, ANDROMACHE, HECUBA, CHORUS. + + TAL. O thou who erst wert Hector’s wife, that bravest + Of Phrygians, hate me not; for with reluctance + Will I the general sentence of the Greeks + And Pelops’ progeny, announce. + + AND. What means + This evil prelude. + + TAL. ’Tis decreed thy son— + How shall I speak it? + + AND. To a separate lord + Shall be consigned? + + TAL. None of the Grecian chiefs + Shall ever o’er Astyanax bear rule. + + AND. Must I leave here, him who alone remains + Of all that erst was dear to me in Troy? + + TAL. Alas! I know not in what terms t’ express + The miseries that await thee? + + AND. I commend + Such modesty, provided thou canst speak + Aught to afford me comfort. + + TAL. They resolve + To slay thy son; thou hear’st my dismal errand. + + AND. Ah me! thou hast unfolded to these ears + An evil, greater than my menaced spousals. + + TAL. By his harangues to the assembled Greeks, + Ulysses hath prevailed. + + AND. Alas! alas! + Immoderate are the sorrows I endure. + + TAL. Saying they ought not to train up the son + Of that heroic sire. + + AND. May he obtain + O’er his own children triumphs great as these! + + TAL. He from the towers of Ilion must be thrown: + But I entreat thee, and thou hence shall seem + More prudent, strive not to withhold thy son, + But bear thy woes with firmness; nor, though weak, + Deem thyself strong; for thou hast no support, + And therefore must consider that thy city + Is overthrown, thy husband is no more, + Thou art reduced to servitude; and we + Are strong enough to combat with one woman: + O therefore brave not this unequal strife, + Stoop not to aught that’s base, nor yet revile, + Nor idly scatter curses on thy foes; + For if thou utter aught that may provoke + The anger of the host, thy son will bleed + Unburied and unwept: but if thou bear + With silence and composure thy misfortunes, + Funereal honours shall adorn his grave, + And Greece to thee her lenity extend. + + AND. Thee, O my dearest son, thy foes will slay; + Soon art thou doomed to leave thy wretched mother. + What saves the lives of others, the renown + Of an illustrious sire, to thee will prove + The cause of death: by this paternal fame + Art thou attended in an evil hour. + To me how luckless proved the genial bed, + And those espousals, that to Hector’s house + First brought me, when I trusted I should bear + A son, no victim to the ruthless Greeks, + But an illustrious Asiatic king. + Weep’st thou, my son? dost thou perceive thy woes? + Why cling to me with timid hands? Why seize + My garment? thus beneath its mother’s wings + The callow bird is sheltered. From the tomb, + No Hector brandishing his massive spear + Rushes to saves thee; no intrepid kinsman + Of thy departed father, nor the might + Of Phrygian hosts is here: but from aloof + Borne headlong by a miserable leap, + Shalt thou pour forth thy latest gasp of life + Unpitied. Tender burden in the arms + Of thy fond mother! what ambrosial odours + Breathed from thy lips? I swathed thee to my breast + In vain, I toiled in vain, and wore away + My strength with fruitless labours. Yet embrace + Thy mother once again; around my neck + Entwine thine arms, and give one parting kiss. + Ye Greeks, who studiously invent new modes + Of unexampled cruelty, why slay + This guiltless infant? Helen, O thou daughter + Of Tyndarus, never didst thou spring from Jove, + But I pronounce thee born of many sires, + An evil Genius, Envy, Slaughter, Death, + And every evil that from Earth receives + Its nourishment; nor dare I to assert + That Jove himself begot a pest like thee, + Fatal to Greece and each barbarian chief. + Perdition overtake thee! for those eyes + By their seducing glances have o’erthrown + The Phrygian empire. Bear this child away, + And cast him from the turrets if ye list, + Then banquet on his quivering flesh: the gods + Ordain that I shall perish: nor from him + Can I repel the stroke of death. Conceal + This wretched form from public view, and plunge me + In the ship’s hold; for I have lost my son, + Such the blest prelude to my nuptial rite. + + CHOR. Thy myriads, hapless Ilion, did expire + In combat for one woman, to maintain + Paris’ accursed espousals. + + AND. Cease, my child, + Fondly to lisp thy wretched mother’s name, + Ascend the height of thy paternal towers, + Whence ’tis by Greece decreed thy parting breath + Shall issue. Take him hence. Aloud proclaim + This deed ye merciless: that wretch alone + Who never knew the blush of virtuous shame, + Your sentence can applaud. + + [_Exeunt_ ANDROMACHE _and_ TALTHYBIUS. + + HEC. O child, thou son + Of my unhappy Hector, from thy mother + And me thou unexpectedly art torn. + What can I do, what help afford? for thee + I smite this head, this miserable breast; + Thus far my power extends. Alas! thou city, + And, O my grandson! is there yet a curse + Beyond what we have felt? remains there aught + To save us from the yawning gulf of ruin? + +CHORUS. + + ODE. + + I. 1. + + In Salamis’ profound retreat + Famed for the luscious treasures of the bee, + High raised above th’ encircling sea + Thou, Telamon, didst fix thy regal seat; + Near to those sacred hills, where spread + The olive first its fragrant sprays, + To form a garland for Minerva’s head, + And the Athenian splendor raise: + With the famed archer, with Alcmena’s son + Thou cam’st exulting with vindictive joy; + By your confederate arms was Ilion won, + When from thy Greece thou cam’st our city to destroy. + + I. 2. + + Repining for the promised steeds, + From Greece Alcides led a chosen band, + With hostile prows th’ indented strand + He reached, and anchored near fair Simois’ meads; + Selected from each ship, he led + Those who with dextrous hand could wing + Th’ unerring shaft, till slaughter reached thy head, + Laomedon, thou perjured king: + Those battlements which Phœbus’ self did rear + The victor wasted with devouring flame; + Twice o’er Troy’s walls hath waved the hostile spear, + Twice have insulting shouts announced Dardania’s shame. + + II. 1. + + Thou bear’st the sparkling wine in vain + With step effeminate, O Phrygian boy, + Erewhile didst thou approach with joy + To fill the goblet of imperial Jove; + For now thy Troy lies levelled with the plain, + And its thick smoke ascends the realms above. + On th’ echoing coast our plaints we vent, + As feathered songsters o’er their young bewail, + A child or husband these lament, + And those behold their captive mothers sail: + The founts where thou didst bathe, th’ athletic sports, + Are now no more. Each blooming grace + Sheds charms unheeded o’er thy placid face, + And thou frequent’st Heaven’s splendid courts. + Triumphant Greece hath levelled in the dust + The throne where Priam ruled the virtuous and the just. + + II. 2. + + With happier auspices, O love. + Erst didst thou hover o’er this fruitful plain, + Hence caught the gods thy thrilling pain; + By thee embellished, Troy’s resplendent towers + Reared their proud summits blest by thundering Jove, + For our allies were the celestial powers. + But I no longer will betray + Heaven’s ruler to reproach and biting shame. + The white-winged morn, blest source of day, + Who cheers the nations with her kindling flame, + Beheld these walls demolished, and th’ abode + Of that dear prince who shared her bed + In fragments o’er the wasted champaign spread: + While swift along the starry road, + Her golden car his country’s guardian bore: + False was each amorous god, and Ilion is no more. + +MENELAUS, HECUBA, CHORUS. + + MEN. Hail, O ye solar beams, who on this day, + When I my consort Helen shall regain + Your radiance shed. For I am he who long + Endured the toils of battle, Menelaus, + Attended by the Grecian host. To Troy, + Not in a woman’s cause, as many deem, + I came, but came to punish him who broke + The laws of hospitality, and ravished + My consort from my palace. He hath suffered + As he deserved, such was the will of Heaven, + He and his country by the spear of Greece + Have been destroyed. But I am come to bear + That Spartan dame away, whom with regret + I term my consort, though she once was mine. + But she beneath these tents is with the rest + Of Phrygia’s captives numbered: for the troops + Whose arms redeemed her, have to me consigned + That I might either take away, or spare + Her life, and waft her to the Argive coast. + I am resolved that Helen shall not bleed + In Troy, but o’er the foaming waves to Greece + Will I convey her, and to them whose friends + Before yon walls were slain, surrender up + To perish by their vengeance. But with speed + Enter the tent, thence by that hair defiled + With murder, O my followers, drag her forth, + And hither bring: for when a prosperous breeze + Arises, her will I to Greece convey. + + HEC. O thou who mov’st the world, and in this earth + Hast fixed thy station, whosoe’er thou art, + Impervious to our reason, whether thou, + O Jove, art dread necessity which rules + All nature, or that soul which animates + The breasts of mortals, thee do I adore, + For in a silent path thou tread’st and guid’st + With justice the affairs of man. + + MEN. What means + This innovation in the solemn prayer + You to the gods address? + + HEC. I shall applaud + The stroke, O Menelaus, if thou slay + Thy wife; but soon as thou behold’st her, fly, + Lest she with love ensnare thee. For the eyes + Of men she captivates, o’erturns whole cities, + And fires the roofs of lofty palaces, + She is possessed of such resistless charms; + Both I and thou and thousands to their cost, + Alas! are sensible how great her power. + +HELEN, MENELAUS, HECUBA, CHORUS. + + HEL. O Menelaus, this is sure a prelude + To greater horrors. For with brutal hands + I by your servants from these tents am dragged? + Too well I know you hate me, yet would learn, + How you and Greece have of my life disposed. + + MEN. Thou by the utmost rigour of the laws + Hast not been sentenced; but the host, to me + Whom thou hast wronged, consign thee to be slain. + + HEL. May not I answer to these harsh resolves, + That if I bleed, unjustly shall I bleed? + + MEN. I came not hither to debate, but slay thee? + + HEC. Hear her, nor let her die, O Menelaus, + Without this privilege. Me too allow + To make reply to her defence; for nought + Of the foul deeds, which she in Troy committed + Yet know’st thou: if united, the whole tale + Must force thee to destroy her, and preclude + All means of her escaping. + + MEN. An indulgence + Like this supposes leisure to attend; + However, if she have a wish to speak, + She may: but be assured, that my compliance + To your request is owing, for such favour + To her I would not grant. + + HEL. Perhaps with me + Whom you account a foe, you will not deign, + Whether I seem to utter truth or falsehood, + To parley. But to each malignant charge + With which, O Hecuba, I know thou com’st + Prepared against me, will I make reply, + And to o’erbalance all that thou canst urge + Produce recriminations. First, she bore + Paris, the author of these mischiefs, next + Did aged Priam ruin Troy and me, + When erst that infant he forbore to slay, + That baleful semblance of a flaming torch! + Hear what ensued; by Paris were the claims + Of the three rival goddesses decided. + The gift Minerva proffered; that commanding + The Phrygians, he should conquer Greece; while Juno + Promised, that he his empire should extend + From Asia to remotest Europe’s bounds, + If he to her adjudged the golden prize; + But Venus, who in rapturous terms extolled + My charms, engaged that as the great reward + She would on him bestow me; to her beauty + If o’er each goddess he the preference gave. + Observe the sequel: Venus, o’er Minerva + And Juno, gained the triumph; and my nuptials + Thus far have been a benefit to Greece; + Ye are not subject to barbarian lords, + Crushed by invasion, or tyrannic power. + But I my ruin owe to what my country + Hath found thus advantageous, for my charms + To Paris sold, and branded with disgrace, + E’en for such deeds as merited a wreath + To crown these brows. But you may urge, that all + I have alleged is of no real weight, + Because by stealth I from your palace fled. + Accompanied by no mean goddess, came + That evil genius, sprung from Hecuba, + Distinguish him by either name you list, + Paris or Alexander, in your house, + Whom, O delirious, you behind you left, + And sailed from Sparta to the Cretan isle. + Well, be it so. Of my own heart, not you + I in regard to all that hence ensued + Will ask the question. What could have induced me, + Following that stranger, to forsake my home, + False to my native land? impute the guilt + To Venus, and assume a power, beyond + E’en that of Jove, who rules th’ inferior gods + But yields to her behests. My crime was venial; + Yet hence you may allege a specious charge + Against me; since to earth’s dark vaults the corse + Of Paris was consigned, no longer bound + Through Heaven’s supreme decree in nuptial chains, + I to the Grecian fleet should have escaped + From Ilion’s palace; such was my design: + This can the guards of Troy’s beleaguered towers, + And sentinels who on the walls were stationed, + Attest, that oft they caught me, as with ropes + By stealth I strove to light upon the ground; + But a new husband, fierce Deiphobus, + Obtained me for a wife by brutal force, + Though every Phrygian disapproved. What law + Can sentence me, whom ’gainst my will he wedded, + By you, my lord, with justice to be slain? + But for the benefits through me derived + To Greece, I in the stead of laureate wreaths + With slavery am requited. If you wish + To overcome the gods’ supreme behests, + That very wish were folly. + + CHOR. O my Queen, + Assert thy children’s and thy country’s cause, + ’Gainst her persuasive language, for she speaks + With eloquence, though guilty: curst imposture! + + HEC. I those three goddesses will first defend, + And prove that she has uttered vile untruths: + For of such madness ne’er can I suspect + Juno and Pallas that immortal maid, + As that the first should to barbarian tribes + Propose to sell her Argos, or Minerva + To make her Athens subject to the Phrygians: + Seeking in sportive strife the palm of beauty + They came to Ida’s mount. For through what motive + Could Juno with such eagerness have wished + Her charms might triumph? to obtain a husband + Greater than Jove? could Pallas, who besought + Her sire she ever might remain a virgin, + Propose to wed some deity? Forbear + To represent these goddesses as foolish, + That thy transgressions may by their example + Be justified: thou never canst persuade + The wise. Thou hast presumed t’ assert (but this + Was a ridiculous pretence) that Venus + Came with my son to Menelaus’ house. + Could she not calmly have abode in Heaven, + Yet wafted thee and all Amycla’s city + To Ilion? but the beauty of my son + Was great, and thy own heart, when thou beheld’st him + Became thy Venus: for whatever folly + Prevails, is th’ Aphrodite of mankind: + That of Love’s goddess, justly doth commence + With the same letters as an idiot’s name. + Him didst thou see in a barbaric vest + With gold refulgent, and thy wanton heart + Was thence inflamed with love, for thou wert poor + While yet thou didst reside in Greece; but leaving + The Spartan regions, thou didst hope, the city + Of Troy, with gold o’erflowing, could support + Thy prodigality; for the revenues + Of Menelaus far too scanty proved + For thy luxuriant appetites: but sayst thou + That Paris bore thee thence by force? what Spartan + Saw this? or, with what cries didst thou invoke + Castor or Pollux, thy immortal brothers, + Who yet on earth remained, nor had ascended + The starry height? But since thou cam’st to Troy, + And hither the confederate troops of Greece + Tracing thy steps, began the bloody strife, + Whene’er thou heard’st that Menelaus prospered + Him didst thou praise, and make my son to grieve + That such a mighty rival shared thy love: + But if the Trojan army proved victorious, + He shrunk into a thing of nought. On Fortune + Still didst thou look, still deaf to Virtue’s call + Follow her banners: yet dost thou assert + That thou by cords hast from the lofty towers + In secrecy attempted to descend, + As if thou here hadst been constrained to stay? + Where then wert thou surprised, or sharpened sword, + Or ropes preparing, as each generous dame + Who sought her former husband would have done? + Oft have I counselled thee in many words: + “Depart, O daughter, that my sons may take + Brides less obnoxious: thee aboard the ships + Of Greece, assisting in thy secret flight, + Will I convey. O end the war ’twixt Greece + And Ilion.” But to thee was such advice + Unwelcome; for with pride thou in the house + Of Paris didst behave thyself, and claim + The adoration of barbaric tribes, + For this was thy great object. But e’en now + Thy charms displaying, clad in gorgeous vest + Dost thou go forth, still daring to behold + That canopy of Heaven which o’erhangs + Thy injured husband; thou detested woman! + Whom it had suited, if in tattered vest + Shivering, with tresses shorn, in Scythian guise + Thou hadst appeared, and for transgressions past + Deep smitten with remorse, assumed the blush + Of virtuous matrons, not that frontless air. + O Menelaus! I will now conclude; + By slaying her, prepare for Greece the wreaths + It merits, and extend to the whole sex + This law, that every woman who betrays + Her lord shall die. + + CHOR. As that illustrious stem + Whence thou deriv’st thy birth, and as thy rank + Demand, on thy adulterous wife inflict + Just punishment, and purge this foul reproach, + This instance of a woman’s lust, from Greece: + So shall thy very enemies perceive + Thou art magnanimous. + + MEN. Your thoughts concur + With mine, that she a willing fugitive + My palace left and sought a foreign bed; + But speaks of Venus merely to disguise + Her infamy!—Away! thou shalt be stoned, + And in one instant for the tedious woes + Of Greece make full atonement; I will teach thee + That thou didst shame me in an evil hour. + + HEL. I by those knees entreat you, O forbear + To slay me, that distraction sent by Heaven + To me imputing: but forgive me. + + HEC. Wrong not + Thy partners in the war, whom she hath slain; + In theirs, and in my children’s cause, I sue. + + MEN. Desist, thou hoary matron: her entreaties + Move not this steadfast bosom. O my followers + Attend her, I command you, to the ships + Which shall convey her hence. + + HEC. Let her not enter + Thy ship. + + MEN. Is she grown heavier than before? + + HEC. He never loved who doth not always love, + Howe’er the inclinations of the dame + He loves may fluctuate. + + MEN. All shall be performed + According to thy wish; she shall not enter + My bark: for thou hast uttered wholesome counsels: + But soon as she in Argos’ lands, with shame, + As she deserves, shall she be slain, and warn + All women to be chaste. No easy task: + Yet shall her ruin startle every child + Of folly, though more vicious still than Helen. + +CHORUS. + + ODE. + + I. 1. + + E’en thus by too severe a doom, + To Greece, O Jove, hast thou betrayed + Our shrines, our altars, dropping rich perfume, + The lambent flame that round the victims played, + Myrrh’s odorous smoke that mounts the skies, + Yon holy citadel, with Ida’s grove + Around whose oaks the clasping ivy plies, + Where rivulets meandering rove + Cold and translucent from the drifted snows; + On that high ridge with orient blaze + The sun first scatters his enlivening rays, + And with celestial flame th’ ecstatic priestess glows. + + I. 2. + + Each sacrifice, each pious rite, + Hence vanished, with th’ harmonious choirs + Whose accents soothed the languid ear of night, + While to the gods we waked our sounding lyres; + Their golden images no more + Twelve times each year, on that revolving eve + When shines the full-orbed moon, do we adore. + Harassed by anxious fears, I grieve, + Oft thinking whether thou, O Jove, wilt deign + To listen to our piteous moan, + High as thou sitt’st on thy celestial throne; + For Troy, by fire consumed, lies level with the plain. + + II. 1. + + Thou, O my husband, roam’st a flitting shade, + To thee are all funereal rites denied, + To thee no lustral drops supplied: + But I by the swift bark shall be conveyed + Where Argos’ cloud-capped fortress stands, + Erected by the Cyclops’ skilful hands. + Before our doors assembling children groan, + And oft repeat with clamorous moan + A mother’s name. Alone shall I be borne + Far from thy sight, by the victorious host + Of Greece, and leaving Ilion’s coast, + O’er ocean’s azure billows sail forlorn, + Either to Salamis, that sacred land, + Or where the Isthmian summit o’er two seas + A wide extended prospect doth command, + Seated in Pelops’ straits where Greece the prize decrees. + + II. 2. + + Its arduous voyage more than half complete, + In the Ægean deep, and near the land, + May the red lightning by Jove’s hand + Winged from the skies with tenfold ruin, meet + The bark that wafts me o’er the wave + From Troy to Greece a miserable slave. + Before the golden mirror wont to braid + Her tresses, like a sportive maid, + May Helen never reach the Spartan shore, + Those household gods to whom she proved untrue, + Nor her paternal mansions view, + Enter the streets of Pitane no more, + Nor Pallas’ temple with its brazen gate; + Because her nuptials teemed with foul disgrace + To mighty Greece through each confederate state; + And hence on Simois’ banks were slain Troy’s guiltless race. + + But ha! on this devoted realm are hurled + Successive woes. Ye hapless Phrygian dames, + Behold the slain Astyanax, whom Greece + With rage inhuman from yon towers hath thrown. + +TALTHYBIUS, HECUBA, CHORUS. + +_The Body of_ ASTYANAX _borne in upon a Shield_. + + TAL. O Hecuba, one ship is left behind + To carry the remainder of the spoils + Which to Achilles’ son have been adjudged, + To Phthia’s coast. For Neoptolemus, + Hearing that recent evils hath befall’n + His grandsire Peleus, and that Pelias’ son + Acastus hath expelled him from his realm, + Already hath departed with such speed + As would admit of no delay: with him + Andromache is gone, for whom I shed + A stream of tears, when from the land she went + Wailing her country, and to Hector’s tomb + Her plaints addressing: the victorious chief + Hath she entreated, to allow the corse + Of your unhappy Hector’s son, who perished + From Ilion’s ramparts thrown, to be interred, + Nor bear this shield, the terror of the Greeks, + With brass refulgent, which his father placed + Before his flank in battle, to the house + Of Peleus; nor to that ill-omened chamber + Where spousals dire on her arrival wait + The mother of the slain; for such an object + Must grieve her to behold: but in the stead + Of cedar and the monumental stone, + Bury the child in this: for she the corse + Hath to your arms consigned, that you may grace it + With many a fragrant garland, and with vests + Such as your present fortunes will afford. + For she has sailed, and through his haste her lord + Prevented her from lodging in the grave + Her son. While thus you his remains adorn + We will mark out the spot, and with our spears + Dig up the ground. Without delay perform + These duties: I one task to you most irksome + Have rendered needless: for I laved the body, + And cleansed the wounds as o’er Scamander’s stream + I passed. But to prepare for the deceased + A tomb, I go, that with united toil + When this we have accomplished, they may steer + Our vessel homeward. + + [_Exit_ TALTHYBIUS. + + HEC. Place that orbed shield + Of Hector on the ground, a spectacle + Most piteous, and unwelcome to these eyes. + How, O ye Greeks, whose abject souls belie + Your brave achievements, trembling at a child, + Could ye commit this unexampled murder, + Lest at some future time he should rebuild + The walls of Ilion? Ye inhuman cowards! + Our ruin from that fatal hour we date + When Hector with unnumbered heroes fell. + But having sacked our city, and destroyed + Each Phrygian warrior, feared ye such an infant + The dastard I abhor who meanly shrinks + Through groundless panic. O for ever loved, + By what a piteous fate didst thou expire! + Hadst thou, the champion of thy country, died, + In riper years, when married, and endued + With power scarce second to th’ immortal gods, + Thou hadst been blest, if aught on earth deserves + The name of bliss. But thou, my son, beheld’st + And hadst a distant knowledge of these joys, + Which thou didst ne’er experience: for to thee + The treasures which the palaces of Troy + Contained, proved useless. O unhappy youth, + How wert thou hurled from thy paternal walls + Reared by Apollo’s hand; and through those ringlets, + Which oft thy mother smoothed and kissed, the gore + Bursts from thy fractured skull: but let me waive + So horrid a description. O ye hands, + How in your fingers do ye still retain + A pleasing sad remembrance of your sire, + Or why do ye lie motionless before me? + Dear mouth, full many a babbling accent wont + To utter, art thou closed by death? Thy voice + Deceived me erst, when clinging to these garments, + “O mother,” oft didst thou exclaim, “the hair + Shorn from my brows to thee I will devote, + Lead round thy tomb my comrades, and address + Thy hovering ghost in many a plaintive strain.” + Now not to me, alas! dost thou perform + These duteous offices, but I, bowed down + With age, an exile, of my children reft, + Must bury the disfigured corse of thee + A tender infant. These unnumbered kisses, + My cares in nurturing thee, and broken sleep, + Proved fruitless. What inscription can the bard + Place o’er thy sepulchre? “The Greeks who feared + This infant, slew him!” Such an epitaph + Would shame them. As for thee who hast obtained + Nought of thy wealth paternal, yet this shield + In which thou shalt be buried will be thine. + O brazen orb, which erst wert wont to guard + The nervous arm of Hector, thou hast lost + Thy best possessor: in thy concave circle + How is that hero’s shape impressed; it bears + Marks of that sweat which dropped from Hector’s brow, + Wearied with toil, when ’gainst thy edge he leaned + His cheek. Hence carry, to adorn the corse, + Whate’er our present station will afford, + For such the fortunes which Jove grants us now + As splendour suits not: yet accept these gifts + Out of the little I possess. An idiot + Is he, who thinking himself blest, exults + As if his joys were stable: like a man + Smitten with frenzy, changeful fortune bounds + Inconstant in her course, now here, now there, + Nor is there any one who leads a life + Of bliss uninterrupted. + + CHOR. All is ready: + For from the spoils yon Phrygian matrons bear + Trappings to grace the dead. + + HEC. On thee, my son, + Not as a victor who with rapid steeds + Didst ever reach the goal, or wing the shaft + With surer aim, an exercise revered + By each unwearied Phrygian youth, thy grandame + Places these ornaments which erst were thine: + But now hath Helen, by the gods abhorred, + Stripped thee of all thou didst possess, and caused + Thy murder, and the ruin of our house. + + CHOR. Alas! thou hast transpierced my inmost soul, + O thou, whom I expected to have seen + Troy’s mighty ruler. + + HEC. But I now enwrap + Thy body with the vest thou shouldst have worn + At Hymen’s festive rites, in wedlock joined + With Asia’s noblest princess. But, O source + Of triumphs numberless, dear shield of Hector, + Accept these laureate wreaths: for though by death + Thou canst not be affected, thou shalt lie + Joined with this corse in death; since thou deserv’st + More honourable treatment, than the arms + Of crafty and malignant Ithacus. + + CHOR. Thee, much lamented youth, shall earth receive. + Now groan, thou wretched mother. + + HEC. Oh! + + CHOR. Commence + Those wailings which are uttered o’er the dead. + + HEC. Ah me! + + CHOR. Alas! too grievous are thy woes + To be endured. + + HEC. These fillets o’er thy wounds + I bind, and exercise the healing art + In name and semblance only, but, alas! + Not in reality. Whate’er remains + Unfinished, ’mid the shades beneath, to thee + With tender care thy father will supply. + + CHOR. Smite with thy hand thy miserable head + Till it resound. Alas! + + HEC. My dearest comrades. + + CHOR. Speak to thy friends; O Hecuba, what plaints + Hast thou to utter? + + HEC. Nought but woe for me + Was by the gods reserved; beyond all cities + To them hath Troy been odious. We in vain + Have offered sacrifice. But had not Jove + O’erthrown and plunged us in the shades beneath, + We had remained obscure, we by the Muse + Had ne’er been sung, nor ever furnished themes + To future bards. But for this hapless youth + Go and prepare a grave; for the deceased + Is with funereal wreaths already crowned: + Although these pomps, I deem, are to the dead + Of little consequence; an empty pride + They in the living serve but to display. + + CHOR. Thy wretched mother on thy vital thread + Had stretched forth mighty hopes: though styled most happy + From thy illustrious birth, thou by a death + Most horrid didst expire. + + HEC. Ha! who are these + Whom I behold, in their victorious hands + Waving those torches o’er the roofs of Troy? + E’en now o’er Ilion some fresh woes impend. + +TALTHYBIUS, HECUBA, CHORUS. + + TAL. To you I speak, O leaders of the troops + Who are ordained to burn this town of Priam. + No longer in your hands without effect + Reserve those blazing torches: but hurl flames + On this devoted city, for when Troy + Is utterly demolished, we shall leave + Its hated shores, exulting. But to you, + O Phrygians, I the same behests address; + When the shrill trumpet of our chief resounds, + Ye to the Grecian navy must repair + And from these regions sail. But as for thee, + Thou aged and most miserable dame, + Follow their steps who from Ulysses come. + To whom thy fate consigns thee for a slave + Far from thy country in a foreign land. + + HEC. Ah, wretched me! this surely is the last, + The dire completion this, of all my woes. + I leave my country: Ilion’s bulwarks flame. + Yet, O decrepit feet, with painful haste + Bear me along, that I may bid adieu + To my unhappy city. Thou, O Troy, + Distinguished erst among barbarian tribes + By thy superior prowess, soon shalt lose + The most illustrious name thou didst acquire: + Thee will the flames consume, and us our foes + Drag from our home to slavery. O ye gods! + Upon the gods yet wherefore should I call? + For when we erst invoked them oft, they heard not. + Come on, and let us rush amid the flames: + For in the ruins of my blazing country + ’Twill be to me most glorious to expire. + + TAL. Thy griefs, O wretched woman, make thee frantic. + But lead her hence, neglect not. For Ulysses + Obtained this prize, and she to him must go. + + HEC. O dread Saturnian king, from whom the Phrygians + Derive their origin, dost thou behold + Our sufferings, most unworthy of the race + Of Dardanus? + + CHOR. He surely doth behold: + But this great city, city now no more, + Is ruined: nought remains of Troy. + + HEC. The blaze + Of Ilion glares, the fire hath caught the roofs, + The streets of Pergamus, and crashing towers. + + CHOR. As the light smoke on rapid wing ascends + To heaven, how swiftly vanishes fallen Troy! + Torrents of flame have laid the palace waste, + And o’er its summit waves the hostile spear. + + HEC. O fostering soil, that gave my children birth. + + CHOR. Alas! alas! + + HEC. Yet hear me, O my sons, + Your mother’s voice distinguish. + + CHOR. With loud plaints + Thou call’st upon the dead, those aged limbs + Stretched on the ground, and scraping up the dust + With either hand. I follow thy example + Kneeling on earth’s cold bosom, and invoke + My wretched husband in the shades beneath. + + HEC. We forcibly are borne—— + + CHOR. Most doleful sound! + + HEC. To servile roofs. + + CHOR. From my dear native land. + + HEC. Slain, uninterred, abandoned by thy friends, + Thou sure, O Priam, know’st not what I suffer. + For sable death hath closed thine eyes for ever; + Though pious, thou by impious hands wert murdered. + O ye polluted temples of the gods, + And thou my dearest city. + + CHOR. Ye, alas! + Are by the deadly flame and pointed spear + Now occupied, on this beloved soil + Soon shall you lie a heap of nameless ruins: + For dust, which mixed with smoke, to Heaven ascends, + No longer will permit me to discern + Where erst my habitation stood: the land + Loses its very name, and each memorial + Of pristine grandeur; wretched Troy’s no more. + + HEC. Ye know the fatal truth, ye heard the crash + Of falling towers. Our city to its basis + Is shaken. O ye trembling, trembling limbs, + Support my steps! + + TAL. Depart to end thy days + In servitude. Alas! thou wretched city! + Yet to the navy of the Greeks proceed. + + + + +THE CYCLOPS. + + +PERSONS OF THE DRAMA. + + SILENUS. + CHORUS OF SATYRS. + ULYSSES. + POLYPHEME THE CYCLOPS. + + +SCENE.—THE MOUNTAIN OF ÆTNA IN SICILY. + +SILENUS. + + O Bacchus, for thy sake have I endured + Unnumbered toils, both at the present hour, + And when these nerves by vigorous youth were strung: + By Juno first with wild distraction fired, + Thou didst forsake the mountain nymphs whose care + Nurtured thy infancy. Next in that war + With the gigantic progeny of earth, + Stationed beside thee to sustain thy shield, + Piercing the buckler of Enceladus, + I slew him with my lance. Is this a dream? + By Jove it is not: for I showed his spoils + To Bacchus, and the labours I endure + At present, are so great that they exceed + E’en those. For since ’gainst thee Saturnia roused, + To bear thee far away, Etruria’s race + Of impious pirates, I soon caught th’ alarm, + And sailed in quest of thee with all my children: + Myself the stern ascended, to direct + The rudder, and each satyr plied an oar + Till ocean’s azure surface with white foam + Was covered; thee, O mighty King, they sought. + Near Malea’s harbour as the vessel rode, + An eastern blast arose, and to this rock + Of Ætna, drove us, where the sons of Neptune, + The one-eyed Cyclops, drenched with human gore, + Inhabit desert caves; by one of these + Were we made captives, and beneath his roof + To slavery are reduced. Our master’s name + Is Polypheme; instead of Bacchus’ orgies + We tend the flocks of an accursed Cyclops. + My blooming sons, on yonder distant cliffs, + Feed the young lambs; while I at home am stationed + The goblet to replenish, and to scrape + The rugged floor; to this unholy lord, + A minister of impious festivals: + And now must I perform the task assigned + Of cleansing with this rake the filthy ground, + So shall the cave be fit for his reception, + When with his flocks my absent lord returns. + But I already see my sons approach, + Their fleecy charge conducting. Ha! what means + This uproar? would ye now renew the dance + Of the Sicinnides, as when ye formed + The train of amorous Bacchus, and assembled, + Charmed by the lute, before Althæa’s gate? + +CHORUS, SILENUS. + +CHORUS. + + ODE. + + I. + + Sprung from an untainted race, + Hardy father of the fold, + Why, bounding o’er that craggy space, + Roam’st thou desperately bold, + Far from the refreshing gale, + The verdant herbage of the mead, + And sloping channel wont to feed + Thy trough with springs that never fail? + Yon caves with bleating lambkins ring, + Come, depasture with the flock; + Leave, O leave the dewy rock, + Ere this ponderous stone I fling. + Thee with speeding horns I call + To the Cyclops’ lofty stall. + + II. + + Thou too those swollen udders yield, + That thy young ones may be fed, + Who, while thou browsest o’er the field, + Lie neglected in the shed; + Slumbering all the livelong day + At length with clamorous plaints they wake, + Thou t’ appease them wilt forsake + Ætna’s valleys ever gay. + Young Bromius and his jocund rout + Here their orgies ne’er repeat, + No thyrsus waves, no drums they beat; + Where the gurgling currents spout, + Here no vineyards yield delight, + Nor sport the nymphs on Nyssa’s height. + + III. + + Yet here I chaunt the strains which Bacchus taught, + To that Venus whom I sought + When with the Mænades I ranged. + Where, gentle Evan, dost thou tread + Alone, and from thy comrades far estranged, + Those auburn ringlets floating from thy head? + Thy votary once, but now a slave + To yonder one-eyed Cyclops, I abide + In this detested cave: + Covered with a goat’s vile hide, + Thy friend, alas! exposed to scorn + Wanders helpless and forlorn. + + SIL. My sons, be silent: bid your followers drive + Their flocks into the stony cave. + + CHOR. Proceed. + But wherefore, O my father, in this haste? + + SIL. A Grecian vessel, stranded on the coast, + I see, and to this cave the mariners + Attend their leader, on their heads they bear + Those empty vessels which express they want + Provisions, with fresh water too their urns + Would they replenish. O unhappy strangers! + Who are they? unapprised what lord here rules, + Dread Polypheme, they in an evil hour + Are entering this inhospitable threshold, + And rushing headlong e’en into the jaws + Of this fierce Cyclops, gorged with human flesh. + But interrupt me not; I will inquire + Whence to Sicilian Ætna’s mount they came. + +ULYSSES, SILENUS, CHORUS. + + ULY. Can ye direct me, strangers, where to find + Fresh springs to slake our thirst; or who will sell + Food to the hungry sailor? But what means + That group of satyrs, whom before yon cave + I see assembled? we at Bacchus’ city + Seem to have landed. Thee, the elder-born, + Thee first I hail. + + SIL. Hail! foreigner; acquaint us + Both who you are, and from what realm you came. + + ULY. Ulysses, king of Ithaca, and th’ isle + Of Cephalenè. + + SIL. That loquacious man, + The crafty brood of Sisyphus, full well + I know. + + ULY. Reproach me not, for I am he. + + SIL. Whence sailed you to Sicilia? + + ULY. From the shores + Of blazing Ilion, from the war of Troy. + + SIL. What, knew you not the way to your own country? + + ULY. The tempests violently drove me hither. + + SIL. By Heaven, your fortunes are the same with mine. + + ULY. What cam’st thou hither too against thy will? + + SIL. Yes, in pursuit of those accursed pirates + Who seized on Bromius. + + ULY. But what land is this, + And by what men inhabitated? + + SIL. This mountain, + Called Ætna, overlooks Sicilia’s plains. + + ULY. Where are the fortresses and lofty towers + Which guard its peopled cities? + + SIL. They exist not. + No men, O stranger, on these summits dwell. + + ULY. But who possess the land, a savage race + Of beasts? + + SIL. The Cyclops occupy these caves, + They have no houses. + + ULY. Governed by what chief? + Is this a mere democracy? + + SIL. They lead + The life of shepherds, and in no respect + Yield to each other. + + ULY. Do they sow the grain + Of Ceres, or on what do they subsist? + + SIL. On milk, on cheese, and on their sheep, they feed. + + ULY. Affords the vine, nectareous juice, the drink + Bacchus invented? + + SIL. No such thing: they dwell + In an ungrateful soil. + + ULY. But do they practise + The rites of hospitality, and hold + The stranger sacred? + + SIL. They aver the flesh + Of strangers is a most delicious food. + + ULY. What saidst thou, banquet they on human flesh? + + SIL. Here no man lands who is not doomed to bleed. + + ULY. Where is this Cyclops, in the cave? + + SIL. He went + To Ætna’s summit, with his hounds to trace + The savage beasts. + + ULY. But know’st thou by what means + We from this region may escape? + + SIL. I know not. + But, O Ulysses, I’ll do everything + To serve you. + + ULY. Sell us bread, supply our want. + + SIL. I told you we have nothing here but flesh. + + ULY. By this, sharp hunger, which makes all things sweet, + May be assuaged. + + SIL. Cheese from the press, and milk + Of heifers too. + + ULY. Produce them: while the day + Yet lasts, should we conclude our merchandise. + + SIL. With how much gold will you repay me? Speak. + + ULY. No gold I bring, but Bacchus’ cheering juice. + + SIL. My dearest friend, you mention what we long + Have stood in need of. + + ULY. This enchanting liquor + Did Maron, offspring of the courteous god, + On us bestow. + + SIL. Whom erst, while yet a boy + I in these arms sustained. + + ULY. The son of Bacchus, + T’ inform thee more minutely who he is. + + SIL. Aboard the ship, or have you hither brought it? + + ULY. Here is the cask, old man, which thou perceiv’st + Contains the wine. + + SIL. It hardly is a sup. + + ULY. But we have twice as much as this will yield. + + SIL. A most delicious spring is that you named. + + ULY. Shall I first treat thee with some wine unmixed, + That thou may’st taste? + + SIL. Well judged: this specimen + Soon will induce me to conclude the purchase. + + ULY. A cup too I have brought as well as cask. + + SIL. Pour forth, that I may drink, and recollect + The grateful taste of wine. + + ULY. Look there! + + SIL. Ye gods! + How beauteous is its odour! + + ULY. Hast thou seen it? + + SIL. By Jove I have not, but I smell its charms. + + ULY. Taste, nor to words alone confine thy praise. + + SIL. Ha! ha! now Bacchus to the choral dance + Invites me. + + ULY. Hath it moistened well thy palate? + + SIL. So well as e’en to reach my fingers’ ends. + + ULY. Beside all this, shall money too be thine. + + SIL. Empty the vessel, and reserve your gold. + + ULY. Bring forth the cheese and lambs. + + SIL. That will I do, + Regardless of my lord, because I wish + To drain one goblet of this wine, and give + The flocks of all the Cyclops in its stead. + I’d from Leucadè, when completely drunk, + Into the ocean take a lover’s leap, + Shutting my eyes. For he who, when he quaffs + The mantling bowl, exults not, is a madman. + Through wine new joys our wanton bosoms fire, + With eager arms we clasp the yielding fair, + And in the giddy dance forget each ill + That heretofore assailed us. So I kiss + The rich potation; let the stupid Cyclops + Weep with that central eye which in his front + Glares horribly. + + [_Exit_ SILENUS. + + CHOR. Attend: for we must hold + A long confabulation, O Ulysses. + + ULY. We meet each other like old friends. + + CHOR. Was Troy + By you subdued? was Helen taken captive? + + ULY. And the whole house of Priam we laid waste. + + CHOR. When ye had seized on that transcendent fair, + Did ye then all enjoy her in your turn, + Because she loves variety of husbands? + False to her vows, when she the painted greaves + Around the legs of Paris, on his neck + The golden chain, beheld, with love deep smitten + From Menelaus, best of men, she fled. + Ah! would to Heaven no women had been born + But such as were reserved for my embraces. + +SILENUS _returning_, ULYSSES, CHORUS. + + SIL. Here, King Ulysses, is the shepherd’s food: + Banquet on bleating lambs, and bear away + As many curdled cheeses as you can; + But from these caverns with your utmost speed + Depart, when ye have given me in return + The clustering vine’s rich juice which Bacchus loves. + + ULY. The Cyclops comes. What shall we do? Old man, + We are undone. Ah, whither can we fly? + + SIL. Ye may conceal yourselves beneath that rock. + + ULY. Most dangerous is the scheme thou hast proposed, + To rush into the toils. + + SIL. No danger truly; + For in this rock is many a hiding-place. + + ULY. Not thus: indignant Troy might groan indeed + If from a single arm we basely fled. + Oft with my shield against a countless band + Of Phrygians have I fought. If we must die, + Let us die nobly: or with life maintain + The fame we erst in dubious fields acquired. + +POLPYHEME, SILENUS, CHORUS, ULYSSES. + + POL. What mean these transports, this insensate uproar, + These Bacchanalian orgies? Nyssa’s god, + The brazen timbrel, and the rattling drum, + Are distant from these regions. In the cave + How fare the new-yeaned lambkins? do they suck, + Or follow they the ewes? have ye prepared + In wicker vats the cheeses? No reply? + This club shall make ye weep forthwith. Look up, + Not on the ground. + + CHOR. We lift our dazzled eyes + To Jove himself; I view the twinkling stars + And bright Orion. + + POL. Is my dinner ready? + + CHOR. It is. Prepare your jaws for mastication. + + POL. Are the bowls filled with milk? + + CHOR. They overflow, + And you may drink whole hogsheads if you will. + + POL. Of sheep, or cows, or mixed? + + CHOR. Whate’er you please; + But swallow not me too. + + POL. No certainly; + For ye would foot it in my tortured paunch, + And kill me with those antics. But what crowd + Behold I in the stalls? Some thieves or pirates + Are landed: at the mouth of yonder cave + The lambs are bound with osiers, on the floor + The cheese-press scattered lies, and the bald head + Of this old man is swoll’n with many bruises. + + SIL. Ah me! into a fever I am beaten. + + POL. By whom, old man, who smote thy hoary head? + + SIL. O Cyclops, by these ruffians whom I hindered + From carrying off their plunder. + + POL. Know they not + I am a god sprung from the blest immortals? + + SIL. All this I told them, yet they seized your goods, + Eat up your cheese without my leave, dragged forth + The lambs, declared they would exhibit you + In a huge collar of three cubits long, + Closely imprisoned, and before that eye, + Which in the centre of your forehead glares, + Bore out your entrails, soundly scourge your hide, + Then throw you into their swift vessel’s hold + Tied hand and foot, and sell you, with a lever + To heave up ponderous stones, or to the ground + Level some door. + + POL. Indeed! go whet the knives + Without delay, collect a mighty pile + Of wood, and light it up with flaming brands, + They shall be slain immediately, and broiled + To satisfy my appetite with viands + Hot from the coals. The rest shall be well sodden; + For I am sated with unsavoury beasts, + Enough on lions have I banqueted + And stags that haunt this mountain: but ’tis long + Since human flesh I tasted. + + SIL. My dread lord, + Variety is sweet: no other strangers + Have reached of late these solitary caves. + + ULY. O Cyclops, hear the strangers also speak, + In their defence. We, wanting to buy food, + Came to your caverns from our anchored bark. + These lambs to us he bartered for our wine, + And of his own accord, when he had drank, + Yielded them up; no violence was used: + But the account he gives is utter falsehood, + Since he was caught without your privity + Vending your goods. + + SIL. I? curses on your head! + + ULY. If I have uttered an untruth. + + SIL. By Neptune + Your sire, O Cyclops, by great Triton, Nereus, + Calypso, Nereus’ daughters, by the waves, + And all the race of fishes, I protest, + Most beauteous Cyclops, my dear little lord, + I sold not to the foreigners your goods; + May swift perdition, if I did, o’ertake + These sinners here, my children, whom I love + Beyond expression. + + CHOR. Curb thy tongue: I saw thee + Vending thy lord’s possessions to the strangers: + If I speak falsehood, may our father perish! + But injure not these foreigners. + + POL. Ye lie; + For I in him much rather would confide + Than Rhadamanthus, and pronounce that he + Is a more upright judge. But I to them + Some questions would propose. Whence sailed, strangers? + Where is your country and your native town? + + ULY. We in the realms of Ithaca were born; + But after we had laid Troy’s bulwarks waste, + O Cyclops, by those howling winds which raise + The ocean’s boisterous surges, to your coast + Our vessel was impelled. + + POL. Are ye the men + Who worthless Helen’s ravisher pursued + To Ilion’s turrets on Scamander’s bank? + + ULY. The same: most dreadful toils have we endured. + + POL. Dishonourable warfare; in the cause + Of one vile woman ye to Phrygia sailed. + + ULY. Such was the will of Jove; on no man charge + The fault. But we to you, O generous son + Of ocean’s god, our earnest prayers address, + Nor fear with honest freedom to remonstrate + That we your hapless friends, who to these caves + For refuge fly, deserve not to be slain + To satiate with accursed human food + Your appetite: for to your sire, great king, + Full many a temple on the shores of Greece + Have we erected; Tænarus’ sacred haven + To him remains inviolate, the cliff + Of Malea, Sunium for its silver mines + Renowned, on whose steep promontory stands + Minerva’s fane, and the Gerastian bay. + But those intolerable wrongs which Greece + From Troy had suffered, could we not forgive. + Our triumph interests you, who in a land + With Greece connected, dwell, beneath the rock + Of flaming Ætna. Let those public laws + Which all mankind obey, on you prevail + To change your ruthless purpose, and admit + Your suppliants to a conference, who have long + Endured the perils of the billowy deep; + With hospitable gifts, and change of raiment + Assist us, nor affix our quivering limbs + On spits, to sate your gluttony. Enough + Hath Priam’s land depopulated Greece, + Whole myriads have in fighting fields been slain; + The widowed bride, the aged childless matron, + And hoary sire, hath Troy made ever wretched. + But if you burn, and at your hateful feasts + Devour the scattered relics of our host, + Whither shall any Grecian turn? but listen + To my persuasion, Cyclops, and control + Your gluttony. What piety enjoins, + Prefer to this defiance of the gods: + For ruin oft attends unrighteous gain. + + SIL. Leave not the smallest morsel of his flesh; + Take my advice, and if you eat his tongue, + You certainly, O Cyclops, will become + A most accomplished orator. + + POL. Vile caitiff, + Wealth is the deity the wise adore, + But all things else are unsubstantial boasts, + And specious words alone. I nought regard + Those promontories sacred to my sire. + Why dost thou talk of them? I tremble not, + O stranger, at the thunderbolts of Jove, + Him I account not a more powerful god + Than I am, nor henceforth will heed him: hear + My reasons; when he from the skies sends down + The rain, secure from its inclemency + Beneath this rock I dwell, and make a feast + On roasted calves, or on the savage prey, + Stretched at my length supine, then drain a pitcher + Of milk, and emulate the thunder’s sound. + When Thracian Boreas pours his flaky showers, + In hides of beasts my body I enwrap, + Approach the fire, nor heed the pelting snows. + Compelled by strong necessity, the ground + Produces grass, and nourishes my herds, + Whom, to no other god except myself, + And to this belly, greatest of the gods, + I sacrifice. Because each day to eat, + To drink, and feel no grief, is bliss supreme, + The Heaven, the object of the wise man’s worship. + I leave those gloomy lawgivers to weep, + Who by their harsh impertinent restrictions + Have chequered human life; but will indulge + My genius, and devour thee. That my conduct + May be exempt from blame, thou shalt receive + As pledges of our hospitality + The fire, and that hereditary cauldron + Well heated, which shall boil thy flesh: walk in, + Ye shall adorn my table, and produce + Delicious meals to cheer my gloomy cave, + Such as a god can relish. + + ULY. I have ’scaped, + Alas! each danger at the siege of Troy, + ’Scaped the tempestuous ocean; but in vain + Attempt to soften the unpitying heart + Of him who spurns all laws. Now, sacred queen, + Daughter of Jove, now aid me, O Minerva, + For I such perils as far, far exceed + My Phrygian toils, encounter: and, O Jove, + Dread guardian of each hospitable rite, + Who sitt’st enthroned above the radiant stars, + Look down: for if thou view not this, though deemed + Omnipotent, thou art a thing of nought. + + [_Exeunt_ POLYPHEME, ULYSSES, _and_ SILENUS. + + 1st SEMICHOR. That insatiate throat expand, + Boiled and roast are now at hand + For thee, O Cyclops, to devour: + From the coals in evil hour + Yet reeking, shall thy teeth divide + The limbs of each unhappy guest, + To thy table served when dressed + In dishes formed of shaggy hide. + O betray me not, my friend, + For I on you alone depend: + Now approach the shades of night, + Launch the bark, and aid our flight. + + 2nd SEMICHOR. Thou cave, and ye unholy rites, + Adieu, the Cyclops’ cursed delights, + Who on his prisoners wont to feed, + Hath banished pity from his breast. + Inhuman execrable deed! + On his own hearth, the suppliant guest, + Regardless of the Lares’ guardian powers, + Now he slays, and now devours: + Hot from the coals, with odious jaws, + Human flesh the miscreant gnaws. + +ULYSSES, CHORUS. + + ULY. How, mighty Jove! shall I express myself? + The dreadful scenes I in the cave have viewed + Are so astonishing, they more resemble + Some fable than the actions of a man. + + CHOR. What now, Ulysses, on your loved companions + Feasts this most impious Cyclops? + + ULY. Two, the fattest, + Having well viewed and poised them in his hands—— + + CHOR. How did you bear, O miserable man, + These cruel outrages? + + ULY. Soon as we entered + The rocky cave, he lighted first the fire, + On the wide blaze heaped trunks of lofty oaks, + A load sufficient for three wains to bear; + Then near the flaming hearth, upon the ground, + Arranged his couch of pine leaves, filled a bowl, + Holding about ten firkins, with the milk + Of heifers, and beside it placed a jug + Adorned with ivy, the circumference seemed + Three spacious ells, the depth no less than four: + Then made his cauldron bubble, and reached down + Spits burnt at the extremities, and polished + Not with a knife, but hatchets; Ætna furnished + Such instruments for sacrifice, the stems + Of thorn. No sooner had the hellish cook + Finished his preparations, than he seized + Two of my valiant comrades, whom he slew + With calm deliberation; one he cast + Into the hollow cauldron; from the ground + Then lifting up his fellow by the foot + Dashed out his brains against the pointed rock; + Severing his flesh with an enormous knife, + Part at the fire he roasted, and to boil, + His other joints into the cauldron threw. + But I, though from these eyes full many a tear + Burst forth, approached the Cyclops, and on him + Attended, while my friends, like timorous birds + Lurked in the distant crannies of the rock, + And all the blood forsook their pallid frame. + When sated with his feast the monster lay + Supine, and snored, a thought by Heaven inspired + Entered this bosom; having filled a cup + With Maron’s juice unmingled, I to him + Bore it, that he might drink; and cried, “Behold, + O Cyclops, son of Neptune, how divine + The beverage which our Grecian vineyards yield + The stream of Bacchus.” But already glutted + With his abominable food, he seized + And emptied the whole bumper at one draught, + Then lifting up, in token of applause, + His hand: “O dearest stranger,” he exclaimed, + “To a delicious banquet thou hast added + Delicious wine.” Perceiving he grew merry + I plied him with a second cup, well knowing + That wine will stagger him: he soon shall feel + Such punishment as he deserves. He sung; + I poured forth more and more, to warm his bowels + With strong potations: ’midst my weeping crew + He makes the cave with unharmonious strains + Re-echo. But I silently came forth, + And, if ye give consent, design to save + You, and myself. Say, therefore, will ye fly + From this unsocial monster, and reside + With Grecian maids beneath the roofs of Bacchus? + Your sire within approves of these proposals: + But now grown feeble and o’ercharged with wine, + Attracted by the goblet, as if birdlime + Had smeared his wings, he wavers. But with me + Do thou preserve thyself, for thou art young: + And I to Bacchus, to thy ancient friend + Far different from this Cyclops, will restore thee. + + CHOR. My dearest friend, O could we see that day, + And ’scape yon impious monster! for we long + Have been deprived of the enlivening bowl, + Nor entertain a single hope of freedom. + + ULY. Now hear the means by which I can requite + This odious savage, and thou too mayst ’scape + From servitude. + + CHOR. Speak, for we should not hear + The sound of Asia’s harp with more delight, + Than the glad tidings of the Cyclops’ death. + + ULY. By wine enlivened, he resolves to go + And revel with his brethren. + + CHOR. I perceive + You mean to seize and kill him when alone, + By some enchantment, or to dash him headlong + From the steep rock. + + ULY. I have no such design + As these: on craft alone my plan depends. + + CHOR. How then will you proceed? For we long since + Have heard that you for wisdom are renowned. + + ULY. I will deter him from the feast, and say + He must not portion out among the Cyclops + This liquor, but reserve it for himself + And lead a joyous life: when overcome + By Bacchus’ gifts he sleeps, this sword shall point + An olive pole, which to my purpose suited + Lies in the cave: I in the fire will heat, + And, when it flames, direct the hissing brand + Full on the Cyclops’ forehead, to extinguish + The orb of sight. As when some artist frames + A nautic structure, he by thongs directs + The ponderous auger: thus will I whirl round + Within the Cyclops’ eye the kindled staff, + And scorch his visual nerve. + + CHOR. Ho! I rejoice; + This blest invention almost makes me frantic. + + ULY. Thee, and thy friends, and thy decrepit sire, + This done, aboard my vessel will I place, + And from this region with a double tier + Of oars convey. + + CHOR. But is it possible + That I, as if dread Jove were my confederate, + Shall guide the well-poised brand, and of his eyesight + Deprive the monster? For I wish to share + In such assassination. + + ULY. I expect + Your aid: the brand is weighty, and requires + Our social efforts. + + CHOR. I’d sustain a load + Equal to what a hundred teams convey, + Could I dash out the cursed Cyclops’ eye + E’en as a swarm of wasps. + + ULY. Be silent now; + (Ye know my stratagem) and at my bidding + To those who o’er th’ adventurous scheme preside + Yield prompt obedience: for I scorn to leave + My friends within, and save this single life. + True, ’scape I might, already having passed + The cavern’s deep recess: but it were mean + If I should extricate myself alone, + False to the faithful partners of my voyage. + + [_Exit_ ULYSSES. + + CHOR. Who first, who next, with steadfast hand + Ordained to guide the flaming brand, + The Cyclops’ radiant eye shall pierce? + + 1st SEMICHOR. Silence! for from within a song + Bursts on my ear in tuneless verse, + Insensate minstrel, doomed ere long + This luxurious meal to rue, + He staggers from yon rocky cave. + Him let us teach who never knew + How at the banquet to behave, + Outrageous and unmannered hind, + Soon shall he totally be blind. + + 2nd SEMICHOR. Thrice blest is he, in careless play + ’Midst Bacchus’ orgies ever gay, + Stretched near the social board whence glides + The vine’s rich juice in purple tides, + Who fondly clasps with eager arms + The consenting virgin’s charms; + Rich perfumes conspire to shed + Sweetest odours on his head, + While enamoured of the fair + He wantons with her auburn hair. + But hark! for surely ’tis our mate + Exclaiming, “Who will ope the gate?” + +POLYPHEME, ULYSSES, SILENUS, CHORUS. + + POL. Ha! ha! I am replete with wine, the banquet + Hath cheered my soul: like a well-freighted ship + My stomach’s with abundant viands stowed + Up to my very chin. This smiling turf + Invites me to partake a vernal feast + With my Cyclopean brothers. Stranger, bring + That vessel from the cave. + + [_Exit_ ULYSSES. + + CHOR. With bright-eyed grace + Our master issues from his spacious hall; + (Some god approves—the kindled torch—) that form + Equals the lustre of a blooming nymph + Fresh from the dripping caverns of the main. + Soon shall the variegated wreath adorn + Your temples. + + ULY. [_returning._] Hear me, Cyclops; well I know + Th’ effect of this potation, Bacchus’ gift, + Which I to you dispensed. + + POL. Yet say what sort + Of god is Bacchus by his votaries deemed? + + ULY. The greatest source of pleasure to mankind. + + POL. I therefore to my palate find it sweet. + + ULY. A god like this to no man will do wrong. + + POL. But in a bottle how can any god + Delight to dwell? + + ULY. In whatsoever place + We lodge him, the benignant power resides. + + POL. The skins of goats are an unseemly lodging + For deities. + + ULY. If you admire the wine, + Why quarrel with its case? + + POL. Those filthy hides + I utterly detest, but love the liquor. + + ULY. Stay here; drink, drink, O Cyclops, and be gay. + + POL. This luscious beverage, must I not impart + To cheer my brothers? + + ULY. Keep it to yourself + And you shall seem more honourable. + + POL. More useful, + If I distribute largely to my friends. + + ULY. Broils, taunts, and discord from the banquet rise. + + POL. Though I am fuddled, no man dares to touch me. + + ULY. He who hath drunk too freely, O my friend, + Ought to remain at home. + + POL. Devoid of reason + Is he who when he drinks pays no regard + To mirth and to good-fellowship. + + ULY. More wise, + O’ercharged with wine, who ventures not abroad. + + POL. Shall we stay here? What think’st thou, O Silenus? + + SIL. With all my heart. What need, for our carousals, + Of a more numerous company? + + POL. The ground + Beneath our feet, a flowery turf adorns. + + SIL. O how delightful ’tis to drink, and bask + Here in the sunshine: on this grassy couch + Beside me take your seat. + + POL. Why dost thou place + The cup behind my elbow? + + SIL. Lest some stranger + Should come and snatch the precious boon away. + + POL. Thou mean’st to tope clandestinely: between us + Here let it stand. O stranger, by what name + Say shall I call thee? + + ULY. Noman is my name. + But for what favour shall I praise your kindness? + + POL. The last of all the crew will I devour. + + ULY. A wondrous privilege is this, O Cyclops, + Which on the stranger you bestow. + + POL. What mean’st thou? + Ha! art thou drinking up the wine by stealth? + + SIL. Only the gentle Bacchus gave that kiss, + Because I look so blooming. + + POL. Thou shalt weep, + Because thy lips were to the wine applied, + Nor did it seek thy mouth. + + SIL. Not thus, by Jove; + I drank because the generous god of wine + Declared that he admired me for my beauty. + + POL. Pour forth; give me a bumper. + + SIL. I must taste + To see what mixture it requires. + + POL. Damnation! + Give it me pure. + + SIL. Not so, the heavens forbid! + Till you the wreath bind on your ample front, + And I again have tasted. + + POL. What a knave + Is this my cupbearer! + + SIL. Accuse me not; + The wine is sweet: you ought to wipe your mouth + Before you drink. + + POL. My lips and beard are clean. + + SIL. Loll thus upon your elbow with a grace, + Drink as you see me drink, and imitate + My every gesture. + + POL. What art thou about? + + SIL. I swallowed then a most delicious bumper. + + POL. Take thou the cask, O stranger, and perform + The office of my cupbearer. + + ULY. These hands + Have been accustomed to the pleasing office. + + POL. Now pour it forth. + + ULY. Be silent: I obey. + + POL. Thou hast proposed a difficult restraint + To him who largely drinks. + + ULY. Now drain the bowl; + Leave nought behind: the toper must not prate + Before his liquor’s ended. + + POL. In the vine + There’s wisdom. + + ULY. When to plenteous food you add + An equal share of liquor, and well drench + The throat beyond what thirst demands, you sink + Into sweet sleep: but if you leave behind + Aught of th’ unfinished beverage in your cup, + Bacchus will scorch your entrails. + + POL. ’Tis a mercy + How I swam out; the very heavens whirl round + Mingled with earth. I view Jove’s throne sublime, + And the whole synod of encircling gods. + Were all the Graces to solicit me, + I would not kiss them: Ganymede himself + Appears in matchless beauty. + + SIL. I, O Cyclops, + Am Jove’s own Ganymede. + + POL. By Heaven thou art! + Whom from the realms of Dardanus I bore. + + [_Exit_ POLYPHEME. + + SIL. Ruin awaits me. + + CHOR. Dost thou loathe him now? + + SIL. Ah me! I from this sleep shall soon behold + The most accursed effects. + + [_Exit_ SILENUS. + + ULY. Come on, ye sons + Of Bacchus, generous youths; for soon dissolved + In slumber shall the monster from those jaws + Vomit forth flesh, within the hall now smokes + The brand, and nought remains but to burn out + The Cyclops’ eye: act only like a man. + + CHOR. The firmness of my soul shall equal rocks + And adamant. But go into the cave + With speed, before tumultuous sounds assail + Our aged father’s ears; for to effect + Your purpose, all is ready. + + ULY. Vulcan, king + Of Ætna, from this impious pest, who haunts + Thy sacred mountain, free thyself at once, + By burning out his glaring eye; and thou + Nurtured by sable night, O sleep, invade + With thy resistless force this beast abhorred + By Heaven; nor after all the glorious deeds + Achieved at Ilion, with his faithful sailors, + Destroy Ulysses’ self, by him who heeds + Nor god nor mortal. Else must we hold fortune + A goddess, and all other deities + Inferior to resistless fortune’s power. + + [_Exit_ ULYSSES. + + CHOR. The neck of him who slays his guest, + With burning pincers shall be prest, + And fire bereaving him of sight + Soon shall destroy that orb of light. + Within the embers near at hand + Lies concealed a smoking brand, + Torn from its parental tree. + Maron, we depend on thee; + May th’ exasperated foe + With success direct the blow! + May the Cyclops lose his eye, + And curse his ill-timed jollity! + Thee, Bromius, how I long to meet + Thy front adorned with ivy twine; + Leaving this abhorred retreat. + Ah, when shall such delight be mine? + +ULYSSES, CHORUS. + + ULY. Be silent, O ye savages, restrain + Those clamorous tongues: by Heaven ye shall not breathe, + Nor wink your eyes, nor cough, lest ye awaken + This pest, the Cyclops, ere he of his eyesight + Is by the fire bereft. + + CHOR. We will be silent, + And in our jaws confine the very air. + + ULY. The ponderous weapon seize with dauntless hands, + Entering the cavern; for ’tis fully heated. + + CHOR. Will you not give directions who shall first + Manage the glowing lever, and burn out + The Cyclops’ eye, that in one common fortune + We all may share. + + 1st SEMICHOR. We who before the portals + Are stationed, are not tall enough to drive + Full on its destined mark the hissing brand. + + 2nd SEMICHOR. But I am with a sudden lameness seized. + + 1st SEMICHOR. The same calamity which you experience + To me hath also happened; for my feet + Are by convulsions tortured, though the cause + I know not. + + ULY. If ye feel such dreadful spasms, + How can ye stand? + + CHOR. Our eyes are also filled + With dust or ashes. + + ULY. These allies of mine + Are worthless cowards. + + CHOR. We forsooth want courage + Because we feel compassion for our shoulders, + Nor would be beaten till our teeth drop out. + But I a magic incantation know, + Devised by Orpheus, which hath such effect, + That of its own accord the brand shall pierce + The skull of him, the one-eyed son of earth. + + ULY. Long have I known ye are by nature such; + But more than ever do I know you now. + On my own friends I therefore must rely. + Yet if thou hast no vigour in that arm, + Exhort my drooping friends to act with valour + And let thy counsels aid the bold emprise. + + [_Exit_ ULYSSES. + + CHOR. Such be my province: we this Carian’s life + Will hazard. But my counsels shall induce them + To burn the Cyclops. Ho! with courage whirl + The brand, delay not to scorch out the eye + Of him who banquets on the stranger’s flesh. + With fire assail the savage, pierce the front + Of Ætna’s shepherd, lest, with anguish stung, + On you he perpetrate some deed of horror. + + POL. [_within._] Ah me! by burning coals I am deprived + Of eyesight. + + CHOR. That was a melodious pæan: + To me, O Cyclops, sing th’ enchanting strain. + +POLYPHEME, CHORUS. + + POL. Ah, how am I insulted and destroyed! + Yet shall ye never from this hollow rock + Escape triumphant, O ye things of nought: + For in my station rooted, where this cleft + Opens a door, will I spread forth my hands + And stop your passage! + + CHOR. Ha! what means these outcries, + O Cyclops? + + POL. I am ruined. + + CHOR. You appear + To have much been abused. + + POL. Deplorably. + + CHOR. When fuddled, did you fall ’mid burning coals? + + POL. Noman hath ruined me. + + CHOR. To you then no one + Hath offered any wrong. + + POL. These lids hath Noman + Deprived of sight. + + CHOR. You therefore are not blind. + + POL. Would thou couldst see as little. + + CHOR. How can no man + Put out your eye? + + POL. Thou art disposed to jest. + But where is Noman? + + CHOR. He is nowhere, Cyclops. + + POL. That execrable stranger, mark me well, + Is author of my ruin, who produced + The fraudful draught, and burned my visual nerves. + + CHOR. Wine is invincible. + + POL. By all the gods, + Answer me I conjure you; did they fly, + Or are they here within? + + CHOR. They on the top + Of yonder rock which screens them from your reach, + In silence take their stand. + + POL. But on which side? + + CHOR. Your right. + + POL. Where, where? + + CHOR. Upon that very rock. + Have you yet caught them? + + POL. To mischance succeeds + Mischance; I have fallen down and cracked my skull. + + CHOR. They ’scape you now. + + POL. Ye misinformed me sure; + They are not here. + + CHOR. I say not that they are. + + POL. Where then? + + CHOR. They wheel around you on your left. + + POL. Ah me! I am derided, ye but mock + At my affliction. + + CHOR. They are there no longer: + But Noman stands before you. + + POL. O thou villain, + Where art thou? + +ULYSSES, POLYPHEME, CHORUS. + + ULY. Keeping cautiously aloof, + Thus I, Ulysses, guard my threatened life. + + POL. What saidst thou? Wherefore hast thou changed thy name + T’ assume a new one? + + ULY. Me my father named + Ulysses. It was destined you should suffer + A just requital for your impious feast; + For I in vain had with consuming flames + Laid Ilion waste, had I forborne t’ avenge + On you the murder of my valiant friends. + + POL. Now is that ancient oracle, alas! + Accomplished, which foretold, that I by thee, + On thy return from Troy, should be deprived + Of sight: but that thou also for a deed + So cruel, shalt be punished, and full long + Endure the beating of tempestuous waves. + + ULY. Go weep, my actions justify these words. + But to the shore I haste; and to my country + Will steer the vessel o’er Sicilia’s waves. + + POL. Thou shalt not; with this fragment of the rock + Hurled at thy head, thee and thy perjured crew + Will I demolish: for I yet, though blind, + Can mount the cliff which overhangs the port, + And in its wonted crannies fix my steps. + + CHOR. But we, blest partners in Ulysses’ voyage, + Henceforth the laws of Bacchus will obey. + + + + +HELEN. + + +PERSONS OF THE DRAMA. + + HELEN. + TEUCER. + CHORUS OF GRECIAN DAMES (HELEN’S ATTENDANTS). + MENELAUS. + FEMALE SERVANT. + MESSENGER. + THEOCLYMENUS. + THEONOE. + CASTOR AND POLLUX. + + +SCENE.—PROTEUS’ TOMB, AT THE ENTRANCE OF THEOCLYMENUS’ PALACE IN PHAROS, +AN ISLAND AT THE MOUTH OF THE NILE. + +HELEN. + + Bright are these virgin currents of the Nile + Which water Egypt’s soil, and are supplied, + Instead of drops from heaven, by molten snow. + But Proteus, while he lived, of these domains + Was lord, he in the isle of Pharos dwelt, + King of all Ægypt; for his wife he gained + One of the nymphs who haunt the briny deep, + Fair Psamathe, after she left the bed + Of Æacus; she in the palace bore + To him two children, one of them a son + Called Theoclymenus, because his life + Is passed in duteous homage to the gods; + A daughter also of majestic mien, + Her mother’s darling, in her infant years + (Eidothea called by her enraptured sire): + But when the blooming maid became mature + For nuptial joys, Theonoe was the name + They gave her; all the counsels of the gods, + The present and the future, well she knew, + Such privilege she from her grandsire Nereus + Inherited. But not to fame unknown + Are Sparta’s realm, whence I derive my birth, + And my sire, Tyndarus. There prevails a rumour + That to my mother Leda Jove was borne + On rapid wings, the figure of a swan + Assuming, and by treachery gained admission + To her embraces, flying from an eagle, + If we may credit such report. My name + Is Helen; but I also will recount + What woes I have endured; three goddesses, + For beauty’s prize contending, in the cave + Of Ida, came to Paris; Juno, Venus, + And Pallas, virgin progeny of Jove, + Requesting him to end their strife, and judge + Whose charms outshone her rivals. But proposing + For a reward, my beauty (if the name + Of beauty suit this inauspicious form) + And promising in marriage to bestow me + On Paris, Venus conquered: for the swain + Of Ida, leaving all his herds behind, + Expecting to receive me for his bride, + To Sparta came. But Juno, whose defeat + Fired with resentment her indignant soul, + Our nuptials frustrated; for to the arms + Of royal Priam’s son, she gave not me, + But in my semblance formed a living image + Composed of ether. Paris falsely deemed + That he possessed me; from that time these ills + Have been increased by the decrees of Jove, + For he with war hath visited the realms + Of Greece, and Phrygia’s miserable sons, + That he might lighten from th’ unrighteous swarms + Of its inhabitants the groaning earth, + And on the bravest of the Grecian chiefs + Confer renown. While in the Phrygian war, + As the reward of their victorious arms, + I to the host of Greece have been displayed, + Though absent, save in likeness and in name. + But Mercury, receiving me in folds + Of air, and covering with a cloud (for Jove + Was not unmindful of me), in this house + Of royal Proteus, who of all mankind + Was in his judgment the most virtuous, placed me, + That undefiled I might preserve the bed + Of Menelaus. I indeed am here; + But with collected troops my hapless lord + Pursues the ravisher to Ilion’s towers. + Beside Scamander’s stream hath many a chief + Died in my cause; but I, who have endured + All these afflictions, am a public curse; + For ’tis supposed, that treacherous to my lord, + I have through Greece blown up the flames of war. + Why then do I prolong my life? these words + I heard from Mercury: “That I again + In Sparta, with my husband shall reside, + When he discovers that I never went + To Troy:” he therefore counselled me to keep + A spotless chastity. While Proteus viewed + The solar beams, I from the nuptial yoke + Still lived exempt; but since the darksome grave + Hath covered his remains, the royal son + Of the deceased solicits me to wed him: + But honouring my first husband, at this tomb + Of Proteus, I a suppliant kneel, to him, + To him I sue, to guard my nuptial couch, + That if through Greece I bear a name assailed + By foul aspersions, no unseemly deed + May cover me with real infamy. + +TEUCER, HELEN. + + TEU. Who rules this fortress? such a splendid dome + With royal porticos and blazoned roofs + Seems worthy of a Plutus for its lord. + But, O ye gods, what vision! I behold + That hateful woman who hath ruined me, + And all the Greeks. Heaven’s vengeance on thy head! + Such a resemblance bear’st thou to that Helen, + That if I were not in a foreign land, + I with this stone would smite thee; thou shouldst bleed + For being like Jove’s daughter. + + HEL. Wretched man, + Whoe’er you are, why do you hate me thus + Because of her misfortunes? + + TEU. I have erred + In giving way to such unseemly rage. + All Greece abhors Jove’s daughter. But forgive me, + O woman, for the words which I have uttered. + + HEL. Say who you are, and from what land you come? + + TEU. One of that miserable race the Greeks. + + HEL. No wonder is it then, if you detest + The Spartan Helen. But to me declare, + Who are you, whence, and from what father sprung? + + TEU. My name is Teucer, Telamon my sire; + The land which nurtured me is Salamis. + + HEL. But wherefore do you wander o’er these meads + Laved by the Nile? + + TEU. I from my native land + Am banished. + + HEL. You, alas! must needs be wretched. + Who drove you thence? + + TEU. My father Telamon. + What friend canst thou hold dearer? + + HEL. For what cause + Were you to exile doomed? your situation + Is most calamitous. + + TEU. My brother Ajax, + Who died at Troy, was author of my ruin. + + HEL. How? by your sword deprived of life? + + TEU. He fell, + On his own blade, and perished. + + HEL. Was he mad? + Who could act thus whose intellects are sound? + + TEU. Know’st thou Achilles, Peleus’ son? + + HEL. He erst, + I heard, to Helen as a suitor came. + + TEU. He, at his death, his comrades left to strive + Which should obtain his arms. + + HEL. But why was this + Hurtful to Ajax? + + TEU. When another won + Those arms, he gave up life. + + HEL. Do your afflictions + Rise from his fate? + + TEU. Because I died not with him. + + HEL. O stranger, went you then to Troy’s famed city? + + TEU. And having shared in laying waste its bulwarks, + I also perished. + + HEL. Have the flames consumed, + And utterly destroyed them? + + TEU. Not a trace + Of those proud walls is now to be discerned. + + HEL. Through thee, O Helen, do the Phrygians perish. + + TEU. The Greeks too: for most grievous are the mischiefs + Which have been wrought. + + HEL. What length of time’s elapsed + Since Troy was sacked? + + TEU. Seven times the fruitful year + Hath almost turned around her lingering wheel. + + HEL. But how much longer did your host remain + Before those bulwarks? + + TEU. Many a tedious moon; + There full ten years were spent. + + HEL. And have ye taken + That Spartan dame? + + TEU. By her dishevelled hair, + Th’ adult’ress, Menelaus dragged away. + + HEL. Did you behold that object of distress, + Or speak you from report? + + TEU. These eyes as clearly + Witnessed the whole, as I now view thy face. + + HEL. Be cautious, lest for her ye should mistake + Some well-formed semblance which the gods have sent. + + TEU. Talk if thou wilt on any other subject; + No more of her. + + HEL. Believe you this opinion + To be well-grounded? + + TEU. With these eyes I saw her, + And she e’en now is present to my soul. + + HEL. Have Menelaus and his consort reached + Their home. + + TEU. They are not in the Argive land, + Nor on Eurotas’ banks. + + HEL. Alas! alas! + The tale you have recounted, is to her + Who hears you, an event most inauspicious. + + TEU. He and his consort, both they say are dead. + + HEL. Did not the Greeks in one large squadron sail? + + TEU. Yes; but a storm dispersed their shattered fleet. + + HEL. Where were they, in what seas? + + TEU. They at that time + Through the mid waves of the Ægean deep + Were passing. + + HEL. Can none tell if Menelaus + Escaped this tempest? + + TEU. No man; but through Greece + ’Tis rumoured he is dead. + + HEL. I am undone. + Is Thestius’ daughter living? + + TEU. Mean’st thou Leda? + She with the dead is numbered. + + HEL. Did the shame + Of Helen cause her wretched mother’s death? + + TEU. Around her neck, ’tis said the noble dame + Entwined the gliding noose. + + HEL. But live the sons + Of Tyndarus, or are they too now no more? + + TEU. They are, and are not, dead; for two accounts + Are propagated. + + HEL. Which is best confirmed? + O wretched me! + + TEU. Some say that they are gods + Under the semblance of two radiant stars. + + HEL. Well have you spoken. But what else is rumoured? + + TEU. That on account of their lost sister’s guilt + They died by their own swords. But of these themes + Enough: I wish not to renew my sorrows. + But O assist me in the great affairs + On which I to these royal mansions came, + Wishing to see the prophetess Theonoe, + And learn, from Heaven’s oracular response, + How I may steer my vessel with success + To Cyprus’ isle, where Phœbus hath foretold + That I shall dwell, and on the walls I rear + Bestow the name of Salamis, yet mindful + Of that dear country I have left behind. + + HEL. This will your voyage of itself explain: + But fly from these inhospitable shores, + Ere Proteus’ son, the ruler of this land, + Behold you: fly, for he is absent now + Pursuing with his hounds the savage prey. + He slays each Grecian stranger who becomes + His captive: ask not why, for I am silent; + And what could it avail you to be told? + + TEU. O woman, most discreetly hast thou spoken; + Thy kindness may the righteous gods repay! + For though thy person so resemble Helen, + Thou hast a soul unlike that worthless dame. + Perdition seize her; never may she reach + The current of Eurotas: but mayst thou, + Most generous woman, be for ever blest. + + [_Exit_ TEUCER. + + HEL. Plunged as I am ’midst great and piteous woes, + How shall I frame the plaintive strain, what Muse + With tears, or doleful elegies, invoke? + + ODE. + + I. 1. + + Ye syrens, winged daughters of the earth, + Come and attune the sympathetic string, + Expressive now no more of mirth, + To soothe my griefs, the flute of Libya bring; + Record the tortures which this bosom rend, + And echo back my elegiac strains: + Proserpine next will I invoke, to send + Numbers adapted to her votary’s pains; + So shall her dark abode, while many a tear I shed, + Waft the full dirge to soothe th’ illustrious dead. + +CHORUS, HELEN. + +CHORUS. + + I. 2. + + Near the cerulean margin of our streams + I stood, and on the tufted herbage spread + My purple vestments in those beams + Which from his noontide orb Hyperion shed, + When on a sudden from the waving reeds + I heard a plaintive and unwelcome sound + Of bitter lamentation; o’er the meads + Groans inarticulate were poured around: + Beneath the rocky cave, dear scene of past delight, + Some Naiad thus bewails Pan’s hasty flight. + + HELEN. + + II. 1. + + Ye Grecian nymphs, whom those barbarians caught, + And from your native land reluctant bore, + The tidings which yon sailor brought + Call forth these tears; for Ilion is no more, + By him of Ida, that predicted flame + Destroyed; through me, alas! have myriads bled, + If not through me, through my detested name. + By th’ ignominious noose is Leda dead + Who my imaginary guilt deplored; + And doomed by the relentless Fates in vain + To tedious wanderings, my unhappy lord + At length hath perished ’midst the billowy main: + The twin protectors of their native land, + Castor and Pollux, from all human eyes + Are vanished, they have left Eurotas’ strand, + And fields, in playful strife where each young wrestler vies. + +CHORUS. + + II. 2. + + My royal mistress, your disastrous fate + With many a groan and fruitless tear I mourn. + I from that hour your sorrows date + When amorous Jove on snowy pinions borne, + In form a swan, by Leda was carest. + Is there an evil you have not endured? + Your mother is no more, through you unblest + Are Jove’s twin sons. Nor have your vows procured + Of your dear country the enchanting sight. + A rumour too through various realms hath spread, + Caught by the envious vulgar with delight, + Assigning you to the barbarian’s bed. + Amid the waves, far from the wished-for shore, + Your husband hath been buried in the main. + You shall behold your native walls no more + Nor under burnished roofs your wonted state maintain. + +HELEN. + + III. + + What Phrygian artist on the top of Ide, + Or vagrant of a Grecian line, + Felled that inauspicious pine, + To frame the bark which Paris o’er the tide + Dared with barbaric oars to guide, + When to my palace, in an evil hour + Caught by beauty’s magic power, + He came to seize me for his bride? + But crafty Venus, authoress of these broils, + Marched thither, leagued with death, t’ annoy + Triumphant Greece and vanquished Troy, + (Wretch that I am, consumed with endless toils!) + And Juno seated on her golden throne, + Consort of thundering Jove, + Sent Hermes from the realms above, + Who found me, when I carelessly had strewn + Leaves plucked from roses in my vest, + As Minerva’s votary drest; + He bore me through the paths of air + To this loathed, this dreary land, + Called Greece, and Priam’s friends the strife to share, + And roused to bloody deeds each rival band; + Where Simois’ current glides, my name + Hence is marked with groundless shame. + + CHOR. Your woes I know are grievous: but to bear + With tranquil mind the necessary ills + Of life, is most expedient. + + HEL. To what ills + Have I been subject, O my dear companions! + Did not my mother, as a prodigy + Which wondering mortals gaze at, bring me forth? + For neither Grecian nor barbaric dame + Till then produced an egg, in which her children + Enveloped lay, as they report, from Jove + Leda engendered. My whole life and all + That hath befallen me, but conspires to form + One series of miraculous events; + To Juno some, and to my beauty some. + Are owing. Would to Heaven, that, like a tablet + Whose picture is effaced, I could exchange + This form for one less comely, since the Greeks + Forgetting those abundant gifts showered down + By prosperous Fortune which I now possess, + Think but of what redounds not to my honour, + And still remember my ideal shame. + Whoever therefore, with one single species + Of misery is afflicted by the gods, + Although the weight of Heaven’s chastising hand + Be grievous, may with fortitude endure + Such visitation: but by many woes + Am I oppressed, and first of all exposed + To slanderous tongues, although I ne’er have erred. + It were a lesser evil e’en to sin + Then be suspected falsely. Then the gods, + ’Midst men of barbarous manners, placed me far + From my loved country: torn from every friend, + I languish here, to servitude consigned + Although of free born race: for ’midst barbarians + Are all enslaved but one, their haughty lord. + My fortunes had this single anchor left, + Perchance my husband might at length arrive + To snatch me from my woes; but he, alas! + Is now no more, my mother too is dead, + And I am deemed her murd’ress, though unjustly, + Yet am I branded with this foul reproach; + And she who was the glory of our house, + My daughter in the virgin state grown grey, + Still droops unwedded: my illustrious brothers, + Castor and Pollux, called the sons of Jove, + Are now no more. But I impute my death, + Crushed as I am by all these various woes, + Not to my own misdeeds, but to the power + Of adverse fortune only: this one danger + There yet remains, if at my native land + I should again arrive, they will confine me + In a close dungeon, thinking me that Helen + Who dwelt in Ilion, till she thence was borne + By Menelaus. Were my husband living, + We might have known each other, by producing + Those tokens to which none beside are privy: + But this will never be, nor can he e’er + Return in safety. To what purpose then + Do I still lengthen out this wretched being? + To what new fortunes am I still reserved? + Shall I select a husband, but to vary + My present ills, to dwell beneath the roof + Of a barbarian, at luxurious boards + With wealth abounding, seated? for the dame + Whom wedlock couples with the man she hates + Death is the best expedient. But with glory + How shall I die? the fatal noose appears + To be so base, that e’en in slaves ’tis held + Unseemly thus to perish; in the poniard + There’s somewhat great and generous. But to me + Delays are useless: welcome instant death: + Into such depth of misery am I plunged. + For beauty renders other women blest, + But hath to me the source of ruin proved. + + CHOR. O Helen, whosoe’er the stranger be + Who hither came, believe not that the whole + Of what he said, is truth. + + HEL. But in plain terms + Hath he announced my dearest husband’s death. + + CHOR. The false assertions which prevail, are many. + + HEL. Clear is the language in which honest Truth + Loves to express herself. + + CHOR. You are inclined + Rather to credit inauspicious tidings + Than those which are more favourable. + + HEL. By fears + Encompassed, am I hurried to despair. + + CHOR. What hospitable treatment have you found + Beneath these roofs? + + HEL. All here, except the man + Who seeks to wed me, are my friends. + + CHOR. You know + How then to act: leave this sepulchral gloom. + + HEL. What are the counsels, or the cheering words + You wish to introduce? + + CHOR. Go in, and question + The daughter of the Nereid, her who knows + All hidden truths, Theonoe, if your lord + Yet live, or view the solar beams no more: + And when you have learnt this, as suit your fortunes + Indulge your joys, or pour forth all your tears: + But ere you know aught fully, what avail + Your sorrows? therefore listen to my words; + Leaving this tomb, attend the maid: from her + Shall you know all. But why should you look farther + When truth is in these mansions to be found? + With you the doors I’ll enter; we together + The royal virgin’s oracles will hear. + For ’tis a woman’s duty to exert + Her utmost efforts in a woman’s cause. + + HEL. My friends, your wholesome counsels I approve: + But enter ye these doors, that ye, within + The palace, my calamities may hear. + + CHOR. You summon her who your commands obeys + Without reluctance. + + HEL. Woeful day! ah me, + What lamentable tidings shall I hear? + + CHOR. Forbear these plaintive strains, my dearest queen, + Nor with presaging soul anticipate + Evils to come. + + HEL. What hath my wretched lord + Endured? Doth he yet view the light, the sun + Borne in his radiant chariot, and the paths + Of all the starry train? Or hath he shared + The common lot of mortals, is he plunged + Among the dead, beneath th’ insatiate grave? + + CHOR. O construe what time yet may bring to pass + In the most favourable terms. + + HEL. On thee + I call to testify, and thee adjure, + Eurotas, on whose verdant margin grow + The waving reeds: O tell me, if my lord + Be dead, as fame avers. + + CHOR. Why do you utter + These incoherent ditties? + + HEL. Round my neck + The deadly noose will I entwine, or drive + With my own hand a poinard through my breast; + For I was erst the cause of bloody strife; + But now am I a victim, to appease + The wrath of those three goddesses who strove + On Ida’s mount, when ’midst the stalls where fed + His lowing herds, the son of Priam waked + The sylvan reed, to celebrate my beauty. + + CHOR. Cause these averted ills, ye gods, to light + On other heads; but, O my royal mistress, + May you be happy. + + HEL. Thou, O wretched Troy, + To crimes which thou hast ne’er committed, ow’st + Thy ruin, and those horrible disasters + Thou hast endured. For as my nuptial gifts, + Hath Venus caused an intermingled stream + Of blood and tears to flow, she, griefs to griefs + And tears to tears hath added; all these sufferings + Have been the miserable Ilion’s lot. + Of their brave sons the mothers were bereft + The virgin sisters of the mighty dead + Strewed their shorn tresses on Scamander’s banks, + While, by repeated shrieks, victorious Greece + Her woes expressing, smote her laurelled head, + And with her nails deep furrowing tore her cheeks. + Happy Calisto, thou Arcadian nymph + Who didst ascend the couch of Jove, transformed + To a four-footed savage, far more blest + Art thou than she to whom I owe my birth: + For thou beneath the semblance of a beast, + Thy tender limbs with shaggy hide o’erspread, + And glaring with stern visage, by that change + Didst end thy griefs. She too whom Dian drove + Indignant from her choir, that hind whose horns + Were tipped with gold, the bright Titanian maid, + Daughter of Merops, to her beauty owed + That transformation: but my charms have ruined + Both Troy and the unhappy Grecian host. + + [_Exeunt_ HELEN _and_ CHORUS. + +MENELAUS. + + O Pelops, in the strife on Pisa’s field, + Who didst outstrip the fiery steeds that whirled + The chariot of Oenomaus, would to Heaven + That when thy severed limbs before the gods + Were at the banquet placed, thou then thy life + Amidst the blest immortal powers hadst closed, + Ere thou my father Atreus didst beget, + Whose issue by his consort Ærope + Were Agamemnon and myself, two chiefs + Of high renown. No ostentatious words + Are these; but such a numerous host, I deem, + As that which we to Ilion’s shore conveyed, + Ne’er stemmed the tide before; these troops their king + Led not by force to combat, but bore rule + O’er Grecian youths his voluntary subjects, + And among these, some heroes, now no more, + May we enumerate; others from the sea + Who ’scaped with joy, and to their homes returned, + E’en after fame had classed them with the dead. + But I, most wretched, o’er the briny waves + Of ocean wander, since I have o’erthrown + The battlements of Troy, and though I wish + Again to reach my country; by the gods + Am I esteemed unworthy of such bliss. + E’en to the Libyan deserts have I sailed, + And traversed each inhospitable scene + Of brutal outrage; still as I approach + My country, the tempestuous winds repel me, + Nor hath a prosperous breeze from Heaven yet filled + My sails, to waft me to the Spartan coast: + And now a shipwrecked, miserable man, + Reft of my friends, I on these shores am cast, + My vessel hath been shivered ’gainst the rocks + Into a thousand fragments: on the keel, + The only part which yet remains entire + Of all that fabric, scarce could I and Helen, + Whom I from Troy have borne, escape with life + Through fortunes unforeseen: but of this land + And its inhabitants, the name I know not: + For with the crowd I blushed to intermingle + Lest they my squalid garments should observe, + Through shame my wants concealing. For the man + Of an exalted station, when assailed + By adverse fortune, having never learned + How to endure calamity, is plunged + Into a state far worse than he whose woes + Have been of ancient date. But pinching need + Torments me: for I have not either food + Or raiment to protect my shivering frame, + Which may be guessed from these vile rags I wear + Cast up from my wrecked vessel: for the sea + Hath swallowed up my robes, my tissued vests, + And every ensign of my former state. + Within the dark recesses of a cave + Having concealed my wife, that guilty cause + Of all my woes, and my surviving friends + Enjoined to guard her, hither am I come. + Alone, in quest of necessary aid + For my brave comrades whom I there have left, + If by my search I haply can obtain it, + I roam; but when I viewed this house adorned + With gilded pinnacles, and gates that speak + The riches of their owner, I advanced: + For I have hopes that from this wealthy mansion + I, somewhat for my sailors, shall obtain. + But they who want the necessary comforts + Of life, although they are disposed to aid us, + Yet have not wherewithal. Ho! who comes forth + From yonder gate, my doleful tale to bear + Into the house? + +FEMALE SERVANT, MENELAUS. + + FEMALE SER. Who at the threshold stands? + Wilt thou not hence depart, lest thy appearance + Before these doors give umbrage to our lords? + Else shalt thou surely die, because thou cam’st + From Greece, whose sons shall never hence return. + + MEN. Well hast thou spoken, O thou aged dame. + Wilt thou permit me? For to thy behests + Must I submit: but suffer me to speak. + + FEMALE SER. Depart: for ’tis my duty to permit + No Greek to enter this imperial dome. + + MEN. Lift not thy hand against me, nor attempt + To drive me hence by force. + + FEMALE SER. Thou wilt not yield + To my advice, thou therefore art to blame. + + MEN. Carry my message to thy lords within. + + FEMALE SER. I fear lest somewhat dreadful might ensue, + Should I repeat your words. + + MEN. I hither come + A shipwrecked man, a stranger, one of those + Whom all hold sacred. + + FEMALE SER. To some other house, + Instead of this, repair. + + MEN. I am determined + To enter: but comply with my request. + + FEMALE SER. Be well assured thou art unwelcome here, + And shalt ere long by force be driven away. + + MEN. Alas! alas! where are my valiant troops? + + FEMALE SER. Elsewhere, perhaps, thou wert a mighty man; + But here art thou no longer such. + + MEN. O Fortune! + How am I galled with undeserved reproach! + + FEMALE SER. Why are those eyelids moist with tears, why griev’st thou? + + MEN. Because I once was happy. + + FEMALE SER. Then depart, + And mingle social tears with those thou lov’st. + + MEN. But what domain is this, to whom belong + These royal mansions? + + FEMALE SER. Proteus here resides; + This land is Egypt. + + MEN. Egypt? wretched me! + Ah, whither have I sailed! + + FEMALE SER. But for what cause + Scorn’st thou the race of Nile? + + MEN. I scorn them not: + My own disastrous fortunes I bewail. + + FEMALE SER. Many are wretched, thou in this respect + Art nothing singular. + + MEN. Is he, the king + Thou speak’st of, here within? + + FEMALE SER. To him belongs + This tomb; his son is ruler of this land. + + MEN. But where is he: abroad, or in the palace? + + FEMALE SER. He’s not within; but to the Greeks he bears + The greatest enmity. + + MEN. Whence rose this hate, + Productive of such bitter fruits to me? + + FEMALE SER. Beneath these roofs Jove’s daughter Helen dwells. + + MEN. What mean’st thou? Ha! what words with wonder fraught + Are these which thou hast uttered? O repeat them. + + FEMALE SER. The child of Tyndarus, she who in the realm + Of Sparta erst abode. + + MEN. Whence came she hither? + How can this be? + + FEMALE SER. From Lacedæmon’s realm. + + MEN. When? Hath my wife been torn from yonder cave? + + FEMALE SER. Before the Greeks, O stranger, went to Troy + Retreat then from these mansions, for within + Hath happened a calamitous event, + By which the palace is disturbed. Thou com’st + Unseasonably, and if the king surprise thee, + Instead of hospitable treatment, death + Must be thy portion. To befriend the Greeks + Though well inclined, yet thee have I received + With these harsh words, because I fear the monarch. + + [_Exit_ FEMALE SERVANT. + + MEN. What shall I say? For I, alas! am told + Of present sorrows added to the past. + Come I not hither, after having borne + From vanquished Troy my consort, whom I left + Within yon cave well guarded? Yet here dwells + Another Helen, whom that woman called + Jove’s daughter. Lives there on the banks of Nile + A man who bears the sacred name of Jove? + For in the heavens there’s only one. What country, + But that where glides Eurotas’ stream beset + With waving reeds, is Sparta? Tyndarus’ name + Suits him alone. But is there any land + Synonymous with Lacedæmon’s realm, + And that of Troy? I know not how to solve + This doubt; for there are many, it appears, + In various regions of the world, who bear + Like appellations; city corresponds + With city; woman borrows that of woman; + Nor must we therefore wonder. Yet again + Here will I stay, though danger be announced + By yonder aged servant at the door: + For there is no man so devoid of pity + As not to give me food, when he the name + Of Menelaus hears. That dreadful fire + By which the Phrygian bulwarks were consumed + Is memorable, and I who kindled it + Am known in every land. I’ll therefore wait + Until the master of this house return. + But I have two expedients, and will practise + That which my safety shall require; of soul + Obdurate, if he prove, in my wrecked bark + Can I conceal myself, but if the semblance + Which he puts on, be mild, I for relief + From these my present miseries, will apply. + But this of all the woes that I endure + Is the most grievous, that from other kings + I, though a king myself, should be reduced + To beg my food: but thus hath Fate ordained. + Nor is it my assertion, but a maxim + Among the wise established, that there’s nought + More powerful than the dread behests of Fate. + +HELEN, CHORUS, MENELAUS. + + CHOR. I heard what yon prophetic maid foretold, + Who in the palace did unfold + The oracles; that to the shades profound + Of Erebus, beneath the ground + Interred, not yet hath Menelaus ta’en + His passage: on the stormy main + Still tossed, he cannot yet approach the strand, + The haven of the Spartan land: + The chief, who now his vagrant life bewails, + Without a friend, unfurls his sails, + From Ilion’s realm to every distant shore + Borne o’er the deep with luckless oar. + + HEL. I to this hallowed tomb again repair, + Now I have heard the grateful tidings uttered + By sage Theonoe, who distinctly knows + All that hath happened? for she says my lord + Is living, and yet views the solar beams: + But after passing o’er unnumbered straits + Of ocean, to a vagrant’s wretched life + Full long inured, on these Ægyptian coasts, + When he his toils hath finished, shall arrive. + Yet there is one thing more, which she hath left + Unmentioned, whether he shall come with safety. + This question I neglected to propose, + O’erjoyed when she informed me he yet lives; + She also adds, that he is near the land, + From his wrecked ship, with his few friends, cast forth, + O mayst thou come at length; for ever dear + To me wilt thou arrive. Ha! who is that? + Am not I caught, through some deceitful scheme + Of Proteus’ impious son, in hidden snares? + Like a swift courser, or the madding priestess + Of Bacchus, shall I not with hasty step + Enter the tomb, because his looks are fierce + Who rushes on, and strives to overtake me? + + MEN. On thee I call, who to the yawning trench + Around that tomb, and blazing altars hiest + Precipitate. Stay: wherefore dost thou fly? + With what amazement doth thy presence strike + And almost leave me speechless! + + HEL. O my friends, + I suffer violence; for from the tomb + I by this man am dragged, who to the king + Will give me, from whose nuptial couch I fled. + + MEN. We are no pirates, nor the ministers + Of lustful villany. + + HEL. Yet is the vest + You wear unseemly. + + MEN. Stay thy rapid flight, + Dismiss thy fears. + + HEL. I stop, now I have reached + This hallowed spot. + + MEN. Say, woman, who thou art; + What face do I behold? + + HEL. But who are you? + For I by the same reasons am induced + To ask this question. + + MEN. Never did I see + A greater likeness. + + HEL. O ye righteous gods! + For ’tis a privilege the gods alone + Confer, to recognize our long-lost friends. + + MEN. Art thou a Grecian or a foreign dame? + + HEL. Of Greece: but earnestly I wish to know + Whence you derive your origin. + + MEN. In thee + A wonderful resemblance I discern + Of Helen. + + HEL. Menelaus’ very features + These eyes in you behold, still at a loss + Am I for words t’ express my thoughts. + + MEN. Full clearly + Hast thou discovered a most wretched man. + + HEL. O to thy consort’s arms at length restored! + + MEN. To what a consort? O forbear to touch + My garment! + + HEL. E’en the same, whom to your arms, + A noble bride, my father Tyndarus gave. + + MEN. Send forth, O Hecate, thou orb of light, + Some more benignant spectre. + + HEL. You in me + Behold not one of those who minister + At Hecate’s abhorred nocturnal rites. + + MEN. Nor am I sure the husband of two wives. + + HEL. Say, to whom else in wedlock are you joined? + + MEN. To her who lies concealed in yonder cave, + The prize I hither bring from vanquished Troy. + + HEL. You have no wife but me. + + MEN. If I retain + My reason yet, these eyes are sure deceived. + + HEL. Seem you not then, while me you thus behold, + To view your real consort? + + MEN. Though your person + Resemble hers, no positive decision + Can I presume to form. + + HEL. Observe me well, + And mark wherein we differ. Who can judge + With greater certainty than you? + + MEN. Thou bear’st + Her semblance, I confess. + + HEL. Who can inform you + Better than your own eyes? + + MEN. What makes me doubt + Is this; because I have another wife. + + HEL. To the domains of Troy I never went: + It was my image only. + + MEN. Who can fashion + Such bodies, with the power of sight endued? + + HEL. Composed of ether, you a consort have, + Heaven’s workmanship. + + MEN. Wrought by what plastic god? + For the events thou speak’st of are most wondrous. + + HEL. Lest Paris should obtain me, this exchange + Was made by Juno. + + MEN. How couldst thou be here, + At the same time, and in the Phrygian realm? + + HEL. The name, but not the body, can be present + At once in many places. + + MEN. O release me; + For I came hither in an evil hour. + + HEL. Will you then leave me here, and bear away + That shadow of a wife? + + MEN. Yet, O farewell, + Because thou art like Helen. + + HEL. I’m undone: + For though my husband I again have found, + Yet shall not I possess him. + + MEN. My conviction, + From all those grievous toils I have endured + At Ilion, I derive, and not from thee. + + HEL. Ah, who is there more miserable than I am? + My dearest friends desert me: I, to Greece, + To my dear native land, shall ne’er return. + +MESSENGER, MENELAUS, HELEN, CHORUS. + + MES. After a tedious search, O Menelaus, + At length have I with difficulty found you, + But not till over all the wide extent + Of this barbaric region I had wandered; + Sent by the comrades whom you left behind. + + MEN. Have ye been plundered then by the barbarians? + + MES. A most miraculous event hath happened, + Yet less astonishing by far in name + Than in reality. + + MEN. Speak, for thou bring’st + Important tidings by this breathless haste. + + MES. My words are these: in vain have you endured + Unnumbered toils. + + MEN. Those thou bewail’st are ills + Of ancient date. But what hast thou to tell me? + + MES. Borne to the skies your consort from our sight + Hath vanished, in the heavens is she concealed, + Leaving the cave in which we guarded her, + When she these words had uttered: “O ye sons + Of hapless Phrygia, and of Greece: for me + Beside Scamander’s conscious stream ye died, + Through Juno’s arts, because ye falsely deemed + Helen by Phrygian Paris was possest: + But after having here remained on earth + My stated time, observing the decrees + Of Fate, I to my sire the liquid ether + Return: but Tyndarus’ miserable daughter, + Though guiltless, hath unjustly been accused.” + Daughter of Leda hail! wert thou then here? + While I as if thou to the starry paths + Hadst mounted, through my ignorance proclaimed + Thou from this world on rapid wings wert borne. + But I no longer will allow thee thus + To sport with the afflictions of thy friends; + For in thy cause thy lord and his brave troops + On Ilion’s coast already have endured + Abundant toils. + + MEN. These are the very words + She uttered; and by what ye both aver + The truth is ascertained. O happy day + Which gives thee to my arms! + + HEL. My dearest lord, + O Menelaus, it is long indeed + Since I have seen you: but joy comes at last. + My friends, transported I receive my lord + Whom I once more with these fond arms enfold, + After the radiant chariot of the sun + Hath oft the world illumined. + + MEN. I embrace + Thee too: but having now so much to say + I know not with what subject to begin. + + HEL. Joy raises my exulting crest, these tears + Are tears of ecstasy, around your neck + My arms I fling with transport, O my husband, + O sight most wished for! + + MEN. I acquit the Fates, + Since Jove’s and Leda’s daughter I possess, + On whom her brothers borne on milk-white steeds + Erst showered abundant blessings, when the torch + Was kindled at our jocund nuptial rite; + Though from my palace her the gods conveyed. + But evil now converted into good + To me thy husband hath at length restored + My long-lost consort: grant, O bounteous Heaven, + That I these gifts of fortune may enjoy. + + HEL. May you enjoy them, for my vows concur + With yours; nor, of us two, can one be wretched + Without the other. O my friends, I groan + No longer, I no longer shed the tear + For my past woes: my husband I possess + Whom I from Troy expected to return + Full many, many years. + + MEN. I still am thine, + And thee with these fond arms again enfold. + But oft the chariot of the sun revolved + Through his diurnal orbit, ere the frauds + Of Juno I discerned. Yet more from joy + Than from affliction rise the tears I shed. + + HEL. What shall I say? what mortal could presume + E’er to have hoped for such a blest event? + An unexpected visitant once more + I clasp you to my bosom. + + MEN. And I thee + Who didst appear to sail for Ida’s town, + And Ilion’s wretched turrets. By the gods, + Inform me, I conjure thee, by what means + Thou from my palace hither wert conveyed. + + HEL. Alas! you to the source of all my woes + Ascend, and search into most bitter tidings. + + MEN. Speak: for whate’er hath been ordained by Heaven + Ought to be published. + + HEL. I abhor the topic + On which I now am entering. + + MEN. Yet relate + All that thou know’st; for pleasing ’tis to hear + Of labours that are past. + + HEL. I never went + To that barbarian youth’s adulterous couch + By the swift oar impelled: but winged love + Those hapless spousals formed. + + MEN. What god, what fate + Hath torn thee from thy country? + + HEL. O my lord, + The son of Jove hath placed me on the banks + Of Nile. + + MEN. With what amazement do I hear + This wondrous tale of thy celestial guide! + + HEL. Oft have I wept, and still the tear bedews + These eyes: to Juno, wife of Jove, I owe + My ruin. + + MEN. Wherefore wished she to have heaped + Mischiefs on thee? + + HEL. Ye sources of whate’er + To me hath been most dreadful, O ye baths + And fountains, where those goddesses adorned + Their rival beauties, from whose influence rose + That judgment! + + MEN. Were those curses on thy head + By Juno showered, that judgment to requite? + + HEL. To rescue me from Venus. + + MEN. What thou mean’st + Inform me. + + HEL. Who to Paris had engaged—— + + MEN. O wretched woman! + + HEL. Wretched, wretched me! + Thus did she waft me to th’ Egyptian coast. + + MEN. Then in thy stead to him that image gave, + As thou inform’st me. + + HEL. But alas! what woes + Thence visited our wretched house! ah mother! + Ah me! + + MEN. What sayst thou? + + HEL. Leda is no more. + Around her neck she fixed the deadly noose + On my account, through my unhappy nuptials + O’erwhelmed with foul disgrace. + + MEN. Alas! But lives + Hermione our daughter? + + HEL. Yet unwedded, + Yet childless, O my husband, she bewails + My miserable ’spousals, my disgrace. + + MEN. O Paris, who hast utterly o’erthrown + All my devoted house, these curst events, + Both thee, and myriads of the Grecian troops + With brazen arms refulgent, have destroyed. + + HEL. But from my country in an evil hour, + From my loved native city, and from you, + Me hath the goddess driven, a wretch accursed + In that I left our home, and bridal bed, + Which yet I left not, for those base espousals. + + CHOR. If ye hereafter meet with happier fortune, + This may atone for all ye have endured + Already. + + MES. To me too, O Menelaus, + Communicate a portion of that joy + Which I perceive, but know not whence it springs. + + MEN. Thou too, old man, shalt in our conference share. + + MES. Was not she then the cause of all the woes + Endured at Troy? + + MEN. Not she: we were deceived + By those immortal Powers, whose plastic hand + Moulded a cloud into that baleful image. + + MES. What words are these you utter? have we toiled + In vain, and only for an empty cloud? + + MEN. These deeds were wrought by Juno, and the strife + ’Twixt the three goddesses. + + MES. But is this woman + Indeed your wife? + + MEN. E’en she: and thou for this + On my assertion safely mayst depend. + + MES. My daughter, O how variable is Jove, + And how inscrutable! for he with ease + Whirls us around, now here, now there; one suffers + Full many toils; another, who ne’er knew + What sorrow was, is swallowed up at once + In swift perdition, nor in Fortune’s gifts + A firm and lasting tenure doth enjoy. + Thou and thy husband have endured a war, + Of slander thou, but he of pointed spears: + For by the tedious labours he endured + He nothing could obtain, but now obtains + The greatest and the happiest of all boons, + Which comes to him unsought. Thou hast not shamed + Thy aged father, and the sons of Jove, + Nor acted as malignant rumour speaks. + I now renew thy hymeneal rite, + And still am mindful of the torch I bore, + Running before the steeds, when in a car + Thou with this favoured bridegroom wert conveyed + From thy paternal mansion’s happy gates. + For worthless is that servant who neglects + His master’s interests, nor partakes their joys, + Nor feels for their afflictions. I was born + Indeed a slave, yet I with generous slaves + Would still be numbered, for although the name + I bear is abject, yet my soul is free. + Far better this, than if I had at once + Suffered two evils, a corrupted heart, + And vile subjection to another’s will. + + MEN. Courage, old man: for thou hast borne my shield, + And in my cause endured unnumbered toils, + Sharing my dangers: now partake my joys; + Go tell the friends I left, what thou hast seen, + And our auspicious fortunes: on the shore + Bid them remain, till our expected conflict + Is finished; and observe how we may sail + From this loathed coast; that, with our better fortune + Conspiring, we, if possible, may ’scape + From these barbarians. + + MES. Your commands, O king, + Shall be obeyed. But I perceive how vain + And how replete with falsehood is the voice + Of prophets: no dependence can be placed + Upon the flames that from the altar rise, + Or on the voices of the feathered choir. + It is the height of folly to suppose + That birds are able to instruct mankind. + For Calchas, to the host, nor by his words + Nor signs, declared, “I for a cloud behold + My friends in battle slain.” The seer was mute, + And Troy in vain was taken. But perhaps + You will rejoin, “’Twas not the will of Heaven + That he should speak.” Why then do we consult + These prophets? We by sacrifice should ask + For blessings from the gods, and lay aside + All auguries. This vain delusive bait + Was but invented to beguile mankind. + No sluggard e’er grew rich by divination, + The best of seers are Prudence and Discernment. + + [_Exit_ MESSENGER. + + CHOR. My sentiments on prophets well accord + With those of this old man. He whom the gods + Th’ immortal gods befriend, in his own house + Hath a response that never can mislead. + + HEL. So be it. All thus far is well. But how + You came with safety, O unhappy man, + From Troy, ’twill nought avail for me to know; + Yet with the sorrows of their friends, have friends + A wish to be acquainted. + + MEN. Thou hast asked + A multitude of questions in one short + And blended sentence. Why should I recount + To thee our sufferings on the Ægean deep, + Those treacherous beacons, by the vengeful hand + Of Nauplius kindled on Eubœa’s rocks, + The towns of Crete, or in the Libyan realm, + Which I have visited, and the famed heights + Of Perseus? never could my words assuage + Thy curiosity, and, by repeating + My woes to thee, I should but grieve the more, + And yet a second time those sufferings feel. + + HEL. You in your answer have been more discreet + Than I who such a question did propose. + But pass o’er all beside, and only tell me + How long you wandered o’er the briny main. + + MEN. Year after year, besides the ten at Troy, + Seven tedious revolutions of the sun. + + HEL. The time you speak of, O unhappy man, + Is long indeed: but from those dangers saved + You hither come to bleed. + + MEN. What words are these? + What dost thou mean? O, how hast thou undone me! + + HEL. Fly from these regions with your utmost speed: + Or he to whom this house belongs will slay you. + + MEN. What have I done that merits such a fate? + + HEL. You hither come an unexpected guest, + And are a hindrance to my bridal rite. + + MEN. Is there a man then who presumes to wed + My consort? + + HEL. And with arrogance to treat me, + Which I, alas! have hitherto endured. + + MEN. Of private rank, in his own strength alone + Doth he confide, or rules he o’er the land? + + HEL. Lord of this region, royal Proteus’ son. + + MEN. This is the very riddle which I heard + From yonder female servant. + + HEL. At which gate + Of this barbarian palace did you stand? + + MEN. Here, whence I like a beggar was repelled. + + HEL. What, did you beg for food! ah wretched me! + + MEN. The fact was thus: though I that abject name + Assumed not. + + HEL. You then know, it seems, the whole + About my nuptials. + + MEN. This I know: but whether + Thou has escaped th’ embraces of the king + I still am uninformed. + + HEL. That I have kept + Your bed still spotless, may you rest assured. + + MEN. How canst thou prove the fact? if thou speak truth + To me, it will give pleasure. + + HEL. Do you see, + Close to the tomb, my miserable seat? + + MEN. I on the ground behold a couch: but what + Hast thou to do with that, O wretched woman? + + HEL. Here I a suppliant bowed, that I might ’scape + From those espousals. + + MEN. Couldst thou find no altar, + Or dost thou follow the barbarian mode? + + HEL. Equally with the temples of the gods + Will this protect me. + + MEN. Is not then my bark + Allowed to waft thee to the Spartan shore? + + HEL. Rather the sword than Helen’s bridal bed + Awaits you. + + MEN. Thus should I of all mankind + Be the most wretched. + + HEL. Let not shame prevent + Your ’scaping from this land. + + MEN. And leaving thee, + For whom I laid the walls of Ilion waste? + + HEL. ’Twere better than to perish in the cause + Of me your consort. + + MEN. Such unmanly deeds + As these thou speak’st of would disgrace the chief + Who conquered Troy. + + HEL. You cannot slay the king, + Which is perhaps the project you have formed. + + MEN. Hath he then such a body as no steel + Can penetrate? + + HEL. My reasons you shall know. + But it becomes not a wise man t’ attempt + What cannot be performed. + + MEN. Shall I submit + My hands in silence to the galling chain? + + HEL. You know not how to act in these dire straits + To which we are reduced: but of some plot + Must we avail ourselves. + + MEN. ’Twere best to die + In some brave action than without a conflict. + + HEL. One only hope of safety yet remains. + + MEN. By gold can it be purchased, or depends it + On dauntless courage, or persuasive words? + + HEL. Of your arrival if the monarch hear not. + + MEN. Who can inform him? he will never sure + Know who I am. + + HEL. He hath a sure associate, + Within his palace, equal to the gods. + + MEN. Some voice which from its inmost chambers sounds? + + HEL. No: ’tis his sister, her they call Theonoe. + + MEN. She bears indeed a most prophetic name; + But say, what mighty deeds can she perform? + + HEL. All things she knows, and will inform her brother + That you are here. + + MEN. We both, alas! must die, + Nor can I possibly conceal myself. + + HEL. Could our united supplications move her? + + MEN. To do what action? Into what vain hope + Wouldst thou mislead me? + + HEL. Not to tell her brother + That you are in the land. + + MEN. If we prevail + Thus far, can we escape from these domains? + + HEL. With ease, if she concur in our design, + But not without her knowledge. + + MEN. This depends + On thee: for woman best prevails with woman. + + HEL. Around her knees these suppliant hands I’ll twine. + + MEN. Go then; but what if she reject our prayer? + + HEL. You certainly must die; and I by force + Shall to the king be wedded. + + MEN. Thou betray’st me; + That force thou talk’st of is but mere pretence. + + HEL. But by your head that sacred oath I swear. + + MEN. What sayst thou, wilt thou die, and never change + Thy husband? + + HEL. By the self-same sword: my corse + Shall lie beside you. + + MEN. To confirm the words + Which thou hast spoken, take my hand. + + HEL. I take + Your hand, and swear that after you are dead + I will not live. + + MEN. And I will put an end + To my existence, if deprived of thee. + + HEL. But how shall we die so as to procure + Immortal glory? + + MEN. Soon as on the tomb + Thee I have slain, myself will I destroy. + But first a mighty conflict shall decide + Our claims who to thy bridal bed aspire. + Let him who dares, draw near: for the renown + I won at Troy, I never will belie, + Nor yet returning to the Grecian shore + Suffer unnumbered taunts for having reft + Thetis of her Achilles, and beheld + Ajax the Telamonian hero slain, + With Neleus’ grandson, though I dare not bleed + To save my consort. Yet on thy behalf + Without regret, will I surrender up + This fleeting life: for if the gods are wise + They lightly scatter dust upon the tomb. + Of the brave man who by his foes is slain, + But pile whole mountains on the coward’s breast. + + CHOR. O may the race of Tantalus, ye gods, + At length be prosperous, may their sorrows cease! + + HEL. Wretch that I am! for such is my hard fate: + O Menelaus, we are lost for ever. + The prophetess Theonoe, from the palace + Comes forth: I hear the sounding gates unbarred. + Fly from this spot. But whither can you fly? + For your arrival here, full well she knows, + Absent, or present. How, O wretched me, + Am I undone! in safety you return + From Troy, from a barbarian land, to rush + Again upon the swords of fresh barbarians. + +THEONOE, MENELAUS, HELEN, CHORUS. + + THEON. [_to one of her Attendants_.] + Lead thou the way, sustaining in thy hand + The kindled torch, and fan the ambient air, + Observing every due and solemn rite, + That we may breathe the purest gales of Heaven. + Meanwhile do thou, if any impious foot + Have marked the path, with lustral flames efface + The taint, and wave the pitchy brand around, + That I may pass; and when we have performed + Our duteous homage to th’ immortal powers, + Into the palace let the flame be borne, + Restore it to the Lares. What opinion + Have you, O Helen, of th’ events foretold + By my prophetic voice? Your husband comes, + Your Menelaus in this land appears, + Reft of his ships, and of your image reft. + ’Scaped from what dangers, O unhappy man, + Art thou arrived, although thou know’st not yet + Whether thou e’er shalt to thy home return, + Or here remain. For there is strife in Heaven; + And Jove on thy account this day will hold + A council; Juno who was erst thy foe, + Now grown benignant, with thy consort safe + To Sparta would convey thee, that all Greece + May understand that the fictitious nuptials + Of Paris, were the baleful gift of Venus. + But Venus wants to frustrate thy return, + Lest she should be convicted, or appear + At least the palm of beauty to have purchased + By vending Helen for a wife to Paris. + But this important question to decide, + On me depends; I either can destroy thee, + Which is the wish of Venus, by informing + My brother thou art here; or save thy life + By taking Juno’s side, and thy arrival + Concealing from my brother, who enjoined me + To inform him whensoe’er thou on these shores + Shouldst land. Who bears the tidings to my brother, + That Menelaus’ self is here, to save me + From his resentment? + + HEL. At thy knees I fall, + O virgin, as a suppliant, and here take + My miserable seat, both for myself, + And him whom, scarce restored to me, I see + Now on the verge of death. Forbear t’ inform + Thy brother, that to these fond arms my lord + Again is come. O save him, I implore thee; + Nor gratify thy brother, by betraying + The feelings of humanity, to purchase + A wicked and unjust applause: for Jove + Detests all violence, he bids us use + What we possess, but not increase our stores + By rapine. It is better to be poor, + Than gain unrighteous wealth. For all mankind + Enjoy these common blessings, Air and Earth; + Nor ought we our own house with gold to fill, + By keeping fraudfully another’s right, + Or seizing it by violence. For Hermes, + Commissioned by the blest immortal powers, + Hath, at my cost, consigned me to thy sire, + To keep me for this husband, who is here + And claims me back again: but by what means + Can he receive me after he is dead? + Or how can the Ægyptian king restore me + A living consort to my breathless lord? + Consider therefore, both the will of Heaven + And that of thy great father. Would the god, + Would the deceased, surrender up or keep + Another’s right? I deem they would restore it. + Hence to thy foolish brother shouldst not thou + Pay more respect than to thy virtuous sire. + And sure if thou, a prophetess, who utter’st + Th’ oracular responses of the gods, + Break’st through thy father’s justice, to comply + With an unrighteous brother: it were base + In thee to understand each mystic truth + Revealed by the immortal powers, the things + That are, and those that are not; yet o’erlook + The rules of justice. But O stoop to save + Me, miserable me, from all those ills + In which I am involved; this great exertion + Of thy benignant aid, my fortunes claim. + For there is no man who abhors not Helen; + ’Tis rumoured through all Greece that I betrayed + My husband, and abode beneath the roofs + Of wealthy Phrygia. But to Greece once more + Should I return, and to the Spartan realm; + When they are told, and see, how to the arts + Of these contending goddesses they owe + Their ruin; but that I have to my friends + Been ever true, they to the rank I held + ’Midst chaste and virtuous matrons, will restore me: + My daughter too, whom no man dares to wed, + From me her bridal portion shall receive; + And I, no longer doomed to lead the life + Of an unhappy vagrant, shall enjoy + The treasures that our palaces contain. + Had Menelaus died, and been consumed + In the funereal pyre, I should have wept + For him far distant in a foreign realm; + But now shall I for ever be bereft + Of him who lives, and seem to have escaped + From every danger. Virgin, act not thus; + To thee I kneel a suppliant; O confer + On me this boon, and emulate the justice + Of your great sire. For fair renown attends + The children, from a virtuous father sprung, + Who equal their hereditary worth. + + THEON. Most piteous are the words which you have spoken; + You also claim my pity: but I wish + To hear what Menelaus yet can plead + To save his life. + + MEN. I cannot at your knees + Fall prostrate, or with tears these eyelids stain: + For I should cover all the great exploits + Which I achieved at Ilion with disgrace, + If I became a dastard; though some hold + ’Tis not unworthy of the brave to weep + When wretched. But this honourable part + (If such a part can e’er be honourable) + I will not act, because the prosperous fortunes + Which erst were mine, are present to my soul. + If then you haply are disposed to save + A foreigner who justly claims his wife, + Restore her, and protect us: if you spurn + Our suit, I am not now for the first time, + But have been often wretched, and your name + Shall be recorded as an impious woman. + These thoughts, which I hold worthy of myself, + And just, and such as greatly must affect + Your inmost heart, I at your father’s tomb + With energy will utter. Good old man, + Beneath this marble sepulchre who dwell’st, + To thee I sue, restore my wife, whom Jove + Sent hither to thy realm, that thou for me + Might’st guard her. Thou, I know, since thou art dead, + Canst ne’er have power to give her back again: + But she, this holy priestess, will not suffer + Reproach to fall on her illustrious sire, + Whom I invoke amid the shades beneath: + For this depends on her. Thee too I call, + O Pluto, to my aid, who hast received + Full many a corse, which fell in Helen’s cause + Beneath my sword, and still retain’st the prize: + Either restore them now to life, or force + Her who seems mightier than her pious father, + To give me back my wife. But of my consort + If ye resolve to rob me, I will urge + Those arguments which Helen hath omitted. + Know then, O virgin, first I by an oath + Have bound myself, your brother to encounter, + And he, or I, must perish; the plain truth + Is this. But foot to foot in equal combat. + If he refuse to meet me, and attempt + To drive us suppliants from the tomb by famine, + My consort will I slay, and with the sword + Here on this sepulchre my bosom pierce, + That the warm current of our blood may stream + Into the grave. Thus shall our corses lie + Close to each other on this polished marble: + To you eternal sorrow shall they cause, + And foul reproach to your great father’s name. + For neither shall your brother wed my Helen, + Nor any man beside: for I with me + Will bear her; if I cannot bear her home, + Yet will I bear her to the shades beneath. + But why complain? If I shed tears, and act + The woman’s part, I rather shall become + An object of compassion, than deserve + To be esteemed a warrior. If you list, + Slay me, for I can never fall inglorious. + But rather yield due credence to my words, + So will you act with justice, and my wife + Shall I recover. + + CHOR. To decide the cause + On which we speak, belongs to thee, O virgin: + But so decide as to please all. + + THEON. By nature + And inclination am I formed to act + With piety, myself too I revere: + Nor will I e’er pollute my sire’s renown, + Or gratify my brother by such means + As might make me seem base. For from my birth, + Hath justice in this bosom fixed her shrine: + And since from Nereus I inherited + This temper, Menelaus will I strive + To save. But now since Juno is disposed + To be your friend, with her will I accord: + May Venus be propitious, though her rites + I never have partaken, and will strive + For ever to remain a spotless maid. + But I concur with thee, O Menelaus, + In all thou to my father at his tomb + Hast said: for with injustice should I act + If I restored not Helen: had he lived, + My sire on thee again would have bestowed + Thy consort, and her former lord on Helen. + For vengeance, in the shades of Hell beneath, + And among all that breathe the vital air, + Attends on those who break their plighted trust. + The soul of the deceased, although it live + Indeed no longer, yet doth still retain + A consciousness which lasts for ever, lodged + In the eternal scene of its abode, + The liquid ether. To express myself + Concisely, all that you requested me + Will I conceal, nor with my counsels aid + My brother’s folly; I to him shall show + A real friendship, though without the semblance, + If I his vicious manners can reform + And make him more religious. Therefore find + Means to escape yourselves; for I will hence + Depart in silence. First implore the gods; + To Venus sue, that she your safe return + Would suffer; and to Juno, not to change + The scheme which she hath formed, both to preserve + Your lord and you. O my departed sire, + For thee will I exert my utmost might, + That on thy honoured name no foul reproach + May ever rest. + + [_Exit_ THEONOE. + + CHOR. No impious man e’er prospered: + But fairest hopes attend an honest cause. + + HEL. O Menelaus, as to what depends + Upon the royal maid, are we secure: + But next doth it become you to propose + Some means our safety to effect. + + MEN. Now listen + To me; thou in this palace long hast dwelt, + An inmate with the servants of the king. + + HEL. Why speak you thus? for you raise hopes, as though + You could do somewhat for our common good. + + MEN. Canst thou prevail on any one of those + Who guide the harnessed steeds, to furnish us + With a swift car? + + HEL. Perhaps I might succeed + In that attempt. But how shall we escape + Who to these fields and this barbarian land + Are strangers? An impracticable thing + Is this you speak of. + + MEN. Well, but in the palace + Concealed, if with this sword the king I slay. + + HEL. His sister will not suffer this in silence + If you attempt aught ’gainst her brother’s life. + + MEN. We have no ship in which we can escape; + For that which we brought hither, by the waves + Is swallowed up. + + HEL. Now hear what I propose; + From woman’s lips if wisdom ever flow. + Will you permit a rumour of your death + To be dispersed? + + MEN. This were an evil omen: + But I, if any benefit arise + From such report, consent to be called dead + While I yet live. + + HEL. That impious tyrant’s pity + Our female choir shall move, with tresses shorn, + And chaunt funereal strains. + + MEN. What tendency + Can such a project have to our deliverance? + + HEL. I will allege that ’tis an ancient custom; + And of the monarch his permission crave, + That I on you, as if you in the sea + Had perished, may bestow a vacant tomb. + + MEN. If he consent, how can this feigned interment + Enable us to fly without a ship? + + HEL. I will command a bark to be prepared, + From whence into the bosom of the deep + Funereal trappings I may cast. + + MEN. How well + And wisely hast thou spoken! but the tomb + If he direct thee on the strand to raise, + Nought can this scheme avail. + + HEL. But I will say + ’Tis not the usage, in a Grecian realm, + With earth to cover the remains of those + Who perished in the waves. + + MEN. Thou hast again + Removed this obstacle: I then with thee + Will sail, and the funereal trappings place + In the same vessel. + + HEL. ’Tis of great importance + That you, and all those mariners who ’scaped + The shipwreck, should be present. + + MEN. If we find + A bark at anchor, with our falchions armed + In one collected band will we assail + And board it. + + HEL. To direct all this, belongs + To you; but may the prosperous breezes fill + Our sails, and guide us o’er the billowy deep. + + MEN. These vows shall be accomplished; for the gods + At length will cause my toils to cease: but whence + Wilt thou pretend thou heard’st that I was dead? + + HEL. Yourself shall be the messenger; relate + How you alone escaped his piteous doom, + A partner of the voyage with the son + Of Atreus, and the witness of his death. + + MEN. This tattered vest will testify my shipwreck. + + HEL. How seasonable was that which seemed at first + To be a grievous loss! but the misfortune + May end perhaps in bliss. + + MEN. Must I with thee + Enter the palace, or before this tomb + Sit motionless? + + HEL. Here stay: for if the king + By force should strive to tear you hence, this tomb + And your drawn sword will save you. But I’ll go + To my apartment, shear my flowing hair, + For sable weeds this snowy vest exchange, + And rend with bloody nails these livid cheeks: + For ’tis a mighty conflict, and I see + These two alternatives: if in my plots + Detected, I must die; or to my country + I shall return, and save your life. O Juno, + Thou sacred queen, who shar’st the couch of Jove, + Relieve two wretches from their toils; to thee + Our suppliant arms uplifting high t’wards Heaven + With glittering stars adorned, thy blest abode, + We sue: and thou, O Venus, who didst gain + The palm of beauty through my promised ’spousals, + Spare me, thou daughter of Dione, spare; + For thou enough hast injured me already; + Exposing not my person, but my name, + To those barbarians; suffer me to die, + If thou wilt slay me, in my native land. + Why art thou still insatiably malignant? + Why dost thou harass me by love, by fraud, + By the invention of these new deceits, + And by thy magic philtres plunge in blood + Our miserable house? If thou hadst ruled + With mildness, thou to man hadst been most grateful + Of all the gods. I speak not this at random. + + [HELEN _and_ MENELAUS _retire behind the tomb_. + +CHORUS. + + ODE. + + I. 1. + + On thee who build’st thy tuneful seat + Protected by the leafy groves, I call, + O nightingale, thy accents ever sweet + Their murmuring melancholy fall + Prolong! O come, and with thy plaintive strain + Aid me to utter my distress, + Thy woes, O Helen, let the song express, + And those of Troy now levelled with the plain + By Grecian might. From hospitable shores, + Relying on barbaric oars, + The spoiler Paris fled, + And o’er the deep to Priam’s realm with pride + Bore his imaginary bride, + Fancying that thou hadst graced his bed, + To nuptials fraught with shame by wanton Venus led. + + I. 2. + + Unnumbered Greeks, transpierced with spears, + Or crushed beneath the falling ramparts, bled: + Hence with her tresses shorn, immersed in tears + The matron wails her lonely bed, + But Nauplius, kindling near th’ Eubœan deep + Those torches, o’er our host prevailed; + Though with a single bark the traitor sailed, + He wrecked whole fleets against Caphareus’ steep, + And the Ægean coasts, the beacon seemed + A star, and through Heaven’s conclave gleamed, + Placed on the craggy height. + While flushed with conquest, from the Phrygian strand + They hastened to their native land, + Portentous source of bloody fight, + The cloud by Juno formed, beguiled their dazzled sight. + + II. 1. + + Whether the image was divine, + Drew from terrestrial particles its birth, + Or from the middle region, how define + By curious search, ye sons of earth? + Far from unravelling Heaven’s abstruse intents, + We view the world tost to and fro, + Mark strange vicissitudes of joy and woe, + Discordant and miraculous events. + Thou, Helen, art indeed the child of Jove. + The swan, thy sire, inflamed by love, + To Leda’s bosom flew: + Yet with imputed crimes malignant fame + Through Greece arraigns thy slandered name. + Of men I know not whom to trust, + But what the gods pronounce have I found ever just. + + II. 2. + + Frantic are ye who seek renown + Amid the horrors of th’ embattled field, + Who masking guilt beneath a laurel crown + With nervous arm the falchion wield, + Not slaughtered thousands can your fury sate. + If still success the judgment guide, + If bloody battle right and wrong decide, + Incessant strife must vex each rival state: + Hence from her home departs each Phrygian wife, + O Helen, when the cruel strife + Which from thy charms arose, + One conference might have closed: now myriads dwell + With Pluto in the shades of Hell, + And flames, as when Jove’s vengeance throws + The bolt, have caught her towers and finished Ilion’s woes. + +THEOCLYMENUS, CHORUS (HELEN _and_ MENELAUS _behind the tomb_). + + THEOC. Hail, O thou tomb of my illustrious sire! + For thee have I interred before my gate, + That with thy shade I might hold frequent conference, + O Proteus; Theoclymenus thy son + Thee, O my father, oft as he goes forth, + Oft as he enters these abodes, accosts. + But to the palace now convey those hounds + And nets, my servants. I full many a time + Have blamed myself, because I never punished + With death such miscreants; now I am informed + That publicly some Greek to these domains + Is come unnoticed by my guards, a spy, + Or one who means to carry Helen off + By stealth: but if I seize him, he shall die. + Methinks I find all over: for the daughter + Of Tyndarus sits no longer at the tomb, + But from these shores hath fled, and now is crossing + The billowy deep. Unbar the gates, bring forth + My coursers from the stalls, and brazen cars; + Lest through my want of vigilance the dame + Whom I would make my consort, should escape me, + Borne from this land. Yet stay; for I behold + Those we pursue still here beneath this roof, + Nor are they fled. Ho! why in sable vest + Hast thou arrayed thyself, why cast aside + Thy robes of white, and from thy graceful head + With ruthless steel thy glowing ringlets shorn, + And wherefore bathed thy cheek with recent tears? + Groan’st thou, by visions of the night apprized + Of some calamity, or hast thou heard + Within, a rumour that afflicts thy soul? + + HEL. My lord (for I already by that name + Accost you), I am utterly undone, + My former bliss is vanished, and I now + Am nothing. + + THEOC. Art thou plunged into distress + So irretrievable? what cruel fate + Hath overtaken thee? + + HEL. My Menelaus, + (Ah, how shall I express myself?) is dead. + + THEOC. Although I must not triumph in th’ event + Thou speak’st of, yet to me ’tis most auspicious. + How know’st thou? Did Theonoe tell thee this? + + HEL. She and this mariner, who when he perished + Was present, both concur in the same tale. + + THEOC. Is there a man arrived, who for the truth + Of that account can vouch? + + HEL. He is arrived: + And would to Heaven that such auspicious fortune + As I could wish attended him. + + THEOC. Who is he? + Where is he? I would know the real fact. + + HEL. ’Tis he who stupefied with sorrow sits + Upon the tomb. + + THEOC. In what unseemly garb + Is he arrayed, O Phœbus! + + HEL. In that dress, + Ah me! methinks my husband I behold. + + THEOC. But in what country was the stranger born, + And whence did he come hither? + + HEL. He’s a Greek, + One of those Greeks who with my husband sailed. + + THEOC. How doth he say that Menelaus died? + + HEL. Most wretchedly, engulfed amid the waves. + + THEOC. Where? as he passed o’er the barbarian seas? + + HEL. Dashed on the rocks of Libya, which affords + No haven. + + THEOC. But whence happened it, that he + This partner of his voyage did not perish? + + HEL. The worthless are more prosperous than the brave. + + THEOC. Where left he the wrecked fragments of his ship + When he came hither? + + HEL. There, where would to Heaven + Perdition had o’ertaken him, and spared + The life of Menelaus. + + THEOC. He, it seems, + Is then no more: but in what bark arrived + This messenger? + + HEL. Some sailors, as he says, + By chance passed by, and snatched him from the waves. + + THEOC. But where’s that hateful pest which in thy stead + Was sent to Ilion? + + HEL. Speak you of a cloud, + Resembling me? it mounted to the skies. + + THEOC. O Priam, for how frivolous a cause + Thou with thy Troy didst perish! + + HEL. In their woes + I too have been involved. + + THEOC. But did he leave + Thy husband’s corse unburied, or strew dust + O’er his remains? + + HEL. He left them uninterred, + Ah, wretched me! + + THEOC. And didst thou for this cause + Sever the ringlets of thy auburn hair? + + HEL. Still is he dear, lodged in this faithful breast + + THEOC. Hast thou sufficient reason then to weep + For this calamity? + + HEL. Could you bear lightly + Your sister’s death? + + THEOC. No surely. But what means + Thy still residing at this marble tomb? + + HEL. Why do you harass me with taunting words, + And why disturb the dead? + + THEOC. Because, still constant + To thy first husband, from my love thou fliest. + + HEL. But I will fly no longer: haste, begin + The nuptial rite. + + THEOC. ’Twas long ere thou didst come + To this: but I such conduct must applaud. + + HEL. Know you then how to act? let us forget + All that has passed. + + THEOC. Upon what terms? with kindness + Should kindness be repaid. + + HEL. Let us conclude + The peace, and O be reconciled. + + THEOC. All strife + With thee I to the winds of heaven consign. + + HEL. Now, since you are my friend, I by those knees + Conjure you. + + THEOC. With what object in thy view, + To me an earnest suppliant dost thou bend? + + HEL. I my departed husband would inter. + + THEOC. What tomb can be bestowed upon the absent + Wouldst thou inter his shade? + + HEL. There is a custom + Among the Greeks established, that the man + Who in the ocean perishes—— + + THEOC. What is it? + For in such matters Pelops’ race are wise. + + HEL. To bury in their stead an empty vest. + + THEOC. Perform funereal rites, and heap the tomb + On any ground thou wilt. + + HEL. We in this fashion + Bury not the drowned mariner. + + THEOC. How then? + I am a stranger to the Grecian customs. + + HEL. Each pious gift due to our breathless friends + We cast into the sea. + + THEOC. On the deceased + What presents for thy sake can I bestow? + + HEL. I know not: for in offices like these + Am I unpractised, having erst been happy. + + THEOC. An acceptable message have you brought, + O stranger. + + MEN. Most ungrateful to myself + And the deceased. + + THEOC. What funereal rites on those + Ocean hath swallowed up, do ye bestow? + + MEN. Such honours as each individual’s wealth + Enables us to pay him. + + THEOC. Name the cost, + And for her sake receive whate’er you will. + + MEN. Blood is our first libation to the dead. + + THEOC. What blood? inform me, for with your instructions + I will comply. + + MEN. Determine that thyself, + For whatsoe’er thou giv’st will be sufficient. + + THEOC. The customary victims ’mong barbarians + Are either horse or bull. + + MEN. Whate’er thou giv’st, + Let it be somewhat princely. + + THEOC. My rich herds + With these are amply furnished. + + MEN. And the bier + Without the corse is borne in solemn state. + + THEOC. It shall: but what is there beside which custom + Requires to grace the funeral. + + MEN. Brazen arms: + For war was what he loved. + + THEOC. We will bestow + Such presents as are worthy of the race + Of mighty Pelops. + + MEN. And those budding flowers + Th’ exuberant soil produces. + + THEOC. But say, how + And in what manner ye these offerings plunge + Into the ocean. + + MEN. We must have a bark + And mariners to ply the oars. + + THEOC. How far + Will they launch forth the vessel from the strand? + + MEN. So far as from the shore thou scarce wilt see + The keel divide the waves. + + THEOC. But why doth Greece + Observe this usage? + + MEN. ’Lest the rising billows + Cast back to land th’ ablutions. + + THEOC. Ye shall have + A swift Phœnician vessel. + + MEN. This were kind, + And no small favour shown to Menelaus. + + THEOC. Without her presence, cannot you perform + These rites alone? + + MEN. Such task or to a mother, + Or wife, or child, belongs. + + THEOC. ’Tis then her duty, + You say, to bury her departed lord? + + MEN. Sure, piety instructs us not to rob + The dead of their accustomed dues. + + THEOC. Enough: + On me it is incumbent to promote + Such virtue in my consort. I will enter + The palace, and from thence for the deceased + Bring forth rich ornaments; with empty hands + You from this region will not I send forth, + That you may execute what she desires. + But having brought me acceptable tidings, + Instead of these vile weeds shall you receive + A decent garb and food, that to your country + You may return: for clearly I perceive + That you are wretched now. But torture not + Thy bosom with unprofitable cares, + O hapless woman, for thy Menelaus + Is now no more, nor can the dead revive. + + MEN. Thee it behoves, O blooming dame, to love + Thy present husband, and to lay aside + The fond remembrance of thy breathless lord; + For such behaviour suits thy fortunes best. + But if to Greece with safety I return, + That infamy which erst pursued thy name + I’ll cause to cease, if thou acquit thyself + Of these great duties like a virtuous consort. + + HEL. I will; nor shall my husband e’er have cause + To blame me: you too, who are here, shall witness + The truth of my assertions. But within + Go lave your wearied limbs, O wretched man, + And change your habit; for without delay + To you will I become a benefactress. + Hence too with greater zeal will you perform + The rites my dearest Menelaus claims, + If all due honours you from me receive. + + [_Exeunt_ THEOCLYMENUS, HELEN, _and_ MENELAUS. + +CHORUS. + + ODE. + + I. 1. + + O’er mountains erst with hasty tread + Did the celestial mother stray, + Nor stop where branching thickets spread, + Where rapid torrents crossed her way, + Or on the margin of the billowy deep; + Her daughter whom we dread to name + She wept, while hailing that majestic dame, + Cymbals of Bacchus from the craggy steep + Sent forth their clear and piercing sound, + Her car the harnessed dragons drew; + Following the nymph torn from her virgin crew. + Amidst her maidens swift of foot were found + Diana skilled the bow to wield, + Minerva, who in glittering state + Brandished the spear and raised her Gorgon shield; + But Jove looked down from Heaven t’ award another fate. + + I. 2. + + Soon as the mother’s toils were o’er, + When she had finished her career, + And sought the ravished maid no more, + To caves where drifted snows appear, + By Ida’s nymphs frequented, did she pass, + And threw herself in sorrow lost, + On rocks and herbage crusted o’er with frost, + Despoiled the wasted champaign of its grass, + Rendered the peasant’s tillage vain, + Consuming a dispeopled land + With meagre famine; Spring at her command + Denied the flocks that sickened on the plain + The leafy tendrils of the vine; + Whole cities died, no victims bled, + No frankincense perfumed Heaven’s vacant shrine; + Nor burst the current from the Spring’s obstructed head. + + II. 1. + + Then ceased the banquet, wont to charm + Both gods above and men below: + The mother’s anger to disarm, + And mitigate the stings of woe, + Till in these words Jove uttered his behests: + “Let each benignant grace attend + Sweet music’s sympathizing aid to lend, + And drive corrosive grief from Ceres’ breast + Indignant for her ravished child: + Now, O ye Muses, with the lyre + Join the shrill hymns of your assembled choir, + The brazen trumpet fill with accents wild, + And beat the rattling drums amain.” + Then first of the immortal band, + Venus with lovely smile approved the strain, + And raised the deep-toned flute in her enchanting hand. + + II. 2. + + The laws reproved such foul desire, + Yet ’gainst religion didst thou wed; + Thy uncle caught love’s baleful fire, + And rushed to thy incestuous bed. + Thee shall the mighty mother’s wrath confound, + Because, through thee, before her shrine + No victims slain appease the powers divine. + Great virtue have hinds’ hides, and ivy wound + Upon a consecrated rod; + And youths, with virgins in a ring, + When high from earth with matchless force they spring, + Loose streams their hair, they celebrate that god + The Bacchanalian votaries own, + And waste in dance the sleepless night. + But thou, confiding in thy charms alone, + Forgett’st the moon that shines with more transcendent light. + +HELEN, CHORUS. + + HEL. Within the palace, O my friends, we prosper + For Proteus’ royal daughter, in our schemes + Conspiring when her brother questioned her + About my lord, no information gave + Of his arrival: to my interests true + She said, that cold in death he views no longer + The radiant sun. But now my lord hath seized + A vengeful falchion, in that mail designed + To have been plunged beneath the deep arrayed, + With nervous arm he lifts an orbed shield, + In his right hand protended gleams the spear, + As if with me he was prepared to pay + To the deceased due homage. Furnished thus + With brazen arms, he’s ready for the battle, + And numberless barbarians will subdue + Unaided, soon as we the ship ascend. + Exchanging those unseemly weeds which clothe + The shipwrecked mariner, in splendid robes + Have I arrayed him, from transparent springs + The laver filled, and bathed his wearied limbs + But I must now be silent, for the man + Who fancies I am ready to become + His consort, leaves the palace. O my friends, + In your attachment too I place my trust, + Restrain your tongues, for we, when saved ourselves, + If possible will save you from this thraldom. + +THEOCLYMENUS, HELEN, MENELAUS, CHORUS. + + THEOC. Go forth, in such procession as the stranger + Directs you, O my servants, and convey + These gifts funereal to the briny deep. + But if thou disapprove not what I say, + Do thou, O Helen, yield to my persuasions, + And here remain. For whether thou attend, + Or art not present at the obsequies + Of thy departed husband, thou to him + Wilt show an equal reverence. Much I dread + Lest hurried on by wild desire thou plunge + Into the foaming billows, for the sake + Of him on whom thou doat’st, thy former lord, + Since thou his doom immoderately bewail’st + Though he be lost, and never can return. + + HEL. O my illustrious husband, I am bound + To pay due honours to the man whom first + I wedded, of our ancient nuptial joys + A memory still retaining, for so well + I loved my lord that I could even die + With him. But what advantage would result + To the deceased, should I lay down my life? + Yet let me go myself, and to his shade + Perform each solemn rite. But may the gods, + On you, and on the stranger who assists me + In this my pious task, with liberal hand + Confer the gifts I wish. But you in me + Shall such a consort to your palace bear + As you deserve, to recompense your kindness + To me and Menelaus. Such events + In some degree are measured by the will + Of Fortune: but give orders for a ship + To be prepared, these trappings to convey, + So shall your purposed bounty be complete. + + THEOC. [_to one of his Attendants._] + Go thou, and furnish them a Tyrian bark + Of fifty oars, with skilful sailors manned. + + HEL. But may not he who decorates the tomb + Govern the ship? + + THEOC. My sailors must to him + Yield an implicit deference. + + HEL. This injunction + Repeat, that they may clearly understand it. + + THEOC. A second time, will I, and yet a third, + Issue this self-same mandate, if to thee + This can give pleasure. + + HEL. May the gods confer + Blessings on you, and prosper my designs! + + THEO. Waste not thy bloom with unavailing tears. + + HEL. To you this day my gratitude will prove. + + THEOC. All these attentions to the dead are nought + But unavailing toil. + + HEL. My pious care + Not to those only whom the silent grave + Contains, but to the living too extends. + + THEOC. In me thou mayst expect to find a husband + Who yields not to the Spartan Menelaus. + + HEL. I censure not your conduct, but bewail + My own harsh destiny. + + THEOC. Bestow thy love + On me, and prosperous fortunes shall return. + + HEL. It is a lesson I have practised long, + To love my friends. + + THEOC. Shall I my navy launch, + To join in these funereal rites? + + HEL. Dread lord, + Pay not unseemly homage to your vassals. + + THEOC. Well! I each sacred usage will allow + Practised by Pelops’ race, for my abodes + Are undefiled with blood: thy Menelaus + In Ægypt died not. But let some one haste + And bid the nobles bear into my house + The bridal gifts: for the whole earth is bound + To celebrate in one consenting hymn + My blest espousals with the lovely Helen. + But go, embark upon the briny main, + O stranger, and as soon as ye have paid + All decent homage to her former lord + Bring back my consort hither: that with me + When you have feasted at our nuptial rite + You to your native mansion may return, + Or here continue in a happy state. + + [_Exit_ THEOCLYMENUS. + + MEN. O Jove, thou mighty father, who art called + A god supreme in wisdom, from thy heaven + Look down, and save us from our woes: delay not + To aid us: for we drag the galling yoke + Of sorrow and mischance: if with thy finger + Thou do but touch us, we shall soon attain + The fortune which we wish for, since the toils + We have endured already are sufficient. + Ye gods, I now invoke you, from my mouth + So shall ye hear full many joyful accents + Mixed with these bitter plaints: for I deserve not + To be for ever wretched; but to tread + At length secure. O grant me this one favour, + And make my future life completely blest. + + [_Exeunt_ MENELAUS _and_ HELEN. + +CHORUS. + + ODE. + + I. 1. + + Swift bark of Sidon, by whose dashing oars + Divided oft, the frothy billows rise, + Propitious be thy voyage from these shores: + In thy train the dolphins play, + O’er the deep thou lead’st the way, + While motionless its placid surface lies. + Soon as Serenity the fair, + That azure daughter of the main, + Shall in this animating strain + Have spoken: “To the gentle breeze of air + Expand each undulating sail, + Row briskly on before the gale, + Ye mariners, in Perseus’ ancient seat + Till Helen rest her wearied feet.” + + I. 2. + + Those sacred nymphs shall welcome thy return + Who guard the portals of Minerva’s fane + Or speed the current from its murmuring urn: + Choral dances of delight + That prolong the jocund night, + At Hyacinthus’ banquet shalt thou join, + Fair stripling, whom with luckless hand + Unwitting did Apollo slay + At games that crowned the festive day, + Hurling his quoit on the Laconian strand; + To him Jove’s son due honours paid: + At Sparta too, that lovely maid + Shalt thou behold, whom there thou left’st behind, + Still to celibacy consigned. + + II. 1. + + O might we cleave the air, like Libyan cranes, + Who fly in ranks th’ impending wintry storm; + When their shrill leader bids them quit the plains, + They the veteran’s voice obey, + O’er rich harvests wing their way, + Or where parched wastes th’ unfruitful scene deform. + With lengthened neck, ye feathered race + Who skim the clouds in social band, + Where the seven Pleiades expand + Their radiance, and Orion heaves his mace, + This joyous embassy convey + As near Eurotas’ banks ye stray; + That Menelaus to his subject land + Victorious comes from Phrygia’s strand. + + II. 2. + + Borne in your chariot down th’ ethereal height, + At length, ye sons of Tyndarus, appear, + While vibrates o’er your heads the starry light: + Habitants of heaven above, + Now exert fraternal love, + If ever Helen to your souls was dear, + A calm o’er th’ azure ocean spread, + Bridle the tempests of the main, + Propitious gales from Jove obtain, + Your sister snatch from the barbarian’s bed: + Commenced on Ida’s hill, that strife, + Embittered with reproach her life, + Although she never viewed proud Ilion’s tower + Reared by Apollo’s matchless power. + +THEOCLYMENUS, MESSENGER, CHORUS. + + MES. O king, I have discovered in the palace, + Events most inauspicious: what fresh woes + Is it my doleful office to relate! + + THEOC. Say what hath happened? + + MES. Seek another wife, + For Helen hath departed from this realm. + + THEOC. Borne through the air on wings, or with swift foot + Treading the ground? + + MES. Her o’er the briny main + From Ægypt’s shores, hath Menelaus wafted, + Who came in person with a feigned account + Of his own death. + + THEOC. O dreadful tale! what ship + From these domains conveys her? thou relat’st + Tidings the most incredible. + + MES. The same + You to that stranger gave, and in one word + To tell you all, he carries off your sailors. + + THEOC. How is that possible? I wish to know: + For such an apprehension never entered + My soul, as that one man could have subdued + The numerous band of mariners, with whom + Thou wert sent forth. + + MES. When from the royal mansion + Jove’s daughter to the shore was borne, she trod + With delicate and artful step, pretending + To wail her husband’s loss, though he was present, + And yet alive. But when we reached the haven, + Sidonia’s largest vessel we hauled forth, + Furnished with benches, and with fifty oars; + But a fresh series of incessant toil + Followed this toil; for while one fixed the mast, + Another ranged the oars, and with his hand + The signal gave, the sails were bound together, + Then was the rudder fastened to the stern + With thongs, cast forth: while they observed us busied + In such laborious task, the Grecian comrades + Of Menelaus to the shore advanced, + Clad in their shipwrecked vestments. Though their form + Was graceful, yet their visages were squalid: + But Atreus’ son, beholding their approach, + Under the semblance of a grief that masked + His treacherous purpose, in these words addressed them: + “How, O ye wretched sailors, from what bark + Of Greece that hath been wrecked upon this coast + Are ye come hither? will ye join with us + In the funereal rites of Menelaus, + Whom Tyndarus’s daughter, to an empty tomb + Consigns, though absent?” Simulated tears + They shed, and went aboard the ship, conveying + The presents to be cast into the sea + For Menelaus. But to us these things + Appeared suspicious, and we made remarks + Among ourselves upon the numerous band + Of our intruding passengers; but checked + Our tongues from speaking openly, through deference + To your commands. For when you to that stranger + Trusted the guidance of the ship, you caused + This dire confusion. All beside, with ease + Had we now lodged aboard, but could not force + The sturdy bull t’ advance; he bellowing rolled + His eyes around, bending his back and low’ring + Betwixt his horns, nor dared we to approach + And handle him. But Helen’s husband cried: + “O ye who laid Troy waste, will ye forget + To act like Greeks? why scruple ye to seize + And on your youthful shoulders heave the beast + Up to the rising prow, a welcome victim + To the deceased?” His falchion, as he spoke, + The warrior drew. His summons they obeyed, + Seized the stout bull, and carried him aboard: + But Menelaus stroked the horse’s neck + And face, and with this gentle usage led him + Into the bark. At length when all its freight + The vessel had received, with graceful foot + Helen, the steps ascending, took her seat + On the mid deck; and Menelaus near her, + E’en he who they pretended was no more. + But some on the right side, and on the left + Others in equal numbers, man to man + Opposed, their station took, their swords concealing + Beneath their garments. We distinctly heard + The clamorous sailors animate each other + To undertake the voyage. But from land + When a convenient distance we had steered, + The pilot asked this question: “Shall we sail, + O stranger, any farther from the coast, + Or is this right? for ’tis my task to guide + The vessel.” He replied: “Enough for me.” + Then seized with his right hand the falchion, leaped + Upon the prow, and standing o’er the bull + The victim (without mentioning the name + Of any chief deceased; but as he drove + The weapon through his neck) thus prayed: “O Neptune, + Who in the ocean dwell’st, and ye chaste daughters + Of Nereus, to the Nauplian shore convey + Me and my consort, from this hostile land, + In safety.” But a crimson tide of blood, + Auspicious to the stranger, stained the waves; + And some exclaimed: “There’s treachery in this voyage, + Let us sail homewards, issue thy commands, + And turn the rudder.” But the son of Atreus, + Who had just slain the bull, to his companions + Called loudly: “Why delay, O ye the flower + Of Greece, to smite, to slaughter those barbarians, + And cast them from the ship into the waves?” + But to your sailors our commander spoke + A different language: “Will not some of you + Tear up a plank, or with a shattered bench, + Or ponderous oar, upon the bleeding heads + Of those audacious foreigners our foes, + Impress the ghastly wound?” But on their feet + All now stood up; our hands with nautic poles + Were armed, and theirs with swords: a tide of slaughter + Ran down the ship. But Helen from the poop + The Greeks encouraged; “Where is the renown + Ye gained at Troy? display ’gainst these barbarians + The same undaunted prowess.” In their haste + Full many fell, some rose again, the rest + Might you have seen stretched motionless in death. + But Menelaus, sheathed in glittering mail, + Wherever his confederates he descried + Hard pressed, rushed thither with his lifted sword, + Driving us headlong from the lofty deck + Into the waves, and forced your mariners + To quit their oars. But the victorious king + Now seized the rudder, and to Greece declared + He would convey the ship: they hoisted up + The stately mast: propitious breezes came; + They left the land: but I from death escaping, + Let myself gently down into the waves + Borne on the cordage which sustains the anchor; + My strength began to fail, when some kind hand + Threw forth a rope, and brought me safe ashore, + That I to you these tidings might convey. + There’s nought more beneficial to mankind + Than wise distrust. + + CHOR. I never could have thought + That Menelaus who was here, O king, + Could have imposed so grossly or on you + Or upon us. + + THEOC. Wretch that I am, ensnared + By woman’s treacherous arts! the lovely bride + I hoped for, hath escaped me. If the ship + Could be o’ertaken by our swift pursuit, + My wrongs would urge me with vindictive hand + To seize the strangers. But I now will punish + That sister who betrayed me; in my house + Who when she saw the Spartan Menelaus, + Informed me not: she never shall deceive + Another man by her prophetic voice. + + CHOR. Ho! whither, O my sovereign, would you go, + And for what bloody purpose? + + THEOC. Where the voice + Of rigid justice summons me. Retire, + And stand aloof. + + CHOR. Yet will not I let loose + Your garment; for you hasten to commit + A deed most mischievous. + + THEOC. Wouldst thou, a slave, + Govern thy lord? + + CHOR. Here reason’s on my side. + + THEOC. That shall not I allow, if thou refuse + To quit thy hold. + + CHOR. I will not then release you. + + THEOC. To slay that worst of sisters. + + CHOR. That most pious. + + THEOC. Her who betrayed me. + + CHOR. Glorious was the fraud + That caused so just a deed. + + THEOC. When she bestowed + My consort on another. + + CHOR. On the man + Who had a better claim—— + + THEOC. But who is lord + Of what belongs to me? + + CHOR. Who from her sire + Received her. + + THEOC. She by Fortune was bestowed + On me. + + CHOR. But ta’en away again by Fate. + + THEOC. Thou hast no right to judge of my affairs. + + CHOR. If I but speak to give you better counsels. + + THEOC. I am thy subject then, and not thy king. + + CHOR. For having acted piously, your sister + I vindicate. + + THEOC. Thou seem’st to wish for death. + + CHOR. Kill me. Your sister you with my consent + Shall never slay; I rather would yield up + My life on her behalf. It is most glorious + To generous servants for their lords to die. + +CASTOR _and_ POLLUX, THEOCLYMENUS, CHORUS. + + CAS. _and_ POL. Restrain that ire that hurries thee away + Beyond the bounds of reason, O thou king + Of Ægypt’s realm; and listen to the voice + Of us twin sons of Jove, whom Leda bore + Together with that Helen who is fled + From thy abodes. Thou rashly hast indulged + Thine anger, for the loss of her whom Fate + Ne’er destined to thy bed. Nor hath thy sister + Theonoe, from th’ immortal Nereid sprung, + To thee done any injury; she reveres + The gods, and her great father’s just behests. + For till the present hour, was it ordained + That Helen in thy palace should reside: + But when Troy’s walls were from their bases torn, + And she had to the rival goddesses + Furnished her name, no longer was it fit + That she should for thy nuptials be detained, + But to her ancient home return, and dwell + With her first husband. In thy sister’s breast + Forbear to plunge the sword, and be convinced + That she in this affair hath acted wisely. + We long ere this our sister had preserved, + Since Jove hath made us gods, but were too weak + At once to combat the behests of Fate, + And the immortal powers, who had ordained + That these events should happen. This to thee, + O Theoclymenus, I speak. These words + Next to my lovely sister, I address; + Sail with your husband, for a prosperous breeze + Your voyage shall attend. We your protectors + And your twin brothers, on our coursers borne + Over the waves, will guide you to your country, + But after you have finished life’s career, + You shall be called a goddess, shall partake + With us the rich oblations, and receive + The gifts of men: for thus hath Jove decreed. + But where the son of Maia placed you first, + When he had borne you from the Spartan realm, + And formed by stealth from the aërial mansions + An image of your person, to prevent + Paris from wedding you, there is an isle + Near the Athenian realm, which men shall call + Helen in future times, because that spot + Received you, when in secrecy conveyed + From Sparta. The Heavens also have ordained + The wanderer Menelaus shall reside + Among the happy islands. For the gods + To those of nobler minds no hatred bear; + At their command though grievous toil await + The countless multitude. + + THEOC. Ye sons of Jove + And Leda, I the contest will decline + Which I at first so violently urged, + Hoping your lovely sister to obtain, + And my own sister’s life resolve to spare: + Let Helen to her native shores return, + If ’tis the will of Heaven: but be assured, + The same high blood ye spring from with the best + And chastest sister: hail then, for the sake + Of Helen with a lofty soul endued, + Such as in female bosoms seldom dwells. + + CHOR. A thousand shapes our varying fates assume + The gods perform what least we could expect, + And oft the things for which we fondly hoped + Come not to pass; but Heaven still finds a clue + To guide our steps through life’s perplexing maze, + And thus doth this important business end. + + + + +ANDROMACHE. + + +PERSONS OF THE DRAMA. + + ANDROMACHE. + ATTENDANT. + CHORUS OF PHTHIAN WOMEN. + HERMIONE. + MENELAUS. + MOLOSSUS. + PELEUS. + NURSE OF HERMIONE. + ORESTES. + MESSENGER. + THETIS. + + +SCENE.—THE VESTIBULE OF THETIS’ TEMPLE BETWEEN PHTHIA AND PHARSALIA IN +THESSALY. + +ANDROMACHE. + + O Thebes, thou pride of Asia, from whose gate + I came resplendent with a plenteous dower, + To Priam’s regal house, the fruitful wife + Of Hector: his Andromache was erst + An envied name: but now am I more wretched + Than any woman, or already born, + Or to be born hereafter; for I saw + My husband Hector by Achilles slain, + And that unhappy son whom to my lord + I bore, Astyanax, from Troy’s high towers + Thrown headlong; when our foes had sacked the city, + Myself descended from a noble line + Of freeborn warriors, reached the Grecian coast, + On Neoptolemus that island prince + For the reward of his victorious arms + Bestowed: selected from the Phrygian spoils. + ’Twixt Phthia and Pharsalia, in these fields, + I dwell, where Thetis from the haunts of men + Retreating, with her Peleus erst abode. + By Thessaly’s inhabitants, this spot + Is from th’ auspicious nuptials of that goddess + Called Thetidæum: here Achilles’ son + Residing, suffers Peleus still to rule + Pharsalia’s land, nor will assume the sceptre + While lives his aged grandsire. In these walls + A son, who to th’ embraces of my lord + Achilles’ offspring, owes his birth, I bore, + And though I had been wretched, a fond hope + Still cherished, that while yet the boy was safe + I some protection and relief might find + In my calamities; but since my lord + (Spurning my servile couch) that Spartan dame + Hermione espoused, with ruthless hate + By her am I pursued; for she pretends + That I, by drugs endued with magic power, + Administered in secret, make her barren + And odious to her lord, because I wish + To occupy this mansion in her stead, + And forcibly to drive her from his couch, + To which, at first I with reluctance came, + But now have left it: mighty Jove can witness + That I became the partner of his bed + Against my own consent. But she remains + Deaf to conviction, and attempts to slay me: + In this design her father Menelaus + Assists his daughter, he is now within, + And on such errand left the Spartan realm: + Fearing his rage, I near the palace take + My seat, in Thetis’ temple, that the goddess + From death may save me; for both Peleus’ self, + And the descendants of that monarch, hold + This structure reared in memory of his wedlock + With the fair Nereid, in religious awe. + But hence, in secret, trembling for his life, + My only child have I conveyed away, + Because his noble father is not present + To aid me, and avails not now to guard + His son, while absent in the Delphic land, + To expiate there the rage with which he sought + The Pythian tripod, and from Phœbus claimed + A reparation for his father’s death. + If haply he can deprecate the curses + Attendant on his past misdeeds, and make + The god propitious to his future days. + +FEMALE ATTENDANT, ANDROMACHE. + + ATT. My queen, for still I scruple not to use + The same respectful title which I gave you + When we in Ilion dwelt; you and your lord + While he was living, shared my duteous love, + And now I with important tidings fraught + To you am come, trembling indeed lest one + Of our new rulers overhear the tale, + Yet greatly pitying your disastrous fate: + For Menelaus and his daughter form + Dire plots against you; of these foes beware. + + AND. O my dear fellow-servant (for thou shar’st + Her bondage who was erst thy queen, but now + Is wretched), ah! what mean they? what fresh schemes + Have they devised to take away my life, + Who am by woes encompassed? + + ATT. They intend, + O miserable dame, to kill your son, + Whom privately you from this house conveyed. + + AND. Are they informed I sent the child away? + Ah me! who told them? in what utter ruin + Am I involved! + + ATT. I know not; but thus much + Of their designs I heard; in quest of him + Is Menelaus from these doors gone forth. + + AND. Then am I lost indeed: for, O my child, + These two relentless vultures mean to seize thee, + And take away thy life, while he who bears + A father’s name, at Delphi still remains. + + ATT. You had not fared so ill, I am convinced, + If he were present, but now every friend + Deserts you. + + AND. Is there not a rumour spread + Of Peleus’ coming? + + ATT. He, though he were here, + Is grown too old to aid you. + + AND. More than once + I sent to him. + + ATT. Suppose you that he heeds + None of your messengers? + + AND. What means this question? + Wilt thou accept such office? + + ATT. What pretext + To colour my long absence from this house + Shall I allege? + + AND. Full many are the schemes + Which thou, who art a woman, can devise. + + ATT. ’Twere dangerous; for Hermione is watchful. + + AND. Dost thou perceive the danger, and renounce + Thy friends in their distress? + + ATT. Not thus: forbear + To brand me with so infamous a charge: + I go; for of small value is the life + (Whate’er befall me) of a female slave. + + [_Exit_ ATTENDANT. + + AND. Proceed: meanwhile I to the conscious air + Those plaints and bitter wailings will repeat, + On which I ever dwell. Unhappy women + Find comfort in perpetually talking + Of what they suffer. But my groans arise + Not from one ill, but many ills: the walls + Of my loved country razed, my Hector slain, + And that hard fortune, in whose yoke bound fast, + Thus am I fallen into th’ unseemly state + Of servitude. We never ought to call + Frail mortals happy, at their latest hour + Till we behold them to the shades descend. + +ELEGY. + + In Helen sure, to Troy’s imperial towers + Young Paris wafted no engaging bride, + But when he led her to those nuptial bowers, + Some fiend infernal crossed the billowy tide. + + With brandished javelin and devouring flame, + For her the Grecian warriors to thy shore, + O Ilion, in a thousand vessels came, + And drenched thy smould’ring battlements with gore. + + Around the walls, my Hector, once thy boast, + Fixed to his car, was by Achilles borne, + And from my chamber hurried to the coast + I veiled my head in servitude forlorn. + + Much wept these streaming eyes, when in the dust + My city, palace, husband, prostrate lay. + Subject to fierce Hermione’s disgust, + Why should I still behold the hated day? + + Harassed with insults from that haughty dame, + Round Thetis’ bust my suppliant arms I fling, + And here with gushing tears bewail my shame, + As from the rock bursts forth the living spring. + +CHORUS, ANDROMACHE. + +CHORUS. + + ODE. + + I. 1. + + O thou, who seated in this holy space, + Hast Thetis’ temple thy asylum made, + Though Phthia gave me birth, to aid + Thee, hapless dame of Asiatic race, + I hither come; would I from direful harms + Could guard, could heal the strife + ’Twixt thee and that indignant wife + Hermione, whom ruthless discord arms + To punish thee the rival of her charms, + A captive, to the genial bed, + Who by Achilles’ son wert led. + + I. 2. + + Aware of fate, th’ impending evil weigh, + A helpless Phrygian nymph, thou striv’st in vain + ’Gainst her of Sparta’s proud domain: + Cease, to this sea-born goddess, cease to pray, + And at her blazing shrine no longer stay: + For how can it avail + To thee with hopeless sorrow pale + To suffer all thy beauties to decay, + Because thy rulers with oppression sway? + Thou to superior might must bend. + Why, feeble as thou art, contend? + + II. 1. + + Yet hasten from the Nereid’s lofty seat, + Consider that thou tread’st a foreign plain, + And that these hostile walls detain + In strictest bondage thy reluctant feet, + Here none of all those friends, that numerous band, + Who shared thy greatness, is at hand, + To cheer thee in these days of shame, + O wretched, wretched dame. + + II. 2. + + A miserable matron thou art come + From Troy to our abodes, unwilling guest; + Though mine the sympathizing breast, + Yet I through reverence to our lords am dumb, + Lest she, who springs from Helen, child of Jove, + Should be a witness of that love + Which I to thee whose griefs I share, + Impelled by pity bear. + +HERMIONE, ANDROMACHE, CHORUS. + + HER. The gorgeous ornaments of gold, these brows + Encircling, and the tissued robes I wear, + I from Achilles’, or from Peleus’ stores, + As chosen presents when I hither came, + Received not, but from Sparta’s realm, these gifts + My father Menelaus hath bestowed + With a large dower, that I might freely speak + Such is the answer which to you I make, + O Phthian dames. But thou, who art a slave + And captive, wouldst in these abodes usurp + Dominion, and expel me; to my lord + Thy drugs have made me odious, hence ensues + My barrenness: the Asiatic dames, + For these abhorred devices are renowned; + But thee will I subdue, nor shall this dome + Of the immortal Nereid, nor her altar + Or temple save thee from impending death; + If either man or god should be disposed + To rescue thee, ’twere fit, that to atone + For the proud thoughts thou in thy happier days + Didst nourish, thou shouldst tremble, at my knees + Fall low, and sweep the pavement of my house, + Sprinkling the waters from a golden urn. + Know where thou art: no Hector governs here, + No Phrygian Priam doth this sceptre wield; + This is no Chrysa, but a Grecian city. + Yet thou, O wretched woman, art arrived + At such a pitch of madness, that thou dar’st + To sleep e’en with the son of him who slew + Thy husband, and a brood of children bear + To him whose hands yet reek with Phrygian gore, + Such is the whole abhorred barbarian race; + The father with his daughter, the vile son + With his own mother, with her brother too + The sister, sins, friends by their dearest friends + Are murdered; deeds like these no wholesome law + Prohibits: introduce not among us + Such crimes, for ’tis unseemly that one man + Possess two women; the fond youth who seeks + Domestic harmony, confines his love + To one fair partner of the genial bed. + + CHOR. The female sex are envious, and pursue + With an incessant hatred those who share + Their nuptial joys. + + AND. Alas! impetuous youth + Proves baleful to mankind, and there are none + Who act with justice in their blooming years. + But what I dread is this, lest slavery curb + My tongue, though I have many truths to utter: + In this dispute with you, if I prevail, + That very triumph may become my bane: + For those of haughty spirits ill endure + The most prevailing arguments when urged + By their inferiors. Yet my better cause + I will not thus betray. Say, youthful princess, + What reasons of irrefragable force + Enable me to drive you from the couch + Of your own lawful husband? to the Phrygians + Is Sparta grown inferior, and hath fortune + On us conferred the palm? Do you behold me + Still free? elate with youth, a vigorous frame, + The wide extent of empire I possess, + And number of my friends, am I desirous + To occupy these mansions in your stead, + That in your stead I might bring forth a race + Of slaves, th’ appendages of my distress? + Will any one endure (if you produce + No children) that my sons should be the kings + Of Phthia?—the Greeks love me for the sake + Of Hector, I too was forsooth obscure, + And not a queen, in Troy. Your husband’s hate, + Not from my drugs, but from your soul, unsuited + For social converse, springs: there is a philtre + To gain his love. Not beauty, but the virtues, + O woman, to the partners of our bed + Afford delight. But if it sting your pride + That Sparta’s a vast city, while you treat + Scyros with scorn, amidst the poor, display + Your riches, and of Menelaus speak + As greater than Achilles; hence your lord + Abhors you. For a woman, though bestowed + On a vile mate, should learn to yield, nor strive + For the pre-eminence. In Thrace o’erspread + With snow, if you were wedded to a king, + Who to his bed takes many various dames, + Would you have slain them? you would cast disgrace + On your whole sex by such unsated lust; + Base were the deed: for though our souls are warmed + With more intense desires than those of men + We modestly conceal them. For thy sake + I, O my dearest Hector, loved the objects + Of thy affections, whene’er Venus’ wiles + Caused thee to err, and at my breast full oft + Nourished thy spurious children, that in nought + Thy joys I might embitter: acting thus + I won him by my virtues. But you tremble + E’en if the drops of Heaven’s transparent dew + Rest on your husband. Strive not to transcend + Your mother in a wild excess of love, + O woman. For the children, if endued + With reason, such examples should avoid + Of those who bore them, as corrupt the soul. + + CHOR. As far as possible, O queen, comply + With my advice, and in mild terms accost her. + + HER. What mean’st thou by this arrogance of speech, + This vain debate, as if thou still wert chaste, + And I had strayed from virtue’s path? + + AND. The words + You have been using, now at least are void + Of modesty. + + HER. O woman, may this breast + Harbour no soul like thine. + + AND. Though bashful youth + Glow on your cheek, indecent is your language. + + HER. Thou by thy actions more than by thy words + Hast proved the malice which to me thou bear’st. + + AND. Why will you not conceal th’ inglorious pangs + Of jealous love? + + HER. What woman but resents + Such wrongs, and deems them great? + + AND. The use some make + Of these misfortunes adds to their renown: + But shame waits those who are devoid of wisdom. + + HER. We dwell not in a city where prevail + Barbarian laws. + + AND. In Phrygia or in Greece + Base actions are with infamy attended. + + HER. Though most expert in every subtle art, + Yet die thou must. + + AND. Behold you Thetis’ image + Turning its eyes on you? + + HER. She loathes thy country + Where her Achilles treacherously was slain. + + AND. Your mother Helen caused his death, not I. + + HER. Wouldst thou retrace still farther the sad tale + Of our misfortunes? + + AND. I restrain my tongue. + + HER. Speak to me now on that affair which caused + My coming hither. + + AND. All I say is this: + You have not so much wisdom as you need. + + HER. From this pure temple of the sea-born goddess + Wilt thou depart? + + AND. Not while I live: you first + Must slay, then drag me hence. + + HER. I am resolved + How to proceed, and wait my lord’s return + No longer. + + AND. Nor will I before he come + Surrender up myself. + + HER. With flaming brands + Hence will I drive thee, and no deference pay + To thy entreaties. + + AND. Kindle them; the gods + Will view the deed. + + HER. The scourge too is prepared. + + AND. Transpierce this bosom, deluge with my gore + The altar of the goddess, you by her + Shall be at length o’ertaken. + + HER. From thy cradle, + Trained up and hardened in barbarian pride, + Canst thou endure to die? from this asylum + Soon will I rouse thee by thy own consent, + I with such baits am furnished, but conceal + My purpose, which th’ event itself ere long + Will make conspicuous. Keep a steady seat, + For though by molten lead thou wert enclosed + Hence would I rouse thee, ere Achilles’ son, + Whom thou confid’st in, to this land return. + + [_Exit_ HERMIONE. + + AND. In him I place my still unshaken trust. + Yet is it strange that the celestial powers, + To heal the serpent’s venom, have assigned + Expedients, but no remedy devised + Against an evil woman who surpasses + Or vipers’ stings or the consuming flame: + Thus baleful is our influence on mankind. + +CHORUS. + + ODE. + + I. 1. + + The winged son of Maia and of Jove + To many sorrowful events gave birth, + And scattered discord o’er the bleeding earth, + When he through sacred Ida’s piny grove + Guided the car of three immortal dames, + (The golden prize of beauty to obtain, + In hateful strife engaged, who urged their claims); + To where in his mean hut abode a lonely swain. + + I. 2. + + No sooner had they reached the destined bower, + Than in the limpid spring her snowy frame + Each goddess laved; to Priam’s son then came + With artful speeches of such winning power + As might beguile the rash and amorous boy: + Venus prevailed; her words, though sweet their sound, + Proved of destructive consequence to Troy, + Whose stately bulwarks hence lie levelled with the ground. + + II. 1. + + When new-born Paris first beheld the light, + Would that his mother, o’er her head, this brand + Ordained by Heaven to fire his native land, + Had cast, before he dwelt on Ida’s height. + Unheeded from the bay’s prophetic shade + Exclaimed Cassandra: “Let the child be slain; + Kill him, or Priam’s empire is betrayed.” + Frantic she raved and sued to every prince in vain. + + II. 2. + + Deaf was each prince, or Ilion ne’er had felt + The servile yoke, nor hadst thou, hapless fair, + Beneath these roofs, encompassed by despair, + And subject to a rigid master, dwelt. + O had he died, the fated toil of Greece, + That stubborn war through ten revolving years, + Had roused no heroes from the lap of peace, + Nor caused the widow’s shrieks, the hoary father’s tears. + +MENELAUS, MOLOSSUS, ANDROMACHE, CHORUS. + + MEN. Your son I hither bring, whom from this fane + With secrecy, you to another house, + Without my daughter’s knowledge, had removed. + You boasted that this image of the goddess + To you, and those who hid him, would afford + A sure asylum: but your deep-laid craft, + O woman, cannot baffle Menelaus. + If you depart not hence, he in your stead + Shall be the victim; therefore well revolve + Th’ important question; had you rather die, + Or, with his streaming gore, let him atone + The foul offence ’gainst me and ’gainst my daughter + By you committed? + + AND. Thou, O vain opinion, + Hast with renown puffed up full many men + Who were of no account. I deem those blest + On whom with truth such honour is bestowed: + But them who by fallacious means obtain it + I hold unworthy of possessing fame. + When all their seeming wisdom but arises + From Fortune’s gifts. Thou with the bravest chiefs + Of Greece, from Priam erst didst wrest his Troy; + E’en thou who art so mean as to inspire + Thy daughter with resentment ’gainst a child, + And strive with me a miserable captive: + Unworthy of thy conquest over Troy + Thee do I hold, and Troy yet more disgraced + By such a victor. Some indeed there are + To all appearance upright, who awhile + Outwardly glitter, though they in their hearts + Are on a level with the worthless bulk + Of mortals, and superior but in wealth + Whose power is great. This conference let us end, + O Menelaus, be it now supposed + I by thy daughter am already slain: + ’Twill be impossible for her to ’scape + From the pollution ruthless murder brings; + Thou too by many tongues wilt be accused + Of this vile deed, with her will they confound + Thee the abettor. But if I preserve + My life, are ye resolved to slay my son? + How will the father tamely bear the death + Of his loved offspring? he was not esteemed + At Troy so void of courage. He is gone + Whither his duty calls. Soon will the chief + Act worthy of the race from which he springs, + The hoary Peleus, and his dauntless sire + Achilles, he from these abodes will cast + Thy daughter forth, and when thou to another + In marriage giv’st her, what hast thou to say + On her behalf? “That from a worthless lord + Her wisdom drove her?” This would be a falsehood + Too gross. But who would wed her? till grown grey + In widowhood, shall she beneath thy roofs + Fix her loathed residence? O wretched man, + The rising conflux of unnumbered woes + Behold’st thou not? hadst thou not rather find + Thy daughter wronged by concubines, than suffering + Th’ indignities I speak of? we from trifles + Such grievous mischiefs ought not to create; + Nor if we women are a deadly bane, + To the degenerate nature of our sex + Should men conform. If I pernicious drugs + Have to thy daughter ministered, and been, + As she pretends, the cause of her abortion, + Immediately will I without reluctance, + And without grovelling at this altar’s base, + To any rigid punishment submit + Inflicted by thy son-in-law, from whom + I surely merit as severe revenge + For having made him childless. Such am I: + But in thy temper I perceive one cause + Of just alarm, since in that luckless strife + About a woman, and a vile one too, + Thou the famed Phrygian city didst destroy. + + CHOR. Too freely hast thou spoken, in a tone + Which ill becomes thy sex, and that high soul + The bounds of wisdom hath o’erleaped. + + MEN. O woman, + So small an object, as you rightly judge, + Deserves not the attention of my realm, + Nor that of Greece. But learn this obvious truth: + To any man whate’er he greatly needs, + Is of more worth by far than taking Troy. + My daughter I assist, because I deem it + A wrong of great importance should she lose + Her bridal rights: for every woman looks + On all beside as secondary ills: + But if she from her husband’s arms be torn, + Seems reft of life itself. That Phthia’s prince + Direct my servants, and that his obey + Me and my race, is fitting: for true friends + Have no distinct possessions, but hold all + In common. While I wait for the return + Of her long absent lord, should I neglect + My daughter’s interests, I were weak, not wise. + But leave this shrine of Thetis: for the child + Shall if you bleed escape th’ impending doom: + Him, if you die not, will I slay, since fate + Of you or him the forfeit life demands. + + AND. Ah me! a bitter and unwelcome choice + Of life on terms like these hast thou proposed; + Wretch that I am! for whether I decline + Or make such option, I am wretched still. + O thou, who by a trifling wrong provoked, + Committ’st great crimes, attend: for what offence + Wouldst thou bereave me of my life? what city + Have I betrayed? what child of thine destroyed? + What mansion fired? I to my master’s bed + By force was dragged: yet me alone, not him + The author of that crime, thou mean’st to slay. + Thou, the first cause o’erlooking, on th’ effect + Which it produces, vent’st thy rage. What woes + Encompass wretched me! alas! my country! + How dreadful are the wrongs which I endure! + But wherefore was I doomed to bear a child, + And to the burden under which I groan + Add a new burden? what delight can life + To me afford? or on what fortunes past + Or present should I turn these eyes which saw + The corse of Hector by the victor’s car + Whirled round the walls, and wretched Troy a heap + Of blazing ruins? I meantime a slave + By my dishevelled hair was dragged aboard + The Argive navy; when I reached the coast + Of Phthia, and cohabited with those + Who slew my Hector; (but why lavish plaints + On past calamities, without deploring + Or taking a due estimate of those + Which now impend?) I had this only son + My life’s last comfort left, and they who take + Delight in deeds of cruelty, would slay him; + Yet to preserve my miserable life + He shall not perish; for auspicious hopes, + Could he be saved, his future days attend: + But if I died not for my son, reproach + Would be my portion. Lo! I leave the altar + And now am in thy hands, stab, slay me, bind, + Strain hard the deadly noose. My son, thy mother, + To rescue thee from an untimely grave, + Descends the shades beneath; if thou escape + The ruthless grasp of fate, remember me + How miserably I suffered; and with kisses, + At his return, when thou goest forth to meet + Thy father, when a flood of tears thou shedd’st, + And cling’st around him with those pliant arms, + Inform him how I acted. All men hold + Their children dear as life; but he who scorns them + Because he ne’er experienced what it is + To be a father, though with fewer griefs + Attended, but enjoys imperfect bliss. + + [_Rises, and advances from the altar._ + + CHOR. I with compassion to this moving tale + Have listened; for distress, to all mankind, + Though strangers, must seem piteous: but on thee, + O Menelaus, ’tis incumbent now + To reconcile thy daughter, and this captive, + That she may from her sorrows be released. + + MEN. Seize her, and bind her hands; for she shall hear + No pleasing language: I proposed to slay + Your son, that you might leave that hallowed altar + Of Thetis, and thus craftily induced you + To fall into my hands, and meet your death; + Be well assured, such is the present state + Of your affairs: as for that boy, on him + My daughter shall pass judgment, or to kill, + Or spare him: but now enter these abodes, + That you may learn, slave as you are, to treat + Those who are free no longer with disdain. + + AND. Thou hast o’erreached me by thy treacherous arts; + Alas! I am betrayed. + + MEN. Proclaim these tidings + To all men; for I shall not contradict them. + + AND. By those who dwell beside Eurotas’ stream + Are such base frauds called wisdom? + + MEN. Both at Troy + And there, ’tis just the injured should retaliate. + + AND. Believ’st thou that the gods are gods no longer, + Nor wield the bolt of vengeance? + + MEN. We must look + To that: but you shall die. + + AND. And wilt thou seize + This unfledged bird, to slay him? + + MEN. No, I will not, + But give him to my daughter, who must act + As she thinks fit. + + AND. Then how, alas, my son! + Can I sufficiently bewail thy fate? + + MEN. “Him,” ’twas but now with arrogance you said, + “Auspicious hopes attend.” + + AND. Ye worst of foes + To all mankind, inhabitants of Sparta! + Expert in treacherous counsels, still devising + New falsehoods, curst artificers of mischief, + Your paths are crooked, yet though void of worth, + Through Greece by circumspection ye uphold + An undeserved pre-eminence. What crimes, + What murders, what a thirst for abject gain + Characterize your realm! with specious tongue + Uttering a language foreign to your heart, + Are ye not ever caught? Perdition seize you! + Death is less grievous than thou deem’st to me + Who date my utter ruin from that hour + When Ilion’s wretched city was involved + In the same fate with my illustrious lord, + Whose spear oft drove thee trembling from the field + Into thy ships: but now against his wife + A formidable warrior art thou come + To murder me: strike, for this coward tongue + Shall never leave thine and thy daughter’s shame + Unpublished. If in Sparta thou art great, + So was I erst in Ilion; but exult not + In my disasters, for on thee ere long + The same reverse of fortune may attend. + +CHORUS. + + ODE. + + I. 1. + + Two rival consorts ne’er can I approve, + Or sons, the source of strife, their birth who owe + To different mothers; hence connubial love + Is banished, and the mansion teems with woe. + One blooming nymph let cautious husbands wed, + And share with her alone an unpolluted bed. + + I. 2. + + No prudent city, no well-governed state, + More than a single potentate will own; + Their subjects droop beneath the grievous weight + When two bear rule, and discord shakes the throne; + And if two bards awake their sounding lyres + E’en the harmonious Muse a cruel strife inspires, + + II. 1. + + To aid the bark, when prosperous gales arise, + Two jarring pilots shall misguide the helm: + Weak is a multitude when all are wise, + One simpler monarch could have saved the realm. + Let a sole chief the house or empire sway, + And all who hope for bliss their lord’s behests obey. + + II. 2. + + This truth hath Menelaus’ daughter shown, + Furious she comes the victim to destroy; + And, that their blood may nuptial wrongs atone, + The Phrygian captive, and that hapless boy, + With impious rage unjust would cause to bleed; + May pity, awful queen, thy lifted arm impede! + + But I before these doors behold the pair + On whom the fatal sentence now is passed. + Thou wretched dame, and wretched child who diest + Because thy mother to a foreign bed + By force was dragged, in her imputed guilt + Thou wert not an accomplice, thou thy lords + Hast not offended. + + AND. To the realms beneath, + Lo, I am hurried, with these bloody hands + Fast bound in galling chains. + + MOL. I too, O mother, + Under thy wing, to those loathed shades descend + A victim. O ye lords of Phthia’s land, + And thou, my father, succour those thou lov’st. + + AND. Cling to thy mother’s bosom, O my child, + Together let us die. + + MOL. Ah me! how grievous + My sufferings are! too clearly I perceive + That I, and thou my mother, both are wretched. + + MEN. Go both together to th’ infernal realm: + For ye from hostile turrets hither came. + Although the cause why you and he must bleed + Is not the same, my sentence takes away + Your life, and my Hermione’s your son’s. + The highest folly were it to permit + A foe to live and vex us, whom with ease + We might despatch, and from our house remove + Such danger. + + AND. O my husband, would to Heaven + I had thy arm to aid me; and thy spear, + Thou son of Priam. + + MOL. Wretched me! what charm + Can I devise t’ avert impending fate? + + AND. My son, implore the mercy of our lord + Clasping his knees. + + MOL. Dear monarch, spare my life. + + AND. Tears from these eyes burst forth like trickling drops + By the sun’s heat forced from a solid rock, + Wretch that I am! + + MOL. What remedy, alas! + For these dire evils can my soul devise? + + MEN. Why dost thou idly grovel at my feet + With fruitless supplications, while I stand + Firm as a rock, or as th’ unpitying wave? + Such conduct serves my interests: no affection + To thee I bear, because my morn of life + Was wasted in the conflict, ere I took + Troy and thy mother, whose society + Thou in the realms of Pluto shalt enjoy. + +PELEUS, MENELAUS, ANDROMACHE, MOLOSSUS, CHORUS. + + CHOR. Peleus, I see, draws near, his aged feet + With eager haste advancing. + + PEL. You, and him + Who stands presiding o’er a murderous deed, + What means this uproar that disturbs the house, + I question, and what practices are these + Ye carry on unauthorized by law? + O Menelaus, stay thy furious hand, + And let not execution thus outstrip + All righteous judgment. O my friends, lead on; + For such a dread emergency appears + T’ admit of no delay. Could I regain + That youthful vigour which I erst enjoyed + As prosperous breezes aid the floating sails, + This captive would I favour. Say, what right + Have they to bind your hands, and drag along + You and your son? for like the bleating mother, + Led forth to slaughter with her lamb, you perish, + While I and your unwitting lord are absent. + + AND. They, as thou seest, O venerable man, + Me and my son thus bear to instant death. + What shall I say to thee, whom I with speed + Not by one single messenger but thousands + Have sent for? sure thou, of the fatal strife + In these divided mansions, with his daughter, + To which I owe my ruin, must have heard: + And from the violated shrine of Thetis, + Who bore to thee a noble son, the goddess + Whom thou rever’st e’en now with brutal force + Me have they torn, nor judged my cause, nor wait + For absent Neoptolemus, but, knowing + That I and that this child who hath committed + No fault, are left alone and unprotected, + Would slay us both. But, O thou aged man, + Thus prostrate on my knees, to thee I sue, + And, though this hand must not presume to touch + Thy honoured beard, conjure thee by the gods, + Rescue us, or to thy eternal shame + Both he and I must miserably bleed. + + PEL. My orders are that you those galling chains + Unbind and loose her hands, else will I make + The disobedient weep. + + MEN. But I, your equal, + Who have much more authority o’er her, + Forbid them. + + PEL. Com’st thou hither to direct + My household? is it not enough for thee + To rule thy Spartans? + + MEN. Her I took at Troy. + + PEL. She, to reward his valour, was bestowed + Upon my grandson. + + MEN. Doth not all he owns, + To me, and what is mine, to him belong? + + PEL. For honest purposes, but not for crimes + And murderous violence. + + MEN. You ne’er shall take her + Out of my hands. + + PEL. Thy head I with this sceptre + Will smite. + + MEN. Draw near; if you presume to touch me, + Soon shall you rue such outrage. + + PEL. O thou villain, + Sprung from a race of impious sires, what right + To be accounted an illustrious man, + And numbered with the truly brave, hast thou, + Who by a Phrygian wanderer wert deprived + Of thy fair consort, after thou hadst left + Thy house unbarred and destitute of guards, + As if thou in thy mansions hadst possessed + A virtuous dame, though she of all her sex + Was the most dissolute? nor if she would + Can any Spartan nymph be chaste? for wandering + From their own homes, distinguished by bare legs, + And zoneless vest, they with young men contend + In swiftness and in wrestling; I such customs + Hold in abhorrence. Is there any room + For wonder if the women prove unchaste + Whom thus you educate? thy Helen ought + To have proposed these questions, ere she left + Her native realm, regardless of thy love, + And by that youthful paramour seduced, + Wantonly fled into a foreign land. + Yet for her sake didst thou that numerous host + Of Greeks collect, and lead them to assail + The Phrygian ramparts. Thou that beauteous dame + Shouldst rather have despised, nor in her cause + Wielded the javelin, when thou found’st her worthless, + But suffered her in Ilion to remain, + And sent rich gifts to Paris on these terms, + That to thy house she never should return. + But thou, instead of suffering these just motives + To make their due impression on thy soul, + Full many valiant warriors hast destroyed, + Made th’ aged matron childless, and deprived + Of his illustrious sons the hoary sire. + Numbered with those who owe to thee thy ruin + Am wretched I: for like some evil genius + In thee do these indignant eyes behold + The murderer of Achilles: thou alone, + Save by the missile shaft, unwounded cam’st + From Ilion’s hostile shores; in burnished chests + Didst thou bear thither the same glittering arms + Which thou bear’st back again. Before he wedded, + I warned my grandson to form no connection + With thee, nor into these abodes admit + The brood of that adult’ress; for the daughters + Their mother emulate in deeds of shame. + Look well to this, ye suitors, and select + The damsel with maternal worth endued. + Then with what scorn didst thou thy brother treat, + Commanding him ’gainst reason to transgress, + And sacrifice his daughter. Thou such fears, + Lest thou that execrable wife shouldst lose, + Didst entertain. When thou hadst taken Troy, + This too I urge against thee, though thou hadst + Thy consort in thy power, thou didst not slay her, + But when her throbbing bosom thou beheld’st + Didst cast away thy sword, receive her kisses, + And soothe the fears of her who had betrayed thee. + O worthless miscreant, whom the Cyprian Queen + Hath thus debased! thou after this intrud’st + Into my grandson’s palace, in his absence + Committ’st these outrages, and basely slay’st + A miserable woman, and her child, + Thee and thy daughter who shall cause to weep + Though trebly illegitimate his birth. + Oft the parched heath, when duly tilled, exceeds + The richest soil, and greater instances + Of virtue are in many a bastard found + Than in the lawfully begotten race. + But take thy daughter hence. Far better is it + To form affinity and strictest friendship + With a poor man of worth, than him who joins + Iniquity with wealth: but as for thee, + Thou art a thing of nought. + + CHOR. Among mankind, + Oft from a small beginning doth the tongue + Great strife occasion: but the wise beware + Of entering on a contest with their friend. + + MEN. Why do we speak in such exalted terms + Of aged men, as if they were endued + With wisdom, though in former days supposed + By the whole Grecian race to judge aright? + When you, O Peleus, who derive your birth + From an illustrious sire, and with my house + So nearly are connected, hold a language + Disgraceful to yourself, and slander me, + For a barbarian dame, whom from this land + You ought to banish far beyond the Nile, + Beyond the Phasis, and applaud my vengeance; + Because she comes from Asiatic shores, + Where many valiant Grecian chiefs lie slain. + And hath in part been guilty of the blood + Of your famed son; for Paris, by whose shaft, + Transpierced, Achilles perished, was the brother, + And she the wife of Hector: yet you enter + The same abode with her, the genial board + With her partake, allow her to bring forth + Under your roofs an execrable brood. + These mischiefs both to you and me, old man, + Foreseeing, have I snatched her from your hands + With a design to kill her. But, O say, + (For there is nought of meanness in our holding + This conference), if my daughter bear no child, + And she have sons, will you appoint them lords + Of this your Phthian land? shall they who spring + From a barbarian race, o’er Greeks bear rule? + Am I, because I hate injustice, void + Of understanding, and are you discreet? + Reflect on this; had you bestowed your daughter + On any citizen, were she thus treated, + Would you sit down and bear her wrongs in silence? + I deem you would not. Why then with such harshness + Speak you in favour of a foreign dame + Against your nearest friends? as great a right + To vengeance as her husband, hath the wife + Whom her lord injures: for while he whose doors + An unchaste consort enters, in his hands + Hath power to right himself, a woman’s strength + Lies only in her parents and her friends. + My daughter, therefore, am I bound to aid: + You show the marks of age: for while you talk + Of that famed war I waged, you more befriend me + Than if you had been silent. Deep in woe + Was Helen plunged, not by her own consent + But by the gods: and this event hath proved + To Greece most advantageous, for its sons + Who knew not how till then to wield the spear, + Grew valiant. From experience, best of tutors, + Men gather all the knowledge they possess. + But when I saw my consort, in forbearing + To take away her life, I acted wisely: + And would that you had done like me, nor slain + Your brother Phocus; this to you I speak + Through mere benevolence, and not in wrath: + But if resentment o’er your soul usurp + An empire, such intemperance of the tongue + Will be in you more shameful, while my wishes + I by a prudent forethought shall attain. + + CHOR. Now both desist (for this were better far) + From such unprofitable strife of words, + O ye will both offend. + + PEL. Ah me! through Greece + What mischievous opinions have prevailed! + When with the spoils of vanquished foes, the host + A trophy rear, they think not how ’twas gained + By those brave soldiers who endure the toil + Of battle, while their general bears away + All the renown: though he was only one + Who stood ’midst thousands brandishing his spear, + Nor any single combatant surpassed, + He gains a larger portion of applause. + The venerable rulers of a city, + Placed in exalted stations, yet devoid + Of any real merit, overlook + The populace, though many in the crowd + Of their inferiors are more wise than they, + If haply courage and an honest zeal + Unite to place them in the public view. + Thou and thy brother thus are swollen with pride, + From having led those troops to conquer Troy, + And triumph in the sufferings of your friends. + But henceforth will I teach thee not to look + On Paris, Ida’s shepherd, as a foe, + More terrible than Peleus. If with speed + Thou quit not these abodes, and take away + Thy childless daughter, my indignant grandson, + By her dishevelled hair around the palace + Will drag this barren dame, who stung with envy, + Cannot endure the fruitful mother’s joys. + But, if she prove so luckless as to bare + No issue, ought she therefore to deprive us + Of our posterity? Begone, ye slaves, + That I may see who dares obstruct my loosing + Her hands. Rise up: though trembling with old age, + Your chains can I unbind. O worthless man, + Hast thou thus galled her hands? didst thou suppose + Thou held’st a bull or lion in the snare? + Or didst thou shudder lest she should snatch up + A sword, and wreak just vengeance on thy head? + Come hither to these sheltering arms, my child, + Unbind thy mother’s chains; in Phthia, thee + I’ll educate, to them a bitter foe. + Should Sparta’s sons by the protended spear + Obtain no fame, nor in th’ embattled field + Their prowess signalize, be well assured + Ye have no other merit. + + CHOR. Old men talk + With freedom, and their vehemence of soul + Is hard to be restrained. + + MEN. Extremely prone + Are you to slander; much against my will + I came to Phthia, and am here resolved + That I will neither do nor suffer aught + Disgraceful: but to my own home with speed + Am I returning, and have little time + In vain debates to lavish: for a city + Not far from Sparta’s gates and erst a friend + Is waging war against us: I would lead + My hardy squadrons forth t’ assail the foe, + And utterly subdue them. To my wish + Soon as this great affair I shall have settled, + Hither will I return, and face to face, + When I my reasons to my son-in-law + Have in the clearest terms proposed, will hear + What he can urge; and if he punish her, + And for the future courteously to me + Demean himself, from me he in return + Shall meet with courtesy; but if he rage, + He of my rage the dire effects shall feel: + For still such treatment as his deeds deserve + Shall he experience. But I am not hurt + By these injurious words of yours; for like + Some disembodied ghost, you have a voice, + Although you are not able to do aught + But merely speak. + + [_Exit_ MENELAUS. + + PEL. Lead on, my boy; here take + Thy station under these protecting arms; + And thou too, O thou miserable dame, + Driven hither by the furious storm; at length + Into a quiet haven are ye come. + + AND. On thee and thy descendants may the gods + Shower every blessing, venerable man, + For having saved this child, and wretched me; + Yet O beware, lest in some lonely spot + They suddenly assail us, and by force + Drag me away, perceiving thou art old, + That I am a weak woman, and my son + Is but an infant: all precautions use, + Else we, who have escaped them, may again + Be caught. + + PEL. Forbear to utter, in such language + As this, the dictates of a woman’s fear. + Advance, who dares to touch you? he shall weep. + For with the blessing of th’ immortal gods, + And by unnumbered troops of valiant horse, + And infantry supported, I bear rule + Over the Phthian land. I am robust, + Nor, as you deem, impaired by palsied age. + Were I, opposed in battle, but to look + On such a man as this, old as I am, + An easy conquest soon should I obtain. + Superior is the veteran, if with courage + Inspired, to many youths: for what avails + A vigorous body with a coward’s heart? + + [_Exeunt_ PELEUS, ANDROMACHE, _and_ MOLOSSUS. + +CHORUS. + + ODE. + + I. + + My wish were this; or never to be born, + Or to descend from generous sires, and share + The blessings which attend a wealthy heir. + If heaviest woes assail, ne’er left forlorn + Without a friend are they of nobler race, + Hereditary trophies deck their head: + The records of the brave with joy we trace, + No distant age their memory can efface, + For virtue’s torch unquenched pours radiance o’er the dead. + + II. + + Better is conquest, when we gain our right + By no reproachful means, no deeds of shame, + Than if to envy we expose our fame, + And trample on the laws with impious might. + Such laurels which at first too sweetly bloom, + Ere long are withered by the frost of time, + And scorn pursues their wearers to the tomb. + I in my household or the state presume + To seek that power alone which rules without a crime. + + III. + + O veteran, sprung from Æacus, thy spear + Chilled the Lapithæ with fear, + And from their hills the Centaurs drove. + When glory called, and prosperous gales + Swelled the Argo’s daring sails, + Intrepid didst thou pass that strait + Where ruin oft the crashing bark attends, + And ocean’s foam descends + From the Symplegades’ obstructing height. + Next didst thou land on perjured Ilion’s shore, + With Hercules illustrious son of Jove, + Then first its bulwarks streamed with gore: + Till crowned with fame a partner of his toil, + Europe again thou sought’st and Phthia’s frozen soil. + +THE NURSE OF HERMIONE, CHORUS. + + NUR. How doth a rapid series of events + The most disastrous, O my dearest friends, + This day invade us! for within these doors + Hermione my mistress, by her sire + Forsaken, and grown conscious of the guilt + She hath incurred, by that attempt to murder + Andromache and her unhappy son, + Resolves to die, because she dreads, lest fired + With indignation at her guilt, her lord + Should cast her forth with scorn, or take away + Her life, because she purposed to have slain + The innocent. The servants who attend + Can hardly by their vigilance prevent her + From fixing round her neck the deadly noose, + Or snatch the dagger from her hand, so great + Is her affliction, and she now confesses + That she has done amiss. My strength’s exhausted + In striving to withhold my royal mistress + From perishing by an ignoble death. + But enter ye these mansions, and attempt + To save her life, for strangers can persuade + Far better than old friends. + + CHOR. We hear the voice + Of her attendants from within confirm + Th’ intelligence thou hither cam’st to bring: + That hapless woman seems just on the point + Of showing with what rage she by her guilt + Is hurried on: for lo, she rushes forth + From yon abodes, already hath she ’scaped + Her servants’ hands, and is resolved to die. + +HERMIONE, NURSE, CHORUS. + + HER. Ah me! these ringlets how will I tear off, + How rend my cheeks! + + NUR. What mean’st thou, O my daughter? + Wilt thou thus injure that fair frame? + + HER. Away, + O thou slight veil, I pluck thee from my head, + And toss thy scattered fragments in the air. + + NUR. Cover thy bosom with the decent robe. + + HER. Why with a robe my bosom should I hide? + The crimes I have committed ’gainst my lord + Are clear, well known, and cannot be concealed. + + NUR. Griev’st thou because thou hast formed schemes to slay + Thy rival? + + HER. I with many groans bewail + Those hostile darings, execrable wretch, + Wretch that I am, an object of just hate + To all mankind. + + NUR. Thy husband such offence + Will pardon. + + HER. From my hand why didst thou snatch + The sword? Restore, restore it, O my friends, + That I this bosom may transpierce. Why force me + To quit yon pendant noose? + + NUR. In thy distraction + Shall I forsake and leave thee thus to die? + + HER. Where shall I find (inform me, O ye Fates) + The blazing pyre, ascend the craggy rock, + Plunge in the billows, or amidst the woods + On a steep mountain waste the life I loathe, + That after death the gods beneath may take me + To their protection? + + CHOR. Why wouldst thou make efforts + So violent? some mischiefs sent by Heaven + Sooner or later visit all mankind. + + HER. Me like a stranded bark, thou, O my sire, + Hast left forsaken and without an oar. + To thee I owe my ruin. I no longer + In these my bridal mansions can reside. + To the propitious statues of what God + With suppliant haste shall I repair, or fall + At a slave’s knees, myself an abject slave? + I from the land of Phthia, like a bird + Upborne on azure wings, would speed my flight, + Or imitate that ship whose dashing oars + ’Twixt the Cyanean straits first urged their way. + + NUR. As little, O my daughter, can I praise + That vehemence which caused thee to transgress + Against the Trojan dame, as these thy fears + Which are immoderate. For such slight offence + Thy lord, misled by the pernicious tongue + Of a barbarian woman, from his couch + Will not expel thee: for thou art not his + By right of conquest, borne from vanquished Troy; + But thee, the daughter of a mighty king, + He with abundant dower, and from a city + Most flourishing, received: nor will thy sire, + His child forsaking, as thou dread’st, permit thee + To be cast forth: but enter these abodes, + Nor show thyself without, lest some affront + Thou shouldst receive if haply thou art seen + Before these doors. + + [_Exit_ NURSE. + + CHOR. Behold a man, whose dress + Is of such different fashion that it speaks + The foreigner, comes swiftly from the gate. + +ORESTES, HERMIONE, CHORUS. + + ORE. Is this th’ abode of great Achilles’ son, + The regal mansion, O ye foreign dames? + + CHOR. It is as thou hast said. But who art thou + That ask’st this question? + + ORE. Agamemnon’s son, + And Clytemnestra’s; but my name’s Orestes: + I to Dodona, th’ oracle of Jove, + Am on my road; but since I now have reached + The land of Phthia, first would I inquire + How fares Hermione, the Spartan dame, + My kinswoman; doth she yet live and prosper? + For though from me far distant be the land + In which she now resides, she still is dear. + + HER. O son of Agamemnon, who thus make + Your seasonable appearance, like the haven + To mariners amidst a furious storm, + Take pity, I implore you by those knees, + On me a wretch whose inauspicious fortunes + You witness. Hence around your knees I fling + These arms, which ought to prove of equal force + With hallowed branches by the suppliant borne. + + ORE. What’s this? am I deceived? or do my eyes + Indeed behold the queen of these abodes, + And Menelaus’ daughter? + + HER. Th’ only child + Whom to the Spartan monarch Helen bore. + Mistake me not. + + ORE. O Phœbus, healing power, + Protect us! But what dire mischance hath happened? + Or from the gods, or human foes, proceed + The evils thou endur’st? + + HER. Some from myself, + But others from the husband whom I wedded + The rest from one of the immortal gods. + I utterly am ruined. + + ORE. What afflictions + Can any woman who’s yet childless feel + But those which from her nuptial union spring? + + HER. Hence these distempers of the soul arise, + And well do you anticipate my words. + + ORE. Enamoured with another, is thy lord + False to thy bed? + + HER. He loves a captive dame, + The wife of Hector. + + ORE. This of which thou speak’st + Is a great evil, when one man possesses + Two wives. + + HER. ’Twas thus, till I avenged the wrong. + + ORE. Didst thou with arts familiar to thy sex + Plot ’gainst thy rival’s life? + + HER. I would have killed + Her and her spurious son. + + ORE. Hast thou despatched them? + Or were they screened from their impending fate? + + HER. Old Peleus to these worthless objects showed + Too great a reverence. + + ORE. Was there any friend + Ready to aid thee in the purposed slaughter? + + HER. My sire, who for this cause from Sparta came. + + ORE. Yet by that aged man was he subdued? + + HER. Abashed he fled, and left me here alone. + + ORE. I understand thee well: thy husband’s wrath + Thou fear’st for what thou’st done. + + HER. The fact you know: + Hence justly will he take away my life. + What can be said? yet by immortal Jove, + Our grandsire, I conjure you, send me far + From these domains, or to my father’s house. + Had but these walls a voice, they would proclaim + The sentence of my exile, for the land + Of Phthia hates me. If my lord return + From Phœbus’ oracle, for the misdeeds + I have committed, he will strike me dead, + Or force me to become that harlot’s slave + Whom erst I ruled. + + ORE. By some will it be asked + Whence then into such errors didst thou fall? + + HER. My ruin I derive from the admission + Of these vile women, who inflamed my pride + By uttering these rash words: “Wilt thou endure + Beneath thy roof that odious slave who shares + Thy bridal couch? by Juno, awful queen, + I would not suffer such a wretch to breathe + In my polluted chamber.” When I heard + The language uttered by these crafty sirens, + Artificers of mischief, who, to suit + Their purpose, in persuasive strains displayed + The power of eloquence, I was puffed up + With folly: for what need had I to hold + My lord in reverence while possessed of all + That I could wish? abundant wealth was mine, + O’er these abodes I reigned, and any children + I to my husband might hereafter bare + Would be legitimate; but hers, by mine + In strict subjection held, a spurious race. + But never, never (I this truth repeat) + Should wedded men, who have the gift of reason, + Let women have a free access, and visit + Their consort. For they teach her evil lessons: + Urged by the hopes of lucre, one corrupts + Her chastity; a second hath already + Transgressed herself, and wishes that her friend + May be as vicious: many by their lust + Are led astray: hence to their husband’s house + A train of mischief rises. Guard the doors + Of your abodes with locks and massive bars; + Since from the intrusion of these female guests, + No good, but mischiefs numberless ensue. + + CHOR. Thou to thy tongue hast given too free a scope + In thus aspersing the whole female race: + Thy present woes indeed our pardon claim; + Yet every woman is in duty bound + To gloss o’er the misconduct of her sex. + + ORE. Wisdom pertained to him who taught mankind + To hear the reasons by both parties urged + In a debate. Aware of the confusion + In these abodes, and of the strife ’twixt thee + And Hector’s wife, I stayed not to observe + Whether thou in this house wouldst still remain, + Or through a fear of yonder captive dame + Abandon it: I therefore hither came, + Nor waited for intelligence from thee. + And if a satisfactory account + Of thy proceedings thou to me canst give, + I will convey thee hence. For thou, who erst + Wert mine, with this thy present husband liv’st, + Through the perfidious conduct of thy sire, + Who ere he entered the domains of Troy + Affianced thee to me, and then to him + Who now possesses thee, again engaged, + If he the Phrygian city should subdue. + But I forgive thy father for this wrong, + When hither great Achilles’ son returned, + And to the bridegroom sued that he would loose + Thy plighted hand; of all my various fortunes + Informing him, and of my present woes; + How feasible it were for me to wed + Among my friends, but that for such an exile + As I am, driven from my paternal throne, + ’Twould not be easy to obtain a consort + In any foreign land: on this he grew + More arrogant, and bitterly reproached me + Both with my mother’s murder, and those Furies + Whose blood-stained visages inspire dismay. + By the misfortunes of my house bowed down + To earth, I grieved indeed, but grieving bore + The weight of these calamities, and reft + Of thee my bride, reluctantly departed. + But since thy fortunes now have undergone + A change so unexpected, and involved + In woe, thou stand’st aghast; from these abodes + Thee will I take and to thy sire convey. + For wondrous is the force of kindred ties; + And in misfortunes nought exceeds the friend + Who from the self-same house derives his birth. + + HER. My father will take care how to dispose + Of me in marriage, nor is it my province + Such question to decide. But, O convey me + From these loathed mansions with the utmost speed, + Lest when my husband at his first return + Enters the doors, he intercept my flight; + Or, hearing that I leave his grandson’s house, + Peleus pursue me with his rapid steeds. + + ORE. Be of good cheer against that aged man, + And from thy furious lord, Achilles’ son, + Who treated me with scorn, fear nought; this hand + Hath with such cautious artifice prepared + For him th’ inevitable snares of death, + Of which no previous mention will I make: + But when it is accomplished, this exploit + Shall on the rock of Delphi be proclaimed. + I who my mother slew, if th’ armed friends + Whom I have stationed in the Pythian realm + Observe their oaths, will teach him that he ought + To have abstained from wedding any dame + Betrothed to me. He in an evil hour + Shall claim atonement for his father’s death + Of Phœbus mighty king; nor shall repentance + For these audacious blasphemies avail + To save the miscreant on whose impious head + Apollo wreaks just vengeance; by his wrath + O’ertaken, and entangled in my snares, + He wretchedly shall perish. For the gods + Subvert the prosperous fortunes of their foes + Nor suffer pride to rear her towering crest. + + [_Exeunt_ ORESTES _and_ HERMIONE. + +CHORUS. + + ODE. + + I. 1. + + Phœbus, thou god who with a mound + Of stately towers didst Ilion’s rock surround; + And thou, O Neptune, ruler of the main, + Borne swiftly by thy azure steeds + In a light car, who cleav’st the watery plain; + After exerting with unwearied toil + Such skill as human works exceeds, + ’Gainst wretched Troy when Mars his javelin bore, + Why, faithless to that chosen soil, + Left ye your city drenched in gore? + + I. 2. + + The steeds ye yoked on Simois’ banks + Whirled many a chariot through the broken ranks; + No hero gathered in that stubborn fray + One laurel to adorn his head: + Phrygia’s illustrious rulers swept away, + Took their last voyage to a distant shore, + And mingled with the vulgar dead, + While the polluted altars ceased to gleam + Upwafting to the skies no more + Their frankincense in odorous steam. + + II. 1. + + Slain by his wife Atrides fell; + His furious son sent to the shades of Hell + The murderess, and returned th’ unnatural deed, + That fatal stroke the god approved, + His oracles ordained that she should bleed, + When young Orestes at the inmost shrine + Was by a heavenly impulse moved, + His hands in gore maternal to imbrue. + O Phœbus, O thou power divine, + How shall I think th’ assertion true? + + II. 2. + + In Greece doth many a dame complain + Chaunting rude dirges for her children slain; + Others their native land reluctant leave, + And to a foreign lord are brought. + Nor yet hast thou alone just cause to grieve, + Nor to thy friends hath Heaven’s peculiar hate + These signal miseries wrought: + Victorious Greece still feels as deep a wound, + From whence the thunderbolt of fate + Through Phrygia scattered deaths around. + +PELEUS, CHORUS. + + PEL. Answer my questions, O ye Phthian dames, + For doubtful is the rumour I have heard, + That Menelaus’ daughter, when she left + This house departed from the realm. I come + Anxious to learn if this account be true. + For ’tis their duty who remain at home + To guard the fortunes of their absent friends. + + CHOR. What thou hast heard, O Peleus, is the truth, + And ill would it become me to conceal + The woes in which I deeply am involved: + Our royal mistress from these walls is fled. + + PEL. What feared she? say. + + CHOR. The anger of her lord, + Lest he from these abodes should cast her forth. + + PEL. Because she plotted to have slain the boy? + + CHOR. E’en so it was. Yon captive too she dreaded. + + PEL. But from these mansions did she go, attended, + Or by her father or by whom? + + CHOR. The son + Of Agamemnon from this land conveyed her. + + PEL. What are his views? to take her for his bride? + + CHOR. Thy grandson too he meditates to slay. + + PEL. Stationed in secret ambush, or resolved + To meet the dauntless warrior face to face? + + CHOR. Beneath Apollo’s unpolluted fane + With Delphi’s citizens. + + PEL. Atrocious crime! + Ah me! will no one with his utmost speed + Go to the altar of the Pythian god, + And to our friends disclose what passes here, + Ere by his foes Achilles’ son is slain? + +MESSENGER, PELEUS, CHORUS. + + MES. What evil tidings do I bring to you, + O aged man, and all my master’s friends! + + PEL. By a sad presage which affects my soul + I of th’ impending evil am forewarned. + + MES. Know then, O Peleus, that your wretched grandson + Is now no more, with such unnumbered wounds + He by the Delphic citizens transpierced, + And by that stranger from Mycene died. + + CHOR. Alas! alas! but what resource is left + For thee, thou hoary veteran? do not fall; + Raise thyself up. + + PEL. To very nothing now + Am I reduced, I utterly am ruined: + The power of speech deserts me, and these limbs + Forget their office. + + MES. Hear me, and from earth + Arise, if, with th’ assistance of your friends, + You for this murder wish to be revenged. + + PEL. How hast thou compassed wretched me, who stand + On the last verge of spiritless old age, + O cruel fate! say how the only son + Of my deceased, my only son, was slain. + These tidings though unwelcome would I hear. + + MES. After we reached Apollo’s sacred realm, + While thrice the chariot of the sun performed + Its bright career, we satiated our eyes + With viewing all around. The circumstance + Which raised suspicion first, was this: the people + Who dwell within the temple of the god + Held frequent meetings, and in crowds assembled. + Meanwhile the son of Agamemnon went + Through the whole city, and in every ear + Whispered malignant words like these: “Behold + Him who is visiting the hallowed shrine + Of Phœbus piled with gold, the treasures given + By all mankind; the miscreant comes again + On the same purpose which first drew him hither, + To overthrow the temple of the god.” + Through the whole city hence an evil rumour + Went forth, and all the magistrates, to whom + The holy treasures were consigned, assembled, + In secret councils held, and placed a guard + Behind the massive columns in the fane. + We, unapprized of this, meantime had caught + Some sheep, that fed amid Parnassus’ grove, + And with our Delphic friends and Pythian seers + Approached the altar: some one said: “Young man, + What vows on thy behalf shall we address + To Phœbus? for what purpose art thou come?” + He answered: “To the god I wish to make + A due atonement for my past offence, + Because I erst from him with impious tongue + Claimed satisfaction for my father’s blood.” + Hence did Orestes’ calumnies appear + To have great weight, suggesting that my lord + Spoke an untruth, and that he hither came + With vile designs. Beneath the holy roof, + That to Apollo he might offer up + His prayers in that oracular abode, + He now advanced, and as they blazed, observed + The victims: here a troop with falchions armed + Screened by the branching laurels stood; the son + Of Clytemnestra was the sole contriver + Of all these stratagems. Our lord stood forth, + And, in the sight of this insidious band, + Adored the god: while they with their keen swords, + Ere he discerned them, pierced Achilles’ son + Unsheathed in mail. He instantly retreated; + For he as yet had by no deadly wound + Been smitten; but snatched up in his retreat + Those glittering arms which near the portals hung, + And stood a champion terrible to view, + Close to the blazing altar: with loud voice + He questioned the inhabitants of Delphi: + “Me who a pious votary hither come, + Why, or for what offences, would ye slay!” + Although the number of his foes was great, + None of them answered, but all hands hurled stones: + On every side assaulted by a storm + Thick as the falling snows, he warded off, + Extending the broad margin of his shield, + Each missile weapon: but of no avail + Was this resistance: for the spear, the shaft, + The dart, were thrown at once, and at his feet + Mixed instruments of sacrifice lay scattered. + Th’ agility with which your grandson shunned + The blows they aimed, was wondrous to behold: + They in a circle gathering round, closed in, + Nor gave him space to breathe, till from the altar + Descending with a leap like that which bore + The hapless Grecian chief to Phrygia’s coast, + He rushed among them: like a flock of doves + Who see the hawk appear, they turned and fled: + In heaps on heaps promiscuous, many fell, + Some in the narrow passage wounded lay, + While others o’er them trampled, and their groans + Unholy echoed through the hallowed dome. + But, tranquil as the waters in a calm, + In golden arms my lord resplendent stood, + Till from the inmost sanctuary burst forth + A deep-toned voice of horror, which impelled + The recreant warriors to renew the fight: + Achilles’ son then smitten through the flank + With a keen sword, by one of Delphi fell, + Who slew him, yet ignobly, with the aid + Of multitudes. But after he to earth + Was fallen, what sword transpierced him not, what hand + Threw not a stone to smite him? his whole frame, + So graceful erst, was with unnumbered wounds + Disfigured: till at length his mangled corse, + Which stained the altar’s basis, from the fane + Drenched with the blood of victims they cast forth. + But gathering up with speed, his loved remains + To you we bear, O venerable man, + That o’er them you may shed the plenteous tear, + And grace them with sepulchral rites. Thus Phœbus, + Who prophesies to others, mighty king, + And deals out justice to th’ admiring world, + Hath on Achilles’ son revenged himself, + And, like some worthless human foe, revived + An ancient grudge: how then can he be wise? + + [_Exit_ MESSENGER. + + CHOR. But lo! our royal master, from the land + Of Delphi borne, approaches these abodes! + Wretched was he, by such untimely doom + O’ertaken: nor art thou, O aged man, + Less wretched than the slaughtered youth: for thou + Into thy doors receiv’st Achilles’ son, + But not as thou couldst wish; thou too art fallen + Into affliction’s snare. + + PEL. What piteous object, + Ah me! do I behold, and with these hands + Receive into my house! we are undone, + We are undone, O thou Thessalian city; + I have no children, no descendants left, + To occupy these mansions. On what friend + Shall I a wretched sufferer turn my eyes, + And hope to find relief? O thou dear face, + Ye cheeks, ye hands! thee would to Heaven that fate + In those embattled fields of Troy had slain + Beside the waves of Simois! + + CHOR. He in death + Hence would have found renown; thou too, old man, + Wouldst have been happier. + + PEL. Thou, O wedlock, wedlock, + These mansions and my city hast o’erthrown. + My grandson, through the inauspicious nuptials + By thee contracted, would to heaven my gates + Had ne’er received that execrable fiend + Hermione, thy bane! O had she first + With thunderbolts been smitten! nor hadst thou, + Presumptuous mortal, charged the Delphic god + With having aimed the shaft which slew thy sire! + + CHOR. I will awake the sad funereal dirge, + And wailing pay to my departed lord + Such customary tribute as attends + The shades of mighty chiefs. + + PEL. Ah me! at once + With misery and old age bowed down to earth, + I shed th’ incessant tear. + + CHOR. Thus hath the god + Ordained, the god’s vindictive arm hath wrought + All these calamities. + + PEL. O most beloved, + This house, ah me! a desert hast thou left, + And me a miserable old man made childless. + + CHOR. Before thy children, O thou aged man, + Thou shouldst have died. + + PEL. Shall I not rend my hair, + And beat with desperate hands this hoary head? + O city! Phœbus hath of both my sons + Deprived me. + + CHOR. O thou miserable old man, + What evils hast thou witnessed and endured! + How wilt thou pass the remnant of thy life? + + PEL. Childless, forlorn, no period to my woes + Can I discover, but till death must drink + The bitter potion. + + CHOR. Sure the gods in vain + Showered blessings on thy nuptials. + + PEL. Fled and withered + Is all our ancient pomp. + + CHOR. Alone thou mov’st + Around thy lonely house. + + PEL. I have no city. + Thee, O my sceptre, to the ground I cast, + And from yon dreary caverns of the main, + Daughter of Nereus, me wilt thou behold + Utterly ruined, grovelling in the dust. + + CHOR. Ha! who was it that moved? what form divine + Do I perceive? look there! ye nymphs, attend, + With rapid passage through the fleecy clouds + Borne onward, some divinity arrives + At Phthia’s pastures, famed for generous steeds. + +THETIS, PELEUS, CHORUS. + + THE. O Peleus, mindful of the ties which bound + Our plighted love, I hither from the house + Of Nereus come, and with these wholesome counsels + Begin; despair not, though thy present woes + Are grievous: for e’en I who should have borne + A race of children such as ne’er might cause + My tears to stream, have lost the son who crowned + Our hopes, Achilles, swift of foot, the first + Of Grecian heroes. But to thee, the motives + Which brought me hither, will I now relate; + O listen to my voice. Back to that altar + Devoted to the Pythian god, convey + This body of Achilles’ slaughtered son, + And bury it; so shall his tomb declare + The murderous violence Orestes’ band + Committed: but yon captive dame, I mean + Andromache, on Helenus bestowed + In marriage, in Molossia’s land must dwell, + And her young son, the only royal branch + Which of the stem of Æacus remains; + From him in long succession shall a race + Of happy kings Molossia’s sceptre wield: + Nor will our progeny, O aged man, + Be utterly extinct, when blended thus + With Ilion, still protected by the gods, + Though by Minerva’s stratagems it fell. + But, as for thee, that thou mayst know the blessing + Of having wedded me, who am by birth + A goddess and the daughter of a god, + From all the ills which wait on human life + Releasing, thee immortal will I make + And incorruptible; with me a goddess + In Nereus’ watery mansions thou a god + Hereafter shalt reside, and from the waves + Emerging with dry feet, behold our son + Achilles, to his parents justly dear, + Inhabiting that isle whose chalky coasts + Are laved by the surrounding Euxine deep. + But go to Delphi’s city by the gods + Erected, thither bear this weltering corse, + And when thou hast interred it, to this land + Return, and in that cave which through the rock + Of Sepia time hath worn, thy station keep + Till from the waves I with my sister choir + The fifty Nereids come, to bear thee hence. + Thou must endure the woe’s imposed by fate, + For thus hath Jove ordained. But cease to grieve + For the deceased: for by the righteous gods + The same impartial sentence is awarded + To the whole human race, and death’s a debt + Which all must pay. + + PEL. Hail, venerable dame, + Daughter of Nereus, my illustrious wife: + For what thou dost is worthy of thyself, + And of thy progeny. I cease to grieve + At thy command, O goddess, and will go, + Soon as my grandson’s corse I have interred, + To Pelion’s cave, where first thy beauteous form + I in these arms received. The man whose choice + Is by discretion guided, should select + A consort nobly born, and give his daughters + To those of virtuous families, nor wish + To wed a damsel sprung from worthless sires, + Though to his house a plenteous dower she bring: + So shall he ne’er incur the wrath of Heaven. + + CHOR. A thousand shapes our varying fates assume, + The gods perform what we could least expect, + And oft the things for which we fondly hoped + Come not to pass: but Heaven still finds a clue + To guide our steps through life’s perplexing maze. + And thus does this important business end. + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77336 *** diff --git a/77336-h/77336-h.htm b/77336-h/77336-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d5345fe --- /dev/null +++ b/77336-h/77336-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,18470 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> +<head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <title> + Hecuba and other plays | Project Gutenberg + </title> + <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> + <style> + +a { + text-decoration: none; +} + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; + clear: both; +} + +h2.nobreak { + page-break-before: avoid; +} + +hr.chap { + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + clear: both; + width: 65%; + margin-left: 17.5%; 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+} + +.smaller { + font-size: 80%; +} + +.smcap { + font-variant: small-caps; + font-style: normal; +} + +.allsmcap { + font-variant: small-caps; + font-style: normal; + text-transform: lowercase; +} + +.titlepage { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 3em; + text-indent: 0; +} + +.x-ebookmaker img { + max-width: 100%; + width: auto; + height: auto; +} + +.x-ebookmaker .poetry { + display: block; + margin-left: 1.5em; +} + +/* Illustration classes */ +.illowp75 {width: 75%;} +.x-ebookmaker .illowp75 {width: 100%;} +.illowp100 {width: 100%;} + </style> + </head> +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77336 ***</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">[1]</span></p> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp75" id="morleys" style="max-width: 12.5em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/morleys.jpg" alt="MORLEY’S UNIVERSAL LIBRARY"> +</figure> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">[2]</span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="gothic">Ballantyne Press</span><br> +<span class="allsmcap">BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO.<br> +LONDON AND EDINBURGH</span></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[3]</span></p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<h1>HECUBA<br> +<span class="smaller"><i>AND OTHER PLAYS</i></span></h1> + +<p class="center larger"><span class="smaller">BY</span><br> +EURIPIDES</p> + +<p class="titlepage"><span class="smaller">TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH VERSE BY</span><br> +MICHAEL WODHULL</p> + +<p class="titlepage"><i>WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY HENRY MORLEY</i><br> +<span class="smaller">LL.D., PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH LITERATURE AT<br> +UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON</span></p> + +<p class="titlepage"><span class="smaller">LONDON</span><br> +GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS<br> +<span class="smaller"><span class="allsmcap">BROADWAY, LUDGATE HILL</span><br> +GLASGOW AND NEW YORK<br> +1888</span></p> + +<p class="titlepage smaller">PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO.<br> +LONDON AND EDINBURGH</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter max30"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[4]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak">MORLEY’S UNIVERSAL LIBRARY.</h2> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" style="max-width: 6.875em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/line.jpg" alt=""> +</figure> + +<ul> + <li>1. <i>Sheridan’s Plays.</i></li> + <li>2. <i>Plays from Molière.</i> By English Dramatists.</li> + <li>3. <i>Marlowe’s Faustus</i> and <i>Goethe’s Faust</i>.</li> + <li>4. <i>Chronicle of the Cid.</i></li> + <li>5. <i>Rabelais’ Gargantua</i> and the <i>Heroic Deeds of Pantagruel</i>.</li> + <li>6. <i>Machiavelli’s Prince.</i></li> + <li>7. <i>Bacon’s Essays.</i></li> + <li>8. <i>Defoe’s Journal of the Plague Year.</i></li> + <li>9. <i>Locke on Civil Government and Filmer’s “Patriarcha.”</i></li> + <li>10. <i>Butler’s Analogy of Religion.</i></li> + <li>11. <i>Dryden’s Virgil.</i></li> + <li>12. <i>Scott’s Demonology and Witchcraft.</i></li> + <li>13. <i>Herrick’s Hesperides.</i></li> + <li>14. <i>Coleridge’s Table-Talk.</i></li> + <li>15. <i>Boccaccio’s Decameron.</i></li> + <li>16. <i>Sterne’s Tristram Shandy.</i></li> + <li>17. <i>Chapman’s Homer’s Iliad.</i></li> + <li>18. <i>Mediæval Tales.</i></li> + <li>19. <i>Voltaire’s Candide</i>, and <i>Johnson’s Rasselas</i>.</li> + <li>20. <i>Jonson’s Plays and Poems.</i></li> + <li>21. <i>Hobbes’s Leviathan.</i></li> + <li>22. <i>Samuel Butler’s Hudibras.</i></li> + <li>23. <i>Ideal Commonwealths.</i></li> + <li>24. <i>Cavendish’s Life of Wolsey.</i></li> + <li>25 & 26. <i>Don Quixote.</i></li> + <li>27. <i>Burlesque Plays and Poems.</i></li> + <li>28. <i>Dante’s Divine Comedy.</i> <span class="smcap">Longfellow’s</span> Translation.</li> + <li>29. <i>Goldsmith’s Vicar of Wakefield, Plays, and Poems.</i></li> + <li>30. <i>Fables and Proverbs from the Sanskrit.</i> (<i>Hitopadesa.</i>)</li> + <li>31. <i>Lamb’s Essays of Elia.</i></li> + <li>32. <i>The History of Thomas Ellwood.</i></li> + <li>33. <i>Emerson’s Essays, &c.</i></li> + <li>34. <i>Southey’s Life of Nelson.</i></li> + <li>35. <i>De Quincey’s Confessions of an Opium-Eater, &c.</i></li> + <li>36. <i>Stories of Ireland.</i> By Miss <span class="smcap">Edgeworth</span>.</li> + <li>37. <i>Frere’s Aristophanes: Acharnians, Knights, Birds.</i></li> + <li>38. <i>Burke’s Speeches and Letters.</i></li> + <li>39. <i>Thomas à Kempis.</i></li> + <li>40. <i>Popular Songs of Ireland.</i></li> + <li>41. <i>Potter’s Æschylus.</i></li> + <li>42. <i>Goethe’s Faust: Part II.</i> <span class="smcap">Anster’s</span> Translation.</li> + <li>43. <i>Famous Pamphlets.</i></li> + <li>44. <i>Francklin’s Sophocles.</i></li> + <li>45. <i>M. G. Lewis’s Tales of Terror and Wonder.</i></li> + <li>46. <i>Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation.</i></li> + <li>47. <i>Drayton’s Barons’ Wars, Nymphidia, &c.</i></li> + <li>48. <i>Cobbett’s Advice to Young Men.</i></li> + <li>49. <i>The Banquet of Dante.</i></li> + <li>50. <i>Walker’s Original.</i></li> + <li>51. <i>Schiller’s Poems and Ballads.</i></li> + <li>52. <i>Peele’s Plays and Poems.</i></li> + <li>53. <i>Harrington’s Oceana.</i></li> + <li>54. <i>Euripides: Alcestis and other Plays.</i></li> + <li>55. <i>Praed’s Essays.</i></li> + <li>56. <i>Traditional Tales.</i> <span class="smcap">Allan Cunningham.</span></li> + <li>57. <i>Hooker’s Ecclesiastical Polity. Books I.-IV.</i></li> + <li>58. <i>Euripides: The Bacchanals and other Plays.</i></li> + <li>59. <i>Izaak Walton’s Lives.</i></li> + <li>60. <i>Aristotle’s Politics.</i></li> + <li>61. <i>Euripides: Hecuba and other Plays.</i></li> +</ul> + +<p class="center smaller">“Marvels of clear type and general neatness.”—<i>Daily Telegraph.</i></p> + +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[5]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="INTRODUCTION">INTRODUCTION.</h2> + +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" style="max-width: 6.875em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/line.jpg" alt=""> +</figure> + +<p>We left the history of the House of Tantalus with a reference to +Helen, as we find her in the translated play which is among +those which here complete the collection of the extant works of +Euripides.</p> + +<p>Menelaus sent ambassadors to Troy to demand back Helen, +his wife, whom Paris had carried off. The counsels of Antenor +were set aside at Troy, by the persuasions of Paris that gave +occasion to the Siege of Troy. Agamemnon, on the throne of +the deposed Thyestes, had extended his dominion. Homer +gave him command over a hundred ships in the expedition +against Troy. Some were from Mycene, which although but six or +seven miles from Argos had been capital of a separate kingdom +until it was reunited to Argos after the defeat and death of +Eurystheus; and when Agamemnon succeeded his father +Atreus, he enlarged and beautified Mycene. Twenty-eight unsuccessful +suitors of Helen were summoned by Menelaus to +contribute aid, and under command of the strongest of the +confederates, Agamemnon—who was the brother of Menelaus, +and who then had by his wife Clytemnestra three daughters, +Iphigenia, Chrysothemis, and Electra, also one son, Orestes, +then an infant—the expedition sailed for Troy.</p> + +<p>But first, when the confederate fleets met as agreed, in the +haven of Aulis they were stayed by a dead calm. Guidance +was sought from the Oracle, and the soothsayer Calchas +reminded Agamemnon of a vow made in the year of Iphigenia’s +birth that he would sacrifice to Diana the most beautiful production +of the year. That was his daughter, Iphigenia, whom +now Diana claimed. The fleet would remain bound in Aulis +until the sacrifice of Iphigenia. The story of the sacrifice, of the +anger of the maiden’s mother Clytemnestra, and her lover +Achilles, is told by Euripides in his “Iphigenia in Aulis.” The +Goddess in the act of sacrifice miraculously substituted a hind +for the daughter, whom she wafted in a cloud to her temple +among the Scythians at Tauris, where she became a Priestess, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[6]</span>and where it was the custom of the barbarous people to sacrifice +every Greek who landed on their shores.</p> + +<p>In the siege of Troy, Paris was slain by the arrows of Philoctetes. +Helen then married his brother Deiphobus, whom she +betrayed to the Greeks. When she came again into the hands +of Menelaus, he was soon reconciled to her. In returning from +the ten years’ siege of Troy, many of the companions of Agamemnon +were lost by wreck on the coast of Eubœa, where the +father of Palamedes, to avenge the unjust killing of his son in +the camp of the Greeks, had set up false lights. Agamemnon +came safely to Argos with the captive prophetess Cassandra, +whom he intended for himself. This was a new affront to +Clytemnestra; who remembered the murder of her first husband +Tantalus and her first infant, who remembered also the sacrifice +of Iphigenia, and who had found a paramour in Ægisthus, son +of Thyestes. Clytemnestra murdered Agamemnon with an axe +as he was coming out of the bath, and then married Ægisthus, +who took Agamemnon’s throne.</p> + +<p>The young Orestes was saved from his stepfather by a faithful +servant, who carried him to Phocis, and there put him under the +protection of Strophius. Electra remained at Argos and was +married to a peasant, lest a husband powerful in the State +should help to restore to their birthrights the children of +Agamemnon.</p> + +<p>When Orestes had passed out of childhood, he went for +guidance to the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi, and was directed to +avenge the murder of his father. He went then, with his +inseparable friend Pylades, in disguise to Argos, and was received +in a cottage on the boundary of Argos, by Electra and her +peasant husband. He learnt that the peasant, strongly attached +to the family of Agamemnon, had cancelled the wrong intended +by Ægisthus, and had never claimed rights of a husband. Electra +was still a maiden princess. Brother and sister then devised +and carried out a plan for the killing of their mother Clytemnestra +and Ægisthus.</p> + +<p>But when the hands of Orestes were stained with his mother’s +blood, the Furies rose from Hell, and drove him to distraction. +Six days after the murder of Clytemnestra, the citizens of Argos +met to pass sentence on Orestes and Electra. Menelaus after a +voyage from Troy of seven years’ long delays, then landed at +Nauplia near Argos, and would have helped his nephew Orestes; +but he gave up Orestes and Electra to the people of Argos upon +being told by Tyndarus that if he interfered he should never +return to Sparta. The Council of Argos gave leave to Orestes and +Electra to carry out upon themselves its sentence of death. After +consulting with Pylades they resolved to kill Helen and seize +their uncle’s one daughter, Hermione, as hostage. Helen had +vanished; Menelaus breathed revenge; Apollo descended to +save Orestes from his uncle, and from the people, by declaring +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[7]</span>that Orestes had done what the gods required. But Apollo bade +him cleanse away pollution of his mother’s blood by a year’s +banishment, after which he was to submit himself to the judgment +of the Areopagus at Athens.</p> + +<p>Before the Areopagus one of the Furies was his accuser, +Apollo witnessed in his favour. The votes of the Court were +equal, and Athené gave the casting vote for his acquittal. But +still the Furies were implacable, and Orestes, again appealing +to Apollo’s Oracle, was ordered to bring the statue of Diana from +Tauris to Athens. Orestes sailed upon this mission with +Pylades, whom he had affianced to his sister Electra. When the +friends landed on the coast of Tauris, the barbarous people +seized them and they were carried to Iphigenia to be sacrificed +according to the custom of the land. When on the point of +being sacrificed, discovery was made, and, with help of Minerva, +not only the image of the goddess Diana, but also Iphigenia +her priestess, was conveyed to Athens, in whose territories, at +Brauronia, Iphigenia remained priestess until her death.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Menelaus had married his only daughter, Hermione, +to Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles. Neoptolemus, who +had offended Apollo by making the god answerable for the +death of Achilles, went to Delphi to appease his wrath. Orestes, +who sought Hermione for wife, went also to Delphi and +persuaded the people there that Neoptolemus sought plunder +of the temple. Neoptolemus was, therefore, murdered by the +people of Delphi, as he was going unarmed to the temple to +propitiate the god. Then Orestes carried off Hermione, and +married her, at the same time when his sister Electra was +married to Pylades. The plays of Euripides here leave Orestes; +ruler on the throne of Agamemnon, reconciled to Menelaus, and +married to Hermione, through whom, by right of her mother +Helen and her father Menelaus, he may hope to bring also +under his rule the dominions of Sparta.</p> + +<p>Here ends an abstract of an abstract of the History of the +House of Tantalus, as given by Michael Wodhull, Esq., to show +the relations to each other of the stories upon which Euripides +based many of his plays.</p> + +<p>This volume completes our set of English versions of all +extant plays of Euripides.</p> + +<p class="right">H. M.</p> + +<p><i>April 1888</i></p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[8]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="TO_THE_READERS_OF_THE_UNIVERSAL_LIBRARY">TO THE READERS OF THE UNIVERSAL LIBRARY.</h2> + +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" style="max-width: 6.875em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/line.jpg" alt=""> +</figure> + +<p>The next volume of this Library, published in May 1888, will +complete our household edition of Rabelais with the Sequel to +Pantagruel. This will be followed in June by “A Miscellany” +of short works of special interest taken from different periods of +English life. The sixty-three volumes of the Universal Library, +re-arranged in historical order, will then form a completed +series, and the supply of standard literature in shilling monthly +volumes will be left to other editors whose good work in this +direction has been called into existence by the success of the +Universal Library, which on its first appearance broke new +ground.</p> + +<p>The work done in these volumes will be continued, without +change of aim, in a new series that has been planned to permit +issue of large books without the crowding of type which, in this +series, has been now and then found necessary. In the New +Series, there will be a complete change of form. Substantial +and handsome volumes of the best literature will be published +in alternate months at a price that will add not more than +three shillings to the present annual cost of “The Universal +Library.” The name of the new Library will change from the +Universal to the Particular. Its books may be named from +their <i>habitat</i>, and they will usually be edited where the eye +raised from the paper and ink rests upon Carisbrooke Castle.</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="allsmcap">THE FIRST VOLUME OF</span><br> +<span class="larger gothic">Morley’s Carisbrooke Library</span><br> +<i>Will be published on the First of October, 1888</i>.</p> + +<p class="right">H. M.</p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[9]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="EURIPIDES">EURIPIDES.</h2> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp100" style="max-width: 6.875em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/line.jpg" alt=""> +</figure> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="Hecuba"><span class="smcap">Hecuba.</span></h2> + +</div> + +<div class="max30"> + +<h3>PERSONS OF THE DRAMA.</h3> + +<ul> + <li><span class="smcap">Polydore’s Ghost.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Hecuba.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Chorus of Captive Trojan Dames.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Polyxena.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Ulysses.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Female Attendant of Hecuba.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Agamemnon.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Polymestor.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Talthybius.</span></li> +</ul> + +<h3>SCENE.—<span class="smcap">The Thracian Chersonesus.</span></h3> + +</div> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">The Ghost of Polydore.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Leaving the cavern of the dead, and gates</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of darkness, where from all the gods apart</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Dwells Pluto, come I Polydore, the son</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Hecuba from royal Cisseus sprung,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And Priam, who, when danger threatened Troy,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Fearing his city by the Grecian arms</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Would be laid low in dust, from Phrygia’s realm</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In privacy conveyed me to the house</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Polymestor, of his Thracian friend,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who tills the Chersonesus’ fruitful soil,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ruling a nation famed for generous steeds;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But secretly, with me, abundant gold</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My father sent, that his surviving children</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Might lack no sustenance, if Ilion’s walls</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Should by the foe be levelled with the ground.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I was the youngest of all Priam’s sons,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By stealth he therefore sent me from the realm;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor could my feeble arm sustain the shield,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or launch the javelin; but while yet entire</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Each ancient landmark on our frontiers stood,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The turrets of the Phrygian state remained</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Unshaken, and my brother Hector’s spear</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[10]</span>Prospered in battle; nurtured by the man</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Thrace, my father’s friend, I, wretched youth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Grew like a vigorous scion. But when Troy,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When Hector failed, when my paternal dome</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Was from its basis rent, and Priam’s self,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My aged father, at the altar bled</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which to the gods his pious hands had reared,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Butchered by curst Achilles’ ruthless son;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Me, his unhappy guest, my father’s friend</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Slew for the sake of gold, and having slain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Plunged me into the sea, that he might keep</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Those treasures in his house. My breathless corse,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In various eddies by the rising waves</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of ocean tost, lies on the craggy shore,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Unwept, unburied. But by filial love</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For Hecuba now prompted, I ascend</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A disembodied ghost, and thrice have seen</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The morning dawn, to Chersonesus land,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Since my unhappy mother came from Troy.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But all the Grecian army, in their ships,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Here anchoring on this coast of Thrace remain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Inactive; for appearing on his tomb</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Achilles, Peleus’ son, restrained the troops,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who homeward else had steered their barks, and claims</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Polyxena my sister, as a victim</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Most precious at his sepulchre to bleed;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And her will he obtain, nor will his friends</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Withhold the gift; for fate this day decrees</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That she shall die: my mother must behold</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Two of her slaughtered children’s corses, mine,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And this unhappy maid’s—that in a tomb</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I may be lodged, where the firm beach resists</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The waves, I to her servant will appear,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Since from the powers of hell I have obtained</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The privilege of honourable interment,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And that a mother’s hand these rites perform:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I shall accomplish what my soul desired.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But on the aged Hecuba’s approach,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Far hence must I retreat; for from the tent</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Agamemnon she comes forth, alarmed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By my pale spectre. O my wretched mother,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How art thou torn from princely roofs to view</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This hour of servitude! what sad reverse</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of fortune! some malignant god hath balanced</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy present misery ’gainst thy former bliss.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exit.</i></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Hecuba</span>, <i>attended by</i> <span class="smcap">Trojan Damsels</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Forth from these doors, ye gentle virgins, lead me,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A weak old woman: O ye nymphs of Troy,</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[11]</span>Support your fellow-servant, once your queen</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bear me along, uphold my tottering frame,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And take me by this aged hand; your arm</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall be my staff to lean on, while I strive</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My tardy pace to quicken. O ye lightnings</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Jove, O Night in tenfold darkness wrapt,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By such terrific phantoms from my couch</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Why am I scared? Thou venerable earth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Parent of dreams that flit on raven wing;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The vision I abhor, which I in sleep</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This night have seen, relating to my son,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who here is fostered in the Thracian realm,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And to Polyxena my dearest daughter;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For I too clearly saw and understood</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The meaning of that dreadful apparition;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ye tutelary gods of this domain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Preserve the only anchor of our house,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My son, who dwells in Thracian fields, o’erspread</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With snow, protected by his father’s friend.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Some fresh event awaits us, and ere long</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By accents most unwelcome shall the ear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of wretchedness be wounded: till this hour,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By such incessant horrors, such alarms,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My soul was never seized. Where shall I view</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The soul of Helenus, on whom the god</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bestowed prophetic gifts, ye Phrygian maids?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where my Cassandra to unfold the dream?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With bloody fangs I saw a wolf, who slew</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A dappled hind, which forcibly he tore</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From these reluctant arms, and what increased</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My fears, was this—Achilles’ spectre stalked</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Upon the summit of his tomb, and claimed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A gift, some miserable Trojan captive.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">You therefore I implore, ye gods, avert</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such doom from my loved daughter.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Chorus</span>, <span class="smcap">Hecuba</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi30">I to thee,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">To thee, O Hecuba, with breathless speed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Fly from the tents of our imperious lords,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where I by lot have been assigned, and doomed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To be a slave, driven by the pointed spear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From Troy; by their victorious arms the Greeks</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have made me captive: nothing can I bring,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy sorrows to alleviate; but to thee</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Laden with heaviest tidings am I come</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The herald of affliction. For ’tis said,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Greece in full council hath resolved thy daughter</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A victim to Achilles shall be given.</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[12]</span>The warrior mounting on his tomb, thou know’st,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Appeared in golden armour, and restrained</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The fleet just ready to unfurl its sails,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Exclaiming, “Whither would ye steer your course,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ye Greeks, and leave no offering on my grave?”</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A storm of violent contention rose,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And two opinions in the martial synod</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Greece went forth; the victim, some maintained,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ought on the sepulchre to bleed, and some</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such offering disapproved. But Agamemnon,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who shares the bed of the Prophetic Dame,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Espoused thy interest; while the sons of Theseus,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Branches from the Athenian root, discussed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The question largely in each point of view,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But in the same opinion both concurred,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And said that never should Cassandra’s love</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To great Achilles’ valour be preferred:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Equally balanced the debate still hung,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When he, that crafty orator, endued</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With sweetest voice, the favourite of the crowd,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Laertes’ son, persuaded all the host,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Not to reject the first of Grecian chiefs,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And yield the preference to a victim slave:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lest some vindictive ghost, before the throne</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Proserpine arising, might relate</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How Greece, unmindful of her generous sons,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who nobly perished for their native land,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From Ilion’s fields departed. In a moment</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ulysses will come hither, from thy breast,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And aged arms to drag the tender maid.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But to the temples, to the altars, go,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In suppliant posture clasp Atrides’ knees,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Invoke the gods of heaven and hell beneath,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For either thou wilt by thy prayers avert</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy daughter’s fate, else must thou at the tomb</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Behold the virgin fall distained with gore,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And gushing from her neck a crimson stream.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Wretch that I am! ah me! what clamorous sounds,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What words, what plaints, what dirges shall I find,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Expressive of the anguish which I feel?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Opprest by miserable old age, bowed down</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Under a load of servitude too heavy</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To be endured: what sanctuary remains,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What valiant race, what city will protect me?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The hoary Priam is no more, my sons</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are now no more. Or to this path, or that,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall I direct my steps? or whither go?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where shall I find some tutelary god?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ye Phrygian captives, messengers of ill,</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[13]</span>O ye who with unwelcome tidings fraught,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Come hither, ye have ruined me. The orb</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of day shall never rise to fill this breast</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With any comfort more. Ye luckless feet,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bear an infirm old woman to the tent</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of our captivity. Come forth, my daughter,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Come forth and listen to thy mother’voice,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That thou may’st know the rumour I have heard,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In which thy life is interested.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Polyxena</span>, <span class="smcap">Hecuba</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polyx.</span> <span class="hemi26">O mother,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">What mean you by those shrieks? what fresh event</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Proclaiming, from my chamber, like a bird,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have you constrained me, urged by fear, to speed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My flight?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi6">Ah, daughter!</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polyx.</span> <span class="hemi18">With foreboding voice,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Why do you call me? these are evil omens.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Alas! thy life, Polyxena.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polyx.</span> <span class="hemi24">Speak out,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor aggravate the horrors yet untold</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By long suspense. I fear, O mother, much</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I fear. What mean those oft repeated groans?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Thou child of a most miserable mother!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polyx.</span> Why speak you thus?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi22">The Greeks, with one consent,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Resolve that on the tomb of Peleus’ son</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou shalt be sacrificed.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polyx.</span> <span class="hemi20">What boundless woes</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are these which to your daughter you announce!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet, O my mother, with the tale proceed.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Of a most horrible report I speak,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which says, that, by the suffrage of the Greeks,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">It is resolved to take away thy life.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polyx.</span> O, my unhappy mother, doomed to suffer</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wrongs the most dreadful, doomed to lead a life</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of utter wretchedness: what grievous curse,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such as no language can express, on you</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hath some malignant demon hurled! no more</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Can I, your daughter, share the galling yoke</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of servitude with your forlorn old age;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For like some lion’s whelp, or heifer bred</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Upon the mountains, hurried from your arms</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall you behold me, and with severed head</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Consigned to Pluto’s subterraneous realms</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of darkness, there among the silent dead,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wretch that I am, shall I be laid. These tears</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of bitter lamentation I for you,</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[14]</span>For you, O mother, shed; but my own life</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I heed not, nor the shame, nor fatal stroke,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For I in death a happier lot obtain.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> To thee, O Hecuba, with hasty step</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Behold Ulysses some new message brings.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Ulysses</span>, <span class="smcap">Hecuba</span>, <span class="smcap">Polyxena</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> Though I presume the counsels of our troops</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And their decision are already known</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To thee, O woman, yet must I repeat</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Th’ unwelcome tidings; at Achilles’ tomb,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Polyxena, thy daughter, have the Greeks</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Resolved to slay; me to attend the virgin</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have they commanded: but Achilles’ son</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is at the altar destined to preside,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And be the priest. Know’st thou thy duty then?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Constrain us not to drag her from those arms</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With violence, nor strive with me; but learn</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The force of thy inevitable woes:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For there is wisdom, e’en when we are wretched,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In following reason’s dictates.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi28">Now, alas!</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">It seems a dreadful struggle is at hand,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With groans abounding and unnumbered tears.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I died not at the time I ought to die,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Neither did Jove destroy me; he still spares</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My life, that I may view fresh woes, yet greater,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wretch that I am, than all my former woes.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But if a slave, who not with bitter taunt,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or keen reproach, her questions doth propose,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Might speak to freemen, now ’tis time for you</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To cease, and give me audience while I ask——</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> Allowed, proceed; for I without reluctance</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will grant thee time.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi18">Remember you when erst</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">You came to Troy a spy, in tattered garb</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Disguised, and from your eyes upon your beard</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Fell tears extorted by the dread of death?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> I well remember: for by that event</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My inmost heart was touched.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi24">But Helen knew you,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">And told me only.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> <span class="hemi14">I can ne’er forget</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Into what danger I was fallen.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi26">My knees</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">You in a lowly posture did embrace.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> And to thy garment clung with faltering hand.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> At length I saved and from our land dismissed you.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> Hence I the solar beams yet view.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[15]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi34">What language</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Did you then hold, when subject to my power?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> Full many were the words which I devised</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To save my life.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi12">Doth not your guilt appear</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">From your own counsels? Though your tongue avows</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The generous treatment you from me received</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No benefit on me do you confer,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But strive to harm me. O ungrateful race</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of men, who aim at popular applause</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By your smooth speeches; would to Heaven I ne’er</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Had known you, for ye heed not how ye wound</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your friends, whene’er ye can say ought to win</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The crowd. But what pretence could they devise</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For sentencing this virgin to be slain?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are they constrained by fate, with human victims,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To drench the tomb on which they rather ought</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To sacrifice the steer? or doth Achilles</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Demand her life with justice, to retaliate</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Slaughter on them who slaughtered? But to him</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hath she done nought injurious. He should claim</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Helen as victim at his tomb, for she</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His ruin caused by leading him to Troy.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If it was needful that some chosen captive</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Distinguished by transcendent charms should die,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We were not meant; for the perfidious daughter</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Tyndarus is most beauteous, and her crimes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To ours at least are equal. Justice only</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In this debate supports me: hear how large</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The debt which ’tis your duty to repay</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On my petition: you confess you touched</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My hand, and these my aged cheeks, in dust</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Grovelling a suppliant; yours I now embrace,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From you the kindness which I erst bestowed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Again implore, and sue to you: O tear not</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My daughter from these arms, nor slay the maid:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sufficient is the number of the slain.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In her I yet rejoice, in her forget</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My woes; she, for the loss of many children,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Consoles me, I in her a country find,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A nurse, a staff, a guide. The mighty ought not</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To issue lawless mandates, nor should they,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On whom propitious fortunes now attend,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Think that their triumphs will for ever last:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For I was happy once, but am no more,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My bliss all vanished in a single day.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet, O my friend, revere and pity me,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Go to the Grecian host, admonish them</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How horrible an action ’twere to slay</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[16]</span>These captive women whom at first ye spared,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And pitied when ye dragged them from the altars.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For by your laws ’tis equally forbidden</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To spill the blood of freemen, or of slave.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Although you weakly argue, will your rank</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Convince them: for the self-same speech, when uttered</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By the ignoble, and men well esteemed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Comes not with equal force.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi22">The human soul</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is not so flinty as to hear the woes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And plaintive strains thou lengthen’st out, nor shed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The sympathizing tear.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> <span class="hemi18">To me attend,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">O Hecuba, nor through resentment deem</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That from a foe such counsels can proceed:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I am disposed to save thee, and now hold</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No other language: but will not deny</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What I to all have said; since Troy is taken,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On the first warrior of the host who asks</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A victim, should thy daughter be bestowed.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The cause why many cities are diseased</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is this: the brave and generous man obtains</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No honourable distinction to exalt him</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Above the coward. But from us, O woman,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Achilles claims such homage, who for Greece</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Died nobly. Is not this a foul reproach,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If, while our friends yet live, we seek their aid,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But after death ungratefully forget</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Past services? Should armed bands once more</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Assemble, and renew the bloody strife,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will not some hardy veteran thus exclaim:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">“Shall we go forth to battle, or indulge</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The love of life, now we have seen the dead</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Obtain no honours?” While from day to day</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I live, though I have little, yet that little</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For every needful purpose will suffice.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But may conspicuous trophies o’er my grave</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Be planted, for such tribute to my name</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will last to after-ages. If thou call</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy sufferings piteous, hear what in reply</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We have to urge; amidst the Grecian camp</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are many aged dames, as miserable</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As thou art, with full many a hoary sire,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And weeping bride, torn from her valiant lord,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O’er whose remains hath Ida’s dust been strewn.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Support thy woes: if with mistaken zeal</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We have resolved to honour the deceased,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Our crime is ignorance: but ye barbarians</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Pay no distinction to your friends, no homage</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[17]</span>To the illustrious dead; hence Greece prevails;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But ye from your pernicious counsels reap</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The bitter fruits they merit.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi24">Ah, what ills</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ever attend the captive state, subdued</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By brutal violence, and forced t’ endure</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Unseemly wrongs.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi12">Those words I vainly spoke</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy slaughter to avert, in air were lavished;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But, O my daughter, if thy power exceed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy mother’s, like the nightingale send forth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Each warbled note, to save thy life, excite,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By falling at his knees, Ulysses’ pity,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And on this ground, because he too hath children,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Entreat him to compassionate thy doom.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polyx.</span> I see thee, O Ulysses, thy right hand</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beneath thy robe concealing, see thee turn</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy face away, lest I should touch thy beard.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Be of good cheer; I’ll not call down the wrath</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Jove who guards the suppliant, but will follow</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy steps, because necessity ordains</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And ’tis my wish to die; if I were loth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I should appear to be an abject woman,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And fond of life: but what could lengthened life</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Avail to me, whose father erst was lord</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of the whole Phrygian realm? Thus first I drew</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My breath beneath the roofs of regal domes;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Then was I nurtured with the flattering hope</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That I should wed a monarch, and arrive</div> + <div class="verse indent0">At the proud mansion of some happy youth.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ill-fated princess, thus I stood conspicuous</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Amid the dames and brightest nymphs of Troy,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In all but immortality a goddess;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But now am I a slave, and the first cause</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which makes me wish to die, is that abhorred</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Unwonted name; else some inhuman lord</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With gold perchance might purchase me, the sister</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Hector, and full many a valiant chief,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Might make me knead the bread, and sweep the floor,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And ply the loom, and pass my abject days</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In bitterness of woe: some servile mate</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Might bring dishonour to my bed, though erst</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I was deemed worthy of a sceptred king:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Not thus. These eyes shall to the last behold</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The light of freedom. O ye shades receive</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A princess. Lead me on then, O Ulysses,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And as thou lead’st despatch me, for no hope,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No ground for thinking, I shall e’er be happy,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Can I discern: yet hinder not by word</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[18]</span>Or deed the steadfast purpose I have formed;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But, O my mother, in this wish concur</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With me, that I may die ere I endure</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such wrongs as suit not my exalted rank.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For whosoe’er hath not been used to taste</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of sorrow, bears indeed the galling yoke,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet is he grieved, when he to such constraint</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Submits his neck: but they who die may find</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A bliss beyond the living; for to live</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ignobly were the utmost pitch of shame.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> A great distinction, and among mankind</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The most conspicuous, is to spring from sires</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Renowned for virtue; generous souls hence raise</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To heights sublimer an ennobled name.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Thou, O my daughter, well indeed hast spoken;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet these exalted sentiments of thine</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To me will cause fresh grief; but, if the son</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Peleus must be gratified, and Greece</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Avoid reproach, Ulysses, slay not her,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But me, conducting to Achilles’ tomb,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Transpierce with unrelenting hand. I bore</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Paris, whose shafts the son of Thetis slew.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> Not thee for victim, O thou aged dame,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But her, Achilles’ spectre hath demanded.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Yet slay me with my daughter; so shall earth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And the deceased who claims these hateful rites,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A twofold portion drink of human gore.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> Enough in her of victims; let no more</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Be added: would to Heaven we were not bound</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To offer up this one!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi18">The dread behests</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of absolute necessity require,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That with my daughter I should die.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> <span class="hemi32">What mean’st thou?</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">I know no lord to counteract my will.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Her, as the ivy clings around the oak,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will I embrace.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> <span class="hemi12">Not if to wiser counsels</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou yield just deference.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi22">I will ne’er consent</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">My daughter to release.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> <span class="hemi20">Nor will I go,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">And leave her here.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polyx.</span> <span class="hemi14">Attend to me, my mother,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">And, O thou offspring of Laertes, treat</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The just emotions of parental wrath</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With greater mildness. But, O hapless woman,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Contend not with our conquerors. Would you fall</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Upon the earth and wound your aged limbs,</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[19]</span>Thrust from me forcibly, by youthful arms</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Torn with disgrace away? Provoke not wrongs</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Unseemly; O, my dearest mother, give</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That much-loved hand, and let me join my cheek</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To yours; for I no longer shall behold</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The radiant orb of yonder sun. Now take</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A last farewell, O you who gave me birth;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I to the shades descend.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi20">But I the light</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Am doomed to view, and still remain a slave.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polyx.</span> Unwedded, reft of promised bridal joys.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Thou, O my daughter, claim’st the pitying tear:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But I am a most miserable woman.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polyx.</span> There shall I sleep among the realms beneath,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From you secluded.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi14">What resource, alas!</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">For me, the wretched Hecuba is left?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where shall I finish this detested life?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polyx.</span> Born free, I die a slave.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi28">I too, bereft</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of all my children.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polyx.</span> <span class="hemi14">What commands to Hector,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or to your aged husband, shall I bear?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Tell them I of all women am most wretched.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polyx.</span> Ye paps which sweetly nourished me——</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi40">Alas!</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">My child’s untimely miserable fate.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polyx.</span> Farewell, my mother, and my dear Cassandra.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> To others in that language speak; be theirs</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The happiness thy mother cannot taste.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polyx.</span> And thou, my brother Polydore, who dwell’st</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Among the Thracians, famed for generous steeds——</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> If yet he live; but this I greatly doubt,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Because I am in all respects so wretched.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polyx.</span> He lives, and when the hour of death is come,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will close your eyes.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi18">I’m prematurely dead</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">While yet alive, bowed down to earth by woe.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polyx.</span> Now bear me hence, Ulysses, o’er my face</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Casting a veil: for ere I at the altar</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Am slain, this heart is melted by the plaints</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of my dear mother, and my tears augment</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Her sorrows. O thou radiant light; for still</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Am I permitted to invoke thy name,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But can enjoy thee only till I meet</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The lifted sword, and reach Achilles’ tomb.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exeunt</i> <span class="smcap">Ulysses</span> <i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Polyxena</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> I faint, my limbs are all unnerved; return,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My daughter, let me touch that hand once more,</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[20]</span>Leave me not childless. O, my friends, I perish;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ah, would to Heaven I could see Spartan Helen,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In the same state, that sister to the sons</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Jove, for by her beauteous eyes was Troy,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That prosperous city, with disgrace o’erthrown.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Chorus.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center allsmcap">ODE.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">I. 1.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Ye breezes, who the ships convey,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">That long becalmed at anchor lay,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Nor dared to quit the strand;</div> + <div class="verse indent6">As the swift keel divides the wave,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Say whither am I borne a slave,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Ordained to tread the Doric land,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Or Phthia, where beset with reeds,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Apidanus, the sire of limpid rills,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Winding a-down the channelled hills,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Waters the fruitful meads?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">I. 2.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Or to that isle, with dashing oar</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Impelled, shall I my woes deplore,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">And on the sacred earth,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Where first the palm and laurel rose,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Memorials of Latona’s throes,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Which to the twins divine gave birth,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Teach the harmonious strain to flow;</div> + <div class="verse indent4">With Delos’ nymphs Diana’s praise resound,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Her hair with golden fillet bound,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">And never-erring bow?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">II. 1.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Or, pent in some Athenian tower,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Devoted to Minerva’s power,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">On the robe’s tissued ground</div> + <div class="verse indent6">While, shadowed by my needle, spread</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Expressive forms, in vivid thread,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Picture the goddess whirling round</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Her chariot with unrivalled speed;</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Or represent the Titan’s impious crew,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Whom Jove’s red lightnings overthrew,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Those monsters doomed to bleed?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">II. 2.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Alas! my sons, a valiant band,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">My fathers, and my native land,</div> + <div class="verse indent10"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[21]</span>Ye shared the general fate.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Sacked by the Greeks, Troy’s bulwarks smoke,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">But I, constrained to bear the yoke,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Shall soon behold some foreign state,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">To ignominious bondage led;</div> + <div class="verse indent4">And leaving vanquished Asia Europe’s slave,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Debarred an honourable grave,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Ascend the victor’s bed.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Talthybius</span>, <span class="smcap">Hecuba</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Tal.</span> Where, O ye Phrygian damsels, shall I find</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The wretched Hecuba, who erst was queen</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Ilion?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi6">Prostrate near you on the ground,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wrapt in her mantle, there she lies.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Tal.</span> <span class="hemi32">Great Jove!</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">What shall I say? that thou from Heaven look’st down</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Upon mankind, or have they rashly formed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A vain opinion, deeming that the race</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of gods exist, though fortune governs all?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ha! was not this the queen of wealthy Phrygia,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And was not she the happy Priam’s wife?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But her whole city by the hostile spear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is now destroyed, while she a slave, bowed down</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By age, and childless, stretched upon the ground,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Defiles with dust her miserable head.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Old as I am, yet gladly would I die</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Rather than sink into abhorred disgrace.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Arise, unhappy woman, O lift up</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That feeble body, and that hoary head.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Away! O suffer this decrepit frame</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To rest. Why move me! Whosoe’er thou art,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What mean’st thou? why dost thou molest th’ afflicted?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Tal.</span> Talthybius: me, the herald of the Greeks,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O woman, Agamemnon hath despatched</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To fetch you.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi10">Com’st thou, by the Greeks ordained,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">My friend, to slay me also at the tomb?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How welcome were such tidings; let us go,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With speed conduct me thither.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Tal.</span> <span class="hemi26">To inter</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your daughter, I invite you; both the sons</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Atreus, and the assembled Grecian host,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have sent me for that purpose.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi26">Ah! what say’st thou?</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou com’st not to inform me I must die,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But to unfold the most disastrous tidings.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Then art thou lost, my daughter, from the arms</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of thy fond mother torn; of thee, my child</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[22]</span>Am I bereft. But how did ye destroy her,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Respectfully, or with the ruthless hand</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of hostile rage? Speak, though it wound my soul.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Tal.</span> A second time, in pity to your daughter,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">You make me weep; for now while I relate</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Her sufferings, tears bedew these swimming eyes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such as I shed when at the tomb she perished.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To view the sacrifice the Grecian host</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Were all assembled: taking by the hand</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Polyxena, on the sepulchral hillock</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Achilles’ son then placed her: I drew near,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Attended by the chosen youths of Greece,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To hold the tender victim, and prevent</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Her struggles. But Achilles’ son, uplifting</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With both his hands a cup of massive gold,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Poured forth libations to his breathless sire;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And gave a sign to me, through the whole camp</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Strict silence to proclaim. I in the midst</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Stood up and cried: “Be mute, ye Greeks, let none</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Presume to speak, observe a general silence.”</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The troops obeyed, and through their crowded ranks</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Not e’en a breath was heard, while in these words</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The chief expressed his purpose: “Son of Peleus,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My father, the propitiatory drops</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of these libations which invite the dead</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Accept; O come and quaff the crimson blood</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of this pure virgin, whom to thee all Greece</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And I devote; be thou benign, O grant us</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Securely to weigh anchor, to unbind</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Our halsers, and on all of us bestow</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A happy voyage to our native land</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From vanquished Troy.” He ceased, and in his prayer</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Joined the whole army, when the chief unsheathed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His golden-hilted sword, and gave a sign</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To chosen youths of Greece to hold the virgin,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which she perceived, and in these words addressed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The warriors: “O ye Argives, who laid waste</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My city, willingly I die, let no man</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Confine these arms, I with undaunted breast</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will meet the stroke. I by the gods conjure you</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Release, and slay me as my rank demands</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Like one born free; for I from mighty kings</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Descend, and in the shades beneath should blush</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To be accounted an ignoble slave.”</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Through all the host ran murmurs of assent,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And royal Agamemnon bade the youths</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Release the virgin; they their monarch’s voice,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Soon as they heard, obeyed; our lord’s behests</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The princess too revering, from her shoulder</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[23]</span>Down to her waist rent off the purple robe,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Displayed her bosom like some statue formed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In exquisite proportion, and to earth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bending her knee, in these affecting words</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Expressed herself: “If at my breast thou aim</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The wound, strike here; if at my neck, that neck</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is ready bared.” Half willing, and half loth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Through pity for the maid, he with keen steel</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Severed the arteries; streams of blood gushed forth:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet even thus, though at her latest gasp,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">She showed a strong solicitude to fall</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With decency, while stood the gazing host</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Around her: soon as through the ghastly wound</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Her soul had issued, every Greek was busied</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In various labours; o’er the corse some strewed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The verdant foliage, others reared a pyre</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With trunks of fir: but he who nothing brought,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From him who with funereal ornament</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Was laden, heard these taunts: “O slothful wretch,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bear’st thou no robe, no garland, hast thou nought</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To give in honour of this generous maid?”</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such their encomiums on thy breathless daughter.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">You, of all women, who in such a child</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Were happiest, now most wretched I behold.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Fate, the behests of the immortal gods</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Accomplishing, with tenfold weight hath caused</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This dreadful curse to fall on Priam’s house,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And on our city.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi14">’Midst unnumbered ills</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">I know not, O my daughter, whither first</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To turn my eyes, for if on one I touch,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Another hinders me, and I again,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By a long train of woes succeeding woes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To some fresh object am from thence called off;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor can I from my tortured soul efface</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The grief thy fate occasions; yet the tale</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of thy exalted courage checks my groans,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which else had been immoderate. No just cause</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have we for wonder, if the barren land</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Cheered by Heaven’s influence, with benignant suns</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yields plenteous harvests, while a richer soil</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Deprived of every necessary aid</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bears weeds alone. But ’midst the human race</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The wicked man is uniformly wicked,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The good still virtuous, nor doth evil fortune</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Corrupt his soul; the same unsullied worth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He still retains. Is this great difference owing</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To birth, or education? We are taught</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What virtue is, by being nurtured well,</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[24]</span>And he who thoroughly hath learnt this lesson,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Guided by the unerring rule of right,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Can thence discern what’s base.—My soul in vain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hath hazarded these incoherent thoughts.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But, O Talthybius, to the Greeks repair,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And strict injunctions give, that no man touch</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My daughter’s corse, but let the gazing crowd</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Be driven away. For in a numerous host</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Its multitudes break loose from all restraints,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The outrages of mariners exceed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Devouring flame, and whosoe’er abstains</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From mischief, by his comrades is despised.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But, O my aged servant, take and dip</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That urn in ocean’s waves, and hither bring,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Filled with its water, that the last sad rites</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To my departed daughter I may pay,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And lave the corse of that unwedded bride,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of that affianced virgin: but alas!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whence with such costly gifts as she deserves,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Her tomb can I adorn? My present state</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Affords them not, but what it doth afford</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will I bestow, and from the captive dames</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Appointed to attend me, who reside</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Within these tents, some ornaments collect.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If, unobserved by their new masters, aught</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They have secreted. O ye splendid domes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ye palaces once happy, which contained</div> + <div class="verse indent0">All that was rich and fair; O Priam thou</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The sire, and I who was the aged mother</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of an illustrious race, how are we dwindled</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To nothing, stripped of all our ancient pride!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet do we glory, some in mansions stored</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With gold abundant, others when distinguished</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Among the citizens by sounding titles.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Vain are the schemes which with incessant care</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We frame, and all our boastful words are vain.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The happiest man is he who, by no ill</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O’ertaken, passes through life’s fleeting day.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exit</i> <span class="smcap">Hecuba</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Chorus.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center allsmcap">ODE.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">I.</div> + <div class="verse indent8">By Heaven was my devoted head</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Menaced with impending ill,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">What time the pines, whose branches spread</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Their tutelary shade o’er Ida’s hill,</div> + <div class="verse indent8"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[25]</span>Were laid by Phrygian Paris low,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">That his adventurous bark might stem the tide,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">From Sparta’s coast to waft the fairest bride</div> + <div class="verse indent4">On whom the solar beams their golden radiance throw.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">II.</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Surrounding labours were at hand</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Leagued with the behests of fate;</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Then did such madness seize the land,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">As called down vengeance from a foreign state.</div> + <div class="verse indent8">The royal swain with dazzled eyes</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Gave that decree, the source of all our woes,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">When from three rival goddesses he chose</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Bright Venus, and pronounced that she deserved the prize.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">III.</div> + <div class="verse indent8">The spear and death hence raged around,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Hence were my mansions levelled with the ground;</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Staining with tears Eurotas’ tide,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Too deeply grieved to share the victor’s pride,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">The Spartan virgin too in vain</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Bewails her favoured youth untimely slain,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">While, sprinkling ashes o’er their vest</div> + <div class="verse indent10">And hoary head, the matrons bend</div> + <div class="verse indent8">O’er their sons’ urns; their groans to Heaven ascend,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">They tear their cheeks, and beat their miserable breast.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Attendant</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Att.</span> Where is the wretched Hecuba, my friends,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who in her woes surpasses all, or male,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or of the female race? her none can rob</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of her just claim, pre-eminence in grief.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> With the harsh sounds of that ill-boding tongue,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O wretch, what mean’st thou? wilt thou never cease</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To be th’ unwelcome herald of affliction?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Att.</span> Most grievous are the tidings which I bring</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To Hecuba, nor easy were the task</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In words auspicious to make known to mortals</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such dire calamities.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi16">From her apartment</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">She seasonably comes forth to give thee audience.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Hecuba</span>, <span class="smcap">Attendant</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Att.</span> O most unfortunate, whose woes exceed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">All that the power of language can express,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My queen, you perish, doomed no more to view</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The blessed light; of children, husband, city,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bereft and ruined.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi14">Nothing hast thou told</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[26]</span>But what I knew, thou only com’st t’ insult me:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet wherefore dost thou bring to me this corse</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of my Polyxena, o’er whom ’twas said</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The Grecian host with pious zeal all vied</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To heap a tomb?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Att.</span> <span class="hemi12">She knows not, but laments</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">For the deceased Polyxena alone,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And to her recent woes is yet a stranger.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Ah, bring’st thou the inspired prophetic head,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And the dishevelled tresses of Cassandra?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Att.</span> You speak of one yet living, but bewail not</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This the deceased: survey the naked corse</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of him whose death to you will seem most strange</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And most unlocked for.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi18">Ha, I see my son,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">My dearest Polydore, whom he of Thrace</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beneath his roof protected. I am ruined;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Now utterly I perish. O my son,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For thee, for thee I wake the frantic dirge,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By that malignant demon which assumed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy voice, thy semblance, recently apprized</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of this calamity.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Att.</span> <span class="hemi14">O wretched mother,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Know you then what was your son’s fate?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi36">A sight</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Incredible and new to me is that</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which I behold: for from my former woes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Spring woes in long succession, and the day</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When I shall cease to weep, shall cease to groan,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will never come.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi12">The woes which we endure</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Alas! are dreadful.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi16">O my son, thou son</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of an ill fated mother, by what death</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Didst thou expire? through what disastrous cause</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Here liest thou prostrate? ah, what bloody hand——</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Att.</span> I know not; on the shore his corse I found.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Cast up by the impetuous waves, or pierced</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With murderous spear?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Att.</span> <span class="hemi18">The surges of the deep</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Had thrown it on the sand.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi22">Alas! too well</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">I comprehend the meaning of the dream</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which to these eyes appeared: the spectre borne</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On sable pinions no illusion proved,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When, O my son, thee, thee it represented</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No longer dwelling in the realms of light.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Instructed by that vision, canst thou name</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The murderer?</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[27]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi10">’Twas my friend, the Thracian king,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">With whom in secrecy his aged sire</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Had placed him.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi10">Ha! what mean’st thou? to possess</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">That gold by slaying him?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi22">O, ’twas a deed</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Unutterable, a deed without a name,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Surpassing all astonishment, unholy,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And not to be endured. Where now the laws</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of hospitality? Accursed man,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How cruelly hast thou with reeking sword</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Transpierced this unresisting boy, nor heard</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The gentle voice of pity!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi20">Hapless queen,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">How hath some demon, thy malignant foe,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Rendered thee of all mortals the most wretched:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But I behold great Agamemnon come,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And therefore, O my friends, let us be silent.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Agamemnon</span>, <span class="smcap">Hecuba</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Aga.</span> Whence this delay? why go you not t’ inter,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O Hecuba, your daughter, whom Talthybius</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Directed that no Greek might be allowed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To touch? We therefore have with your request</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Complied, nor moved the corse. But you remain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Inactive, which I wonder at, and come</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To fetch you, for each previous solemn rite</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That best might please, if aught such rites can please,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have we performed. But ah, what Trojan youth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Do I behold lie breathless in the tent?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For that he was no Greek, the garb informs me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In which he’s clad.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi16">Thou wretch, for of myself</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">I speak, when thee, O Hecuba, I name;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What shall I do, at Agamemnon’s knees</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Fall prostrate, or in silence bear my woes?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Aga.</span> Why weep, with face averted, yet refuse</div> + <div class="verse indent0">T’ inform me what hath happened? who is he?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> But from his knees, if, deeming me a slave</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And enemy, the monarch should repel me,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This would but make my sorrows yet more poignant.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Aga.</span> I am no seer, nor can I uninformed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Trace out the secret purpose of your soul.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Am I mistaken then, while I suppose</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A foe in him who doth not mean me ill?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Aga.</span> If ’tis your wish I should not be apprized,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We both are of one mind; you will not speak,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And I as little am disposed to hear.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Without his aid no vengeance for my child</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[28]</span>Can I obtain: yet why deliberate thus?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Prosper or fail I must take courage now.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O royal Agamemnon, by those knees</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A suppliant I conjure you, by that beard,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And that right hand, victorious o’er your foes.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Aga.</span> What do you wish for? To obtain your freedom?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This were not difficult.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi20">No, give me vengeance</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">On yonder guilty wretch, and I am willing</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To linger out the remnant of my life</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In servitude.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Aga.</span> <span class="hemi10">Then why implore our aid?</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> For reasons you suspect not. Do you see</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That breathless corse o’er which my tears I shed?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Aga.</span> The corse I see; but cannot comprehend</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What follows next.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi14">Him erst I bore and nurtured.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Aga.</span> Is the deceased, O miserable dame,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">One of your children?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi18">Not of those who fell</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beneath Troy’s walls.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Aga.</span> <span class="hemi18">What! had you other sons?</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Yes, him you see, born in an evil hour.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Aga.</span> But where was he when Ilion was destroyed?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> His father, apprehensive of his death,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Conveyed him thence.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Aga.</span> <span class="hemi16">From all the other children</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which then he had, where placed he this apart?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> In this same region where his corse was found.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Aga.</span> With Polymestor, sovereign of the land?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> He, to preserve that execrable gold,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Was hither sent.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Aga.</span> <span class="hemi12">But, by what ruthless hand,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">And how, was he despatched?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi24">By whom beside?</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">The murderer was his friend, the Thracian king.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Aga.</span> Was he thus eager? O abandoned wretch,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To seize the gold!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi14">E’en thus; soon as he knew</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Troy was o’erthrown.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Aga.</span> <span class="hemi16">But where did you discover</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">The body, or who brought it?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi24">On the shore</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">This servant found it.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Aga.</span> <span class="hemi18">Or in quest of him</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or other task then busied?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi22">To fetch water</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">To lave Polyxena’s remains she went.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[29]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Aga.</span> When he had slain him, it appears, his friend</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Did cast him forth.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi16">He to the waves consigned</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">The stripling’s mangled corse.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Aga.</span> <span class="hemi26">O wretched woman,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Surrounded by immeasurable woes.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> I am undone; no farther ill remains</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For me t’ experience.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Aga.</span> <span class="hemi18">Ah! what woman e’er</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Was born to such calamities?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi24">Not one</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Exists, whose sorrows equal mine, unless</div> + <div class="verse indent0">You of Calamity herself would speak.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet hear the motive why I clasp your knees.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If I appear to merit what I suffer,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I must be patient; but if not, avenge</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My wrongs upon the man who ’gainst his guest</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such treachery could commit, who, nor the gods</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Erebus beneath, nor those who rule</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In Heaven above regarding, this vile deed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Did perpetrate, e’en he with whom I oft</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Partook the feast, on whom I showered each bounty,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Esteeming him the first of all my friends;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet, when at Ilion’s palace with respect</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He had been treated, a deliberate scheme</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of murder forming, he destroyed my son,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On whom he deigned not to bestow a tomb,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But threw his corse into the briny deep.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Though I indeed am feeble, and a slave,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet mighty are the gods, and by their law</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The world is ruled: for by that law we learn</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That there are gods, and can mark out the bounds</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of justice and injustice; if such law</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To you transmitted, be infringed, if they</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who kill their guests, or dare with impious hand</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To violate the altars of the gods,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Unpunished ’scape, no equity is left</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Among mankind. Deeming such base connivance</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Unworthy of yourself, revere my woes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have pity on me, like a painter take</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your stand to view me, and observe the number</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of my afflictions; once was I a queen,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But now am I a slave; in many a son</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I once was rich, but now am I both old</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And of my children reft, without a city,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Forlorn, and of all mortals the most wretched.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But whither would you go? With you I seem</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To have no interest. Miserable me!</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[30]</span>Why do we mortals by assiduous toil,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And such a painful search as their importance</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Makes requisite, all other arts attain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet not enough intent on the due knowledge</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of that sole empress of the human soul</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Persuasion, no rewards bestow on those</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who teach us by insinuating words</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How to procure our wishes? who can trust</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hereafter in prosperity? That band</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of my heroic sons is now no more,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Myself a captive, am led forth to tasks</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Unseemly, and e’en now these eyes behold</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The air obscured by Ilion’s rising smoke.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">It might be vain perhaps, were I to found</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A claim to your assistance on your love:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet must I speak: my daughter, who in Troy</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Was called Cassandra, the prophetic dame,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Partakes your bed; and how those rapturous nights</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will you acknowledge, or to her how show</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your gratitude for all the fond embraces</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which she bestows, O king, or in her stead</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To me her mother? In the soul of man</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Th’ endearments of the night, by darkness veiled,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Create the strongest interest. To my tale</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Now listen: do you see that breathless corse?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Each act of kindness which to him is shown,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Upon a kinsman of the dame you love</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will be conferred. But, in one point my speech</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is yet deficient. By the wondrous arts</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Dædalus, or some benignant god,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Could I give voice to each arm, hand, and hair,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And each extremest joint, they round your knees</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Should cling together, and together weep,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">At once combining with a thousand tongues.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O monarch, O thou light of Greece, comply,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And stretch forth that avenging arm to aid</div> + <div class="verse indent0">An aged woman, though she be a thing</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of nought, O succour: for the good man’s duty</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is to obey the dread behests of justice,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And ever punish those who act amiss.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> ’Tis wonderful, indeed, how all events</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Happen to mortals, and the dread behests</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of fate, uncircumscribed by human laws,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Constrain us to form amities with those</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To whom the most inveterate hate we bore,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And into foes convert our former friends.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Aga.</span> To you, O Hecuba, your son, your fortunes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And your entreaties, is my pity due.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I in obedience to the gods and justice</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[31]</span>Wish to avenge you on this impious friend,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Could I appear your interests to espouse,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Without the troops suspecting that I slay</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The Thracian monarch for Cassandra’s sake:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My terrors hence arise; the host esteem</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Him our ally, and the deceased a foe:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What though you held him dear, his fate, the loss</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of you alone, affects not the whole camp.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Reflect too, that you find me well disposed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To share your toils, and in your cause exert</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My utmost vigour; but, what makes me slow,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is a well-grounded fear of blame from Greece.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Alas! there’s no man free: for some are slaves</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To gold, to fortune others, and the rest,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The multitude or written laws restrain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From acting as their better judgment dictates.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But since you are alarmed, and to the rabble</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yield an implicit deference, from that fear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I will release you; only to my schemes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Be privy, if some mischief I contrive</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Against the murderer of my son: but take</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No active part. If, when the Thracian suffers,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As he shall suffer, ’mongst the Greeks a tumult</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Break forth, or they attempt to succour him,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Restrain them, without seeming to befriend</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My interests. As for what remains, rely</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On me, and I will manage all things well.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Aga.</span> How then? what mean you? With that aged hand</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To wield a sword, and take away the life</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of that barbarian, or by drugs endued</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With magic power? the help you need, what arts</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Can furnish? what strong arm have you to fight</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your battles? whence will you procure allies?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> These tents conceal a group of Trojan dames.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Aga.</span> Mean you those captives whom the Greeks have seized.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> With them I on the murderer will inflict</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Due punishment.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Aga.</span> <span class="hemi12">How can the female sex</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">O’er men obtain a conquest?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi24">Numbers strike</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">A foe with terror, and the wiles of women</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are hard to be withstood.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Aga.</span> <span class="hemi22">They may strike terror,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">But in their courage I no trust can place.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> What? did not women slay Ægyptus’ sons,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And in their rage exterminate each male</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From Lemnos? But leave me to find out means</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How to effect my purpose. Through the camp</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[32]</span>In safety this my faithful servant send;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And thou, when to my Thracian friend thou com’st,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Say, “Hecuba, erst Queen of Troy, invites</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thee and thy children, on thy own account,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No less than hers, because she to thy sons</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And thee the self-same message must deliver.”</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The newly slain Polyxena’s interment</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Defer, O Agamemnon; in one flame</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That when their kindred corses are consumed;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The brother with the sister, who demand</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A twofold portion of their mother’s grief</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Together may be buried in one grave.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Aga.</span> These rites shall be performed, which could the troops</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Set sail, I needs must have denied: but now,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Since Neptune sends not an auspicious breeze,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Expecting a more seasonable voyage,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Here must we wait. But may success attend you;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For ’tis the common interest of mankind,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of every individual, every state,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That he who hath transgressed should suffer ill.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And fortune crown the efforts of the virtuous.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exit</i> <span class="smcap">Agamemnon</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Chorus.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">I. 1.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">No more, O Troy, thy dreaded name</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Conspicuous in the lists of fame,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">’Midst fortresses impregnable shall stand,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">In such thick clouds an armed host</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Pours terrors from the Grecian coast.</div> + <div class="verse indent8">And wastes thy vanquished land:</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Shorn from thy rampired brow the crown</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Of turrets fell; thy palaces o’erspread</div> + <div class="verse indent6">With smoke lie waste, no more I tread</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Thy wonted streets, my native town.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">I. 2.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">I perished at the midnight hour,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">When, aided by the banquet’s power,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Sleep o’er my eyes his earliest influence shed;</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Retiring from the choral song,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">The sacrifice and festive throng,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Stretched on the downy bed</div> + <div class="verse indent6">The bridegroom indolently lay,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">His massive spear suspended on the beam,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">No more he saw the helmets gleam.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Or nautic troops in dread array.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[33]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">II. 1.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">While me the golden mirror’s aid,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">My flowing tresses taught to braid</div> + <div class="verse indent4">In graceful ringlets with a fillet bound,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Just as I cast my robe aside,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">And sought the couch; extending wide</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Through every street this sound</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Was heard; “O when, ye sons of Greece,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">This nest of robbers levelled with the plain,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Will ye behold your homes again?</div> + <div class="verse indent6">When shall these tedious labours cease?”</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">II. 2.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Then from my couch up starting, drest</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Like Spartan nymph in zoneless vest,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">At Dian’s shrine an ineffectual prayer</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Did I address; for hither led,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">First having viewed my husband dead,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Full oft I in despair,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">As the proud vessel sailed from land,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Looked back, and saw my native walls laid low,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Then fainting with excess of woe</div> + <div class="verse indent6">At length lost sight of Ilion’s strand.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">III.</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Helen that sister to the sons of Jove,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">And Paris Ida’s swain,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">With my curses still pursuing,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">For to them I owe my ruin,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Me they from my country drove,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Never to return again,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">By that detested spousal rite</div> + <div class="verse indent6">On which Hymen never smiled,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">No, ’twas some demon who with lewd delight</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Their frantic souls beguiled:</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Her may ocean’s waves no more</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Waft to her paternal shore.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Polymestor</span>, <span class="smcap">Hecuba</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polym.</span> For thee, O Priam, my unhappy friend,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And you, my dearest Hecuba, I weep,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beholding your distress, your city taken,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your daughter newly slain: alas! there’s nought</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To be relied on; fame is insecure,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor can the prosperous their enjoyments guard</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Against a change of Fortune, for the gods</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Backward and forward turn her wavering wheel,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And introduce confusion in the world,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That we, because we know not will happen,</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[34]</span>May worship them. But of what use are plaints</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which have no virtue to remove our woes?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If you my absence censure, be appeased,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For in the midst of Thracia’s wide domains</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I from these coasts was distant at the time</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of your arrival: soon as I returned,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When from the palace I was issuing forth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This your attendant met me, and delivered</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The message, hearing which, I hither came.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> O Polymestor, wretched as I am,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I blush to see thy face; because thou erst</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In happier days didst know me, I with shame</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Appear before thee in my present fortunes.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor can I look at thee with steadfast eyes:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But this thou wilt not deem to be a mark</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of enmity: the cause of such behaviour</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is only custom, which forbids our sex</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To gaze on men.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polym.</span> <span class="hemi10">No wonder you thus act</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Under such circumstances. But what need</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have you of me, and wherefore did you send</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To fetch me from the palace?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi24">I in private</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">A secret of importance would disclose</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To thee and to thy children. From these tents</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Give orders for thy followers to depart.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polym.</span> [<i>to his attendants, who retire</i>.]</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Withdraw; this solitary spot is safe.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For you and the confederate Grecian host</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are all attached to me. But ’tis incumbent</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On you t’ inform me what my prosperous fortunes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Can yield to succour my unhappy friends!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For this is what I wish to do.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi26">Say first,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">If he, my son, whom this maternal hand</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And his fond father in thy mansions placed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My Polydore, yet live. I’ll then pursue</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My questions.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polym.</span> <span class="hemi8">Yes, in him you still are blest.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> How kind, how worthy of thyself that speech,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My dearest friend!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polym.</span> <span class="hemi12">What farther would you know?</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> If haply yet the youth remember aught</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of me his mother.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polym.</span> <span class="hemi12">Much he wished to come</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">And visit you in private.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi22">Is the gold</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">He brought from Troy preserved?</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[35]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polym.</span> <span class="hemi16">I keep it safe</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">In my own palace.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi14">Keep it if thou wilt:</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">But covet not the treasures of thy friends.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polym.</span> I do not covet them; my utmost wish</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is to enjoy, O woman, what I have.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Know’st thou then, what to thee and to thy sons</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I want to say?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polym.</span> <span class="hemi8">I know not; till in words</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your thoughts are signified.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi24">Bestow such love</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">On Polydore as thou receiv’st from me.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polym.</span> What is it that to me and to my children</div> + <div class="verse indent0">You would disclose?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi16">The spot, where deep in earth,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">The ancient treasures of all Priam’s house</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lie buried.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polym.</span> <span class="hemi6">Is this secret what you wish</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Should to your son be mentioned?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi28">Yes, by thee,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Because thou art a virtuous man!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polym.</span> <span class="hemi26">But wherefore</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Did you require these children should be present?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> For them to know the secret, if thou die,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will be of great advantage.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polym.</span> <span class="hemi22">You have spoken</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Well and discreetly.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi16">Know’st thou where at Troy</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Minerva’s temple stands?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polym.</span> <span class="hemi18">Is the gold there?</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">But by what mark shall I the spot distinguish?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Above the surface rises a black stone.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polym.</span> Will you describe the place yet more minutely?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> The gold I in thy custody would place,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which I from Ilion hither bring.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polym.</span> <span class="hemi26">Where is it?</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Concealed beneath your garment?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi28">’Midst a heap</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of spoils laid up within yon tents.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polym.</span> <span class="hemi30">Where mean you?</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">These are the Grecian mariners’ abode.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> In separate dwellings have they placed the captives?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polym.</span> But how can we rely upon the faith</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of those within? doth no man thither come?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> There’s not a Greek within; we are alone:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But enter thou these doors: for now the host,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Impatient to weigh anchor, would return</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From Ilion to their homes. Thou with thy children</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[36]</span>T’ accomplish all the dread behests of fate,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shalt thither go where thou hast lodged my son.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exeunt</i> <span class="smcap">Hecuba</span> <i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Polymestor</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Thou hast not yet received the blow,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But justice sure will lay thee low.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Like him who headlong from on high</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Falls where no friendly haven’s nigh,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Into the ocean’s stormy wave,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Here shalt thou find a certain grave:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For twofold ruin doth impend</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O’er him who human laws pursue,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And righteous gods indignant view:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thee shall the hope of gain mislead,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which prompts thee to advance with speed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And Pluto’s loathed abode descend:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Soon shalt thou press th’ ensanguined strand,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Slain by a woman’s feeble hand.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polym.</span> [<i>within.</i>] Ah me, the light that visited these eyes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">is darkened.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> Heard ye, O my friends, the shriek</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of yonder Thracian?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polym.</span> [<i>within.</i>] Yet again, alas,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My children’s foul and execrable murder!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> My friends, some recent mischief hath within</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Been perpetrated.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polym.</span> [<i>within.</i>] Though your feet are swift,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ye shall not ’scape, for through the walls I’ll burst</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My passage.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> With a forceful hand, behold</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He brandishes the javelin. Shall we rush</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To seize him? This important crisis bids us</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Assist our queen and Phrygia’s valiant dames.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Now do thy worst, and from their hinges rend</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yon massive gates; no more canst thou impart</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To those lost eyes their visual orbs, nor see</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy sons, whom I have slain, to life restored.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Hecuba</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Hast thou, my honoured mistress, caught the Thracian,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Over this treacherous friend hast thou prevailed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And all thy threats accomplished?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi30">Ye shall see him</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Before the tent, without delay, deprived</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of sight, advancing with unsteady foot,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And the two breathless corses of his sons,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whom I, assisted by the noblest matrons</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Troy, have slain. Th’ atonement he hath paid</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To my revenge, is just. But now behold</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[37]</span>He issues forth: I will retire and shun</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The Thracian chief’s unconquerable rage.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Polymestor</span>, <span class="smcap">Hecuba</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polym.</span> Ah, whither am I going? wretched me!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where am I? what supports me? With these hands</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Groping my way like some four-footed beast,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How shall I turn me, to the right or left,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That I those murderous Phrygian dames may seize</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who have destroyed me? Impious and accurst</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Daughters of Ilion, in what dark recess</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Do they escape me? Would to heaven, O Sun,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou to these bleeding eyeballs could’st afford</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A cure, that thou my blindness could’st remove.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But hush, I hear those women’s cautious tread.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How shall I leap upon them? with their flesh</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How shall I glut my rage, and for a feast</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To hungry tigers cast their mangled bones,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In just requital of the horrid wrongs,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which I from them, ah wretched me, have suffered?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But whither, by what impulse am I borne,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Leaving the corses of my sons exposed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To hellish Bacchanalians, as they lie</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Torn by the dogs, and on the mountain’s ridge</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Cast forth unburied! Where shall I stand still?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or whither shall I go? Like some proud bark</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Towed into harbour, which contracts its sails;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I to that fatal chamber which contains</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The corses of my murdered sons rush onward</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With speed involuntary.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi18">Hapless man,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">How art thou visited by woes too grievous</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To be endured! but by dread Jove thy foe,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On him whose deeds are base, it is ordained</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That the severest punishments await.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polym.</span> Rouse, O ye Thracians, armed with ponderous spears,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Arrayed in mail, for generous steeds renowned,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A hardy race, whom Mars himself inspires.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To you, O Grecian troops, and both the sons</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Atreus, I with clamorous voice appeal:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Come hither, I implore you by the gods.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Do any of you hear me? Is there none</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who will assist? Why loiter ye? Those women,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Those captives have destroyed me. Horrid wrongs</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have I endured; ah me, the foul reproach!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But whither shall I turn, or whither go?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Through the aërial regions shall I wing</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My swift career to that sublime abode</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[38]</span>Where Sirius or Orion from his eyes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Darts radiant flames? or, to perdition doomed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall I descend to Pluto’s sable flood?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> He merits pardon, whosoe’er assailed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By ills too grievous to be borne, shakes off</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The loathed encumbrance of a wretched life.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Agamemnon</span>, <span class="smcap">Polymestor</span>, <span class="smcap">Hecuba</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Aga.</span> Hearing thy shrieks I came. For Echo, child</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of craggy mountains, in no gentle note</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wafted those sounds tumultuous through the host.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Had we not known that by the Grecian spear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The towers of vanquished Phrygia are o’erthrown,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such uproar would have caused no small alarm.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polym.</span> My dearest friend, soon as I heard your voice,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I instantly perceived ’twas Agamemnon.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">See you my sufferings?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Aga.</span> <span class="hemi18">Wretched Polymestor!</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who hath destroyed thee? who bereaved of sight</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy bleeding orbs, and those thy children slew?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whoe’er the author of such deeds, his rage</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Was dreadful sure ’gainst thee and ’gainst thy sons.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polym.</span> With the assistance of those captive dames,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Me Hecuba hath murdered, more than murdered.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Aga.</span> What mean’st thou? Are you guilty of the crime</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With which he charges you? and have you dared</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To perpetrate an action thus audacious?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polym.</span> Ah me! what said you? Is she near at hand?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Inform me where to find, that I may seize her,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And scatter wide to all the fowls of heaven</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Her mangled corse.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Aga.</span> <span class="hemi14">Ha! what is thy design?</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polym.</span> Allow me, I conjure you by the gods,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To grasp her with this frantic arm.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Aga.</span> <span class="hemi32">Desist,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">And casting forth all rancour from thy heart,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Now plead thy cause; that, hearing both apart,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I with unbiassed justice may decide,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If thou these sufferings merit’st.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polym.</span> <span class="hemi28">I will speak.</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">There was one Polydore, the youngest son</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of those whom Hecuba to Priam bore;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Him erst removing from the Phrygian realm,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His sire to me consigned, that in my palace</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He might be nurtured, when that hoary king</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The fall of Troy suspected: him I slew:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But hear my motives for the deed, to prove</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How justly and how prudently I acted.</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[39]</span>Your enemy, that boy, if he survived</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The ruin of his country, might, I feared,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Collect the scattered citizens of Troy,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And there again reside. I also feared,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That when the Greeks knew one of Priam’s line</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Was living, with a second fleet invading</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The shores of Phrygia, they again might drain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of their inhabitants our Thracian fields,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Involving us, their neighbours, in the vengeance</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They on their foes at Ilion wreak. To us</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Already hath such neighbourhood, O king,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Proved baneful. But, apprized of her son’s fate,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hecuba drew me hither, on pretence</div> + <div class="verse indent0">She would inform me where in massive gold</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The hidden treasures of old Priam’s race</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beneath Troy’s ruins were secured. Alone,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">She with my children brought me to this tent,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That none beside might know. With bended knee,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">While on a couch I sat, some on my left,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And others on my right, as with a friend,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Full many of the Trojan damsels took</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their places, holding up against the sun</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My robe, the woof of an Edonian loom:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Some feigned t’ admire it, others viewed my spear,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And stripped me of them both. From hand to hand</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The matrons, seeming to caress my children,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Removed them far from their unhappy sire:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And after their fond speeches, in an instant,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">(Could you believe it?) snatching up the swords,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which they beneath their garments had concealed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They stabbed my sons, whom while I strove to aid,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In hostile guise their comrades held my arms</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And feet: if I looked up, they by the hair</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Confined me; if I moved my hands, my struggles</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Proved ineffectual, through the numerous band</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of women who assailed me, and to close</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The scene of my calamity, accomplished</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A deed with more than common horror fraught,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For they tore out my bleeding eyes, and fled.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But, like a tiger starting up, I chased</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These ruthless fiends, and with a hunter’s speed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Each wall examined, dashing to the ground,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And breaking what I seized. These cruel wrongs,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">While I your interests study to maintain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O Agamemnon, and despatch your foe,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have I endured. To spare a long harangue,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The whole of what ’gainst woman hath been said</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By those of ancient times, is saying now,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or shall be said hereafter, in few words</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[40]</span>Will I comprise; nor ocean’s waves, nor earth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nurture so vile a race, as he who most</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hath with the sex conversed, but knows too well.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Curb that audacious virulence of speech,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor, by thy woes embittered, thus revile</div> + <div class="verse indent0">All womankind; the number of our sex</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is great, and some there are, whom as a mark</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To envy, their distinguished worth holds forth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Though some are justly numbered with the wicked.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> O Agamemnon, never ought the tongue</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To have a greater influence o’er mankind</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Than actions; but whoever hath done well,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ought to speak well; and he, whose deeds are base,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To use unseemly language, nor find means</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By specious words to colour o’er injustice.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Full wise indeed are they to whom such art</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is most familiar: but to stand the test</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of time not wise enough; for they all perish,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Not one of them e’er ’scapes. These previous thoughts</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To you, O mighty king, have I addressed.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But now to him I turn, and will refute</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The fallacies he uttered. What pretence</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hast thou for saying, that to free the Greeks</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From such a second war, and for the sake</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Agamemnon, thou didst slay my son?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For first, O villain, the barbarian race</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With Greece, nor will, nor ever can be friends.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What interest roused thy zeal? Didst thou expect</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To form a nuptial union? Wert thou moved</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By kindred ties, or any secret cause?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Greece with a fleet forsooth would have returned</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To lay thy country waste. Who, canst thou think,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will credit such assertions? If the truth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou wilt confess, gold and thy thirst of gain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Were my son’s murderers. Why, when Troy yet flourished,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Why, when the city was on every side</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Fenced by strong bulwarks, why, when Priam lived,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And Hector wielded a victorious spear,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Didst thou not, if thou hadst designed to act</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In Agamemnon’s favour, at the time</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When thou didst nurture my unhappy son,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And in thy palace shelter, either slay,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or to the Greeks surrender up the youth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A living prisoner? But when Ilion’s light</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Was utterly extinguished, when the smoke</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Declared the city subject to our foes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The stranger thou didst murder, at thy hearth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who sought protection. To confirm thy guilt,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Now hear this farther charge: if thou to Greece</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[41]</span>Hadst been a friend indeed, thou should’st have given</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The gold thou say’st thou keep’st, not for thine own,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But Agamemnon’s sake, among the troops</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who suffer want, and from their native land</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have for a tedious season been detained.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But thou from those rapacious hands e’en now</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Canst not endure to part with it, but hoard’st it</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Still buried in thy coffers: as became thee,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hadst thou trained up my son, hadst thou to him</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Been a protector, great is the renown</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou would’st have gained; for in distress the good</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are steadfast; but our prosperous fortunes swarm</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With friends unbidden. Hadst thou been in want,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And Polydore abounded, a sure treasure</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To thee would he have proved: but now no longer</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In him hast thou a friend; thou of thy gold</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hast lost th’ enjoyment, thou thy sons hast lost,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And art thyself thus wretched. But to you,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O Agamemnon, now again I speak:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If you assist him, you will seem corrupt;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For you will benefit a man devoid</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of honour, justice, piety, or truth;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">It might be said that you delight in evil;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But, I presume not to reproach my lords.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> How doth a virtuous cause inspire the tongue</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With virtuous language!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Aga.</span> <span class="hemi20">On a stranger’s woes</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Reluctant I pronounce, but am constrained;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For shame attends the man who takes in hand</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Some great affair, and leaves it undecided.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Know then, to me thou seem’st not to have slain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy guest through an attachment to my cause,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor yet to that of Greece, but that his gold</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou might’st retain: though in this wretched state</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou speak to serve thy interests. Among you</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Perhaps the murder of your guests seems light;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We Greeks esteem it base. If I acquit thee</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How shall I ’scape reproach? Indeed I cannot:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Since thou hast dared to perpetrate the crime,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Endure the consequence.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polym.</span> <span class="hemi18">Too plain it seems,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ah me! that, vanquished by a female slave,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Here shall I perish by ignoble hands.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Is not this just for the atrocious deed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which thou hast wrought?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polym.</span> <span class="hemi18">My children, wretched me!</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">And these quenched orbs.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi20">Griev’st thou, yet think’st thou not</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">That I lament my son?</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[42]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polym.</span> <span class="hemi16">Malignant woman,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Do you rejoice in taunting my distress?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> In such revenge have not I cause for joy?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polym.</span> Yet not so hastily, when ocean’s wave——</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Shall in a bark convey me to the shores</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Greece?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polym.</span> <span class="hemi4">Shall whelm you in its vast abyss</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Fall’n from the shrouds.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi20">Raised thither by what impulse?</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polym.</span> Up the tall mast you with swift foot shall climb.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> On feathered pinions borne, or how?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polym.</span> <span class="hemi36">With form</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Canine endued, and eyeballs glaring fire.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Whence didst thou learn that I such wondrous change</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall undergo?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polym.</span> <span class="hemi8">Bacchus, the Thracian seer,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Gave this response.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi16">To thee did he unfold</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nought of the grievous sufferings thou endur’st?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polym.</span> Then could you ne’er have caught me by your wiles.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> But on this change of being, after death,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or while I yet am living, shall I enter?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polym.</span> After your death, and men shall call your tomb——</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> By my new form, or what is it thou mean’st?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polym.</span> The sepulchre of that vile brute, an object</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Conspicuous to the mariner.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi24">I care not;</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">My vengeance is complete.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polym.</span> <span class="hemi20">Cassandra too,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your daughter, must inevitably bleed.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Abomination! On thy guilty head</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These curses I retort.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polym.</span> <span class="hemi10">Her shall the wife</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Agamemnon slay, who sternly guards</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His royal mansion.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi14">Such a frantic deed</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">As this may Tyndarus’ daughter ne’er commit!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polym.</span> She next uplifting the remorseless axe</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall smite her lord.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Aga.</span> <span class="hemi18">Ha! madman, dost thou court</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy ruin?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polym.</span> <span class="hemi4">Slay me; for the murderous bath</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Awaits you, when to Argos you return.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Aga.</span> Will ye not drag him from my sight by force?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polym.</span> Hear you with grief what I announce?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Aga.</span> <span class="hemi40">My followers,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Why stop ye not the miscreant’s boding mouth?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Polym.</span> This mouth be closed for ever: I have spoken.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Aga.</span> Will ye not cast him with the utmost speed</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[43]</span>Upon some desert island, since he dares</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To speak with such licentiousness? Depart,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O wretched Hecuba, and both those corses</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Deposit in the grave. But, as for you,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ye to your lord’s pavilions must repair,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O Phrygian dames: for I perceive the gales</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Rising to waft us homeward; may success</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Attend the voyage to our native land!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And in our mansions may we find all well,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Freed from these dangers!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi20">To the haven go,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">And to the tents, my friends, t’ endure the toils</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Our lords impose: for thus harsh fate enjoins.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[44]</span></p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[45]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="Hercules_Distracted"><span class="smcap">Hercules Distracted.</span></h2> + +</div> + +<div class="max30"> + +<h3>PERSONS OF THE DRAMA.</h3> + +<ul> + <li><span class="smcap">Amphitryon.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Megara.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Chorus of Theban Old Men.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Hercules.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Lycus.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Iris.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">A Fiend.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Messenger.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Theseus.</span></li> +</ul> + +<h3>SCENE.—<span class="smcap">Before the Altar of Jupiter, at the Entrance +of the House of Hercules in Thebes.</span></h3> + +</div> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Amphitryon</span>, <span class="smcap">Megara</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> Is there on earth, a stranger to the man</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who shared the same auspicious nuptial bed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With Jove, Amphitryon born at Argos, sprung</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From Perseus’ son Alcæus, me the sire</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Hercules? He in these regions dwelt,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where from the soil a helmed crop arose;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Mars, a small number of that race, preserved,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whose children’s children people Cadmus’ city.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hence Creon king of Thebes, Menæceus’ son,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Derives his birth, and Creon is the sire</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of this unhappy Megara, to grace</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whose hymeneal pomp, each Theban erst</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Attuned the jocund lute, into my house</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When Hercules conducted her. But leaving</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This realm where I resided, and his consort</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And kindred, my son chose to fix his seat</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Within the walls of Argos, of that city</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Erected by the Cyclops, whence I fled</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Stained with Electryon’s gore: but to alleviate</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My woes, and in his native land obtain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A quiet residence, this great reward</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He on Eurystheus promised to bestow,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That he would rid the world of every pest:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Harassed by Juno’s stings, or envious fate,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With her conspiring: but, his other labours</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Accomplished, he through Tænarus’ jaws at length</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[46]</span>Went to the house of Pluto, to drag forth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Into the realms of day hell’s triple hound:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He thence returns not. But an old tradition</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Among the race of Cadmus hath prevailed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That Lycus, Dirce’s husband, erst bore rule</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Over this city, till Jove’s sons, Amphion</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And Zethus, who on milk-white coursers rode,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Became its sovereigns. Lycus’ son who bears</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His father’s name, no Theban, but arriving</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From the Eubœan state, slew royal Creon,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And having slain him, seized the throne, invading</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The city with tumultuous broils convulsed.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But the affinity which we have formed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With Creon, seems to be my greatest curse:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For while my son stays in the realms beneath,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lycus th’ egregious monarch of this land</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Would with the children of Alcides kill</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His consort, by fresh murders to extinguish</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The past, and kill me too (if one through age</div> + <div class="verse indent0">So useless may be numbered among men),</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lest when the boys attain maturer age,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They should avenge their grandsire Creon’s death.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But I (for my son left me here to tend</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His children, and direct the house, since he</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Entered the subterraneous realms of night),</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With their afflicted mother, lest the race</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Hercules should bleed, for an asylum</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have chosen this altar of protecting Jove,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which my illustrious son for a memorial</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of his victorious arms did here erect,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When he in battle had subdued the Minyans.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But we, though destitute of every comfort,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of food, drink, clothing, though constrained to lie</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On the bare pavement, here maintain our seat,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For every hospitable door is barred</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Against us, and we have no other hope</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of being saved. Some of our friends I see</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are faithless, and the few who prove sincere,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Too weak to aid us. Such is the effect</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of adverse fortune o’er the race of men;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">May he to whom I bear the least attachment,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Never experience that unerring test</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of friendship.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Meg.</span> <span class="hemi10">Thou old man, who erst didst storm</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">The Taphian ramparts, when thou with renown</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Didst lead the host of Thebes; the secret will</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Heaven, how little can frail mortals know!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For to me too of no avail have proved</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The fortunes of my father, who elate</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[47]</span>With wealth and regal power (whence at the breasts</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of its possessors spears are hurled by those</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whose souls the lust of mad ambition fires),</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And having children, gave me to thy son,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Joining a noble consort in the bonds</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of wedlock with Alcides, through whose death</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These blessings are all fled. Now I, and thou,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Old man, are doomed to perish with the sons</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Hercules, whom, as the bird extends</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Her sheltering wings over her callow brood,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I guard. By turns they come and question me:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">“O mother, whither is my father gone?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What is he doing? when will he return?”</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Though now too young sufficiently to feel</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How great their loss, thus ask they for their sire.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I change the theme, and forge a soothing tale,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But am with wonder smitten when the doors</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Creak on their massive hinges, and at once</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They all start up, that at their father’s knees</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They may fall prostrate. But what hope hast thou</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of saving us, or what support, old man?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For I to thee look up. We from the bounds</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of these domains unnoticed cannot ’scape;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Mightier than us, a watchful guard is placed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">At every avenue, and in our friends</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No longer for protection can we trust.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Explain thyself, if thou hast any scheme,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By which thou from impending death canst save us;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But let us strive to lengthen out the time,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Since we are feeble.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> <span class="hemi18">’Tis no easy task</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">In such a situation, O my daughter,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To form a sure and instantaneous judgment.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Meg.</span> What is there wanting to complete thy woes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or why art thou so fond of life?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> <span class="hemi28">That blessing</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">I still enjoy, still cherish pleasing hopes.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Meg.</span> I also hope, old man: but it is folly</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To look for what we never can attain.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> We by delaying might avert our fate.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Meg.</span> But I in this sad interval of time</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Feel piercing anguish.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> <span class="hemi18">The auspicious gales</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of fortune, O my daughter, yet may waft</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Both you and me out of our present troubles,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If e’er my son your valiant lord return.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But O be pacified yourself, and cause</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your children to dry up their streaming tears;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With gentle language and delusive tales</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[48]</span>Beguile them, though all fraudful arts are wretched.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For the disasters which afflict mankind</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are wearied out; the stormy winds retain not</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their undiminished force; nor are the blest</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Perpetually blest: for all things change,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And widely differ from their former state.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The valiant man is he who still holds fast</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His hopes; but to despair bespeaks the coward.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Chorus</span>, <span class="smcap">Amphitryon</span>, <span class="smcap">Megara</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Propped on my faithful staff, from home,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And from the couch of palsied age,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In melancholy guise I roam,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Constrained to chaunt funereal strains,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As the expiring swan complains,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A war of words alone I wage,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In semblance, but a flitting sprite,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">An airy vision of the night.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I totter; yet doth active zeal</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This faithful bosom still inspire.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ye children who have lost your sire,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou veteran, and thou aged dame,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Doomed for thy lord these griefs to feel,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whose Pluto’s dreary mansions claim;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O weary not your tender feet.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Like steeds by galling harness bound,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To turn the ponderous mill around,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I would advance my friends to meet,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet are my utmost efforts vain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This shattered frame I scarce sustain:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Draw near, O take this trembling hand,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And holding fast my robe, support</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My steps, thy needful aid I court,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Because I am too weak to stand.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lead on the chief, though now by years</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bowed down, who marshalled on the strand,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His comrades erst a hardy band;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With him in youth we launched our spears,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor then belied our native land.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">See how their eyes dart liquid fire,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Those children emulate their sire;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But still hereditary fate,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Pursues with unrelenting hate</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their tender years, nor can their charms</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Redeem them from impending harms.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What valiant champions of thy cause,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O Greece, thy violated laws,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When these thy great supports shall fail,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Torn from thy fostering land wilt thou bewail.</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[49]</span>But I behold the monarch of the realm,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Tyrannic Lycus, who these doors approaches.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Lycus</span>, <span class="smcap">Amphitryon</span>, <span class="smcap">Megara</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Lyc.</span> This question (if I may) I to the sire</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And consort of Alcides would propose</div> + <div class="verse indent0">(But, as your king, I have a right to make</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Any inquiries I think fit): How long</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Seek ye to spin out life? What farther hope</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have ye in view, what succour to ward off</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The stroke of death? Expect ye that the father</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of these deserted children, who lies stretched</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Amid the realms beneath will thence return,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That ye bely your rank, and meanly utter</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These clamorous plaints on being doomed to die?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Through Greece hast <i>thou</i> diffused an idle boast,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That Jove enjoyed thy consort, and begot</div> + <div class="verse indent0">An offspring like himself; while <i>you</i> exulted</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In being called wife to the first of heroes.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But what great action hath your lord performed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In having slain that hydra at the lake,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or the Nemæan lion whom with snares</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He caught, and then did arrogantly boast</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That he had strangled in his nervous arms?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will these exploits enable you to vie</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With me? and for such merit am I bound</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To spare the sons of Hercules, who gained</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A name which he deserved not? He was brave</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In waging war with beasts, in nought beside,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With his left hand he never did sustain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The shield, nor faced he the protended spear,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But with his bow, that weapon of a dastard,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Was still prepared for flight: such arms afford</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No proof of courage; but the truly brave</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is he who in the ranks where he is stationed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Maintains his ground, and sees with steadfast eye</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Those ghastly wounds the missile javelin gives.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Old man, I act not thus through cruelty,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But caution; for I know that I have slain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Creon <i>her</i> father, and possess his throne.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These children therefore will not I allow</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To live till they attain maturer years,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lest they should punish me for such a deed.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> Jove will assert the cause of his own son.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But as for me, O Hercules, my care</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall be to prove the folly of this tyrant:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For thy illustrious name I will not suffer</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To be reproached. First from a hateful charge</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[50]</span>(And that of cowardice I deem most hateful),</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Calling the gods to witness, am I bound</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To vindicate thy honour. I appeal</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To Jove’s own thunder, and th’ impetuous steeds,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which drew Alcides’ chariot when he sped</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Those winged arrows to transpierce the flanks</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of earth-born giants, and among the gods</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Triumphant revelled at the genial board.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Go next to Pholoe’s realm, thou worst of kings,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And ask the Centaurs’ monstrous brood, what man</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They judge to be most brave, whether that title</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Belongs not to my son, who only bears,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As you assert, the semblance of a hero?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But should you question the Eubœan mount</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Dirphys, where your infancy was nurtured,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">It cannot sound your praise: you have performed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No glorious action for your native land</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To testify, yet scorn that wise invention</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The quiver fraught with shafts: attend to me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And I will teach you wisdom. By his arms</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Encumbered, stands the warrior who is sheathed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In ponderous mail, and through the fears of those</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who fight in the same rank, if they want courage,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Loses his life; nor, if his spear be broken,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Furnished with nought but courage, from his breast</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Can he repel the wound; but he who bends</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With skilful hand the bow, hath this advantage,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which never fails him: with a thousand shafts</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He smites the foe, no danger to himself</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Incurring, but securely stands aloof,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And wreaks his vengeance while they gaze around,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Without perceiving whence the weapon comes:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His person he exposes not, but takes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A guarded post: for what in war displays</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The greatest prudence, is to vex the foe,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor rush at random on their pointed spears.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such reasoning on the subject in debate</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With yours indeed agrees not: but what cause</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have you for wishing to destroy these children?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How have they injured you? In one respect</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I deem you wise, because you dread the race</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of valiant men, and feel yourself a coward:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet is it hard on us, if we must bleed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your apprehensions to remove; you ought</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To suffer all we would inflict, from us</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whose merit is superior far to yours,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Were Jove impartial. Would you therefore wield</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The sceptre of this land, let us depart</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As exiles from the realm, or you shall meet</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[51]</span>With strict retaliation, when the gales</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of wavering fortune alter. O thou land</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Cadmus (for to thee I now will speak,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But in reproachful accents), such protection</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Afford’st thou to the sons of Hercules,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who singly warring with the numerous host</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Minyæ, caused the Thebans to lift up</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their free-born eyes undaunted? I on Greece</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No praises can bestow, nor will pass over</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In silence its base treatment of my son,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For ’twas its duty in these children’s cause,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bearing flames, pointed spears, and glittering mail,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To have marched forth, and recompensed the toils</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of their great father, who hath purged the sea</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And land from all its monsters. Such protection</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor doth the Theban city, O my children,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor Greece afford you; but ye now look up</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To me a feeble friend who can do nought,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But plead for you with unavailing words.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For all the vigour which I once possessed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hath now deserted me; old age assails</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My trembling limbs and this decrepit frame.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Were I again endued with youthful strength,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I would snatch up my javelin, and defile</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With gore the yellow ringlets on the head</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of that oppressor, whom his fear should drive</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beyond the most remote Atlantic bounds.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Are there not causes such as may provoke</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Those who are virtuous to express their thoughts,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Though destitute of eloquence?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Lyc.</span> <span class="hemi26">’Gainst me</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Speak what thou wilt, for thou art armed with words,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But for injurious language by my deeds</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will I requite thee. Go, send woodmen, some</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To Helicon, some to Parnassus’ vale,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bid them fell knotted oaks, and having borne them</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Into the city, heap their ponderous trunks</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Around the altar, and with kindled flames</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Consume the bodies of this hated race;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">So shall they learn that Creon the deceased</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No longer is the ruler of this land,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But that I wield the sceptre. As for you</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who thwart my counsels, O ye aged men,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Not for the sons of Hercules alone</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall ye lament, but for those evil fortunes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which ye and your own house are doomed to suffer:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But this shall ye remember, that to me,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your monarch, ye are slaves.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi24">O ye the race</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[52]</span>Of earth, whom Mars erst sowed, when he had torn</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From the huge dragon’s jaws th’ envenomed teeth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With those right hands why will ye not uplift</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The staves on which ye lean, and with his gore</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Defile the head of this unrighteous man,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Not born at Thebes, but in a foreign realm,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From inconsiderate youths who gains that homage</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which he deserves not? but in evil hour</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O’er me shalt thou bear rule, nor shall my wealth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Acquired by many toils be ever thine:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Go, act the tyrant in Eubœa’s land,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From whence thou hither cam’st: for while I live,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The sons of Hercules thou ne’er shalt slay,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor is their mighty father plunged so deep</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beneath earth’s surface, that he cannot hear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His children’s outcries. Thou to whom this land</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Owes its destruction dost possess the throne:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But he its benefactor is deprived</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of the rewards he merits. Me thou deem’st</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Officious, for protecting those I love</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E’en in the grave, where friends are needed most.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O my right arm, how dost thou wish to wield</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The spear, but through enfeebling age hast lost</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy vigour: else would I have quelled thy pride</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who dar’st to call me slave, and in this Thebes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where thou exult’st, with glory dwelt. A city</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Diseased through mutiny and evil counsels</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is void of wisdom, or would ne’er have chosen</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thee for its lord.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Meg.</span> <span class="hemi14">Ye veterans, I applaud</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your zeal; for indignation at the wrongs</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His friends endure becomes the virtuous friend.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But let not anger ’gainst your lord expose you</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To suffer in our cause. My judgment hear,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Amphitryon, if to thee in aught I seem</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To speak discreetly. I these children love</div> + <div class="verse indent0">(And how can I help loving those I bore?)</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For whom I have endured the painful throes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of childbirth. And to die is what I think of</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As of a thing most dreadful; but the man</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who with necessity contends I hold</div> + <div class="verse indent0">An idiot. But let us, since die we must,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Not perish in the flames to furnish scope</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of laughter to our foes, which I esteem</div> + <div class="verse indent0">An ill beyond e’en death: for much is due</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To the unsullied honour of our house,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For thee who erst in arms hast gained renown,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To die with cowardice, were a reproach</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Not to be borne. My lord, though I forbear</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[53]</span>To dwell on his just praises, is so noble,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He would not wish these children saved, to bear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The imputation of an evil name:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For through the conduct of degenerate sons</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Reproach oft falls on their illustrious sires;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And the examples which my husband gave me,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I ought not to reject. But view what grounds</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou hast for hope, that I of these may form</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A proper estimate. Dost thou expect</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy son to issue from the realms beneath?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What chief deceased from Pluto’s loathed abode</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Did e’er return? Can we by gentle words</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Appease this tyrant? No: we ought to fly</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From fools who are our foes: but to the wise</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And generous yield; for we with greater ease</div> + <div class="verse indent0">May make a friend of him in whom we find</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A sense of virtuous shame. But to my soul</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This thought occurs, that we, the children’s sentence,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By our entreaties, haply might obtain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Converted into exile: yet this too</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is wretched, at th’ expense of piteous need</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To compass our deliverance. For their friends</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Avoid the face of guests like these, and look</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No longer kindly on the banished man</div> + <div class="verse indent0">After one day is over. Rouse thy courage,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And bleed with us, thee too, since death awaits.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By thy great soul, O veteran, I conjure thee.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Although the man who labours to repel</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Evils inflicted by Heaven’s wrath, is brave,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet doth such courage border upon frenzy:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For what the fates ordain, no god can frustrate.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> While yet these arms retained their youthful strength,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Had any one insulted thee, with ease</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Could I have quelled him; but I now am nothing:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On thee, Amphytrion, therefore ’tis incumbent</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To think how best thou may’st henceforth ward off</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Th’ assaults of fortune.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> <span class="hemi20">No unmanly fear,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">No wish to lengthen out this life, prevents</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My voluntary death: but I would save</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The children of my son, though I appear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To grasp at things impossible. Behold</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I bare my bosom to the sword; pierce, slay,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or cast me from the rock. But I, O king,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For this one favour sue to you; despatch</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Me and this hapless dame before the children,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lest them we view, most execrable sight,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In death’s convulsive pangs, to her who bore them,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And me their grandsire, shrieking out for aid.</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[54]</span>But as for all beside, do what you list,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For we have now no bulwark which from death</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Can save us.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Meg.</span> <span class="hemi8">I entreat one favour more,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which to us both will equally be grateful.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Permit me in funereal robes to dress</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My children; for that purpose be the gates</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thrown open (for the palace now is closed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Against us) that they from their father’s house</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This small advantage may obtain.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Lyc.</span> <span class="hemi28">Your wishes</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall be complied with. I my servants bid</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Unbar the gates. Go in, bedeck yourselves;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The costly robes I grudge not: but no sooner</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall ye have put them on, than I to you</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will come, and plunge you in the shades beneath.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exit</i> <span class="smcap">Lycus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Meg.</span> Follow your hapless mother, O my children,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To your paternal house, where, though our wealth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Be in the hands of others, our great name</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We still preserve.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> <span class="hemi14">O Jove, ’twas then in vain</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">That thou didst deign to share my nuptial couch,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In vain too, of thy son have I been styled</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The father, for thou hast not proved the friend</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou didst appear to be. I, though a man,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Exceed in virtue thee a mighty god;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Because I to their foes have not betrayed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The sons of Hercules: but thou, by stealth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Entering my chamber, to another’s wife</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Without permission cam’st; yet know’st not how</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To save thy friends; thou surely art a god</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Either devoid of wisdom, or unjust.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exeunt</i> <span class="smcap">Amphitryon</span> <i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Megara</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Chorus.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center allsmcap">ODE.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">I. 1.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">For Linus’ death, by all the tuneful Nine</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Bewailed, doth Phœbus’ self complain,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">And loudly uttering his auspicious strain,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Smite with a golden quill the lyre; but mine</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Shall be the task, while songs of praise</div> + <div class="verse indent10">I chaunt and twine the laureate wreath,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">His matchless fortitude t’ emblaze,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Who sought hell’s inmost gloom, the dreary shades beneath;</div> + <div class="verse indent6"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[55]</span>Whether I call the hero son of Jove,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Or of Amphitryon; for the fame</div> + <div class="verse indent6">To which his labours have so just a claim,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Must e’en in death attract the public love:</div> + <div class="verse indent6">In the Nemæan forest first he slew</div> + <div class="verse indent10">That lion huge, whose tawny hide</div> + <div class="verse indent10">And grinning jaws extended wide,</div> + <div class="verse indent12">He o’er his shoulders threw.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">I. 2.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">The winged arrows whizzing from his bow,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Did on their native hills confound</div> + <div class="verse indent6">The Centaurs’ race with many a deadly wound:</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Alcides’ matchless strength doth Peneus know,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Distinguished by his limpid waves,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">The fields laid waste of wide extent,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">With Pelion, and the neighbouring caves</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Of Homoles, uprooting from whose steep ascent,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Tall pines that cast a venerable shade,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">The monsters armed their forceful hands,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">And strode terrific o’er Thessalia’s lands:</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Then breathless on th’ ensanguined plain he laid</div> + <div class="verse indent6">That hind distinguished by her golden horns,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">And still in Dian’s temple seen</div> + <div class="verse indent10">His prize, to glad the huntress queen,</div> + <div class="verse indent12">Oenöe’s walls adorns.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">II. 1.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">The chariot with triumphal ensigns graced</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Ascending, to his stronger yoke</div> + <div class="verse indent6">He Diomedes’ furious coursers broke,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Scorning the bit, in hateful stalls who placed</div> + <div class="verse indent10">By their fell lord, the flesh of man</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Raging devoured, accursed food;</div> + <div class="verse indent12">A stream from their foul mangers ran,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Filled with unholy gore, and many a gobbet crude.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">O’er Hebrus’ silver tide at the command</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Of Argos’ unrelenting king</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Eurystheus, he these captive steeds did bring,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Close to Anauros’ mouth on Pelion’s strand.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Inhuman Cycnus, son of Mars, next felt</div> + <div class="verse indent10">The force of his resounding bow,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Unsocial wretch, the stranger’s foe,</div> + <div class="verse indent12">Who in Amphanea dwelt.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">II. 2.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Then came he to th’ harmonious nymphs, that band</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Who in Hesperian gardens hold</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Their station, where the vegetative gold</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Glows in the fruitage; with resistless hand</div> + <div class="verse indent10"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[56]</span>To snatch the apple from its height;</div> + <div class="verse indent10">The dragon wreathed his folds around</div> + <div class="verse indent10">The tree’s huge trunk, portentous sight,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">In vain; that monster fell transfixed with many a wound.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Into those straits of the unfathomed main</div> + <div class="verse indent10">He entered, with auspicious gales,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Where feared the mariner t’ unfurl his sails,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">And fixing limits to the watery plain</div> + <div class="verse indent6">His columns reared: then from the heavens’ huge load</div> + <div class="verse indent10">The wearied Atlas he relieved,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">His arm the starry realms upheaved,</div> + <div class="verse indent12">And propped the gods’ abode.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">III. 1.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Foe to the Amazons’ equestrian race</div> + <div class="verse indent10">He crossed the boisterous Euxine tide,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">And gave them battle by Mæotis’ side.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">What friends through Greece collected he to face</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Hippolita, th’ intrepid maid,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">That he the belt of Mars might gain,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">And tissued robe with golden braid.</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Still doth exulting Greece the virgin’s spoils retain,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Lodged in Mycene’s shrine, with gore imbrued,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">The dog of Lerna’s marshy plain,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Who unresisting multitudes had slain,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">The hundred-headed hydra, he subdued,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Aided by fire, and winged shafts combined,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">These from his well-stored quiver flew,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">And triple-formed Geryon slew,</div> + <div class="verse indent12">Fierce Erythræa’s hind.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">III. 2.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">But having finished each adventurous strife,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">At length in evil hour he steers</div> + <div class="verse indent6">To Pluto’s mansion, to the house of tears,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">The goal of labour, there to end his life,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Thence never, never to return;</div> + <div class="verse indent10">His friends dismayed forsake these gates,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">In hopeless solitude we mourn.</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Hell’s stern award is passed, the boat of Charon waits</div> + <div class="verse indent6">To their eternal home his sons to bear,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Most impious lawless homicide!</div> + <div class="verse indent6">For thee, O Hercules, thee erst his pride,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Thy sire now looks with impotent despair.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Had I the strength which I possessed of yore,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">I with my Theban friends, arrayed</div> + <div class="verse indent10">In brazen arms, thy sons would aid:</div> + <div class="verse indent12">But youth’s blest days are o’er.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[57]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Clad in funereal vestments I behold</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The children of Alcides erst the great,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With his loved wife and his decrepit sire</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Conducting them. O wretched me! no longer</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Can I restrain the fountain of these tears</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which gush incessant from my aged eyes.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Megara</span>, <span class="smcap">Amphitryon</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Meg.</span> Come on. What priest, what butcher is at hand</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To slay these wretched children, or transpierce</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My bosom? Now the victims stand prepared</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For their descent to Pluto’s loathed abode.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By force, my children, are we borne along</div> + <div class="verse indent0">United in th’ unseemly bands of death;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Decrepit age with helpless infancy</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And intermingled matrons. O dire fate</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of me and of my sons, whom these sad eyes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall never more behold! Alas! I bore,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I nurtured you, to be the scorn, the sport,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of our inveterate foes, and by their hands</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To perish. Each fond hope, which from the words</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of your departed father erst I formed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hath proved fallacious. The deceased to <i>thee</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Allotted Argos, in Eurystheus’ palace</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wert <i>thou</i> to dwell a mighty king, and wield</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The sceptre of Pelasgia’s fruitful land,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Then with the lion’s hide himself had worn</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy front he covered: <i>you</i> were to ascend</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The throne of Thebes for brazen chariots famed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Possessing my hereditary fields,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such were the hopes of your exulting sire,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who to <i>your</i> hand consigned that ponderous mace</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Deceitful gift of Dædalus: on <i>thee</i>,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou little one, he promised to bestow</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Oecalia, which his shafts had erst laid waste:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To you all three, these realms in threefold portions</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Did he distribute; for your father’s views</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Were all magnanimous: but I marked out</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Selected consorts for you, and formed schemes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of new affinities, from the domains</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Athens, Sparta, and the Theban city;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That binding up your cables, and secure</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From the tempestuous deep, ye might enjoy</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A happy life: these prospects now are vanished:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For to your arms hath changeful Fortune given</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The Destinies to be your brides, while tears</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are your unhappy mother’s lustral drops.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your grandsire celebrates the nuptial feast,</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[58]</span>O’er which he summons Pluto to preside,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The father of your consorts. But, alas!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whom first of you my children, or whom last</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To this fond bosom shall I clasp, on whom</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bestow a kiss, whom in my arms sustain?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How like the bee with variegated wings</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall I collect the sorrows of you all,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And blend the whole together in a flood</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of tears exhaustless? O my dearest lord,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If any of those spirits who reside</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In Pluto’s realms beneath, can hear the voice</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of mortals, in these words to thee I speak:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O Hercules, thy father and thy sons</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are doomed to bleed; I perish too who erst</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On thy account was by the world called happy.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Protect us, come, and to these eyes appear,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Though but a ghost; thy presence will suffice:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For these thy children’s murderers, when with thee</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Compared, are dastards.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> <span class="hemi20">To appease the powers</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of hell beneath, O woman, be thy care.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But lifting to the skies my suppliant hands,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I call on thee, O Jove, that, if thou mean</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To be a friend to these deserted children,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou interpose without delay and save them,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For soon ’twill be no longer in thy power:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou oft hast been invoked; but all my prayers</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are ineffectual; die, it seems, we must.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But, O ye aged men, the bliss which life</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Can yield is small, contrive then how to pass</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As sweetly as is possible the hours</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which fate allots you, e’en from morn till night</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shaking off every grief: for Time preserves not</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Our hopes entire, but on his own pursuits</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Intent, deserts us, borne on rapid wings.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Look but on me, amid the sons of men</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Conspicuous erst performing glorious deeds;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And yet hath Fortune in one single day</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Taken all from me, like a feather wafted</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Into the trackless air. I know not him</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To whom collected stores of wealth or fame</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are durable. Farewell, for this, my comrades,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is the last time ye shall behold your friend.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Hercules</span>, <span class="smcap">Megara</span>, <span class="smcap">Amphitryon</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Meg.</span> Ha! O thou aged man, do I behold</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My dearest husband? How shall I find utterance?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> I know not, O my daughter; for I too</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Am with amazement seized.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[59]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Meg.</span> <span class="hemi22">This sure is he</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who as we heard was in the realms beneath;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Else doth some vision in the noontide glare</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Delude our senses. But what frantic words</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Were those I spoke as if ’twas all a dream?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This is no other than thy real son,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou aged man. Come hither, O my children,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Cling to your father’s robe, with speed advance,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Quit not your hold, for ye in him shall find</div> + <div class="verse indent0">An equal to our great protector Jove.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> All hail, thou mansion, and thou vestibule</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of my abode; thee with what joy once more</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Do I behold, revisiting the light.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ha! what hath happened? I my children see</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With garlands on their temples, and my wife</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Amidst a throng of men, my father too</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Weeping for some mischance. I’ll go to them,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And ask the cause. What recent ill, O woman,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hath happened to this house?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Meg.</span> <span class="hemi24">My dearest lord,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">O thou who to thy aged father com’st</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A radiant light, in safety hast thou reached,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">At this important crisis, the abodes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of those thou lov’st.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi18">What mean you by these words?</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">What tumults, O my sire, are we involved in?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Meg.</span> We are undone; but, O thou aged man,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Forgive, if I’ve anticipated that</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou would’st have said to him: for in some points</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Our sex are greater objects of compassion</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Than males. I deem my children dead; I too</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Am perishing.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi10">O Phœbus! with what preludes</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Do you begin your speech?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Meg.</span> <span class="hemi22">My valiant brothers,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">And aged sire, alas! are now no more.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> Who slew them, how, or with what weapon?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Meg.</span> <span class="hemi40">Lycus,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">The monarch of this city, was their murderer.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> With arms did he oppose them, or prevail,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When foul sedition through the land diffused</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Its pestilent contagion?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Meg.</span> <span class="hemi20">By revolt</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">He holds the sceptre of the Theban realm.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> But wherefore hath this sudden panic reached</div> + <div class="verse indent0">You and my aged sire?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Meg.</span> <span class="hemi18">He would have slain</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy father, me, and these defenceless children.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> What mean you? could he fear my orphan race?</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[60]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Meg.</span> Lest they hereafter might avenge the death</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Creon.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi6">But what garb is this they wear,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which suits some corse?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Meg.</span> <span class="hemi20">Already in these vestments</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">For our funereal rites are we arrayed.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> And were ye on the point of perishing</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By violence? Ah me!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Meg.</span> <span class="hemi16">Our friends desert us;</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">For we have heard that thou wert dead.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi32">Whence rose</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">This comfortless depression of the soul?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Meg.</span> Eurystheus’ heralds the sad tidings bore.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> But for what cause did ye forsake my house,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My sacred Lares?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Meg.</span> <span class="hemi12">From his bed thy sire</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Was forcibly dragged forth.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi24">So void of shame</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Was Lycus as to treat his age with scorn?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Meg.</span> Shame dwells not near the shrine of brutal force.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> Were we thus destitute of friends when absent?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Meg.</span> What friends abide with him who is unhappy?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> But did they scorn the battles which I fought</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Against the Minyans?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Meg.</span> <span class="hemi16">I to thee repeat it,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Calamity is friendless and forlorn.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> Will ye not cast from your dishevelled hair</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These wreaths of Pluto? will ye not look up</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To yon bright sun, and ope your eyes to view</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Scenes far more pleasing than the loathsome shades</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of hell beneath? But I, for wrongs like these</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Demand my vengeful arm, with speed will go</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And overturn the house of that new king,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His impious head I to the ravenous hounds</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lopped from his trunk will cast, and each base Theban</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who with ingratitude repays my kindness</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With this victorious weapon smite: my shafts</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The rest shall scatter, till Ismenos’ channel</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Be choked up with the corses of the slain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And Dirce’s limpid fountain stream with gore.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For whom, in preference to my wife, my children,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And aged father, shall I aid? Farewell,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ye labours which unwittingly I strove</div> + <div class="verse indent0">T’ accomplish, mindless of these dearest pledges;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In their defence I equally am bound</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To yield up life, if for their father they</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Were doomed to bleed. What! shall we call it noble</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To war against the hydra or the lion,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And execute the mandates of Eurystheus,</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[61]</span>If I avert not my own children’s death?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No longer else shall I, as erst, be styled</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Alcides the victorious.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi18">It is just</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Parents should aid their sons, their aged sire,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And the dear partner of the nuptial bed.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> My son, this mighty privilege is yours,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To be the best of friends to those you love,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And a determined foe to those you hate.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But be not too impetuous.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi22">In what instance</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have I been hastier, O my honoured sire,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Than it becomes me?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> <span class="hemi16">To support his cause,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">The king hath many, who in fact are poor,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Though fame accounts them rich; they raised a tumult,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And caused the ruin of the state, to plunder</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their neighbours; for the fortunes they possessed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are through their own extravagance and sloth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Reduced to nothing. As the gates you entered,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These could not fail to see you: O beware</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lest since you by your foes have been perceived,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">You perish when you least foresee your danger,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Oppressed by numbers.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi18">Though all Thebes beheld me,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">I care not. But when I descried a bird</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of evil omen perched aloof, I knew</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That there had some calamity befallen</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My house, and therefore with presaging soul</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In secrecy I entered these domains.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> Draw near with pious awe, my son, salute</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The Lares, and display that welcome face</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In your paternal mansions. For to drag</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your wife and children forth, with me your sire</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To murder us, the king himself will come.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But all will prosper, if you here remain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And a secure asylum will you find,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor through the city spread a loud alarm</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ere your designs succeed.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi22">Thus will I act,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">For thou hast rightly spoken; I am entering</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The palace. From the sunless caves beneath</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Proserpine, after a long delay</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Returning, first to our domestic gods</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will I be mindful to address my vows.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> Have you indeed then visited the house</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Pluto, O my son?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi16">And thence the dog</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">With triple-head brought to these realms of light.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[62]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> Conquered in battle, or on you bestowed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By hell’s indulgent goddess?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi24">I prevailed</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">O’er him in combat, and have been so happy</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As to behold the far-famed mystic orgies.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> But is the beast lodged in Eurystheus’ palace?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> Him Cthonia’s groves and Hermion’s walls</div> + <div class="verse indent0">confine.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> Knows not Eurystheus that you are returned</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Into this upper world?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi18">He doth not know:</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">For I came first to learn what passes here.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> But wherefore in the realms beneath, so long</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Did you remain?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi12">I there prolonged may stay,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">My sire, to bring back Theseus from the shades.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> And where is he, gone to his native land?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> He went to Athens, pleased with his escape</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From the infernal regions. But attend</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your father to the palace, O my sons,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which now ye enter in a happier state</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Than when ye left it: but take courage, cease</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To pour forth floods of tears; and, O my wife,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Collect thyself, let all thy terrors cease,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And loose my garments; for I have not wings,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor would I vanish from my friends. Alas!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their hold they quit not, but cling faster still,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And faster to my vest. Because ye stand</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Upon the verge of ruin, I will take</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And bear you hence, as by the ship light boats</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are guided o’er the deep: for I refuse not</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The care my children claim. Here all mankind</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are on a level, they of nobler rank</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And mean condition, to their progeny</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bear equal love. The gifts of fortune vary,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Some have abundant wealth, and some are poor;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But the whole human race feels this attachment.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exeunt</i> <span class="smcap">Hercules</span> <i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Megara</span>, <i>with the children</i>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Chorus.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center allsmcap">ODE.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">I.</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Youth is light, and free from care</div> + <div class="verse indent10">But now a burden on my head</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Heavier than Ætna’s rock, old age, I bear.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Before these eyes its sable veil is spread.</div> + <div class="verse indent6"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[63]</span>Not for the wealth of Asiatic kings,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Or heaps of gold that touched yon roof sublime,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Ere would I barter life’s enchanting prime;</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Hence wealth a brighter radiance flings,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">And poverty itself can charm:</div> + <div class="verse indent10">But thou, curst dotage, art the sum</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Of every fancied, every real harm;</div> + <div class="verse indent6">May’st thou be plunged beneath the deep, nor come</div> + <div class="verse indent6">To peopled town, or civilized abode,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Go wing thy distant flight along th’ aërial road.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">I. 2.</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Did the gods with sapient care</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Mete out their bounty to mankind,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">The good, the gift of twofold youth should share</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Unquestioned token of a virtuous mind,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Behold life’s son its blest career renew,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">While the degenerate sleep to wake no more.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">We by these means distinctly might explore</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Their merits with as clear a view,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">As sailors, who each starry spark</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Enumerate that adorns the skies.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">But now the gods have by no certain mark</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Directed whom we for their worth should prize,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Whom shun as wicked: uninformed we live,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Revolving time hath nought but plenteous wealth to give.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">II. 1.</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Mindful of its ancient themes,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">This faltering tongue shall ne’er refuse,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Oft as I wander by their haunted streams,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">To blend each gentle grace and tuneful muse:</div> + <div class="verse indent6">O may I dwell among the harmonious choirs,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">My brows still circled with a laureate wreath!</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Still shall the bard, a hoary veteran, breathe</div> + <div class="verse indent10">The strains Mnemosuné inspires:</div> + <div class="verse indent10">While memory wakes, I ne’er will cease</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Th’ exploits of Hercules to sing;</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Where Bromius yields the purple vine’s increase,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Where Libyan pipes and the lute’s sevenfold string</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Are heard in dulcet unison; to praise</div> + <div class="verse indent4">The Nine who aid the dance, I’ll wake my choral lays.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">II. 2.</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Delian virgins at the gate</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Assembled, festive pæans sing,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">The triumphs of Latona’s son relate,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">And nimbly vaulting form their beauteous ring.</div> + <div class="verse indent6"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[64]</span>Into thy temple, by devotion led,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">O Phœbus, will I raise my parting breath;</div> + <div class="verse indent6">The swan thus warbles at the hour of death:</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Though hoary hairs my cheeks o’erspread.</div> + <div class="verse indent10">How great the hero’s generous love,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Whose merits aid our votive song,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Alcides the resistless son of Jove;</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Those trophies, which to noble birth belong</div> + <div class="verse indent6">By him are all surpassed, his forceful hand</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Restoring peace, hath cleansed this monster-teeming land.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Lycus</span>, <span class="smcap">Amphitryon</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Lyc.</span> Forth from the portals at due season comes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Amphitryon; for ’tis long since ye were decked</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In robes and trappings such as suit the dead.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But go, command the children and the wife</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Hercules without these gates t’ appear,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Because ye have engaged that ye will die</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By your own hands.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> <span class="hemi14">You persecute, O king,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Me whom already fortune hath made wretched,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And with sharp taunts insult my dying race:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Although in power supreme, you ought to act</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With moderation; but since you impose</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This harsh necessity, we must submit,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And execute your will.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Lyc.</span> <span class="hemi18">Where’s Megara?</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where are the children of Alcmena’s son?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> To me she seems, as far as I can guess,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From looking through the door——</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Lyc.</span> <span class="hemi24">What grounds hast thou</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">For this opinion?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> <span class="hemi14">In a suppliant posture</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">To sit before the Lares.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Lyc.</span> <span class="hemi20">And implore them</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">With unavailing plaints to save her life.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> In vain too calls she on her lord deceased.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Lyc.</span> But he is absent, he can ne’er return.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> Unless some god should raise him up again.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Lyc.</span> Go thou, and from the palace lead her hither.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> ’Twould make me an accomplice in the murder,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If this I acted.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Lyc.</span> <span class="hemi12">Since thy soul recoils,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">I, whom such idle scruples cannot move,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will with their mother bring the children forth.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Follow my steps, my servants, that at length</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We may behold sweet peace succeed our toils.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exit</i> <span class="smcap">Lycus</span>.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[65]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> Depart: for to that place the Fates ordain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">You now are on the road; perhaps the sequel</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will be another’s province: but expect,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Since you have done amiss, to suffer vengeance.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He, O ye veterans, at a lucky hour</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Enters the palace, for on ambushed swords</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His feet will stumble, while the villain hopes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Those he would murder are too near at hand</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To ’scape: but I will go to see him fall</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A breathless corse: for when our foe endures</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The just requital of his impious deeds,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">There is a joy resulting from his death.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exit</i> <span class="smcap">Amphitryon</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Changed are our evil fortunes. To the shades</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He who was erst a mighty king descends.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O justice, and ye dread vicissitudes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of fate, ordained by Heaven!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">1st <span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> <span class="hemi16">Thou art at length</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Gone thither, where by death thou for those taunts,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With which thou o’er the virtuous didst exult,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shalt make atonement.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">2nd <span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> <span class="hemi8">My delight bursts forth</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">In floods of tears: for now is come that day</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The tyrant deemed would never visit him.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">1st <span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> But let us also look into the palace,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My aged friend, and mark if yonder miscreant</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Be punished as I wish.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Lyc.</span> [<i>within.</i>] <span class="hemi8">Ah me! ah me!</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> That melody most grateful to mine ear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beneath yon roofs commences; nor is death</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Far distant; for these cries the monarch utters</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are but a prelude to the fatal stroke.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Lyc.</span> [<i>within.</i>] Ye realms of Cadmus, I through treachery perish!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">2nd <span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> Others have perished by that bloody hand.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Since then the retribution thou endur’st</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is just, endure it bravely.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">1st <span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> <span class="hemi14">Where is he</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who uttered ’gainst the blest immortal powers</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His foolish blasphemies, and called the gods</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Too weak to punish him?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">2nd <span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> <span class="hemi10">That impious man</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is now no more. Yon vaulted roofs are silent,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Let us begin the harmonious choral lay;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For, as I wished, our comrades prove victorious.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[66]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Chorus.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center allsmcap">ODE.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">I. 1.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">The sumptuous banquet, with th’ enlivening dance</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Now every Theban shall employ;</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Dried are our tears, and past mischance</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Yields to the lyre abundant themes of joy:</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Stretched low in dust the tyrant lies;</div> + <div class="verse indent10">But he, who by an ancient right</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Obtains the sceptre, is our king;</div> + <div class="verse indent6">From Acheron’s loathed stream behold him rise,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Revisiting the cheerful realms of light,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">And hope, unlooked for, doth fresh transports bring.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">I. 2.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">The gods take cognizance of broken trust,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Nor are they deaf to holy prayer.</div> + <div class="verse indent10">On gold and fortune, power unjust</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Attends; man’s reason is too weak to bear</div> + <div class="verse indent10">The joint temptations. Heaven at length,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Whose kind protection we invoke,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Deigning with pity to behold</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Our woes, to the neglected laws their strength</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Restoring, with vindictive fury broke</div> + <div class="verse indent4">The sable car which bore the god of gold.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">II. 1.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Now let the flowery wreath, the victor’s pride,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Adorn Ismenos; let each street employ</div> + <div class="verse indent10">The hours in dance and social joy;</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Let Dirce from the silver wave arise,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">And old Asopus’ daughters by her side,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Forsaking their paternal stream,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Conspire to aid our rapturous theme,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">And for Alcides claim the victor’s prize.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Ye Pythian rocks, with waving forests crowned,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">And seats of Helicon’s melodious choir,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Come every nymph, with cheerful sound,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Visit these walls which to the clouds aspire;</div> + <div class="verse indent6">In helmed crop here warriors filled the plains.</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Whose lineage undecayed from age to age remains.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">II. 2.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">O ye, the partners of one nuptial bed,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Happy Amphitryon, sprung from mortal race,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">And Jove, who rushed to the embrace</div> + <div class="verse indent6"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[67]</span>Of bright Alcmena; for of thee aright,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Though erst, O Jove, I doubted, was it said</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Thou didst enjoy that beauteous dame;</div> + <div class="verse indent10">With the renown his triumphs claim,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Time through the world displays Alcides’ might,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Emerged from grisly Pluto’s realms abhorred,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Who quits the darksome caverns of the earth,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">To me a far more welcome lord,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Than yon vile tyrant of ignoble birth.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Now to the bloody strife we lift our eyes;</div> + <div class="verse indent4">The vengeful sword is bared, if Justice haunt the skies.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> Ha! are we all by the same panic seized?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My aged friends, what spectre, hovering o’er</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The palace, do I see? Those tardy feet</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Raise from the ground, precipitate thy flight,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Be gone.—From me, O Pæan, mighty king,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Avert these evils.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Iris</span>, <span class="smcap">a Fiend</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iris.</span> <span class="hemi16">O, ye aged men,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Be not dismayed: the fiend whom ye behold</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is daughter of old Night, and I am Iris,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The gods’ ambassadress. We are not come</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To harm your city; for we only war</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Against one man, who, sprung ’tis said from Jove</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And from Alcmena: till he had performed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Severest labours, fate preserved his life;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor did his father Jove permit, or me,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or Juno, e’er to hurt him: but, each toil</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Eurystheus’ hate enjoined, now he hath finished,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Those oft-polluted hands with recent gore</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will Juno stain, by urging him to slay</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His children: in this scheme I too conspire.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Come on then, armed with a relentless heart,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Unwedded daughter of the pitchy Night;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Instil into that hero’s breast such frenzy</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As shall o’erturn his reason, and constrain him</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To perpetrate this murder; his wild steps</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Goad onward, throw the bloody cable forth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That having sent this band of graceful sons,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Slain by their father’s arm, adown the gulf</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Acheron, th’ effects of Juno’s wrath</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And mine, he may experience; for the gods</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Would be mere things of no account, but great</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Would be the power of man, if he escaped</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Unpunished.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Fiend.</span> <span class="hemi6">I from noble parents spring,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Night is my mother; and that blood which streamed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From the foul wound of Ouranus, my sire:</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[68]</span>To me belongs this praise, I ’gainst my friend</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No envious rancour feel, nor with delight</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Invade them; but this counsel would suggest</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To you and Juno, ere I see you rush</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Into a fatal error, if my words</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Can move you: he into whose house you send me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is not obscure, or in the realms beneath,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or yet among the gods: for when o’er lands,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Impervious erst, and o’er the stormy waves,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He had established peace, he to the gods</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their ancient honours, which by impious men</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Had been abolished, singly did restore.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I therefore would dissuade you from contriving</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Gainst him these mischiefs.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iris.</span> <span class="hemi24">Blame not thou the schemes</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Devised by Juno and by me.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Fiend.</span> <span class="hemi20">Your steps</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Into a better path, from that which leads</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To evil, would I turn.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iris.</span> <span class="hemi18">The wife of Jove</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sent thee not hither to act thus discreetly.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Fiend.</span> Witness, thou sun, reluctant I obey.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But if constrained to be the instrument</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Juno’s wrath and yours, I with such speed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As when the hounds obey the huntsman’s voice,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your signal will attend; nor shall the deep</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Upheaving with a groan its troubled waves,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The earthquake, or the thunderbolt, whose blast</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is winged with fate, outstrip me, when I rush</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Into the breast of Hercules: the gates</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will I burst open, and assail the house,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">First causing his devoted sons to bleed;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor shall their murderer know that his own hand</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Slew those whom he begot, till he is rescued</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From the distraction I inspire. Behold</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He at the barrier stands, and shakes his head,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And rolls in silence his distorted eyes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Flaming with anger. To contain his breath</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No longer able, like a bull, prepared</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To make the terrible assault, he bellows,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And calls the Furies from the dire abyss</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Tartarus. Thee I to a greater height</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of frenzy soon will rouse, and through thy soul</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Cause my terrific clarion to resound.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O noble Iris, to Olympus’ height</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Now wing your swift career, while I, unseen,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will enter the abodes of Hercules.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exeunt</i> <span class="smcap">Iris</span> <i>and the</i> <span class="smcap">Fiend</span>.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[69]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Thou city, groan; thy choicest flower,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The son of Jove, is cropped: O Greece,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy benefactor’s fatal hour</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Impends. To thee for ever lost,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Assailed by that infernal pest,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The dauntless chief, deprived of peace,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall feel his agonizing breast</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With horrible distraction tossed.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hence in her brazen chariot went</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The raging fiend, on mischief bent;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">She urges with a scorpion goad</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Her steeds along th’ ethereal road.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That hundred-headed child of Night.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With all those hissing snakes around,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From her envenomed eyeballs bright</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The Gorgon thus directs the wound.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Soon changed by Heaven’s supreme decree,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is man’s short-lived felicity.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ye infants, soon shall ye expire,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Slain by your own distracted sire.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ah me! thy son, without delay,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall be left childless, mighty Jove;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For on his tortured soul shall prey</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yon fiend, and by the powers above</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Vengeance commissioned to destroy.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O mansion erst the scene of joy!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To form a prelude to this dance,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Neither the cheering timbrel’s sound,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor sportive Menades advance;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Here human gore shall stream around,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Instead of that refreshing juice,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which Bacchus’ purple grapes produce.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Away, ye children, danger’s nigh,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For he who wakes this hostile strain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Traces your footsteps as ye fly;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor will the fiend with fruitless rage,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A war beneath those mansions wage.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Alas! we sink o’erwhelmed with woe,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My tears shall never cease to flow.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I wail the grandsire hoar with age,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The mother too who bore that train</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of lovely children, but in vain.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lo, what a tempest shakes the wall,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And makes th’ uprooted mansion fall!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What mean’st thou, frantic son of Jove?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The hellish uproar thou dost raise,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Filling the palace with amaze,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is such as vexed the realms above,</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[70]</span>Till issuing with victorious might,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Pallas invincible in fight</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The huge Enceladus oppressed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And piled all Ætna on his breast.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Messenger</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Mes.</span> O ye whose heads are whitened o’er with age!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Why dost thou call me with so loud a voice?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Mes.</span> Atrocious are the mischiefs which have happened</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Within the palace.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi14">I need now call in</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">No other seer. The boys are slain. Ah me!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Mes.</span> Indulge your groans, for such events as these</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Demand them.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi8">By a foe, e’en by the hand</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of their own sire, in whom that foe they found.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Mes.</span> No tongue can utter woes beyond what we</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have suffered.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi10">What account hast thou to give</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of the dire fate the father on his sons</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Inflicted? Sent by the avenging gods,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Say why such mischiefs visited this house,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And how the children miserably fell.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Mes.</span> To purify the house were victims brought</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Before Jove’s altar, after Hercules</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Had slain and cast the monarch of this land</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Forth from these doors. Beside the victor stood</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His band of graceful children, with his sire</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And Megara. The sacred vase was borne</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Around the altar: from ill-omened words</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We all abstained. But while Alcmena’s son</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In his right hand a kindled torch sustained,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ready to dip it in the lustral water,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He made a silent stand; on this delay</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The children steadfastly observed their sire,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But he no longer was the same; his eyes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Were seized with strong convulsions, from their fibres</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Blood started forth, his bearded cheeks with foam</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Were covered: he midst bursts of laughter wild</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Cried: “Wherefore need I kindle, O my father,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The fire for sacrifice, ere I have slain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Eurystheus, in a double toil engaged,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When I at once might better finish all?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Soon as I hither bring Eurystheus’ head,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These hands which reek already with the gore</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Lycus, will I cleanse. Pour forth those waters</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Upon the ground, and cast your urns away.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who brings my bow, my club? I to Mycene</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will go: let spades and levers be prepared,</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[71]</span>That I from their foundations may o’erturn</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Those walls which with the plummet and the line</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The Cyclops reared.” Then eager to depart,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Although he had no chariot, yet he talked</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As if he had one, fancying that he mounted</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The seat, and with his hand as with a thong</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Drove the ideal steeds. His servants laughed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And at the same time trembled; till one cried</div> + <div class="verse indent0">(As on each other they with eager eyes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Were gazing), “Doth my master sport with us,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or is he frantic?” Meanwhile through the palace</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Backward and forward he with hasty step</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Was walking: but no sooner did he reach</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That spacious hall, where at the genial board</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The men are wont t’ assemble, than he said</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That he was come to Nisus’ ancient city,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And to th’ imperial dome: and on the floor,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As if reclining at the genial board,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bade us set forth the banquet. But the pause</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which intervened was short, ere he exclaimed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That he was traversing the Isthmian rocks</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O’ergrown with woods; then casting off his mantle</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He strove though there was no antagonist</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With whom to strive, proclaimed himself the victor,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The name of that imaginary foe</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Announcing, over whom he had prevailed:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But ’gainst Eurystheus he anon did utter</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Menaces the most horrible, and talk</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As if he at Mycene had been present.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His father strove to hold his vigorous arm,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And said to him; “What mean you, O my son?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What wanderings into distant realms are these?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hath not the blood of him you have just slain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Distracted you?” Then for Eurystheus’ sire</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Mistaking his own father, as he strove</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To touch his hand, repelled the trembling suppliant:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Against his sons, the quiver and the bow,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thinking to slay the children of Eurystheus,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He next made ready; they with terror smitten</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ran different ways; the first beneath the robes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of his unhappy mother skulked; a second</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Flew to the shade the lofty column formed:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Under the altar quivering like a bird,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The last concealed himself: their mother cried,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">“What mean’st thou, O thou father, would’st thou slay</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy sons?” Amphitryon too, that aged man,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And all the servants shrieked. But round the pillar</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The boy pursuing, he at length turned short,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And meeting him, as foot to foot they stood,</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[72]</span>Transfixed his liver with a deadly shaft;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Supine he fell, and with his streaming gore</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Distained the sculptured pillars, at whose base</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He breathed his last. But, with a shout, Alcides</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Uttered these boasts: “One of Eurystheus’ brood</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Slain by this arm, for the inveterate hate</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His father bore me, to atone, here lies</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A breathless corse.” Against another then,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who to the basis of the altar fled,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And hoped to ’scape unseen, he bent his bow;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But ere he gave the wound, the wretched youth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Fell at his father’s knees, stretched forth his hands</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To touch his chin, or twine around his neck,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And cried: “O spare my life, my dearest sire,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yours, I am yours indeed; nor will you slay</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Eurystheus’ son.” But he with glaring eyes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Looked like a Gorgon, while the boy pressed on</div> + <div class="verse indent0">So close, he had no scope to aim the shaft,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But as the smith the glowing anvil smites,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Full on his auburn tresses he discharged</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The ponderous mace, the crashing bones gave way.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Scarce had he slain the second, when he ran</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To butcher his third son o’er both their corses:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But the unhappy mother in her arms</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Caught up, into an inner chamber bore</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The child, and closed the doors: but he, as if</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He had indeed been at the Cyclops’ city,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With levers from their hinges forced them, pierced</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His wife and offspring with a single shaft,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And then to slay his aged father rushed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With speed impetuous: but a spectre came,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which to our eyes the awful semblance bore</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Pallas brandishing her pointed spear,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And threw a rocky fragment at the breast</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Hercules, which checked his murderous frenzy,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And plunged him into sleep. Upon the ground</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Headlong he fell, where ’midst the ruins lay,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Rent from its pedestal a broken column:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But rallying from our flight, we, by his sire</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Assisted, to the pillar bound him fast</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With thongs, that on his wakening from this trance</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He might commit no more atrocious deeds.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">There doth he taste an inauspicious sleep,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">First having slain his children and his consort.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I know no mortal more completely wretched.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exit</i> <span class="smcap">Messenger</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> There was a murder in the Argive land</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Most wondrous and unparalleled through Greece</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In days of yore, which the confederate daughters</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[73]</span>Of Danaus perpetrated; but their crimes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By the dire fate of Progne’s only son</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Were far surpassed. I of a bloody deed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Now speak which they committed, they whose voice</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Equals the Muses’ choir; but thou who spring’st</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From Jove himself, hast in thy frenzy slain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">All thy three sons; for them what groans, what tears,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What invocations to the shades beneath,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or songs shall I prepare to soothe the rage</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of grisly Pluto? Shivered on the ground</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The portals of that lofty mansion view,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Behold the corses of the children stretcht</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Before their miserable sire, whose senses,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Since he hath slain them, in profoundest sleep</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are buried. Mark those knotty cords around</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The brawny limbs of Hercules, entwined</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And to the columns in the palace fixed.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But old Amphitryon, like a bird who wails</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Over its callow brood, with tardy step</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Comes hither in the bitterness of grief.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Amphitryon</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><i>The Palace gates thrown open, discover</i> <span class="smcap">Hercules</span><br><i>stretched on the ground and sleeping</i>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> Ye aged Thebans, will ye not be silent,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will ye not suffer him dissolved in sleep</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His miseries to forget?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi18">These tears, these groans,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">To you, O venerable man, I pay,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To those slain children, and the chief renowned</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For his victorious conflicts.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> <span class="hemi26">Farther still</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Retire; forbear, forbear those clamorous sounds,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lest his repose ye break, and from a trance</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The sleeper rouse.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi14">How dreadful was this slaughter!</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> Ha! ha! begone, for he in wild confusion</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is starting up. Why will ye not lament,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ye aged men, in a more gentle tone?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lest roused from sleep he burst his chains, destroy</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The city, smite his sire, and with the ground</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lay these proud mansions level.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi34">This I hold</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Impossible.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> <span class="hemi8">Be silent, I will mark</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whether he breathe: O let me place my ear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Still closer.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi8">Sleeps he?</span></div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[74]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> <span class="hemi20">An accursed repose,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Alas! he tastes, who hath his consort slain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And slain his sons with that resounding bow.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Now wail.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> <span class="hemi12">I wail those children’s fate.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi40">Your son,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Alas! old man, our equal pity claims.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> Observe strict silence, for again he rises</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And turns around: I will conceal myself</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beneath that roof.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi14">Be of good cheer: night seals</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">The eyelids of your son.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> <span class="hemi20">Mark, mark me well,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">I am so wretched that without reluctance</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I can bid life adieu: but if he kill</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Me too who am his father, guilt on guilt</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall he accumulate, and join the stings</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of parricide to those which from the Furies</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who haunt him, he already doth endure.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Better you then had died, when you prepared</div> + <div class="verse indent0">T’ avenge the slaughtered brothers of Alcmena,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And stormed the fortress of the Taphian isle.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> Fly, leave the palace instantly; avoid</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That frantic man, who from his sleep is roused,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For adding soon fresh slaughter to the past,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With Bacchanalian transport shall he range</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Through Cadmus’ city.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi16">Why hast thou, O Jove,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hated thy son so bitterly, and plunged him</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Into this sea of troubles?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> [<i>waking.</i>] <span class="hemi12">Ha! I breathe,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">And view each wonted object, air, and earth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And these bright solar beams. Into what storm,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What dreadful perturbation of the soul</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have I been plunged! all heated I transpire,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Not from my lungs, but from my feverish heart.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Behold me! wherefore am I bound with chains,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Like a disabled ship towed into haven,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And by this youthful chest and nervous arm</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Joined to a broken pillar? Here I sit</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Contiguous to the corses of the slain;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My winged shafts lie scattered on the ground,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With that unerring bow which erst I bore</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In war to guard me, and with care preserved.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sent by Eurystheus, am I then arrived</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A second time at the drear shades beneath?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Neither the rock of Sisyphus, nor Pluto,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor Ceres’ sceptred daughter, do I see.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I sure am stricken senseless with amazement,</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[75]</span>And know not where I am. But ho! what friend</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is near, or at a distance, who will come</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To give me information? For each object</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which I was erst acquainted with seems strange.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> Shall I approach this scene of my afflictions</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ye aged men?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi8">I will attend your steps,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor meanly in calamity betray you.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> Why dost thou weep, my sire, and veil those eyes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Retiring far from thy beloved son?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> My son—for though unhappy, you are mine.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> But what calamity do I endure</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That causes thee to shed these tears?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> <span class="hemi34">Your woes</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are such, that any god, if he endured</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The same, would groan.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi18">This hath a dreadful sound:</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">But you, my fortunes have not yet explained.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> Because if you your senses have recovered,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yourself behold them.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi18">Tell me what thou mean’st—</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">If to my charge thou lay’st some recent crime.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> If you no longer to the powers of hell</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are subjected, the truth will I unfold.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> Alas! how darkly thou again allud’st</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To what my soul suspects.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> <span class="hemi22">Your looks I watch</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">To see if reason wholly be restored.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> I recollect not that I e’er was frantic.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> [<i>to the</i> <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.]</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall I unbind the shackles of my son,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or how must we proceed?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi20">Say who was he</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">That bound me? for with scorn have I been treated.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> Thus much of your afflictions may you know:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Forbear all farther questions.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi26">Is thy silence</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sufficient then to teach me what I wish</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To learn?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> <span class="hemi6">O Jove, dost thou behold the curses</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hurled on thy son from envious Juno’s throne?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> What dire effects of her inveterate rage</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have I endured?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> <span class="hemi12">Of that vindictive goddess</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">No longer think: but to your own afflictions</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Attend.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi4">Alas! I utterly am ruined!</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">What farther ill wouldst thou disclose?</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[76]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> <span class="hemi36">See there</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">The corses of your murdered children lie.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> Alas! what dreadful objects strike these eyes!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> My son, against your progeny you waged</div> + <div class="verse indent0">An inauspicious war.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi16">Why talk of war?</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who slew them?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> <span class="hemi10">You, your arrows, and the cause</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of all these mischiefs, that remorseless goddess.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> What mean’st thou, or what crime have I committed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My father, O thou messenger of ill?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> By frenzy urged. But you such questions ask,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As I with grief must answer.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi24">Have I murdered</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">My consort also?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> <span class="hemi12">All these deeds of horror</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">That single arm did perpetrate.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi28">Alas!</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">A cloud of griefs surrounds me.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> <span class="hemi28">For this cause</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your fortunes I lament.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi20">Have I demolished</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">My own house too, with Bacchanalian rage</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Inspired?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> <span class="hemi6">The whole of what I know amounts</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">To this, that you are most completely wretched.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> Where did this fatal madness seize me first?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> As round the altar, you, a flaming brand,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To expiate the foul murder which distains</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your hands, were bearing.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi22">Ah! why lengthen out</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">A guilty life, when of my dearest children</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I am become the murderer? Why delay</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To leap from the high rock, or with a sword</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Transpierce this bosom, on myself their blood</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Avenging? or t’ avert that infamy</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which waits me, shall I rush into the flames?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But Theseus comes to bar these desperate counsels,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My kinsman and my friend; in a true light</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To him shall I appear, and the pollution</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I have incurred by slaying my own sons</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will be conspicuous to my dearest comrade.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What shall I do? or where can I find out</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A solitude impervious to my woes?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On rapid wings, O could I mount, or plunge</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Into the nether regions of the earth?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Give me a veil to darken o’er my head.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For ’tis with shame I think on the offence</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Caused by this deed: but to myself alone</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[77]</span>Ascribing the defilement of their blood,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I wish not to contaminate the guiltless.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Theseus</span>, <span class="smcap">Amphitryon</span>, <span class="smcap">Hercules</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">The.</span> An armed squadron of Athenian youths</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I hither bring, who near Asopus’ stream</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are stationed to assist your son in battle.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For to the city of Erectheus’ race</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A rumour came, that Lycus, having seized</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The sceptre of this land, is waging war</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Gainst you. O aged man, I to repay</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The benefits which Hercules conferred</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On me, whom from the deary shades beneath</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In safety he redeemed, on your behalf</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Attend, if of this arm, or of my troops,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ye need the help. But, ha, what means the floor</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With weltering corses heaped? hath my design</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Proved ineffectual? am I then arrived</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Too late to remedy the dreadful mischiefs</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which have already ta’en effect? who slew</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Those children, or whose consort was the dame</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whom I behold? for where the boys are laid,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No signs appear of any battle fought:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But sure I of some other recent ill</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Now make discovery.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> <span class="hemi16">O thou goddess, throned</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Upon that hill where verdant olives spring.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">The.</span> Why speak you to me in this piteous tone,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And with such prelude?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> <span class="hemi18">Grievous are the ills</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which we endure through Heaven’s severe behest.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">The.</span> What boys are they o’er whose remains you weep?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> Them did my miserable son beget,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And when begotten slay, this impious murder</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He dared to perpetrate.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">The.</span> <span class="hemi20">Express yourself</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">In more auspicious terms.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> <span class="hemi22">I wish t’ obey</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Th’ injunctions thou hast given.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">The.</span> <span class="hemi28">What dreadful words</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are these which you have uttered?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> <span class="hemi30">In a moment</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Were we undone.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">The.</span> <span class="hemi12">What mean you, what hath happened?</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> This frenzy seized him sprinkled with the venom,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which from the hundred-headed hydra flowed.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">The.</span> Such Juno’s wrath. But who, O aged man,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Stands ’mong the dead?</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[78]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> <span class="hemi18">My son, my valiant son,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Inured to many toils, who in that war</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where earth’s gigantic brood were slain, advanced</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Among the gods to the Phlegræan field</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Armed with his buckler.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">The.</span> <span class="hemi20">Ah, what mighty chief</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Was e’er so wretched?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> <span class="hemi18">Scarcely shalt thou know</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">A man with greater labours vexed, and doomed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To wander through more regions.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">The.</span> <span class="hemi28">But why veils he</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beneath that robe his miserable head?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> Because thy presence, friendship’s sacred ties</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Added to those of kindred, and the gore</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of his slain children, fill his soul with shame.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">The.</span> I with his griefs am come to sympathize;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Uncover him.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> <span class="hemi8">That garment from your eyes</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Remove, display your visage to the sun.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">It ill becomes my dignity to weep:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet I a suppliant strive to touch your beard,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your knees, your hand, and shed these hoary tears.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O curb your soul, my son, whose fierceness equals</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That of the lion, else ’twill hurry you</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To bloody impious rage, and make you add</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Mischiefs to mischiefs.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">The.</span> <span class="hemi20">Ho! on thee I call,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">On thee, who to that seat of misery seem’st</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Fast riveted; permit thy friends to see</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy face: for darkness hath no cloud so black</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As to conceal thy woes. Why dost thou wave</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy hand and point to those whom thou hast slain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lest by this converse I pollute myself?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I am not loth to share thy woes; I erst</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Was happy (which my soul is ever bound</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To recollect with gratitude) when thou</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From hell’s loathed gloom, the mansion of the dead,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Didst safely bear me to the realms of light.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For I abhor th’ attachment of those friends</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which time impairs, him too who would enjoy</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their better fortunes, but refuse to sail</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In the same bark with those who prove unblest.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Rise up, unveil thy miserable head</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And look on me. A noble mind sustains</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Without reluctance what the gods inflict.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> Did you, O Theseus, see me slay my children?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">The.</span> I heard, and now behold the ills thou speak’st of.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> Then why didst thou uncover to the sun</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My guilty head?</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[79]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">The.</span> <span class="hemi12">Why not? canst thou, a man,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Pollute the gods?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi14">Avaunt, O wretch, avaunt,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">For I am all contagion.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">The.</span> <span class="hemi20">To a friend</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">No mischief from his friend can be transmitted.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> Your conduct I applaud, nor will deny</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That I have served you.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">The.</span> <span class="hemi20">I who erst received</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Those favours at thy hands, now pity thee.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> I am indeed an object of your pity,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From having slain my sons.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">The.</span> <span class="hemi22">For thee I weep,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Because to me thou heretofore wert kind</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When vexed by other ills.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi22">Did you e’er meet</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">With those who were more wretched?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">The.</span> <span class="hemi30">Thy afflictions</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are of such giant bulk, that they to heaven</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Reach from this nether world.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi26">Hence am I ready</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">For instant death.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">The.</span> <span class="hemi14">Canst thou suppose the gods</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Regard thy threats?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi16">Self-willed are they and cruel,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">And I defy the gods.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">The.</span> <span class="hemi16">Restrain thy tongue,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lest thou by uttering such presumptuous words</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Increase thy sufferings.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi20">I with woes am fraught</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Already, nor remains there space for more.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">The.</span> But what design’st thou? whither art thou borne</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With frantic rage?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi14">In death will I return</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">To those abodes beneath, whence late I came.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">The.</span> Thou speak’st the language of a vulgar man.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> Exempt from all calamity yourself,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On me these admonitions you bestow.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">The.</span> Are these fit words for Hercules to use,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who many toils endured?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi20">I had not suffered</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thus much, if any bounds had circumscribed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My labours.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">The.</span> <span class="hemi8">Benefactor of mankind,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">And their great friend?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi20">From them no aid I find;</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">But Juno triumphs.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">The.</span> <span class="hemi14">Greece will not permit thee</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">To perish unregarded.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[80]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi18">Hear me now,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">That I with reason your advice may combat;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To you will I explain both why it is</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And long hath been impossible for me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To live; and first, because from him, I spring,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who, having slain the father of Alcmena,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Defiled with murder, wedded her who bore me.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When thus the basis of a family</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is laid in guilt, the children must be wretched.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But Jove (or some one who assumed the name</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Jove) begot me; hence to Juno’s hate</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Was I obnoxious. Yet, O let not this</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Offend thine ear, old man, for thee, not Jove,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I deem my real sire. While yet I hung</div> + <div class="verse indent0">An infant at the breast, Jove’s wife by stealth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sent snakes into my cradle to destroy me.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But after I attained the bloom of manhood,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of what avail were it, should I recount</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The various labours I endured, what lions,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What typhons with a triple form, what giants,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or what four-footed centaurs, who in crowds</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Rushed to the battle, by this arm were slain?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How I despatched the hydra too, that monster</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With heads surrounded, branching out anew,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And having suffered many toils beside,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Went to the mansions of the dead, to bring</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hell’s triple-headed dog into the realms</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of light, for thus Eurystheus had enjoined?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But I at last, wretch that I am, this murder</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Did perpetrate, and my own children slay,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That to their utmost summit I might raise</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The miseries of this house. My fate is such</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That in my native Thebes I must not dwell:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But if I here continue, to what temple</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or friends can I repair? for by such curses</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I now am visited, that none will dare</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To speak to me. To Argos shall I go?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How can I, when my country drives me forth?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To any other city should I fly,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The consequence were this: with looks askance</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I should be viewed as one well known, and harassed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With these reproaches by malignant tongues:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">“Is not this he, the son of Jove, who murdered</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His children and his consort? from this land</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall not th’ accursed miscreant be expelled?”</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To him who was called happy once, such change</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is bitterness indeed: as for the man</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whose sufferings are perpetual, him, when wretched,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No kinsman pities. I to such a pitch</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of woe shall come, I deem, at length, that earth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[81]</span>Uttering a voice indignant, will forbid me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To touch its surface, ocean, o’er its waves,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And every river, o’er its streams, to pass.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I shall be like Ixion then, with chains</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Fixed to the wheel. ’Twere better that no Greek</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With whom I in my happier days conversed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Should see me more. What motive can I have</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For living? or to me of what avail</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Were it to keep possession of this useless</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And this unholy being? flushed with joy,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Let Jove’s illustrious consort, in the dance,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Strike with her sandals the resplendent floor</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of high Olympus: for she now hath gained</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Her utmost wish, and from his basis torn</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The first of Grecian warriors. Who can pray</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To such a goddess, who, with envy stung,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Because Jove loved a woman, hath destroyed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The benefactors of the Grecian realm,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Those blameless objects of her hate?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">The.</span> <span class="hemi32">This mischief</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Springs from no god except the wife of Jove.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Well dost thou judge, in saying that ’tis easier</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To give thee wholesome counsel, than endure</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such agonies. But no man ’scapes unwounded</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By fortune, and no god; unless the songs</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of ancient bards mislead. Have not the gods</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Among themselves formed lawless marriages?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have they not bound in ignominious chains</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their fathers, to obtain a throne? In heaven</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet dwell they, and bear up beneath the load</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of all their crimes. But what canst thou allege,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If thou, frail mortal as thou art, those ills</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Immoderately bewail’st to which the gods</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Without reluctance yield? from Thebes retire,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Since thus the laws ordain; and follow me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To Pallas’ city: when thy hands are there</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Cleansed from pollution, I to thee will give</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A palace, and with thee divide my wealth.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The presents which the citizens to me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Appropriated, when twice seven blooming victims</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I by the slaughter of the Cretan bull</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Redeemed, on thee will I bestow. For portions</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of land are through the realm to me assigned:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These, while thou liv’st henceforth shall by thy name</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Be called: but after death, when to the shades</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Pluto thou descend’st, with sacrifice</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And with the sculptured tomb, shall Athens grace</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy memory. For her citizens have gained</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This fairest wreath from every Grecian state,</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[82]</span>By yielding succour to the virtuous man</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their glories are augmented: and to thee</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will I repay with gratitude the kindness</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which thou deserv’st for saving me; for thou</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hast need of friends at present: but no friend</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is wanted when the gods confer renown;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For, if he wills, Jove’s aid is all-sufficient.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> You hold a language foreign to my griefs.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But I suppose not that the gods delight</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In lawless nuptials, that their hands are bound</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With galling chains, nor did I e’er believe,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor can I be convinced, that one bears rule</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Over another. For a deity</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If he be truly such, can stand in need</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of no support. But by some lying bard</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Those miserable fables were devised.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Although I am most wretched, yet I thought</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I might be charged with cowardice for leaving</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These realms of light. For he who bears not up</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Gainst adverse fortune, never can withstand</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The weapon of his foe. I am resolved</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To wait for death with firmness: to your city</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Meantime will I retreat, and am most grateful</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For your unnumbered gifts. Unnumbered labours</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have I been erst acquainted with; from none</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Did I e’er shrink, these eyes did never stream</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With tears, nor thought I that I e’er should come</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To such a pitch of meanness as to weep:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But now, it seems, must Fortune be obeyed.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I am content. Thou, O my aged sire,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Behold’st my exile, thou in me behold’st</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The murderer of my children: to the tomb</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Consign their corses with funereal pomp,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And o’er them shed the tributary tear:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For me the laws allow not to perform</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This office. Let their mother, e’en in death,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Clasp to her breast, and in her arms sustain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Our wretched offspring, whom in evil hour</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I slew reluctant. But when thou with earth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hast covered them, thy residence still keep</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Here in this city, miserably indeed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet on thy soul lay this constraint, to bear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With me the woes which I most deeply feel.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The very sire, ye children, who begot,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Murdered you; no advantage ye derive</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From what this arm by all my labours gained,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And from your father’s triumphs no renown.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have not I slain thee too who didst preserve</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My bed inviolate, and o’er my house</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Long watch with patient care? Ah me! my wife,</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[83]</span>My sons: but how much more to be lamented</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Am I myself, from them for ever torn?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ye melancholy joys of kisses lavished</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On their remains, and ye my loathed companions,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The weapons which I still retain, but doubt</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whether to keep or dash them to the ground;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For they, while at my side they hang, will seem</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To utter these reproachful words: “With us</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy consort and thy children hast thou slain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet thou the very instruments preserv’st</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which were their murderers.” After such a charge</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Can I still bear them? what can I allege?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But stripping off those arms with which through Greece</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I have achieved full many glorious deeds,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall I expose myself to those who hate me,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And die ignobly? I must not abandon</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But keep them still, though sorrowing. Aid me, Theseus,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In this one enterprise; to Argos go</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And for your friend obtain the great reward</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Promised for dragging from the shades of hell</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That execrable hound: lest if by you</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Deserted, I through grief for my slain children</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Should come to some calamitous end. Thou realm</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Cadmus, and ye citizens of Thebes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With tresses shorn, in concert weep; the tomb</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of my slain children visit, there bewail,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In one funereal dirge, the dead, and me;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For smitten with the same dire scourge of fate</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By Juno, we all perish.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">The.</span> <span class="hemi20">Hapless man,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Arise; enough of tears.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi20">I cannot rise,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">These limbs are now grown stiff.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">The.</span> <span class="hemi28">Calamity</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Subdues the valiant.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi16">Would I were a stone,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Insensible to sufferings!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">The.</span> <span class="hemi22">Cease these plaints;</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">And to the friend who comes to serve thee, give</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy hand.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi6">But let me not wipe off the blood</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Upon your garments.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">The.</span> <span class="hemi16">Wipe it off, nor scruple,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">For I object not.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi14">Of my sons bereft,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">In you the likeness of a son I find.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">The.</span> Fling round my neck thine arm: I’ll lead the way.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> A pair of friends: though one of us be wretched.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such, O my aged father, is the man</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We ought to make a friend.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[84]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">The.</span> <span class="hemi22">His native realm</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Produces an illustrious progeny.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> Turn me around, that I may see my sons.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">The.</span> Hoping such philtre may thy griefs appease.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> This earnestly I wish for, and would clasp</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My father to this bosom.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> <span class="hemi20">Here, lo, here!</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">For what my son desires, to me is grateful.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">The.</span> Of all the labours thou didst erst achieve,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hast thou thus lost the memory?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi28">All those ills</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Were less severe than what I now experience.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">The.</span> Should any one behold thee grown unmanly,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He could not praise thee.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi22">Though to you I seem</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Degraded to an abject life, I trust</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That I my former courage shall resume.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">The.</span> Where now is the illustrious Hercules?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> What had you been, if still you in the shades</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Had miserably dwelt?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">The.</span> <span class="hemi16">Then sunk my courage</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beneath the meanest of the human race.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> Why then persist in saying that my woes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have quite subdued me?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">The.</span> <span class="hemi18">Onward!</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi26">Good old man,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Farewell.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> <span class="hemi6">Farewell too, O my son.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi30">My children</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Inter as I directed.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> <span class="hemi16">O, my son,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">But who will bury me?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi18">I.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> <span class="hemi20">When will you</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Come hither?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi8">After thou hast for my children</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Performed that pious office.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Amp.</span> <span class="hemi24">How?</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi30">I’ll fetch thee</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">From Thebes to Athens.—Bear into the palace</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My children’s corses which pollute the ground.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But as for me, who have disgraced and plunged</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My house in ruin, I will follow Theseus,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Towed like a battered skiff. Whoe’er prefers</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wealth or dominion to a steadfast friend,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Judges amiss.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi8">Most wretched, drowned in tears,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Reft of our great protector, we depart.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[85]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="The_Children_of_Hercules"><span class="smcap">The Children of Hercules.</span></h2> + +</div> + +<div class="max30"> + +<h3>PERSONS OF THE DRAMA.</h3> + +<ul> + <li><span class="smcap">Iolaus.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Copreus.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Chorus of Athenian Old Men.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Demophoon.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Macaria.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Alcmena.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Messenger.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Eurystheus.</span></li> +</ul> + +<h3>SCENE.—<span class="smcap">Before the Altar of Jupiter, in the Forum at +Marathon, a City in the Athenian Dominions.</span></h3> + +</div> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Iolaus.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Long have I held this sentiment: the just</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are born the streams of bounty to diffuse</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On all around them; while the man whose soul</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is warped by interest, useless in the State,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Untractable and harsh to every friend,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lives only for himself; in words alone</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This doctrine I imbibed not. Through a sense</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of virtuous shame and reverence for my kindred</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When I in peace at Argos might have dwelt,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I singly shared the toils of Hercules,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">While he on earth remained; but now he dwells</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In heaven, I guard his children, though protection</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Be what I need myself. For when their sire</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Forsook this nether world, Eurystheus strove</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Immediately to slay us; but I ’scaped</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From that oppressor’s fangs, and though to me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lost is my country, I have saved my life.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But we poor vagabonds, from city fly</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To some fresh city, ever forced to change</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Our dwelling; for Eurystheus deems it meet</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To add this wrong to former wrongs, he sends</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His heralds wheresoe’er he hears we settle,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And claims and drives us forth from every land;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No slight resentment from the Argive realm</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Against our friends denouncing, he reminds them</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of his own prosperous fortunes; when they see</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[86]</span>My weakness, and these little ones bereft</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of their great father, to superior might</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They crouch, and force the suppliant to depart.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But with the exiled race of Hercules</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A voluntary exile, I partake</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their evil fortunes, steadfastly resolved</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Not to betray them; by malignant tongues</div> + <div class="verse indent0">It never shall be said, “Oh, mark these orphans!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Since their sire’s death their kinsman Iolaus</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Protects them not.” But, exiled from all Greece,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On reaching Marathon and the domain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Subject to the same rulers, here we sit</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Before the altars of the gods, and sue</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For their assistance. In this region dwell</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Two sons of Theseus, I am told, by lot</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who portion out this realm, they from Pandion</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Descend, and to these children are allied.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We therefore undertook our present journey</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To the Athenian realm; two aged guides</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Conduct the hapless wanderers; my attention</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is to the boys devoted; but Alcmena,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Entering the adjacent temple, in her arms</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Tenderly clasps the female progeny</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of her departed son. Amid the crowd</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We fear to introduce these tender virgins,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or place them at the altars of the gods.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But Hyllus and his brothers, more mature</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In years, inquire in what far distant land</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A fortress for our future residence</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We yet can find, if we from these domains</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By force should be expelled. My sons, come hither,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Cling to this garment; for to us I see</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Eurystheus’ herald coming, by whose hate,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We wanderers, banished from each friendly realm,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are still pursued. Thou, execrable miscreant,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Perish thyself, and perish he who sent thee:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For to the noble father of these children</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Oft hath that tongue enjoined severest toils.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Copreus</span>, <span class="smcap">Iolaus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Cop.</span> What, think’st thou unmolested to enjoy</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This pleasant seat, and have thy vagrant steps</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Entered at length a city prompt to fight</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy battles? for the man who will prefer</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy feeble arm to that of great Eurystheus,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Exists not. Hence! why in these useless toils</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Dost thou persist? thou must return to Argos</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where they have doomed thee to be stoned.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[87]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> <span class="hemi34">Not thus:</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">For in this altar shall I find protection,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And this free country on whose soil we tread.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Cop.</span> Wilt thou constrain me then to have recourse</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To violence?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> <span class="hemi8">With forceful hand, nor me</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor these poor children shalt thou hence expel.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Cop.</span> Ere long shalt thou perceive that thou hast uttered</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Erroneous prophesies.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> <span class="hemi18">This ne’er shall be</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Long as I live.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Cop.</span> <span class="hemi12">Depart, for I will seize them</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Gainst thy consent, and to Eurystheus’ power</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Surrender up, for they to him belong.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> Aid me, ye ancient citizens of Athens,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For we, though suppliants, forcibly are torn</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E’en from Jove’s public altar, and the wreaths</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Twined round our sacred branches are polluted;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shame to your city, insult to the gods.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Chorus</span>, <span class="smcap">Iolaus</span>, <span class="smcap">Copreus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> What clamorous voices from yon altars rise?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What mischiefs are impending?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> <span class="hemi26">See a man</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Burdened with age, wretch that I am! lie prostrate.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Who threw thee down? what execrable hand——</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> ’Tis he, O stranger, he who to your gods</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yielding no reverence, strives with impious force</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E’en now, to drag me from this hallowed seat</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Before Jove’s altar.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi16">He! But from what land</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Cam’st thou, old man, to this confederate state</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Formed of four cities? From the distant coast</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of steep Eubœa did ye ply your oars?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> The life I lead, O stranger, is not that</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of vagrant islanders; but in your realm</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From famed Mycene’s bulwarks I arrive.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Among thy countrymen, old man, what name</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou bear’st, inform me.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> <span class="hemi20">Ye perchance knew somewhat</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Iolaus, great Alcides’ comrade,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A name not quite unnoticed by renown.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> I formerly have heard of him: but say</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who is the father of that infant race,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whom with thy arm thou guid’st?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> <span class="hemi28">These are the sons</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Hercules, O strangers, they, to you,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And to your city, humble suppliants come.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[88]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> On what account, inform me; to demand</div> + <div class="verse indent0">An audience of the state?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> <span class="hemi22">That to their foes</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">They may not be surrendered up, nor torn</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Forcibly from the altars of your gods,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And carried back to Argos.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Cop.</span> <span class="hemi22">But thy lords</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who bear rule over thee, and hither trace</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy steps, will ne’er be satisfied with this.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> O stranger, ’tis our duty to revere</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The suppliants of the gods: with forceful hand</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall no man drag thee from this holy spot,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This seat of the immortal powers; dread justice</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall guard thee from the wrong.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Cop.</span> <span class="hemi28">Out of your land</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">The vagrant subjects of Eurystheus drive,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As I admonish; and this hand shall use</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No violence.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi8">How impious is that city</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which disregards the helpless stranger’s prayer!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Cop.</span> ’Twere best to interfere not in these broils,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And to adopt some more expedient counsels.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> You, therefore, to the monarch of this realm</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Should have declared your errand, ere thus far</div> + <div class="verse indent0">You had proceeded: but with brutal force</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These strangers from the altars of the gods</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Presume not to convey, and to this land</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of freedom yield due reverence.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Cop.</span> <span class="hemi28">But what king</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Rules this domain and city?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi22">Theseus’ son,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Renowned Demophoon.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Cop.</span> <span class="hemi16">Better I with him</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">This contest could decide: for all I yet</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have spoken, is but a mere waste of words.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Behold, he hither comes in haste, and with him,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To hear this cause, his brother Acamas.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Demophoon</span>, <span class="smcap">Iolaus</span>, <span class="smcap">Copreus</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Dem.</span> Since by thy speed, old man, thou hast outstripped</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy juniors, and already reached the shrine</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Jove, inform me what event hath caused</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This multitude t’ assemble.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi22">There the sons</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Hercules in suppliant posture sit,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And with their wreaths, as you behold, O king,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Adorn the altar; that is Iolaus,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The faithful comrade of their valiant sire.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Dem.</span> How needed their distress these clamorous shrieks?</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[89]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> [<i>turning towards</i> <span class="smcap">Copreus</span>.]</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He raised the uproar, when by force he strove</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To bear them hence, and on his knees, to earth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Threw the old man, till I for pity wept.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Dem.</span> Although he in the habit which he wears</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Adopts the mode of Greece, such deeds as these</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Speak the barbarian. But without delay</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On thee it is incumbent now to tell me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The country whence thou cam’st.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Cop.</span> <span class="hemi28">I am an Argive;</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thus far to solve your question: but from whence</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I come, and on what errand, will I add;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Mycene’s king, Eurystheus, sends me hither</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To fetch these vagrants home: yet I, O stranger,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will with abundant justice, in my actions,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As well as words, proceed; myself an Argive,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I bear away these Argives, I but seize</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The fugitives who from my native land</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Escaped, when by the laws which there prevail</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They were ordained to bleed. We have a right,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Because we are the rulers of the city,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To execute the sentence we enact</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Gainst our own subjects. To the sacred hearths</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of many other states when they repaired,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We urged the self-same reasons, and none ventured</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To be the authors of their own destruction.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But haply they in you may have perceived</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A foolish tenderness, and hither come,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Desperate themselves, you also to involve</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In the same perils, whether they succeed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or fail in the emprise: for they no hope</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Can cherish, while you yet retain your reason,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That you alone, in all the wide extent</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Greece, whose various regions they have traversed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Should pity those calamities which rise</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But from their own imprudence. Now compare</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Th’ alternative proposed; by sheltering them</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In these dominions, or allowing us</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To bear them hence, what gain may you expect?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Side but with us, these benefits are yours:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Eurystheus’ self, and Argos’ numerous troops,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will aid this city with their utmost might;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But if, by their seducing language moved,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ye harbour groundless pity for their woes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Arms must decide the strife. Nor vainly think</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We will desist till we have fully tried</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The temper of our swords. But what excuse</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have ye to plead? Of what domains bereft</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are ye provoked to wage a desperate war</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[90]</span>With the Tirynthian Argives? What allies</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will aid you? What pretext can ye allege</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To claim funereal honours for the slain?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The curses of your city will await</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such conduct; for the sake of that old man,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whom I may justly call a tomb, a shadow,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And those unfriended children, should you step</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Into the yawning gulf. Suppose the best</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which possibly can happen, that a prospect</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of future good hence rises; distant hopes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Fall short of present gain. In riper years</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ill can these youths be qualified to fight</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Against the Argive host (if this elate</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your soul with hope), and ere that wished event</div> + <div class="verse indent0">There is a length of intermediate time</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In which ye may be ruined; but comply</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With my advice; on me no gift bestow,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Let me but take what to ourselves belongs,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Mycene shall be yours. But oh, forbear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To act as ye are wont, nor form a league</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With those of no account, when mightier friends</div> + <div class="verse indent0">May be procured.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Dem.</span> <span class="hemi12">Who can decide a cause</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or ascertain its merits till he hear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Both sides distinctly?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> <span class="hemi18">In your land, O king,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">This great advantage, freedom of reply</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To the malignant charge against me urged,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I find, and no man, as from other cities,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall drive me hence. But we have nothing left</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For which it now behoves us to contend</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With him, nor aught, since that decree hath passed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To do with Argos; from our native land</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We are cast forth. In this distressful state,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How can he drag us back again with justice</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As subjects of Mycene, to that realm</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which hath already banished us? We there</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are only foreigners. But why should he</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whom Argos dooms to exile, by all Greece</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Be also exiled? Not by Athens sure;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For ne’er will Athens from its blest domains</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Expel the race of Hercules, appalled</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By Argos’ menaced wrath. For neither Trachis,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor is that city of Achaia here,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whence thou by boasting of the might of Argos</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In words like those which thou hast uttered now,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These suppliants didst unjustly drive away</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Though seated at the altars. If thy threats</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Here too prevail, no longer shall we find</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[91]</span>Freedom, not e’en in Athens; but I know</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Full well the generous temper of its sons,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And rather would they die. For to the brave</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shame is a load which renders life most hateful.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Enough of Athens—for immoderate praise</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Becomes invidious; I remember too</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How oft I have been heretofore distressed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By overstrained encomiums. But on you</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How greatly ’tis incumbent to protect</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These children will I show, since o’er this land</div> + <div class="verse indent0">You rule; for Pittheus was the son of Pelops,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From Pittheus Æthra sprung, from Æthra Theseus</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your father; from your ancestors to those</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of your unhappy suppliants I proceed;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Alcides was the son of thundering Jove</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And of Alcmena; from Lysidice,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Daughter of Pelops, did Alcmena spring,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">One common grandsire gave your grandame birth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And theirs; so near in blood are you to them;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But, O Demophoon, what beyond the ties</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of family you to these children owe</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will I inform you, and relate how erst</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With Theseus in one bark I sailed, and bore</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their father’s shield, when we that belt, the cause</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of dreadful slaughter, sought; and from the caves</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Pluto, Hercules led back your sire.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This truth all Greece attests. They in return</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From you implore this boon, that to their foes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They may not be surrendered up, nor torn</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By force from these your tutelary gods,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And banished from this realm. For to yourself</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Twere infamous and baneful to your city</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Should suppliants, exiles, sprung from ancestors</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The same with yours (ah, miserable me!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Behold, behold them!) with a forceful arm</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Be dragged away. But to your hands, and beard,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lifting these hallowed branches, I entreat you</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Slight not Alcides’ children, undertake</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their cause; and, oh, to them become a kinsman,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Become a friend, a father, brother, lord,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For better were it to admit these claims,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Than suffer them to fall beneath the rage</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Argive tyrants.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi14">I with pity heard</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their woes, O king, but now I clearly see</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How noble birth to adverse fortune yields;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For though they spring from an illustrious sire,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet meet they with afflictions they deserve not.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Dem.</span> Three powerful motives urge me, while I view</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[92]</span>The misery which attends you, not to spurn</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These strangers; first dread Jove, before whose altars</div> + <div class="verse indent0">You with these children sit; next kindred ties,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And services performed in ancient days,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Give them a claim to such relief from me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As from their godlike father mine obtained;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And last of all that infamy which most</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I ought to loathe; for if I should permit</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A foreigner this altar to despoil,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I in a land of freedom shall no longer</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Appear to dwell, but to surrender up,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Through fear, the suppliants to their Argive lords,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In this extreme of danger. Would to heaven</div> + <div class="verse indent0">You had arrived with happier auspices;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But tremble not lest any brutal hand</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Should from this hallowed altar force away</div> + <div class="verse indent0">You and the children. Therefore go thou back</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To Argos, and this message to Eurystheus</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Deliver; tell him too if there be aught</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which ’gainst our guests he can allege, the laws</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are open; but thou shalt not drag them hence.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Cop.</span> Not if I prove that it is just, and bring</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Prevailing reasons?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Dem.</span> <span class="hemi16">How can it be just</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">To drive away the suppliant?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Cop.</span> <span class="hemi24">Hence no shame</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall light on me, but ruin on your head.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Dem.</span> Should I permit thee to convey them hence</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In me ’twere base indeed.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Cop.</span> <span class="hemi22">Let them be banished</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">From your domains, and I elsewhere will seize them.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Dem.</span> Thou fool, who deem’st thyself more wise than</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Jove!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Cop.</span> All villains may, it seems, take refuge here.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Dem.</span> This altar of the gods, to all affords</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A sure asylum.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Cop.</span> <span class="hemi10">In a different light,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">This to Mycene’s rulers will appear.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Dem.</span> Am not I then the monarch of this realm?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Cop.</span> Offer no wrong to them, if you are wise.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Dem.</span> Do ye then suffer wrong when I refuse</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To violate the temples of the gods?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Cop.</span> I would not have you enter on a war</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Against the Argives.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Dem.</span> <span class="hemi16">Equally inclined</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Am I to peace, yet will not I yield up</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These suppliants.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Cop.</span> <span class="hemi14">Hence am I resolved to drag</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Those who belong to me.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[93]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Dem.</span> <span class="hemi20">Thou then to Argos</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shalt not with ease return.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Cop.</span> <span class="hemi24">Soon will I make</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Th’ experiment and know.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Dem.</span> <span class="hemi20">If thou presume</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">To touch them, thou immediately shalt rue it.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Cop.</span> I by the gods conjure you not to strike</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A herald.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Dem.</span> <span class="hemi6">Strike I will, unless that herald</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Learn to behave discreetly.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi22">Go. And you,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">O king, forbear to touch him.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Cop.</span> <span class="hemi26">I retire:</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">For weak in combat is a single arm.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But I again shall hither come, and bring</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A host of Argives armed with brazen spears:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Unnumbered warriors wait for my return.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The king himself, Eurystheus, is their chief;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He on the borders of Alcathous’ realm</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Waits for an answer. He in glittering mail,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Soon as he hears your arrogant reply,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To you, your subjects, this devoted realm,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And all its wasted forests will appear,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For we in vain at Argos should possess</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A band so numerous of heroic youths,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If we chastised not your assuming pride.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exit</i> <span class="smcap">Copreus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Dem.</span> Away, detested miscreant; for I fear not</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy Argos: and thou ne’er, by dragging hence</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These suppliants, shalt disgrace me: for this city</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As an appendage to the Argive realm</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I hold not, but its freedom will maintain.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> ’Tis time each sage precaution to exert,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ere to the confines of this land advance</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The troops of Argos: for Mycene’s wrath</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is terrible in combat, and more fierce</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Than heretofore will they invade us now.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For to exaggerate facts beyond the truth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is every herald’s custom. To his king,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How many specious tales do you suppose</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of the atrocious insults he endured,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He will relate, and add how he the loss</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of life endangered?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> <span class="hemi16">To the sons devolve</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">No honours which exceed the being born</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of an illustrious and heroic sire,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And wedding into virtuous families.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But on that man no praise will I bestow,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who by his lusts impelled, among the wicked</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A nuptial union forms; hence to his sons</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[94]</span>Disgrace, instead of pleasure, he bequeaths.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For noble birth repels adversity</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Better than abject parentage. When sinking</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Under the utmost pressure of our woes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We find these friends and kinsmen, who alone</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Amid the populous extent of Greece</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Stand forth in our behalf. Ye generous youths,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Now give them your right hands, and in return</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Take those of your protectors: O my sons,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Draw near: we have made trial of our friends.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If ye again behold your native walls,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Possess the self-same mansions, and the honours</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which your illustrious father erst enjoyed;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These deem your saviours and your friends, nor wield</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Against their fostering land the hostile spear.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On your remembrance let these benefits</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Be ever stamped, and hold this city dear;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For they deserve your reverence, who from us</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Repel so great a nation, such a swarm</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of fierce Pelasgian troops: and, though they see</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Our poverty and exile, have refused</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To yield us up, or banish from their realm.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Both while I live, and after the cold grave</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Receives me at the destined hour, my friend,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I with loud voice your merits will applaud,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Approaching mighty Theseus, and my words</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall soothe your father’s ear when I recount</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With what humanity you have received us,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And how protected the defenceless sons</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Hercules: by your illustrious birth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Distinguished, you the glories of your sire</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Through Greece maintain: sprung from a noble lineage</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet are you one among that chosen few</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who in no instance deviate from the virtues</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of your great ancestry: although ’mid thousands</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Scarce is a single instance to be found</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of those who emulate their father’s worth.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> This country, in a just and honest cause,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is ever prompt to succour the distressed.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hence in its friends’ behalf hath it sustained</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Unnumbered toils, and now another conflict</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I see impending.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Dem.</span> <span class="hemi12">Rightly hast thou spoken,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">And in such toils I feel a conscious pride.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These benefits shall never be forgotten;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But an assembly of the citizens</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I instantly will summon, and arrange</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A numerous squadron, to receive the onset</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of fierce Mycene’s host, first sending spies</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[95]</span>To meet them, lest they unawares assail us.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For the bold warrior, who without delay</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Goes forth to battle, keeps the foe aloof.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I also will collect the seers, and slay</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The victims; but do you, old man, meanwhile</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Enter the palace with these children, leaving</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Jove’s altar: for my menial train are there,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who will with fond solicitude attend you,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Although I am not present: but go in.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> I will not leave the altar; on this seat</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We supplicants will remain, and pray to Jove,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That prosperous fortunes may attend your city.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But when you from this conflict are with glory</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Released, we to your palace will repair;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor are the gods, who war on our behalf,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O king, inferior to the gods of Argos.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For o’er that city, Jove’s majestic consort,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Juno, but here Minerva doth preside.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This I maintain, that nought ensures success</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beyond the aid of mightier deities,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor will imperial Pallas be subdued.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exit</i> <span class="smcap">Demophoon</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Chorus.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center allsmcap">ODE.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">I.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Boast as thou wilt, and urge thy proud demand,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">This nation disregards thy ire,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Thou stranger from the Argive land.</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Nor can thy sounding words control</div> + <div class="verse indent10">The steadfast purpose of my soul:</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Great Athens, by her lovely choir</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Distinguished, shall unstained preserve</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Her ancient glory, nor from virtue swerve;</div> + <div class="verse indent6">But thou, devoid of wisdom, dost obey</div> + <div class="verse indent4">The son of Sthenelus, the tyrant’s impious sway,</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">II.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Who com’st amidst an independent state,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">In nought inferior to the strength</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Of Argos, and with brutal hate</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Dar’st, though a foreigner, to seize</div> + <div class="verse indent10">The exiles, who our deities</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Implore, and in these realms at length</div> + <div class="verse indent10">From their distress obtain a shield:</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Thou e’en to sceptred monarchs will not yield,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Yet no just plea thy subtle tongue hath found.</div> + <div class="verse indent4">How can such conduct warp the man whose judgment’s sound?</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[96]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">III.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Peace is the object of my dear delight:</div> + <div class="verse indent10">But thou, O tyrant, thou whose breast</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Well may I deem by frenzy is possest,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">If ’gainst this city thou exert thy might,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Pant’st after trophies which thou ne’er shalt gain.</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Bearing targe and brazen lance</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Others with equal arms advance.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">O thou, who fondly seek’st th’ embattled plain,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Shake not these turrets, spare the haunt</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Of every gentle grace.—Thou wretch, avaunt.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Demophoon</span>, <span class="smcap">Iolaus</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> Why com’st thou hither, O my son, with eyes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Expressive of affliction? from the foe</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What recent information canst thou give?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Do they delay their march, are they at hand,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or bring’st thou any tidings? for the threats</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That herald uttered sure will be accomplished.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Blest in the favour of the gods, the tyrant</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Exults, I know, and arrogantly deems</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That he o’er Athens shall prevail; but Jove</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Chastises the presumptuous.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Dem.</span> <span class="hemi24">Argos comes</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">With numerous squadrons, and its king Eurystheus,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Myself beheld him. It behoves the man</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who claims the merit of an able chief,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Not to depend upon his spies alone</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To mark the foe’s approach. But with his host</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He hath not yet invaded these domains,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But halting on yon mountain’s topmost ridge</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Observes (I from conjecture speak) the road</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By which he may lead forth his troops to battle,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And where he in this realm with greatest safety</div> + <div class="verse indent0">May station them. Already have I made</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Each preparation to repel their onset.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The city is in arms, the victims stand</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Before the altars, with their blood t’ appease</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The wrath of every god, and due lustrations</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are sprinkled by the seers, that o’er our foes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We may obtain a triumph, and preserve</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This country. Every prophet who expounds</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The oracles, convening, have I searched</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Into each sage response of ancient times,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or public or concealed, on which depends</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The welfare of the realm. In all beside</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Differ Heaven’s mandates: but one dread behest</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">[97]</span>Runs through the several auspices, to Ceres</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They bid me sacrifice some blooming maid</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who from a nobler sire derives her birth.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Zeal have I shown abundant in your cause,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But will not slay my daughter, nor constrain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Any Athenian citizen to make</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such an abhorred oblation: for the man</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Exists not, who is so devoid of reason,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As willingly to yield his children up</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With his own hands. But what afflicts me most</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is this: tumultuous crowds appear; some cry,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Tis just that we the foreign suppliants aid,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But others blame my folly. If no means</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Can be devised to satisfy them all,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Soon will a storm of civil war arise.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">See thou to this, and think of some expedient,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How ye and how this country may be saved,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Without the citizens’ calumnious tongues</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My fame assailing. For I rule not here</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With boundless power, like a barbarian king;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Let but my deeds be just, and in return</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall I experience justice.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi22">Will not Jove</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Suffer this city to exert its courage,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And aid these hapless strangers as we wish?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> Our situation, O my sons, resembles</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That of the mariners, who having ’scaped</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The storm’s relentless fury, when in sight</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of land, are from the coast by adverse winds</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Driven back into the deep. Thus from this realm</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Just as we reach the shore, like shipwrecked men,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are we expelled. O inauspicious Hope,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Why didst thou soothe me with ideal joy,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Although it was ordained that thou should’st leave</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy favours incomplete? The king deserves</div> + <div class="verse indent0">At least to be excused, if he consent not</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To slay his subjects’ daughters; to this city</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My praise is due, and if the gods would place me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In the same prosperous fortunes, from my soul</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your benefits should never be effaced.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But now, alas! no counsel can I give</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To you, my children. Whither shall we turn?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What god have we neglected? To what land</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have we not fled for shelter? We must perish,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We shall be yielded up. My being doomed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To die, I heed but for this cause alone,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That by my death I shall afford delight</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To our perfidious foes. But, O my sons.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For you I weep, I pity you, I pity</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[98]</span>Alcmena, aged mother of your sire,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Oh, most unhappy in a life too long!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I too am wretched, who unnumbered toils</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have fruitlessly endured; it was ordained,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">It was ordained, alas! that we should fall</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Into the hands of our relentless foes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And meet a shameful, miserable death.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Know you, what still remains for you to do,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On my behalf? For all my hopes of saving</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The children are not vanished. In their stead</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Me to the Argive host surrender up,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O king, and rush not into needless danger,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet save these children. To retain a love</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of life becomes me not; I yield it up</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Without regret. It is Eurystheus’ wish</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The rather to seize me, and to expose</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To infamy, because I was the comrade</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Hercules; for frenzy hath possessed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His soul. The wise man, e’en in those he hates,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Had rather find discretion than a want</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of understanding; for a foe endued</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With sense will pay due reverence to the vanquished.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Forbear, old man, thus hastily to blame</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This city; for to us though it might prove</div> + <div class="verse indent0">More advantageous, yet to our disgrace</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Would it redound, should we betray our guests.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Dem.</span> A generous, but impracticable, scheme</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is that thou hast proposed: for Argos’ king</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In quest of thee no squadrons hither leads.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What profit to Eurystheus from the death</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of one so old as thou art could arise?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He wants to murder <i>these</i>: for to their foes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The rising blossoms of a noble race,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To whom the memory of their father’s wrongs</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is present, must be dreadful: for all this</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He cannot but foresee. But if thou know</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of any other counsel more expedient,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Adopt it; for my soul hath been perplexed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Since that oracular response I heard</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which fills me with unwelcome apprehensions.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exit</i> <span class="smcap">Demophoon</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Macaria</span>, <span class="smcap">Iolaus</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Mac.</span> Deem not that I, O strangers, am too bold</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Because I from my chamber venture forth;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This is my first request: for silence, joined</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With modesty and a domestic life,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is woman’s best accomplishment. I heard</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your groans, O Iolaus, and advanced</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">[99]</span>Though not appointed by our house to act</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As their ambassadress; in some degree</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet am I qualified for such an office,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I have so great an interest in the weal</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of these my brothers; on my own account</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I also wish to hear if any ill,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Added to those you have already suffered,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Torture your soul.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> <span class="hemi14">Not now for the first time,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">On thee, O daughter, most of all the children</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Hercules my praise can I bestow:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But our ill-fated house, just as it seemed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Emerging from its past disgraces, sinks</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Afresh into inextricable ruin.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The king informs us, that the seers, whose voice</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Expounds the will of heaven, have signified</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No bull nor heifer, but some blooming maid</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who from a noble sire derives her birth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Must be the victim, if we would redeem</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The city and ourselves from utter ruin;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Here then are we perplexed: for his own children</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He says he will not sacrifice, nor those</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of any of his subjects. Though to me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Indeed he speaks not plainly, in some sort</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He intimates, that if we by no means</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Can extricate ourselves from these distresses,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We must find out some other land to flee to,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For he this realm would from destruction save.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Mac.</span> May we indulge the hope of our escape</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Upon these terms?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> <span class="hemi14">These only: in all else</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">With prosperous fortunes crowned.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Mac.</span> <span class="hemi30">No longer dread</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">The spear of Argos, for myself, old man,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Am ready, ere they doom me to be slain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And here stand forth a voluntary victim.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For what could we allege on our behalf,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If Athens condescend to undergo</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Dangers so great, while we who have imposed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These toils on others, though within our reach</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lie all the means of being saved, yet shrink</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From death? Not thus: we should provoke the laugh</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of universal scorn, if, with loud groans,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We suppliants, at the altars of the gods,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Should take our seats, and prove devoid of courage,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From that illustrious father though we spring.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How can the virtuous reconcile such conduct?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This to our glory would forsooth redound</div> + <div class="verse indent0">(O may it never happen!) when this city</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[100]</span>Is taken, should we fall into the hands</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of our triumphant foes, when after all</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Some noble maid reluctant must be dragged</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To Pluto’s loathed embrace. But from these realms</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Cast forth, should I become an abject vagrant,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Must I not blush when any one inquires,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">“Why came ye hither with your suppliant branches</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Too fond of life? Retreat from these domains,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For we no aid to cowards will afford.”</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But if when these are dead, my single life</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Be saved, I cannot entertain a hope</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That I shall e’er be happy: through this motive</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have caused full many to betray their friends.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For who with a deserted maid will join,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or in the bonds of wedlock, or desire</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That I to him a race of sons should bear?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I therefore hold it better far to die,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Than to endure, without deserving them,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such foul indignities, as can seem light</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To her alone, who, from a noble race</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Like mine, descends not: to the scene of death</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Conduct, with garlands crown me, and prepare</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If ye think fit, th’ initiatory rites;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ye hence the foe shall conquer: for this soul</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shrinks not with mean reluctance. I engage</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For these my brothers, and myself, to bleed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A willing victim; for with ease detached</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From life, I have imbibed this best of lessons,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To die with firmness in a glorious cause.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Alas! what language shall I find, t’ express</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My admiration of the lofty speech</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I from this virgin hear, who for her brothers</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Resolves to die? What tongue can utter words</div> + <div class="verse indent0">More truly generous; or what man surpass</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such deeds as these?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> <span class="hemi16">Thou art no spurious child,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">But from the godlike seed of Hercules,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O daughter, dost indeed derive thy birth.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Although thy words are such as cannot shame,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy fate afflicts me. Yet will I propose</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What may with greater justice be performed.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Together call the sisters of this maid,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And to atone for the whole race, let her</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On whom th’ impartial lot shall fall, be slain;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But without such decision ’tis not just</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That thou should’st die.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Mac.</span> <span class="hemi20">I will not die as chance</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">The lot dispenses; for I hence should forfeit</div> + <div class="verse indent0">All merit: name not such a scheme, old man.</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">[101]</span>If me ye will accept, and of my zeal</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Avail yourselves, I gladly yield up life</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Upon these terms, but stoop not to constraint.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> The speech thou now hast uttered soars beyond</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What thou at first didst say, though that was noble:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But thou thy former courage dost surpass</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By this fresh instance of exalted courage,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The merit of thy former words, by words</div> + <div class="verse indent0">More meritorious. Daughter, I command not,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor yet oppose thy death: for thou by dying</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wilt serve thy brothers.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Mac.</span> <span class="hemi20">You in cautious terms</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Command me: fear not, lest on my account</div> + <div class="verse indent0">You should contract pollution: for to die</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is my free choice. But follow me, old man,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For in your arms would I expire: attend,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And o’er my body cast the decent veil:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To dreadful slaughter dauntless I go forth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Because I from that father spring, whose name</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With pride I utter.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> <span class="hemi16">At the hour of death</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">I cannot stand beside thee.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Mac.</span> <span class="hemi24">Grant but this,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">That when I breathe my last, I may be tended</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By women, not by men.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> <span class="hemi18">It shall be thus,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">O miserable virgin: for in me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Twere base, if I neglected any rite</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That decency enjoins, for many reasons;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Because thy soul is great, because ’tis just,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And of all women I have ever seen,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Because thou art most wretched. But from these</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And from thy aged kinsman, if thou wish</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For aught, to me thy last behests address.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Mac.</span> Adieu, my venerable friend, adieu!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Instruct these boys in every branch of wisdom,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And make them like yourself, they can attain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No higher pitch; strive to protect them still,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And for their sake that valued life prolong;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your children we, to you our nurture owe.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Me you behold, mature for bridal joys,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Dying to save them. But may ye, my band</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of brothers who are here, be blest, and gain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">All those advantages, which to procure</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For you, the falchion shall transpierce my breast.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Revere this good old man, revere Alcmena</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your father’s aged mother, and these strangers.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Should ye be ever rescued from your woes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Should gracious Heaven permit you to revisit</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">[102]</span>Your native land, forget not to inter,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With such magnificence as I deserve,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your benefactress, for I have not proved</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Deficient in attention to your welfare,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But die to save our family. To me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These monumental honours shall suffice</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Instead of children, or the virgin state,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If there be aught amid the realms beneath,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But ’tis my wish there may not: for if grief</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On us frail mortals also there attend,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I know not whither any one can turn:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For by the wise hath death been ever deemed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The most effectual cure for every ill.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> O thou, distinguished by thy lofty soul,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Be well assured thy glory shall outshine</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That of all other women; both in life</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And death, shalt thou be honoured by thy friends.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But ah, farewell! for with ill-omened words</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I tremble lest we should provoke the goddess,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Dread Proserpine, to whom thou now art sacred.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exit</i> <span class="smcap">Macaria</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">My sons I perish: grief unnerves my frame;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Support and place me in the hallowed seat:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And, O my dearest children, o’er my face</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Extend this garment: for I am not pleased</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With what is done: yet, had not Heaven’s response</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Found this completion, we must all have died;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For we must then have suffered greater ills</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Than these, which are already most severe.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Chorus.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center allsmcap">ODE.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent4">In just proportion, as the gods ordain,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Is bliss diffused through life’s short span,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Or sorrow portioned out to man:</div> + <div class="verse indent8">No favoured house can still maintain</div> + <div class="verse indent8">From age to age its prosperous state,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">For swift are the vicissitudes of fate,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Who now assails pride’s towering crest,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Now makes the drooping exile blest.</div> + <div class="verse indent8">From destiny we cannot fly;</div> + <div class="verse indent8">No wisdom can her shafts repel;</div> + <div class="verse indent4">But he who vainly dares her power defy</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Compassed with endless toils shall dwell.</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Ask not from Heaven with impious prayer,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Blessings it cannot grant to man,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Nor waste in misery life’s short span</div> + <div class="verse indent8">O’erwhelmed by querulous despair.</div> + <div class="verse indent4"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">[103]</span>The nymph goes forth to meet a noble death,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Her brothers and this land to save,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">And fame, with tributary breath</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Shall sound her praises in the grave.</div> + <div class="verse indent8">For dauntless virtue finds a way</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Through labours which her progress would delay.</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Such deeds as these, her father grace,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">And add fresh splendour to her race,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">But if with reverential awe thou shed</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Over the virtuous dead</div> + <div class="verse indent4">A tear of pity, in that tear I’ll join,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Inspired with sentiments like thine.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Servant</span>, <span class="smcap">Iolaus</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Ser.</span> Ye children, hail! but where is Iolaus,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That aged man; and hath your grandame left</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Her seat before the altar?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> <span class="hemi22">Here am I,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">If aught my presence can avail.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Ser.</span> <span class="hemi28">On earth</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Why art thou stretched, what means that downcast look?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> Domestic cares have harrowed up my soul.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Ser.</span> Lift up thy head, arise.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> <span class="hemi26">I am grown old,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">And all my strength is vanished.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Ser.</span> <span class="hemi28">But to thee</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">I bring most joyful tidings.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> <span class="hemi24">Who art thou?</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where have I seen thee? I remember not.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Ser.</span> Hyllus’ attendant, canst thou not distinguish</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These features?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> <span class="hemi12">O my friend, art thou arrived</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">To snatch me from despair?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Ser.</span> <span class="hemi22">Most certainly:</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Moreover the intelligence I bring</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will make thee happy.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> <span class="hemi18">Thee I call, come forth,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Alcmena, mother of a noble son,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And listen to these acceptable tidings:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Full long thy soul, for those who now approach,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Was torn with grief, lest they should ne’er return.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Alcmena</span>, <span class="smcap">Servant</span>, <span class="smcap">Iolaus</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Alc.</span> Whence with your voice resounds this echoing dome,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O Iolaus, is another herald</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From Argos come, who forcibly assails you?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My strength indeed is small, yet be assured</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of this, presumptuous stranger, while I live</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou shalt not bear them hence. May I no more</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">[104]</span>Be deemed the mother of that godlike son,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When I submit to this. But if thou dare</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To touch the children, with two aged foes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ignobly wilt thou strive.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> <span class="hemi22">Be of good cheer,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou hoary matron, banish these alarms;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No herald with a hostile message comes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From Argos.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Alc.</span> <span class="hemi8">Why then raised you that loud voice,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">The harbinger of fear?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> <span class="hemi18">That from the temple</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou might’st come forth, and join us.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Alc.</span> <span class="hemi32">What you mean</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">I comprehend not. Who is this?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> <span class="hemi26">He tells us</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy grandson marches hither.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Alc.</span> <span class="hemi24">Hail, O thou</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who bear’st these welcome tidings? but what brings him</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To these domains? Where is he? What affairs</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Prevented him from coming hither with thee,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To fill my soul with transport?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Ser.</span> <span class="hemi28">He now marshals</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">The forces which attend him.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Alc.</span> <span class="hemi24">In this conference</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Am I no longer then allowed to join?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> Thou art: but ’tis my business to inquire</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Into these matters.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Ser.</span> <span class="hemi16">Which of his transactions</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Say art thou most solicitous to know?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> The number of the troops he leads?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Ser.</span> <span class="hemi36">Is great,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">I cannot count them.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> <span class="hemi16">The Athenian chiefs</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are sure apprized of this.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Ser.</span> <span class="hemi22">They are apprized,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">And the left wing is formed.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> <span class="hemi24">Then the whole host</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Arrayed in arms is ready for the battle.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Ser.</span> The victims to a distance from the ranks</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Already are removed.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> <span class="hemi16">But at what distance</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is the encampment of the Argive warriors?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Ser.</span> So near that we their leader can distinguish.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> What is he doing; marshalling our foes?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Ser.</span> This we conjecture: for I could not hear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His voice: but I must go; for I my lord</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will not abandon when he nobly braves</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The dangers of the field.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> <span class="hemi22">I too with thee</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">[105]</span>Will join him; for the same are our intentions,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As honour bids us, to assist our friends.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Ser.</span> Unwisely hast thou spoken.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> <span class="hemi28">With my friends</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall not I then the stubborn conflict share?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Ser.</span> That strength which erst was thine is now no more.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> Can I not pierce their shields?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Ser.</span> <span class="hemi28">Thou may’st: but first,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">More likely, fall thyself.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> <span class="hemi22">No foe will dare</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">To meet me face to face.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Ser.</span> <span class="hemi20">By thy mere looks,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">With that debilitated arm, no wound</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Canst thou inflict.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> <span class="hemi16">My presence in the field</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will to our troops give courage, and augment</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their number.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Ser.</span> <span class="hemi10">Of small service to thy friends</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will thy appearance prove.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> <span class="hemi22">Detain me not:</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">I for some glorious action am prepared.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Ser.</span> Thou hast the will to act, but not the power.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> I will not be reproached for loitering here,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Say what thou wilt beside.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Ser.</span> <span class="hemi22">But without arms</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">How wilt thou face yon warriors sheathed in mail?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> The various implements of war are lodged</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beneath these roofs; with freedom will I use,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And if I live, return them; if I die,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The god will not demand them back again.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Go then into the temple, and reach down</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Those martial trappings from the golden nails</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On which they hang, and bring them to me swiftly.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For this were infamous, while some are fighting,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If others loiter slothfully behind.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exit</i> <span class="smcap">Servant</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Time hath not yet debased that lofty soul</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Tis vigorous, though thy body be decayed.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Why should’st thou enter on these fruitless toils,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which only injure thee, and to our city</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Can be of little service? on thy age</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Should’st thou reflect, and lay aside attempts</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That are impossible, for by no arts</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The long-lost force of youth canst thou regain.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Alc.</span> What schemes are these? distempered in your mind,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Me and my children mean you to abandon?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> The battle is man’s province: to thy care</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Them I consign.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Alc.</span> <span class="hemi12">But if you die, what means</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have I of being saved?</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">[106]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> <span class="hemi18">The tender care</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of the surviving children of thy son.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Alc.</span> Should they too meet with some severe mishap,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which may the gods forbid.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> <span class="hemi22">These generous strangers</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will not betray thee; banish every fear.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Alc.</span> In them I trust: I have no other friend.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> Jove too, I know, is mindful of thy toils.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Alc.</span> I will not speak in disrespectful terms</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Jove: but whether he his plighted troth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have kept, full well he knows.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Ser.</span> [<i>returning.</i>] <span class="hemi12">Thou here behold’st</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">The brazen panoply, now haste to sheathe</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy limbs in mail; the battle is at hand,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And Mars detests a loiterer: if thou fear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Accoutrements so ponderous, to the field</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Advance disarmed, nor till thou join the ranks</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wear these unwieldy trappings; for meantime</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I in my hands their burden will sustain.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> Well hast thou spoken; with those arms attend me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ready for the encounter, place a spear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In my right hand, and under my left arm</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hold me, and guide my steps.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Ser.</span> <span class="hemi24">Shall I conduct</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">A warrior like a child?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> <span class="hemi20">I must tread sure,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Else ’twere an evil omen.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Ser.</span> <span class="hemi22">Would thy power</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Equalled thy zeal.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> <span class="hemi14">Haste: greatly ’twill afflict me</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">If, left behind, I cannot join the fray.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Ser.</span> Slow are thy steps, and hence thou deem’st I move not.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> Behold’st thou not the swiftness of my pace?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Ser.</span> Thou to thyself I see appear’st to hasten,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Although thou gain’st no ground.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> <span class="hemi28">When in the field</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou seest me, thou wilt own I speak the truth.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Ser.</span> What great exploit achieving? I could wish</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That thou might’st prove victorious.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> <span class="hemi32">Through his shield</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Some foe transfixing.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Ser.</span> <span class="hemi18">We at length may reach</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Th’ embattled plain, but this I greatly fear.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Iol.</span> Ah, would to heaven, that thou, my withered arm,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Again wert vigorous, as in former days</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thee I remember, when thou didst lay waste</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The Spartan realms with Hercules; thus fight</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My battles now, and singly will I triumph</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Over Eurystheus, for that dastard fears</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">[107]</span>To face the dangers of th’ embattled field:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Too apt in our ideas to unite</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Valour with wealth, yet to the prosperous man</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Superior wisdom falsely we ascribe.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exeunt</i> <span class="smcap">Iolaus</span> <i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Servant</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Chorus.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center allsmcap">ODE.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">I. 1.</div> + <div class="verse indent8">O fostering Earth, resplendent Moon,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Who gladd’st the dreary shades of night,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">And thou, enthroned at broadest noon,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Hyperion, ’midst exhaustless light,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">To me propitious tidings bring,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Raise to the skies a festive sound,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">And waft the gladsome notes around,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Till, from the palace of our king,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">They echo through Minerva’s fane:</div> + <div class="verse indent8">My house, my country, to maintain</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Against the ruthless spoiler’s pride,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Menaced because this realm extends</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Protection to its suppliant friends,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">I with the sword our contest will decide.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">I. 2.</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Although there seem just cause for dread,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">When cities like Mycene blest,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Whose triumphs fame hath widely spread</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Enter this region to invest</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Our bulwarks, harbouring ruthless hate.</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Think, O my country, think what shame,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Should we reject the suppliant’s claim</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Appalled by Argos’ haughty state.</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Resistless Jove shall aid the spear</div> + <div class="verse indent8">I brandish unappalled by fear;</div> + <div class="verse indent8">The tribute of eternal praise</div> + <div class="verse indent8">From all that breathe, to him is due:</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Nor magnified by our weak view</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Shall men above the gods their trophies raise.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">II. 1.</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Descend with venerable mien,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">O thou our guardian and our queen,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">For on thy fostering soil we stand,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">These walls were reared by thy command,</div> + <div class="verse indent4"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[108]</span>Drive from our menaced gates the lawless host,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Suppress that Argive tyrant’s boast;</div> + <div class="verse indent4">For if by you unaided, is this hand</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Too weak their fury to withstand.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">II. 2.</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Thee, O Minerva, we adore,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Thy altar ever streams with gore:</div> + <div class="verse indent8">We on each moon’s concluding day</div> + <div class="verse indent8">To thee our public homage pay;</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Through every fane harmonious numbers sound,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Sweet minstrelsy then breathes around,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">And th’ echoing hills their nightly dance repeat</div> + <div class="verse indent8">As the nymphs move with agile feet.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Servant</span>, <span class="smcap">Alcmena</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Ser.</span> O royal dame, the message that to you</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I bring, is both concise, and what reflects</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On me abundant glory to relate,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In fight have we prevailed, and trophies reared</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On which the armour of your foes is hung.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Alc.</span> This day hath brought thee hither, O my friend,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy freedom for such tidings to receive:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But one anxiety there still remains</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To which thou leav’st me subject; much I fear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For the important lives of those I love.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Ser.</span> They live, and have obtained from all the host</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The greatest fame.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Alc.</span> <span class="hemi14">And Iolaus too,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">My aged friend?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Ser.</span> <span class="hemi12">Yet more, he hath performed</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Through the peculiar favour of the gods</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Exploits most memorable.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Alc.</span> <span class="hemi20">What glorious deed</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hath he achieved in fight?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Ser.</span> <span class="hemi22">From an old man,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">He is grown young again.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Alc.</span> <span class="hemi20">Thou speak’st of things</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Most wonderful. But first, how fought our friends</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With such success, I wish thee to inform me.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Ser.</span> All that hath passed, at once will I relate</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When, to each other in the field opposed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We had arranged both armies, and spread forth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The van of battle to its full extent,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hyllus alighting from his chariot, stood</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In the midway ’twixt either host, and cried:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">“Thou leader of the Argive troops, who com’st</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With hostile fury to invade this land,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy interests recommend what I propose,</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[109]</span>Nor can Mycene suffer from the loss</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If thou deprive her of a single warrior;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Therefore with me encounter hand to hand,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And if thou slay me, seize and bear away</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The sons of Hercules; but if thou die,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My palace and hereditary rank</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Permit me to enjoy.” The troops assented,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And praised what he had spoken as the means</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of finishing their labours, and a proof</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of his exalted courage. But Eurystheus</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Unmoved by reverence for th’ assembled host</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who heard the challenge, and with terror smitten,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Forgot the general’s part, nor dared to face</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The lifted spear, but acted like a dastard:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet he who was thus destitute of courage</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Came to enslave the sons of Hercules.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hyllus again retreated to his rank;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The prophets too, when they perceived no peace</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Could be effected by a single combat,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Without delay the blooming virgin slew,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Auspicious victim, from whose pallid lips</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Her trembling spirit fled. The lofty car</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Some mounted, o’er their sides while others flung</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their bucklers to protect them. To his host,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Meantime the king of Athens, in a strain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Worthy of his exalted courage, spoke:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">“Ye citizens, the land to which ye owe</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your nourishment and birth, now claims your aid.”</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Equally loth to sully the renown</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Argos and Mycene, in like terms</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The foe besought his partners of the war</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their utmost vigour to exert. No sooner</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Had the loud signal by Etruria’s trump</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Been given, than they in thickest battle joined.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Think with what crash their brazen shields resounded,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What groans and intermingled shouts were heard!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">First through our lines the host of Argos burst,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And in their turn gave way: then foot to foot,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And man to man opposed, in stubborn conflict</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We all persisted: multitudes were slain;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But in this language either chief his troops</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Encouraged: “O ye citizens of Athens,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O ye who till the fruitful Argive field,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will ye not from your native land repel</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The foul disgrace?” But with our utmost efforts</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Scarce could we put to flight the Argive host.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When Iolaus saw young Hyllus break</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The ranks of battle, he with lifted hands</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Entreated him to place him in his car,</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[110]</span>Then seized the reins, and onward in pursuit</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of the swift coursers of Eurystheus drove.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As to the sequel; from report alone</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Let others speak, I tell what I have seen:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">While through Pallenè’s streets he passed, where rise</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Minerva’s altars, soon as he descried</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The chariot of Eurystheus, he a prayer</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Addressed to blooming Hebe, and to Jove,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That for that single day he might recover</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The pristine vigour of his youth, and punish</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His foes as they deserve. You now shall hear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What a miraculous event ensued;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Two stars ’bove Iolaus’ chariot stood,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And overshadowed it with gloomy clouds,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which, by the wise ’tis said, were Hercules</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your son, and blooming Hebe: from that mist</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which veiled the skies, the chief grown young again,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Displayed his vigorous arms, and near the rocks</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Scyron, seized Eurystheus in his car.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Binding his hands with chains, he hither brings</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The Argive tyrant, a distinguished prize,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who once was happy; but on all mankind</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Loudly inculcates by his present fortunes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This lesson: not too rashly to ascribe</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Felicity to him who in appearance</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is prosperous, but to wait till we behold</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His close of life; for fortune day by day</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Doth waver.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi6">Thou great author of success,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">O Jove, at length am I allowed to view</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The day, by which my terrors are dispelled.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Alc.</span> ’Twas late indeed, when thou, O Jove, didst look</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On my afflictions; yet am I to thee</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Most grateful for the kindness thou hast shown me.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And though I erst believed not that my son</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Dwells with the gods, I clearly know it now.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Now, O my children, ye from all your toils</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall be set free, and of Eurystheus, doomed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With shame to perish, burst the galling yoke,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Behold your father’s city, the rich fields</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of your inheritance again possess,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And sacrifice to your paternal gods,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From whom excluded, in a foreign land</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ye led a wandering miserable life.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But with what sage design yet undisclosed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hath Iolaus spared Eurystheus’ life,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Inform me: for to us it seems unwise</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Not to avenge our wrongs when we have caught</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Our enemies.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">[111]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Ser.</span> <span class="hemi8">He through respect to you</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hath acted thus, that you might see the tyrant</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Vanquished, and rendered subject to your power,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Not by his own consent, but in the yoke</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bound by necessity; for he was loth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To come into your presence, ere he bleed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And suffer as he merits. But farewell,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O venerable matron, and remember</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The promise you first made when I began</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These tidings, and, oh, set me free: for nought</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But truth should from ingenuous lips proceed.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exit</i> <span class="smcap">Servant</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Chorus.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center allsmcap">ODE.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">I. 1.</div> + <div class="verse indent10">To me the choral song is sweet,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">When the shrill flute and genial banquet meet,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">If Venus also grace the festive board:</div> + <div class="verse indent10">I taste a more refined delight</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Now I behold my friends (transporting sight!)</div> + <div class="verse indent6">To unexpected happiness restored.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">For in this nether world, eventful Fate,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">And Saturn’s offspring Time, full many a change create.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">I. 2.</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Follow the plain and beaten way,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">From Justice, O my country, never stray,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Nor cease the powers immortal to revere.</div> + <div class="verse indent10">To heights scarce short of frenzy rise</div> + <div class="verse indent6">The errors of that mortal, who denies</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Assent to truths confirmed by proofs so clear.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Jove’s power by signal judgments is descried,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Oft as his vengeance blasts the towering crest of pride.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">II. 1.</div> + <div class="verse indent10">In heavenly mansions with the blest,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Thy son, O venerable dame, doth rest;</div> + <div class="verse indent6">He hath confuted those invidious tales,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">That to loathed Pluto’s house he came</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Soon as he perished in that dreadful flame:</div> + <div class="verse indent6">He under roofs of burnished gold regales,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">On the soft couch of lovely Hebe placed;</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Them two, both sprung from Jove, O Hymen, thou hast graced.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">[112]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">II. 2.</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Events, which strike man’s wondering eyes,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">From a variety of causes rise.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">For fame relates how Pallas saved the sire,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">And from her city far renowned,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Her race, protection have the children found;</div> + <div class="verse indent6">She hath suppressed th’ o’erweening tyrant’s ire,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Whose violence no laws could ere control;</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Curse on such boundless pride, that fever of the soul.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Messenger</span>, <span class="smcap">Eurystheus</span>, <span class="smcap">Alcmena</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Mes.</span> Your eyes indeed behold, O royal dame,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet shall this tongue declare that we have brought</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Eurystheus hither, unexpected sight,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Reverse of fortune his presumptuous soul</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Foresaw not, this oppressor little deemed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That he should ever fall into your hands,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When from Mycene, by the Cyclops’ toil</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Erected, he those squadrons led, and hoped</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With pride o’erweening to lay Athens waste;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But Heaven our situation hath reversed:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And therefore with exulting Hyllus joins</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The valiant Iolaus, in erecting</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Trophies to Jove the author of our conquest.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But they to you commanded me to lead</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This captive, wishing to delight your soul:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For ’tis most grateful to behold a foe</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Fall’n from the height of gay prosperity.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Alc.</span> Com’st thou, detested wretch? at length hath Justice</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O’ertaken thee? First hither turn thy head,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And dare to face thine enemies: for, dwindled</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Into a vassal, thou no longer rul’st.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Art thou the man (for I would know the truth)</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who didst presume to heap unnumbered wrongs,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou author of all mischief, on my son</div> + <div class="verse indent0">While yet he lived, wherever now resides</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His dauntless spirit? For in what one instance</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Didst thou not injure him? At thy command,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Alive he travelled to th’ infernal shades;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou sent’st, and didst commission him to slay</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hydras and lions. Various other mischiefs,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which were by thee contrived, I mention not,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For an attempt to speak of them at large</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Would be full tedious. Nor was it enough</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For thee to venture on these wrongs alone,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But thou, moreover, from each Grecian state</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Me and these children hast expelled, though seated</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As suppliants at the altars of the gods,</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[113]</span>Confounding those whose locks are grey through age</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With tender infants. But thou here hast found</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Those who were men indeed, and a free city</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which feared thee not. Thou wretchedly shalt perish,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And pay this bitter usury to atone</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For all thy crimes, whose number is so great</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That it were just thou more than once shouldst die.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Mes.</span> You must not kill him.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Alc.</span> <span class="hemi24">Then have we in vain</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Taken him captive. But what law forbids</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His being slain?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Mes.</span> <span class="hemi12">The rulers of this land</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Consent not.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Alc.</span> <span class="hemi8">Is it not by them esteemed</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">A glorious action to despatch our foes?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Mes.</span> Not such as they have seized alive in battle.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Alc.</span> Is Hyllus satisfied with this decree?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Mes.</span> He, in my judgment, will forsooth act rightly,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If he oppose what Athens shall enjoin.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Alc.</span> The captive tyrant ill deserves to live,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or longer view the sun.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Mes.</span> <span class="hemi20">In this first instance</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">They did amiss, when by their swords he died not.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Alc.</span> Is it not just that he should suffer still?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Mes.</span> He who will slay him is not to be found.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Alc.</span> What shall I say if some adventurous hand——</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Mes.</span> If you do this, you will incur great censure.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Alc.</span> I love this city, I confess: but no man,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Since he is fall’n into my power, shall force</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This prisoner from me: let them call me bold</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And more presumptuous than becomes a woman,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I am resolved to execute my purpose.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Mes.</span> Full well I know the hatred which you bear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To this unhappy man is terrible,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And such as merits pardon.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Eur.</span> <span class="hemi22">Be convinced</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of this, O woman, that I cannot flatter,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor to preserve this wretched life say aught,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whence they may brand me with a dastard’s name.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For I with much reluctance undertook</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This contest; near in blood am I to thee,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And of that race whence sprung thy son Alcides.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But whether I consented, or was loth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Me Juno caused by her immortal power</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To harbour this dire frenzy in my breast.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Since I became his foe, since I resolved</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Upon this strife, much mischief I devised,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And brooded o’er it many a tedious night,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That after I had wearied out and slain</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">[114]</span>Those I abhorred, I might no longer lead</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A life of fear: for well I knew thy son</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Was no mere cipher, but a man indeed:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Though strong my hate, on him will I confer</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The praise he merits from his valiant deeds.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But after he was dead, was I not forced,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Because I was a foe to these his sons,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And knew what bitter enmity ’gainst me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They from their sire inherited, to leave</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No stone unturned, to slay, to banish them,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And plot their ruin? Could I have succeeded</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In these designs, my throne had stood secure.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If thou my prosperous station hadst obtained,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wouldst thou not have attempted to hunt down</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The lion’s whelps, instead of suffering them</div> + <div class="verse indent0">At Argos unmolested to reside?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou canst prevail on no man to give credit</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To such assertions: therefore, since my foes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Forbore to slay me, when prepared to lose</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My life in battle, by the laws of Greece,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If I now die, my blood will fix a stain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of lasting guilt on him who murders me.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This city hath discreetly spared my life,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">More influenced by its reverence for the gods</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Than by the hatred which to me it bears.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My answer to the charges thou hast urged</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Against me, having heard, esteem me now</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A suppliant, and though wretched, still a king,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For such is my condition: though to die</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I wish not, yet can I without regret</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Surrender up my life.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi16">To you, Alcmena,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">A little wholesome counsel would I give,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This captive monarch to release, since such</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The pleasure of the city.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Alc.</span> <span class="hemi22">If he die,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">And to the mandates of th’ Athenian realm</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I still submit, what mischief can ensue?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> ’Twere best of all. But how can these two things</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Be reconciled?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Alc.</span> <span class="hemi10">I will inform you how</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">This may with ease be done. I, to his friends,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When slain will yield him up, and with this land</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Comply in the disposal of his corse:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But he shall die to sate my just revenge.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Eur.</span> Destroy me if thou wilt; to thee I sue not:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But on this city, since it spared my life</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Through pious reverence, and forbore to slay me,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will I bestow an ancient oracle</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">[115]</span>Of Phœbus, which in future times shall prove</div> + <div class="verse indent0">More advantageous than ye now suppose;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For after death, so have the Fates decreed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My corse shall ye inter before the temple</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of the Pallenian maid: to you a friend</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And guardian of your city, shall I rest</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beneath this soil for ever; but a foe</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To those who spring from this detested race</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When with their armies they invade this land</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Requiting with ingratitude your kindness:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such strangers ye protect. But thus forewarned,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Why came I hither? Through a fond belief</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That Juno was with far superior power</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To each oracular response endued,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And that my cause she ne’er would have betrayed.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On me waste no libations, nor let gore</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Be poured forth on the spot of my interment,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For I to punish these their impious deeds,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will cause them with dishonour to return:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From me shall ye receive a double gain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For you I will assist, and prove to them</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Most baneful e’en in death.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Alc.</span> <span class="hemi24">Why are ye loth</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">To slay this man, if what ye hear be true,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That welfare to this city hence will spring,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And your prosperity? For he points out</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The safest road. Alive he is a foe,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But after he is dead will prove a friend.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ye servants bear him hence, and to the dogs</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Cast forth without delay his breathless corse:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Think not, presumptuous wretch, that thou shalt live</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Again t’ expel me from my native land.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> With this am I well pleased. My followers, go.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For hence in our king’s sight shall we stand guiltless.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">[116]</span></p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">[117]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="Rhesus"><span class="smcap">Rhesus.</span></h2> + +</div> + +<div class="max30"> + +<h3>PERSONS OF THE DRAMA.</h3> + +<ul> + <li><span class="smcap">Chorus of Trojan Sentinels.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Hector.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Æneas.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Dolon.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">A Shepherd.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Rhesus.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Ulysses.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Diomede.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Paris.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Minerva.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">The Muse.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">The Charioteer Of Rhesus.</span></li> +</ul> + +<h3>SCENE.—<span class="smcap">Before Hector’s Tent at the Gates of Troy.</span></h3> + +</div> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Chorus</span>, <span class="smcap">Hector</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Let some swift sentinel to Hector’s tent</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Go and inquire if any messenger</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Be yet arrived, who recent tidings bears</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From those, who during the fourth nightly watch</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are by the host deputed. On your arm</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sustain your head, unfold those low’ring eyelids,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And from your lowly couch of withered leaves,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O Hector, rise, for it is time to listen.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Who comes? art thou a friend? pronounce the watchword.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who are ye, that by night approach my bed?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Speak out.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi6">We guard the camp.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi26">Why com’st thou hither</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">With this tumultuous haste?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi22">Be of good cheer.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> I am. Hast thou discovered in the camp</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This night some treachery?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi22">None.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi28">Why then deserting</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">The post where thou art stationed, dost thou rouse</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The troops, unless thou through this midnight gloom</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bring some important tidings? know’st thou not</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That near the Argive host we under arms</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Take our repose.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">[118]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi12">Prepare your brave allies:</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Go to their chambers, bid them wield the spear,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Rouse them from slumber, and despatch your friends</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To your own troop; caparison the steeds.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who bears the swift alarm to Pantheus’ son?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who to Europa’s offspring, Lycia’s chief?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where are the priests who should inspect the victims?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who leads the light-armed squadron to the field?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And where are Phrygia’s archers? Let each bow</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Be strung.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi6">Thy tidings are in part alarming,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">In part thou giv’st us courage, though thou speak</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nought plainly. By the terrifying scourge</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Pan hast thou been smitten, that thou leav’st</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy station to alarm the host? Explain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These clamorous sounds. What tidings shall I say</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou bring’st? Thy words are many, but their drift</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I comprehend not.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi12">All night long, O Hector,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">The Grecian camp hath kindled fires, the torches</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Amid their fleet are blazing, and the host</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Tumultuous rush to Agamemnon’s tent,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">At midnight calling on the king t’ assemble</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A council: for the sailors never yet</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Were thus alarmed. But I, because I fear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What may ensue, these tidings hither bring,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lest you should charge me with a breach of duty.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Full seasonably thou com’st, although thou speak</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Words fraught with terror: for these dastards hope</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They in their barks shall from this shore escape</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ere I discover them: their kindled fires</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Prove this suspicion. Thou, O partial Jove,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hast robbed me of my triumph, like the prey</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Torn from the lion, ere I have destroyed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With this avenging spear the Grecian host.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Had not the sun withdrawn his radiant beams,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I the successful battle had prolonged</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Till I had burnt their ships, and hewn a way</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Through their encampments, and in slaughter drenched</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My bloody hand. I would have fought by night</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And taken my advantage of the gales</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sent by auspicious fortune: but the wise,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And seers who knew the will of Heaven, advised me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To wait but till to-morrow’s dawn appeared,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And then sweep every Grecian from the land.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But now no longer will they stay to prove</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The truth of what my prophets have foretold:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For cowards in the midnight gloom are brave.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Instantly therefore through the host proclaim</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">[119]</span>These orders: “Take up arms, and rouse from sleep;”</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Pierced through the back as to the ships he flies,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">So shall full many a dastard with his gore</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Distain the steep ascent; the rest fast bound</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In galling chains shall learn to till our fields.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> O Hector, ere you learn the real fact,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">You are too hasty: for we know not yet</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That they are flying.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi18">Wherefore then by night</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are those fires kindled through the Grecian camp?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> I am not certain, though my soul full strongly</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Suspects the cause.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi16">If thou fear this, thou tremblest</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">At a mere shadow.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi12">Such a light ne’er blazed</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Before among the foes.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi18">Nor such defeat</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">In battle, did they e’er till now experience.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> This have you done; look now to what remains.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> I give this short direction: take up arms</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Against the foe.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi12">Behold! Æneas comes:</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sure, from his haste, some tidings, which deserve</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His friends’ attentive ear, the warrior brings.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Æneas</span>, <span class="smcap">Hector</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Æne.</span> What mean the watch, O Hector, who by night</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Were to their stations in the camp assigned,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That they, with terror smitten, at your chamber</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In a nocturnal council have assembled?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And why is the whole army thus in motion?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Put on thy arms, Æneas.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Æne.</span> <span class="hemi24">What hath happened?</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are you informed that in this midnight gloom</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The foe hath formed some stratagem?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi32">They fly!</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">They mount their ships.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Æne.</span> <span class="hemi20">What proof have you of this?</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> All night their torches blaze; to me they seem</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As if they would not wait to-morrow’s dawn:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But, kindling fires upon their lofty decks,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They sure fly homeward from this hostile land.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Æne.</span> But why, if it be thus, prepare your troops</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For battle?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi8">As they mount the deck, this spear</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall overtake the dastards; I their flight</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will harass: for ’twere base, and prejudicial</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As well as base, when Heaven delivers up</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[120]</span>The foe into our hands, to suffer those</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who wronged us to escape without a conflict.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Æne.</span> Ah! would to Heaven you equally stood foremost</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In wisdom, as in courage: but one man</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By bounteous Nature never was endued</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With knowledge universal: various gifts</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Doth she dispense, to you the warrior’s palm,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To others sapient counsels: now you hear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their torches blaze, you thence infer the Greeks</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are flying, and would lead the troops by night</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Over the trenches: but when you have passed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The yawning fosse, should you perceive the foes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Instead of flying from the land, resist,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With dauntless courage, your protended spear,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If you are vanquished, to these sheltering walls</div> + <div class="verse indent0">You never can return: for in their flight</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How shall the troops o’er slanting palisades</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Escape, or, how the charioteer direct</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Over the narrow bridge his crashing wheels?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If you prevail, you have a foe at hand,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The son of Peleus, from your flaming torches</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who will protect the fleet, nor suffer you</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Utterly to destroy the Grecian host</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As you expect; for he is brave. Our troops</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Let us then leave to rest from martial toils,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And sleep beside their shields. That we despatch</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Amid the foe some voluntary spy,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is my advice: if they prepare for flight,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Let us assail the Greeks; but if those fires</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are kindled to ensnare us, having learned</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The enemy’s intentions, let us hold</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A second council on this great emprise.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Illustrious chief, I have declared my thoughts.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Chorus.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">I.</div> + <div class="verse indent4">These counsels I approve: thy wayward scheme,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">O Hector, change, and think the same:</div> + <div class="verse indent8">For perilous commands I deem,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Given by the headstrong chief, deserve our blame.</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Why send not to the fleet a spy,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Who may approach the trenches, and descry</div> + <div class="verse indent4">With what intent our foes upon the strand</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Have kindled many a flaming brand?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Ye have prevailed, because ye all concur</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In one opinion: but depart, prepare</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy fellow-soldiers, for perhaps the host</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">[121]</span>May by the rumours of our nightly council</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Be put in motion. I will send a spy</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Among the Greeks; and if we learn what schemes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They have devised, the whole of my intentions</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To thee will I immediately reveal</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In person. With confusion and dismay</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But if the foe precipitate their flight,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Give ear, and follow where the clanging trump</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Summons thee forth, for then I cannot wait,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But will this night attack the Grecian host,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Storm their entrenchments, and destroy their fleet.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Æne.</span> Despatch the messenger without delay.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For you now think discreetly, and in me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall find, when needed, in your bold emprise</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A firm associate.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exit</i> <span class="smcap">Æneas</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi14">What brave Trojan, present</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">At this our conference, as a spy will go</div> + <div class="verse indent0">T’ explore the Grecian navy? to this land</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What generous benefactor will arise?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who answers? for I singly cannot serve</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The cause of Troy and its confederate bands</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In every station.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Dol.</span> <span class="hemi14">For my native realm,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Facing this danger, to the fleet of Greece</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I as a spy will go; and when I’ve searched</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Into the progress of our foes, return:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But I on these conditions undertake</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The toilsome enterprise——</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi24">Thou well deserv’st</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy name, and to thy country art a friend,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O Dolon; for this day thy father’s house,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which is already noble, thou exalt’st</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With double fame.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Dol.</span> <span class="hemi14">I therefore ought to strive:</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">But after all my labours let me reap</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A suitable reward. If gain arise</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From the performance of the task enjoined,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We feel a twofold joy.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi18">This were but just:</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">I contradict thee not: name thy reward;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Choose what thou wilt, except the rank I bear.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Dol.</span> Your rich domains I wish not to possess.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> To thee a daughter of imperial Priam</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In marriage shall be given.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Dol.</span> <span class="hemi24">With my superiors</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">I will not wed.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi12">Abundant gold is ours,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">If thou prefer this stipend.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Dol.</span> <span class="hemi24">My own house</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">[122]</span>With wealth is furnished, I am far remote</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From want.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi6">What then dost thou desire that Troy</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Contains?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Dol.</span> <span class="hemi6">When you have conquered the proud Greeks,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Promise to give me——</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi18">I will give thee all</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">That thou canst ask, except my royal captives.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Dol.</span> Slay them; I seek not to withhold your arm</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From cutting off the vanquished Menelaus.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Is it thy wish, Oileus’ son to thee</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Should be consigned?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Dol.</span> <span class="hemi16">The hands of princes, nurtured</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Effeminately, are not formed to till</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The stubborn soil.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi14">From which of all the Greeks</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Taken alive wouldst thou receive his ransom?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Dol.</span> Already have I told you, that at home</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I have abundant riches.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi20">Thou shalt choose</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Among our spoils.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Dol.</span> <span class="hemi14">For offerings let them hang</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">High in the temples of the gods.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi28">What gift</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Greater than these canst thou from me require?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Dol.</span> Achilles’ steeds: for when I stake my life</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On Fortune’s die, ’twere reasonable to strive</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For such an object as deserves my toils.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Although thou in thy wishes to possess</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Those steeds hast interfered with me: for sprung</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From an immortal race themselves immortal</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They bear Pelides through the ranks of war,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Neptune, ’tis said, the king of ocean, tamed them</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And gave to Peleus: I, who prompted thee</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To this emprise, will not bely thy hopes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But to adorn thy noble father’s house,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On thee Achilles’ generous steeds bestow.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Dol.</span> This claims my gratitude: if I succeed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My courage will for me obtain a palm,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such as no Phrygian ever won before:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor should you envy me, for joys unnumbered</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And the first station in the realm, are yours.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exit</i> <span class="smcap">Hector</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Chorus.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">II.</div> + <div class="verse indent4">The danger’s great, but great rewards allure</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Thee, generous youth, t’ assert thy claim,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Thrice blest if thou the gift procure,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Yet will thy toils deserve immortal fame:</div> + <div class="verse indent8"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">[123]</span>Th’ allies of kings let grandeur tend,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">May Heaven and Justice thy emprise befriend,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">For thou already seem’st to have acquired</div> + <div class="verse indent8">All that from man can be desired.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Dol.</span> I am resolved to go: but my own doors</div> + <div class="verse indent0">First must I enter, and myself attire</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In such a garb as suits my present scheme,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thence will I hasten to the Argive fleet.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> What other dress intend’st thou to assume</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Instead of that thou wear’st?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Dol.</span> <span class="hemi26">Such as befits</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">My errand and the stealth with which I travel.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> We ought to gain instruction from the wise.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What covering hast thou chosen for thy body?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Dol.</span> I to my back will fit the tawny hide</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of a slain wolf, will muffle up my front</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With the beast’s hairy visage, fit my hands</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To his fore-feet, thrust into those behind</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My legs, and imitate his savage gait;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Approaching undiscovered by the foe,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The trenches and the ramparts that defend</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The navy: but whenever I shall come</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To desert places, on two feet I mean</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To travel: such deception have I framed.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> May Hermes, Maïa’s offspring, who presides</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O’er well-conducted fallacies, assist</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy journey thither, and with safety lead</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy homeward steps! for well thou understand’st</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The business; there is nought which yet thou need’st</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But good success.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Dol.</span> <span class="hemi14">I shall return in safety,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">And having slain Ulysses, or the son</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Tydeus, bring to you their ghastly heads:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For omens of assured success are mine:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Then say that Dolon reached the Grecian fleet.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These hands distained with gore, my native walls</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will I revisit ere the sun arise.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exit</i> <span class="smcap">Dolon</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Chorus.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center allsmcap">ODE.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">I. 1.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">O thou, who issuing with majestic tread</div> + <div class="verse indent4">From Delian, Lycian, or Thymbræan fanes,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Twang’st thy unerring bow; on Phrygia’s plains,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Apollo, thy celestial influence shed,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Hither come with nightly speed,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">The enterprising chief to lead</div> + <div class="verse indent4"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">[124]</span>Through mazes undiscovered by our foes;</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Aid thy loved Dardanian line,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">For matchless strength was ever thine,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Constructed by thy hand Troy’s ancient bulwarks rose.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">I. 2.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Speed Dolon’s journey to the Grecian fleet,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Let him espy th’ entrenchments of their host;</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Again in triumph from the stormy coast</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Conduct the warrior to his native seat;</div> + <div class="verse indent8">May he mount that chariot drawn</div> + <div class="verse indent8">By steeds that browsed the Phthian lawn</div> + <div class="verse indent4">When our brave lord, the Mars of Greece, hath slain;</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Coursers of unrivalled speed,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Which erst to Eacus’ seed</div> + <div class="verse indent4">To Peleus, Neptune gave who rules the billowy main.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">II. 1.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">His country, his paternal walls, to save,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">The generous youth explores the anchored fleet:</div> + <div class="verse indent4">From me such worth shall due encomiums meet.</div> + <div class="verse indent4">How few with hardy bosoms stem the wave,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">When Hyperion veils his face,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">And cities tremble on their base!</div> + <div class="verse indent4">At this dread crisis Phrygian heroes rise,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Mysian chiefs, uncurbed by fear,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Brandish with nervous arm the spear,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Curst be the lying tongue that slanders my allies.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">II. 2.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">In savage guise now Dolon stalks arrayed,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">With step adventurous o’er the hostile ground:</div> + <div class="verse indent4">What Grecian chief shall feel the deadly wound,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">While the wolf’s hide conceals his glittering blade?</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Weltering first in crimson gore,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">May Menelaus rise no more;</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Next may the victor, Agamemnon’s head</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Bear to Helen, stung with grief</div> + <div class="verse indent8">At her affinity to that famed chief</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Who in a thousand ships to Troy his squadrons led.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">A Shepherd</span>, <span class="smcap">Hector</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Shep.</span> Most gracious monarch, may I ever greet</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My lords with tidings such as now I bring!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Full oft misapprehension clouds the soul</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of simple rustics: to thy lord in arms</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou of thy fleecy charge art come to speak</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">[125]</span>At this unseemly crisis: know’st thou not</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My mansion, or the palace of my sire?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">There ought’st thou to relate how fare thy flock.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Shep.</span> We shepherds are, I own, a simple race,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet my intelligence deserves attention.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Such fortunes as befall the fold, to me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Relate not, for I carry in this hand</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The battle and the spear.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Shep.</span> <span class="hemi20">I too am come</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such tidings to unfold; for a brave chief,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your friend, the leader of a numerous host,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Marches to fight the battles of this realm.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> But from what country?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Shep.</span> <span class="hemi22">Thrace, and he is called</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">The son of Strymon.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi16">Didst thou say, that Rhesus</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hath entered Ilion’s fields?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Shep.</span> <span class="hemi24">You comprehend me,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">And have anticipated half my speech.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Why doth he travel over Ida’s hill,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Deserting that broad path where loaded wains</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With ease might move?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Shep.</span> <span class="hemi16">I have no certain knowledge;</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet may we form conjectures; ’tis a scheme</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Most prudent, with his host to march by night</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Because he hears the plain with hostile bands</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is covered: but us rustics he alarmed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who dwell on Ida’s mount, the ancient seat</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Ilion’s first inhabitants, by night</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When through that wood, the haunt of savage beasts</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The warrior trod: for with a mighty shout</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The Thracian host rushed on, but we, our flocks,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With terror smitten, to the summit drove,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lest any Greek should come to seize the prey,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And waste your crowded stalls: till we discovered</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Voices so different from the Hellenian tribes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That we no longer feared them. I advanced,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And in the Thracian language made inquiry</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of the king’s vanguard, as they moved along</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To explore a passage for the host, what name</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their leader bore, sprung from what noble sire,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To Ilion’s walls he came, the friend of Priam.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When I had heard each circumstance I wished</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To know, I for a time stood motionless,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And saw majestic Rhesus, like a god,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">High in his chariot, drawn by Thracian steeds</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whiter than snow, a golden beam confined</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their necks, and o’er his shoulders hung a shield</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Adorned with sculptures wrought in massive gold;</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">[126]</span>Like that which in Minerva’s Ægis flames,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bound on the courser’s front, a brazen Gorgon</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Tinkled incessant with alarming sound.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The numbers of an army so immense</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I cannot calculate; the horse were many,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Many the ranks of troops with bucklers armed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And archers; and a countless multitude,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Like infantry in Thracian vests arrayed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Brought up the rear. Such is th’ ally who comes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On Troy’s behalf to combat; nor by flight,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor by withstanding his protended spear,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Can Peleus’ son escape him.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi22">When the gods</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are to a realm propitious, each event</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is easily converted into bliss.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Since I in battle prosper, and since Jove</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is on our side, I shall have many friends;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But those we need not who in former time</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Our toils partook not, with malignant blast</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When on the sails of Ilion Mars had breathed.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Rhesus hath shown too plainly what a friend</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He is to Troy, for to the feast he comes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet was he absent when the hunters seized</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their prey, nor did he share the toils of war.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> You justly scorn such friends; yet, O receive</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Those who would aid the city.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi26">We who long</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have guarded Ilion can defend it now.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Are you persuaded you have gained already</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A triumph o’er the foes?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi20">I am persuaded,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">And when to-morrow’s sun the heaven ascends</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This shall be proved.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi16">Beware of what may happen;</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Jove oft o’erthrows the prosperous.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi32">I abhor</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">These tardy succours.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Shep.</span> <span class="hemi16">O, my lord, ’twere odious,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Should you reject with scorn the proffered aid</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of our allies: the sight of such a host</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will strike the foe with terror.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi28">Since he comes</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">But as a guest, not partner in the war,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Let him approach your hospitable board,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For little thanks are due from Priam’s sons</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To such confederates.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi18">Prudent are thy counsels,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou too hast rightly judged: and in compliance</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With what the messenger hath said, let Rhesus</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">[127]</span>Refulgent in his golden arms draw near,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For Ilion shall receive him as her friend.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exit</i> <span class="smcap">Shepherd</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Chorus.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center allsmcap">ODE.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">I. 1.</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Daughter of Jove, forbear to wreak</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Impending vengeance, though the tongue,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">O Nemesis, its boastful strain prolong:</div> + <div class="verse indent6">I the free dictates of my soul will speak.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Thou com’st, brave son of that illustrious spring,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Thou com’st thrice welcome to our social hall:</div> + <div class="verse indent6">At length doth thy Pierian mother bring</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Her favoured child, while ling’ring in his fall,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Adorned by many a bridge, thee with paternal call.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">I. 2.</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Doth Strymon summon to the field: of yore</div> + <div class="verse indent8">When he the tuneful Muse addressed,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">A gliding stream he sought her snowy breast,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Thee, lovely youth, the yielding goddess bore:</div> + <div class="verse indent6">To us thou com’st a tutelary power</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Yoking thy coursers to the fervid car:</div> + <div class="verse indent6">O Phrygia! O my country! at this hour</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Hastes thy deliverer glittering from afar,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Him may’st thou call thy Jove, thy thunderbolt of war.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">II. 1.</div> + <div class="verse indent8">While swiftly glides th’ unheeded day,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Again shall Troy without control</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Chant the young loves, and o’er the foaming bowl</div> + <div class="verse indent6">The sportive contest urge ’midst banquets gay;</div> + <div class="verse indent6">But Atreus’ sons desponding cross the wave,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">And sail from Ilion to the Spartan strand.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Accomplish what thy friends foretold, O save</div> + <div class="verse indent6">These menaced walls by thy victorious hand,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Return with laurels crowned, and bless thy native land.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">II. 2.</div> + <div class="verse indent8">To dazzle fierce Pelides’ sight,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Before him wave thy golden shield</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Obliquely raised, that meteor of the field,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Vault from thy chariot with unrivalled might,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">And brandish with each dexterous hand a lance;</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Whoever strives with thee shall ne’er return</div> + <div class="verse indent6">To Argive fanes, and join Saturnia’s dance,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">He by the spear of Thrace in combat slain,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Shall lie a breathless corse on Troy’s exulting plain.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">[128]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Hail, mighty chief! ye Thracian realms, the mien</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of him ye bore speaks his exalted rank.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Observe those nervous limbs with plated gold</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Incased, and hearken to those tinkling chains</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which on his shield are hung. A god, O Troy,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E’en Mars himself, from Strymon’s current sprung,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And from the Muse, brings this auspicious gale.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Rhesus</span>, <span class="smcap">Hector</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Rhe.</span> Thou brave descendant of a noble sire,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lord of this realm, O Hector, I accost thee</div> + <div class="verse indent0">After a tedious absence, and rejoice</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In thy success, for to the turrets reared</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By Greece, thou now lay’st siege, and I am come</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With thee those hostile bulwarks to o’erthrow,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And burn their fleet.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi18">Son of the tuneful Muse,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">And Thracian Strymon’s stream, I ever love</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To speak the truth, for I am not a man</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Versed in duplicity; long, long ago,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Should you have come to succour Troy, nor suffered,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Far as on you depended, by our foes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This city to be ta’en. You cannot say</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That uninvited by your friends you came not,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Because you marked not our distress. What heralds,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What embassies to you did Phrygia send,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beseeching you, the city to protect,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What sumptuous presents did she not bestow?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But you, our kinsman, who derive your birth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From a barbarian stem, to Greece betrayed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Us, a barbarian nation, though from ruling</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Over a petty state, by this right arm</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I raised you to the wide-extended throne,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When round Pangæum and Pæonia’s realm</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Rushing upon the hardiest Thracian troops</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I broke their ranks of battle, and subdued</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The people to your empire: but you spurn</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My benefits, nor come with speed to succour</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your friends in their distress. Though they who spring not</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From the same ancestors, observed our summons;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of whom full many in yon field of death</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have tombs heaped o’er them, a most glorious proof</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of faith unshaken; others under arms</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their chariots mount, and steadfastly endure</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The wintry blasts, the parching flames of heaven,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor on a gay convivial couch reclined</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Like you, O Rhesus, drain the frequent bowl.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That you may know I yet can stand alone,</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">[129]</span>Such conduct I resent; this to your face</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I speak.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Rhe.</span> <span class="hemi6">I also am the same: my language</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is plain and honest; I am not a man</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of mean duplicity. My soul was tortured</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With greater anguish far than thou couldst feel,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Because I was not present in this land;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But Scythia’s tribes who near our confines dwell</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Made war against me just as I to Troy</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Was journeying; I had reached the Euxine shore</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To sail with Thracia’s host, the Scythian blood</div> + <div class="verse indent0">There stained our spears, and my brave troops expired</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Midst intermingled slaughter: this event</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hindered my reaching Troy, and aiding thee</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In battle. Having conquered them, and taken</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For hostages their children, them I bound</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To pay me annual tribute; with my fleet</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Then crossed the Hellespont, and marched on foot</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Through various realms, nor, as thou proudly say’st,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Drained the intoxicating bowl, nor slept</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beneath a gilded roof, but to such blasts</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As cover with thick ice the Thracian wave,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or through Pæonia howl, was I exposed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wrapped in this mantle many a sleepless night.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But I, though late, am in due season come:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For this is the tenth year since thou hast waged</div> + <div class="verse indent0">An ineffectual war, day after day</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By thee is idly lavished, while the die</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of battle ’twixt the Argive host and thine</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Spins doubtful ere it fall. But it for me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will be sufficient that the sun once mount</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The heavens, while I their bulwarks storm, invade</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their fleet, and slay the Greeks. To my own home</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I the next day from Ilion will return,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy toils soon ending: let no Trojan bear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A shield: for with this spear will I subdue</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The boasters, though ’twas late ere I arrived.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> My soul this language doth approve,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such friends as thou art sent by Jove,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But humbly I that god beseech,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To pardon thy presumptuous speech.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The navy launched from Argos’ strand,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Though freighted with a daring band,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Neither in former times, nor now</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Contained a chief more brave than thou.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How shall Achilles’ self withstand,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or Ajax meet, thy vengeful hand?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O may the morn with orient ray</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Exhibit that auspicious day,</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">[130]</span>When thou the victor’s prize shalt gain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And dye with crimson gore the plain.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Rhe.</span> Soon with exploits like these will I atone</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For my long absence: but, with due submission</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To Nemesis, I speak; when from the foe</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We have delivered this beleaguered city</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And seized their spoils for offerings to the gods;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With thee to Argos will I go, invade,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And ravage with victorious arms, all Greece,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To teach them in their turn what ’tis to suffer.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Could I escape from the impending stroke,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And with that safety which we erst enjoyed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These walls inhabit, I to Heaven should pay</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Full many a grateful vow: but as for Argos,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As for the Grecian states, to lay them waste</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By arms were far less easy than you speak of.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Rhe.</span> Is it not said the bravest chiefs of Greece</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Came hither?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi8">Them I hold not in contempt,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">But long have kept at bay.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Rhe.</span> <span class="hemi22">When these are slain,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">We therefore each obstruction have removed.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Forbear to think of distant prospects now,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">While our immediate interests lie neglected.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Rhe.</span> Art thou so tame as to endure such wrongs</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Without retorting them?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi20">While I maintain</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">What I possess, my empire is sufficient.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But freely take your choice, or in the left</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or the right wing, or centre of our host</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Display your shield, and range your troops around.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Rhe.</span> I singly will encounter all our foes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O Hector; but if thou esteem it base</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Not to assist me when I burn their fleet,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Because thou hast already toiled so long,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Oppose me to Achilles in the front</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of battle.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi6">We at him no spear must aim.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Rhe.</span> Yet was I told he sailed for Troy.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi36">He sailed,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">And still is here, but angry with the chiefs,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Refuses to assist them.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Rhe.</span> <span class="hemi20">In the camp</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Greece, say who is second in renown?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Ajax, I deem, and Tydeus’ son are equal</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To any; but most fluent in his speech,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And with sufficient fortitude inspired,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is that Ulysses, from whom Troy hath suffered</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Insults the most atrocious; for by night,</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">[131]</span>Entering Minerva’s fane, he stole her image,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And bore it to the Grecian fleet: disguised</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In tattered vest, that vile impostor next</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Entered the gates, and cursed the Argive host,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sent as a spy to Ilion; having slain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The sentinels, he through the gates escaped,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And in some fraudful scheme is ever found:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">At the Thymbræan temple is he stationed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hard by our ramparts, we in him contend</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With a most grievous pest.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Rhe.</span> <span class="hemi22">The valiant man</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is never mean enough to slay his foes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By stealth, he loves to meet them face to face;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But, as for him, the recreant chief thou nam’st,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who lurking with a thievish purpose frames</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These dark contrivances, as through the gates</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I sally forth to combat, I will seize him;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Driven through his back, my spear shall leave the miscreant</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Food for the vultures, for the impious robber</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who spoils the temples of the gods deserves</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No better fate.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi12">Now choose, for it is night,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">The spot for an encampment: I will show you</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A separate quarter where your troops must sleep.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But mark me well, Apollo is the watchword;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In case of an emergency, announce</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This signal to the Thracian host.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exit</i> <span class="smcap">Rhesus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent34">Extend</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The watch beyond the lines, and there receive</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Dolon our spy, who sallied forth t’ explore</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The navy of our foes; if he be safe</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He, by this time, the trenches must approach.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exit</i> <span class="smcap">Hector</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Chorus.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">I.</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Who comes this rampart to defend?</div> + <div class="verse indent6">The times assigned us sentinels is o’er;</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Yon fading constellation shines no more</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Now the seven Pleiades the heaven ascend,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">In ether view the eagle glide.</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Wake! what means this long delay?</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Rise and watch; now dawns the day?</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Saw ye the moon diffuse her radiance wide?</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Aurora is at hand: but at the gate</div> + <div class="verse indent4">(For Dolon sure returns) what faithful guard shall wait?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> To whom did the first watch belong?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> <span class="hemi36">’Tis said</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Choræbus, son of Mygdon, is their chief.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">[132]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> Who in his room was stationed?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> <span class="hemi32">The Pæonians</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Called from their tent Cilicia’s hardy troops.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> The Mysians summoned us.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> <span class="hemi26">Haste, let us seek</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">The fifth division of the watch, and rouse</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lycia’s brave warriors as by lot ordained.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Chorus.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">II.</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Hark! couched on her ill-omened nest,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Fell murderess of her son, in varied strains</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Near Simois’ banks the nightingale complains:</div> + <div class="verse indent6">What sounds melodious heave her throbbing breast!</div> + <div class="verse indent10">The flocks on Ida wont to feed</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Still browse o’er that airy height,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Soothing the cold ear of night,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Hark to the murmurs of the pastoral reed.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Sleep on our closing eyelids gently steals;</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Sweet are its dews when morn her earliest dawn reveals.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> But wherefore doth not he draw near whom Hector</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sent to explore the fleet?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> <span class="hemi18">He hath so long</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Been absent that I tremble.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> <span class="hemi18">If he fell</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Into some ambush, and is slain, we soon</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall have sufficient cause for fear.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> <span class="hemi28">But haste,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Rouse Lycia’s warriors as by lot ordained.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exit</i> <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Ulysses</span>, <span class="smcap">Diomede</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> Heard’st thou, O Diomede, the sound of arms,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or in these ears did empty murmurs ring?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Dio.</span> No; but the steely trappings which are linked</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To yonder chariots, rattled, and I too</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With vain alarm was seized, till I perceived</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The coursers, who their clanging harness shook.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> Beware, lest in this gloom of night thou stumble</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Upon the sentinels.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Dio.</span> <span class="hemi16">Though in the dark</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">We tread, I with such caution will direct</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My steps as not to err.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> <span class="hemi20">But, should’st thou wake them,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou know’st the watchword of their host.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Dio.</span> <span class="hemi34">I know</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">It is Apollo; this I heard from Dolon.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> Ha! I perceive our foes have left these chambers.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">[133]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Dio.</span> Here, Dolon told us, is the tent of Hector:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Gainst him I wield this javelin.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> <span class="hemi30">What hath happened?</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is the whole squadron too elsewhere removed?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Dio.</span> Perchance they too ’gainst us may have contrived</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Some stratagem.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> <span class="hemi12">For Hector now is brave</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Since he hath conquered.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Dio.</span> <span class="hemi20">How shall we proceed?</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">For in this chamber him we cannot find,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And all our hopes are vanished.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> <span class="hemi28">To the fleet</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Let us in haste return: for him some god</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Protects, and crowns him with triumphant wreaths:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We must not strive ’gainst Fortune’s dread behests.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Dio.</span> Then to Æneas will we go, or Paris</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That Phrygian most abhorred, and with our swords</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lop off their heads.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> <span class="hemi16">But how, in darkness wrapt,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Canst thou direct thy passage through the troops,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To slay them without danger?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Dio.</span> <span class="hemi24">Yet ’twere base,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Back to the Grecian fleet should we return,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No fresh exploit performing ’gainst the foe.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> What means this language? hast thou not performed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A great exploit? have we not slain the spy</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who to our navy went, and are not these</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The spoils of Dolon? how canst thou expect</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To spread a general havoc through their troops?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Comply; let us retire: may Fortune speed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Our progress homeward.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Minerva</span>, <span class="smcap">Ulysses</span>, <span class="smcap">Diomede</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Min.</span> <span class="hemi18">With affliction stung,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Why from the Trojan camp do ye retire?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Although the gods forbid you to destroy</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hector or Paris, heard ye not that Rhesus,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A mighty chief, with numerous troops is come</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To Troy? If he outlives this night, nor Ajax,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor can Achilles hinder him from wasting</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The camp of Greece, demolishing your walls,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And forcing a wide passage through your gates</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With his victorious spear: him slay, and all</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is yours; but go not to the couch of Hector,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor hope to leave that chief a weltering trunk,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For he must perish by another hand.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> Dread goddess, O Minerva, I distinguished</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy well-known voice: for midst unnumbered toils</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou ever dost support me: but, oh say,</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">[134]</span>Where sleeps the mighty warrior thou hast named,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And in what part of the barbarian host</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have they assigned his station?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Min.</span> <span class="hemi28">Near at hand,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">And separate from the Phrygian troops, he lies;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hector hath placed him just without the lines</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Till morn arise; conspicuous in the gloom</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of night, and close beside their sleeping lord,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yoked to the car his Thracian coursers stand,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">White as the glossy plumage of the swan:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Them bear away when ye have slain their lord,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A glorious prize, for the whole world can boast</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No car beside drawn by such beauteous steeds.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> Either do thou, O Diomede, transpierce</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The Thracian soldiers, or to me consign</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That task; meanwhile seize thou the steeds.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Dio.</span> <span class="hemi40">To slay</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">The foe be mine; do you the coursers guide,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For you are practised in each nicer art,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And quick of apprehension. To each man</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Should that peculiar station be assigned</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In which he can be useful.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Min.</span> <span class="hemi22">But to us</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Paris I see is coming, who hath heard</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A doubtful rumour from the watch, that foes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Enter the trenches.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Dio.</span> <span class="hemi16">Hath he any comrade,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or marches he alone?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Min.</span> <span class="hemi16">Alone he seems</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">To go to Hector’s chamber, to announce</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That there are foes discovered in the camp.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Dio.</span> Is it not first ordained that he shall die?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Min.</span> You can no more, the Destinies forbid:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For Hector must not perish by your hand;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But haste to him on whom ye came to wreak</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Fate’s dreadful purposes: myself meanwhile</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Assuming Venus’ form, who ’midst the toils</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of battle by her tutelary care</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Protects him, will with empty words detain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Paris your foe. Thus much have I declared:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet he, whom you must smite, though near at hand,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor knows, nor hears, the words which I have uttered.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exeunt</i> <span class="smcap">Ulysses</span> <i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Diomede</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Paris</span>, <span class="smcap">Minerva</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Par.</span> General and brother, Hector, thee I call:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet sleep’st thou? doth not this important hour</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Demand thy vigilance? some foes approach,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Robbers or spies.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">[135]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Min.</span> <span class="hemi14">Be of good cheer; for Venus</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Protects you: I in all your battles feel</div> + <div class="verse indent0">An interest, mindful of the prize I gained</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Favoured by you, and am for ever grateful:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Now to the host of Ilion I conduct</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your noble Thracian friend, who from the Muse,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Harmonious goddess, and from Strymon springs.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Par.</span> To Troy and me thou ever art a friend.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In thy behalf when I that judgment gave,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I boast that for this city I obtained</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The greatest treasure life affords. But hither,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hearing an indistinct account, I come;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For ’mong the guards there hath prevailed a rumour,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That Grecian spies have entered Ilion’s walls:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Though the astonished messenger who bore</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These tidings, saw them not himself, nor knows</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who saw them: I on this account am going</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To Hector’s tent.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Min.</span> <span class="hemi14">Fear nought; for in the camp</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">No new event hath happened. To arrange</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The Thracian troops is Hector gone.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Par.</span> <span class="hemi32">Thy words</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are most persuasive, and to them I yield</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Implicit credence. From all fears released,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I to my former station will return.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Min.</span> Go and depend upon my guardian care</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To see my faithful votaries ever blest;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For you in me shall find a zealous friend.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exit</i> <span class="smcap">Paris</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Ulysses</span>, <span class="smcap">Diomede</span>, <span class="smcap">Minerva</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Min.</span> But now to you, my real friends, I speak.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Son of Laertes, O conceal your sword,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For we have slain the Thracian chief, and seized</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His coursers, but our foes have ta’en th’ alarm</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And rush upon you, therefore fly with speed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Fly to the naval ramparts. Why delay</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To save your lives when hostile throngs approach?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exit</i> <span class="smcap">Minerva</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Chorus</span>, <span class="smcap">Ulysses</span>, <span class="smcap">Diomede</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Come on, strike, strike, destroy. Who marches yonder?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Look, look, ’tis him I mean! these are the robbers</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who in the dead of night alarmed our host.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hither, my friends, haste hither; I have seized them.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What answer mak’st thou? tell me whence thou cam’st,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And who thou art.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> <span class="hemi14">No right hast thou to know;</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Insult me, and this instant thou shalt die.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">[136]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Wilt thou not, ere this lance transpierce thy breast,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Repeat the watchword?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> <span class="hemi18">That thou soon shalt hear;</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Be satisfied.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">1st <span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> Come on, my friends, strike! strike!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">2nd <span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> Hast thou slain Rhesus?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> <span class="hemi34">I have slain the man</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who would have murdered thee: forbear.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">1st <span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> <span class="hemi26">I will not.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">2nd <span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> Forbear to slay a friend.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">1st <span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> <span class="hemi26">Pronounce the watchword.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> Apollo.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">2nd <span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> Thou art right; let not a spear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Be lifted up against him.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">1st <span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> <span class="hemi12">Know’st thou whither</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Those men are gone?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">2nd <span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> <span class="hemi6">We saw not.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">1st <span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> <span class="hemi18">Follow close</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their steps, or we must call aloud for aid.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">2nd <span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> Yet were it most unseemly to disturb</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Our valiant comrades with our nightly fears.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exeunt</i> <span class="smcap">Ulysses</span> <i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Diomede</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Chorus.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center allsmcap">ODE.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">I.</div> + <div class="verse indent8">What chief is he, who moved along;</div> + <div class="verse indent8">What daring plunderer fleet and strong,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Shall boast he ’scaped my vengeful hand?</div> + <div class="verse indent8">How overtake his rapid flight?</div> + <div class="verse indent8">To whom compare him, who by night,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">With dauntless step passed through our armed band</div> + <div class="verse indent8">And slumbering guards? doth he reside</div> + <div class="verse indent4">In Thessaly, near ocean’s boisterous tide</div> + <div class="verse indent4">In Locris, or those islands scattered o’er</div> + <div class="verse indent4">The waves? whence comes he to this fell debate?</div> + <div class="verse indent8">What power supreme doth he adore?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">1st <span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> Was this Ulysses’ enterprise, or whose?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">2nd <span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> If we may form our judgment from the past,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who but Ulysses——</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">1st <span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> <span class="hemi6">Think’st thou that it was?</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">2nd <span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> Why not?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">1st <span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> <span class="hemi10">He is an enterprising foe.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">2nd <span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> What bravery? whom do you applaud?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">1st <span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> <span class="hemi36">Ulysses.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">2nd <span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> Praise not the treacherous weapon of a robber.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">[137]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Chorus.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">II.</div> + <div class="verse indent8">He entered Ilion once before,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">With foam his eyes were covered o’er,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">In tatters hung his squalid vest;</div> + <div class="verse indent8">He artfully concealed his sword,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">And sued for fragments from our board;</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Shorn was his head, and like a beggar dressed;</div> + <div class="verse indent8">He cursed with simulated hate</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Th’ Atrides, rulers of the Grecian state.</div> + <div class="verse indent4">May just revenge his forfeit life demand:</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Would he had perished as his crimes deserve,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Before he reached the Phrygian land.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">1st <span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> Whether this deed was by Ulysses wrought</div> + <div class="verse indent0">It matters not, I shrink with fear, for Hector</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will to us guards impute the blame.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">2nd <span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> <span class="hemi22">What charge</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Can he allege?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">1st <span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> <span class="hemi4">He will suspect.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">2nd <span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> <span class="hemi18">Why shrink</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">With terror?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">1st <span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> ’Twixt our ranks they passed.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">2nd <span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> <span class="hemi30">Who passed?</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">1st <span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> They, who this night have entered Phrygia’s camp.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Charioteer of Rhesus</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Cha.</span> Alas! intolerable stroke of fate!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">1st <span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> Be silent.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">2nd <span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> <span class="hemi12">Rouse! for some one may have fallen</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Into the snare.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Cha.</span> <span class="hemi12">O dire calamity</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Troy’s allies, the Thracians!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">1st <span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> <span class="hemi20">Who is he</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">That groans?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Cha.</span> <span class="hemi8">Ah! wretched me, and O thou king</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Thrace, who in an evil hour beheld’st</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Accursed Ilion; what an end of life</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Was thine!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi6">But which of our allies art thou?</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">For o’er these eyes the gloom of night is spread,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And I discern thee not.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Cha.</span> <span class="hemi20">Where shall I find</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Some of the Trojan chiefs? beneath his shield</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O where doth Hector taste the charms of sleep?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To which of Ilion’s leaders shall I tell</div> + <div class="verse indent0">All we have suffered? and what wounds unseen</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">[138]</span>Some stranger hath on us with ruthless hand</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Inflicted? but he vanished and hath heaped</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Conspicuous sorrows on the Thracian realm.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Some terrible disaster to the troops</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Thrace it seems hath happened, if aright</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I comprehend what I from him have heard.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Cha.</span> Our host is utterly destroyed, our king</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hath been despatched by some foul secret stroke.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How am I tortured by a deadly wound,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet know not to what cause I must impute</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My perishing! ’Twas by the Fates ordained,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That I, and Rhesus, who to Ilion led</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Auxiliar troops, ingloriously should bleed.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> He in no riddle hath expressed the tale</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of our misfortunes; he asserts too clearly</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That our allies are slain.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Cha.</span> <span class="hemi22">We are most wretched,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">And to our wretchedness have joined disgrace,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A twofold evil. For, to die with glory,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If glory must be purchased at the expense</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of life, is very bitterness I deem</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To him who bleeds (for what can make amends</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For such a loss as life); but to the living</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is he the source of pride, from him his house</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Derives renown. But we, alas! like fools,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ignobly perish. Hector in the camp</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No sooner fixed our station, and pronounced</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The watchword, than we slept upon the plain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O’ercome with toil; no sentinels were stationed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To watch our troops by night, nor were our arms</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Duly arranged, and to the harnessed steeds</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hung no alarm bell; for our monarch heard</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That ye had proved victorious, and with ruin</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Threatened the Grecian fleet. Immersed we lay</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In luckless slumber; till disturbed in mind</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I started up, and with a liberal hand</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Measured the coursers’ food, resolved betimes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To yoke them for the battle. I beheld</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Two men, who, in the midnight darkness, walked</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Around our camp; but when I moved, they fled,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And disappeared immediately; with threats</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I bade them keep aloof: ’twas my conjecture</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That robbers, some of our own countrymen,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Approached: they answered not, nor know I more.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Returning to my tent, again I slept,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And forms tremendous hovered in my dream.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For near my royal master, as I stood,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I saw two visionary wolves ascend</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Those coursers’ backs which I was wont to guide,</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">[139]</span>Oft lashing with their tails they forced them on,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Indignant breathing as they champed the bit,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And struggling with dismay; but in attempting</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To drive away these ravenous beasts, I woke,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Roused by the terrors of the night, and heard,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Soon as I raised my head, expiring groans;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The tepid current of my master’s blood,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet gasping in the agonies of death,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Besprinkled me. As from the couch I leaped</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Unarmed, and sought for weapons, some strong warrior</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Smote with his sword my ribs; the ghastly wound</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Displayed his might: prostrate I sunk to earth.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bearing the steeds away, and glittering car,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They by the swiftness of their feet escaped,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Tortured with pain, too faint to stand, I know</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Too well the dire calamity these eyes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beheld; but cannot say, or through what means,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or by the hand of whom, my lord was slain:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet can I guess that by our friends we suffer.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> O charioteer of Thracia’s wretched king,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Be well assured this deed was by our foes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Committed. For lo! Hector’s self, apprized</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of this calamity, draws near; he feels</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such anguish as he ought for thy disasters.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Hector</span>, <span class="smcap">Charioteer of Rhesus</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> O ye accursed authors of this mischief,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How did those spies, who by the foe were sent</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thus, to your infamy, escape, and spread</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Dire havoc through the host; both as they entered</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And as they left the camp? Yet, unmolested,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ye suffered them to pass. Who should be punished</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But you? for you, I say, were stationed here</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To watch the camp; but they without a wound</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are vanished, laughing at the Phrygian troops</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For their unmanly cowardice, and me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their leader. Be assured, by Jove I swear,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">All-gracious father, or the scourge or death</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall wait you for such guilt, else deem that Hector</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is but a thing of nought, a very coward.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Great is, alas! my danger, mighty prince,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The foe stole in while I to you conveyed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Those tidings, that the Greeks around their ships</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Had kindled fires: through all the live-long night</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These watchful eyes have ne’er been sealed by sleep.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By Simois’ holy fountain I conjure you,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My royal lord, impute no blame to me,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For I am wholly guiltless. If you learn</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That in my deeds or words I have offended,</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">[140]</span>Plunge me alive beneath earth’s deepest vault;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I ask no mercy.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Cha.</span> <span class="hemi12">Why dost thou upbraid</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">These for the guilt? by plausible harangues</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wouldst thou impose on thy barbarian friends;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O thou barbarian, thou the bloody deed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Didst perpetrate; nor can our slaughtered comrades,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor we who linger pierced with ghastly wounds,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Admit that ’twas another. There requires</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A long and subtle speech to make me think</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou didst not basely murder thy allies,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Because the beauty of our steeds attracted</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy admiration, and on their account</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hast thou slain those who at thy earnest prayer</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Landed on Ilion’s shore; they came, they died.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With greater decency than thou observ’st,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who dost assassinate thy friends, did Paris</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The rites of hospitality infringe.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Pretend not that some Grecian came unseen</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And smote us. Who subdued the Phrygian host,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who reached our quarters unobserved by Hector?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou with the Trojan army wert before us;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But who was wounded, who among thy troops</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Expired, when through their ranks as thou pretend’st</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The foe to us advanced? But I was wounded,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And they, whom a more grievous ill o’ertook,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No more behold the sun. To be explicit,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I charge no Greek: what foe could come by night</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And find out Rhesus’ tent, unless some god</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Had told the murderers, for they sure knew nought</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of his arrival? therefore all this mischief</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Must be thy sole contrivance.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi26">Our allies</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have long assisted us since first the Greeks</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This realm invaded; and I never heard</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They to my charge imputed any crime.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Could I begin with thee? by such desire</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For beauteous steeds may I be never seized,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As to induce me to destroy my friends.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ulysses was the author of this deed.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What Greek could have accomplished or contrived</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such an exploit, but he? Him much I fear:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My soul is also troubled lest he light</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On Dolon too, and slay him, for ’tis long</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Since he went forth, nor doth he yet return.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Cha.</span> I know not that Ulysses whom thou nam’st,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor did a foe inflict this ghastly wound.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Therefore retain, since thus to thee it seems,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy own opinion.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">[141]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Cha.</span> <span class="hemi12">O my native land,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Might I but die in thee!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi20">Thou shalt not die:</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">For of the dead the number is sufficient.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Cha.</span> Reft of my lord, but whither shall I turn?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Thou in my house shalt careful treatment find,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And healing balsams.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Cha.</span> <span class="hemi16">Shall the ruthless hands</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of murderers dress my wounds?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi26">He will not cease</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Alleging the same charge.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Cha.</span> <span class="hemi22">Perdition seize</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">The author of this bloody deed! my tongue</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Has fixed no charge, as thou pretend’st, on thee;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But Justice knows.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi14">Conduct him to my palace</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">With speed, that we may ’scape his clamorous plaints.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But you must go, and to the citizens</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Proclaim, acquainting Priam, and the elders</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who sit in council, first, that I direct</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The bodies of the slain shall be interred</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With due respect beside the public road.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exit</i> <span class="smcap">Charioteer</span>, <i>supported by one of</i> <span class="smcap">Hector’s</span> <i>Attendants</i>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Why from the summit of exalted bliss</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Into fresh woes hath some malignant god</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Plunged Troy, why caused this sad reverse of fortune?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><i>The</i> <span class="smcap">Muse</span> <i>appears in the air</i>, <span class="smcap">Hector</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> High o’er our heads what deity, O king,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is hovering? in her hands a recent corse</div> + <div class="verse indent0">She bears: I shudder at the dreadful sight.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Muse.</span> Ye Trojans, mark me well: for I a Muse</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who by the wise am worshipped, hither come,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">One of the nine famed sisters, having seen</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The wretched fate of this my dearest son,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who by the foe was slain: but he who smote</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The generous youth, Ulysses, that dissembler,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">At length shall suffer as his crimes deserve.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center allsmcap">ODE.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">I.</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Parental anguish rends my breast,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">For thee my son, my son, I grieve,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Thy mother sinks with woes oppressed.</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Why didst thou take this road, why leave</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Thy home, and march to Ilion’s gate,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Where death did thy arrival wait?</div> + <div class="verse indent4"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">[142]</span>Oft with maternal zeal I strove</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Thy luckless courage to restrain,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">And oft thy sire opposed in vain.</div> + <div class="verse indent4">But now with ineffectual love,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">My dearest son, thee now no more,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Thee, O my son, must I deplore.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> As far as bosoms, by no kindred ties</div> + <div class="verse indent0">United, can partake a mother’s grief,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Do I bewail thy son’s untimely fate.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Muse.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">II.</div> + <div class="verse indent4">On him your tenfold vengeance shed</div> + <div class="verse indent4">From Oeneus who derives his birth,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Smite base Ulysses’ perjured head,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Ye fiends who desolate the earth;</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Through them with agonizing pain</div> + <div class="verse indent4">I mourn my valiant offspring slain;</div> + <div class="verse indent4">May Helen too partake their doom,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Who from her bridal mansions fled,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">And sought th’ adulterer’s Phrygian bed;</div> + <div class="verse indent4">For thou in Troy art to the tomb</div> + <div class="verse indent4">By her consigned; and many a state</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Bewails its bravest warriors’ fate.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Much while on earth, and since thy murmuring ghost</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Was plunged in Orcus’ dreary mansions more,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O offspring of Philammon, didst thou wound</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My soul: that arrogance which caused thy ruin,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That contest with Pieria’s choir, gave birth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To this unhappy youth: for having passed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The rapid current, with incautious step</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Approaching Strymon’s genial bed, we mounted</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Pangæum’s summit, for its golden mines</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Distinguished; each melodious instrument</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Around us in full concert breathed; our strife</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Was there decided with the Thracian minstrel;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That Thamyris who dared blaspheme our art,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We of his eyes deprived. But since I bore</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thee, O my son, through deference for my sisters,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And for my own reputed chastity,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thee to the watery mansions of thy sire</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I sent; and Strymon, to no human care,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But to the nymphs who haunt his limpid founts,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For nurture did consign thee; from those virgins</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When, O my dearest son, thou hadst received</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The best of educations, thou becam’st</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Monarch of Thrace, the first of men. I felt</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">[143]</span>No boding apprehensions of thy death;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By thee, while marshalled on thy native ground,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Athirst for blood the dauntless squadrons moved.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But thee I cautioned, for I knew thy fate,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That thou to Troy shouldst never go; but thee</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Th’ ambassadors of Hector and the Senate,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By oft repeated messages, persuaded</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To come to the assistance of thy friends.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet think not, O Minerva, thou sole cause</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of my son’s fate, that thou these watchful eyes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hast ’scaped; Ulysses and the son of Tydeus</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Were not the authors of this bloody deed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Although they gave the wound. We sister Muses</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Honour thy city, in thy land we dwell.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Orpheus, the kinsman of this hapless youth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whom thou hast slain, dark mysteries did unfold;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And by Apollo, and our sister choir,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy venerable citizen Musæus</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Was taught to soar beyond each warbled strain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of pristine melody: but in return</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For all these favours, bearing in my arms</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My son, I utter this funereal dirge;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But I no other minstrel will employ.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Falsely the wounded Thracian charioteer</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Charged us with a conspiracy to slay him.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Full well I knew, there needed not a seer</div> + <div class="verse indent0">T’ inform me, that he perished by the arts</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Ithacus. But was it not my duty</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When I my country saw by Grecian troops</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Besieged, to send forth heralds to my friends,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Requesting them to aid us? I did send,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And Rhesus came, by gratitude constrained,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Illustrious partner of my toils. His death</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lamenting, will I raise a tomb to grace</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The corse of my ally, and o’er the flame</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Strew tissued vests: for with confederate arms</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Dauntless he came, though piteous was his death.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Muse.</span> They shall not plunge him in the yawning grave,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such vows will I address to Pluto’s bride,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Daughter of fruitful Ceres, to release</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His ghost from the drear shades beneath: she owes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To Orpheus’ friends such honours. But henceforth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Dead as it were to me, will he no more</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Behold the sun, we ne’er must meet again,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor shall he see his mother, but shall lie</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Concealed beneath the caverns of that land</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With silver mines abounding, from a man</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Exalted to a god, restored to life,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The priest of Bacchus, and of him who dwells</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">[144]</span>Beneath Pangeum’s rock, a god adored</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By those who haunt his orgies. But ere long</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To yonder goddess of the briny waves</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall I bear doleful tidings: for by fate</div> + <div class="verse indent0">It is decreed, her offspring too shall die;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But first our sisterhood, in choral plaints,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will sing of thee, O Rhesus, and hereafter</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Achilles, son of Thetis, shall demand</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Our elegiac strains, not she who slew</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thee, hapless youth, Minerva, can redeem him;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such an inevitable shaft is stored</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In Phœbus’ quiver. O ye pangs that rend</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A mother’s breast, ye toils the lot of man;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They who behold you in your real light</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will live without a progeny, nor mourn</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With hopeless anguish o’er their children’s tomb.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exit the</i> <span class="smcap">Muse</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> To bury the deceased with honours due,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will be his mother’s care: but if, O Hector,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou mean’st to execute some great emprise,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Tis now the time: for morn already dawns.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Go, and this instant bid our comrades arm,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Harness the steeds: but while ye in these toils</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are busied, ye the signal must await,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Th’ Etrurian trumpet’s clangour; for I trust</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I first shall o’er the Grecian host prevail,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall storm their ramparts, and then burn their fleet,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And that Hyperion’s orient beams will bring</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A day of freedom to Troy’s valiant race.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Obey the monarch: clad in glittering mail</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Let us go forth, and his behests proclaim</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To our associates; for that god who fights</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Our battles, haply will bestow success.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">[145]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="The_Trojan_Captives"><span class="smcap">The Trojan Captives.</span></h2> + +</div> + +<div class="max30"> + +<h3>PERSONS OF THE DRAMA.</h3> + +<ul> + <li><span class="smcap">Neptune.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Minerva.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Hecuba.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Chorus of Captive Trojan Dames.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Talthybius.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Cassandra.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Andromache.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Menelaus.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Helen.</span></li> +</ul> + +<h3>SCENE.—<span class="smcap">Before the Entrance of Agamemnon’s Tent +in the Grecian Camp near Troy.</span></h3> + +</div> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Neptune.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">From the Ægean deep, in mazy dance</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where Nereus’ daughters glide with agile feet,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I Neptune hither come. For round the fields</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Ilion, since Apollo and myself</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With symmetry exact reared many a tower</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hewn from the solid rock; the love I bore</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The city where my Phrygian votaries dwelt,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Laid waste by Greece, where smoke e’en now ascends</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The heavens, hath ne’er been rooted from this breast,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For on Parnassus bred, the Phocian chief</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Epeus, by Minerva’s arts inspired,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Framed with a skilful hand, and through the gates</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sent that accursed machine, the horse which teemed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With ambushed javelins. Through forsaken groves,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Through the polluted temples of the gods,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Flow tides of crimson slaughter; at the base</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of altars sacred to Hercæan Jove,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Fell hoary Priam. But huge heaps of gold</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And Phrygian plunder, to the fleet of Greece</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are sent: the leaders of the host that sacked</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This city, wait but for a prosperous breeze,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That after ten years absence they their wives</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And children may with joy behold. Subdued</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By Juno, Argive goddess, and Minerva,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who leagued in Phrygia’s overthrow, I leave</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">[146]</span>Troy the renowned, and my demolished shrines.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For when pernicious solitude extends</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O’er cities her inexorable sway,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Abandoned are the temples of the gods,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">None comes to worship there. Scamander’s banks</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Re-echo many a shriek of captive dames</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Distributed by lot; th’ Arcadians, some,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Some the Thessalians gain, and some the sons</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Theseus leaders of th’ Athenian troops:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But they whom chance distributes not, remain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beneath yon roof selected by the chiefs</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of the confederate army. Justly deemed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A captive, among them is Spartan Helen:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And if the stranger wishes to behold</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That wretched woman, Hecuba lies stretched</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Before the gate, full many are her tears,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And her afflictions many: at the tomb</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of stern Achilles her unhappy daughter</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Polyxena died wretchedly, her lord</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The royal Priam, and her sons are slain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That spotless virgin too whom from his shrine</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Apollo with prophetic gifts inspired,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Cassandra, spurning every sacred rite,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Did Agamemnon violently drag</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To his adulterous bed. But, O farewell,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou city prosperous once; ye splendid towers,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Had not Minerva’s self ordained your fall,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ye still on your firm basis might remain.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Minerva</span>, <span class="smcap">Neptune</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Min.</span> May I accost the god who to my sire</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In blood is nearest, mighty, through high Heaven</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Revered, and lay aside our ancient hate?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Nep.</span> ’Tis well, thou royal maid: an interview</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Twixt those of the same house, is to the soul</div> + <div class="verse indent0">An efficacious philtre.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Min.</span> <span class="hemi20">I applaud</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Those who are temperate in their wrath, and bring</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such arguments, O monarch, as affect</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Both you and me.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Nep.</span> <span class="hemi12">From all th’ assembled gods</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Some new commission bear’st thou, or from Jove,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or what celestial power?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Min.</span> <span class="hemi20">From none of these.</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">But in the cause of Troy, whose fields we tread,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I to your aid betake me, and would join</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Our common strength.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Nep.</span> <span class="hemi16">Hast thou then laid aside</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">[147]</span>Thy former hate, to pity Troy, consumed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By the relentless flames?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Min.</span> <span class="hemi22">First, thither turn</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your views: to me will you unfold your counsels,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And aid the schemes I would effect?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Nep.</span> <span class="hemi32">With joy:</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">But I meanwhile would thy designs explore,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whether thou com’st on the behalf of Greece,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or Troy.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Min.</span> <span class="hemi6">The Trojans, erst my foes, I wish</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">To cheer, and to embitter the return</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of the victorious Grecian host.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Nep.</span> <span class="hemi28">What means</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">This change of temper? to excess thou hat’st</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And lov’st at random.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Min.</span> <span class="hemi18">Know you not the insult</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which hath been shown to me, and to my temple?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Nep.</span> I know that Ajax violently tore</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Cassandra thence.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Min.</span> <span class="hemi14">Yet by the Greeks unpunished</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">He ’scaped, and e’en uncensured.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Nep.</span> <span class="hemi28">Though the Greeks</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">O’erthrew Troy’s walls through thy auxiliar might——</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Min.</span> And for this very cause will I conspire</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With you to punish them.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Nep.</span> <span class="hemi20">I am prepared</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">For any enterprise thou wilt. What mean’st thou?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Min.</span> Their journey home I am resolved to make</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Most inauspicious.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Nep.</span> <span class="hemi14">While they yet remain</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Upon the shore, or ’midst the briny waves?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Min.</span> As to their homes from Ilion’s coast they sail.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For Jove will send down rain, immoderate hail,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And pitchy blasts of air: he promises</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To give me too his thunderbolts to smite</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The Greeks and fire their ships; but join your aid,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Cause the Ægean deep with threefold waves,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And ocean’s whirlpools horribly to rage,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Fill with their courses the unfathomed caves</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beneath Eubœa’s rocks, that Greece may learn</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My shrines to reverence, nor provoke the gods.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Nep.</span> It shall be done: there need not many words</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To recommend thy suit. My storms shall rouse</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Th’ Ægean deep; the shores of Myconè,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Scyros with Lemnos, all the Delian rocks,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And steep Caphareus with full many a corse</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will I o’erspread. But mount Olympus’ height,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And from the Thunderer’s hand his flaming shafts</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Receiving, mark when the devoted host</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">[148]</span>Of Greece weigh anchor. Frantic is the man</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who dares to lay the peopled city waste,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Temples with tombs profaning, and bereaves</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of their inhabitants those sacred vaults</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where sleep the dead; at length shall vengeance smite</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That hardened miscreant in his bold career.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exeunt.</i></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><i>The Scene opens, and discovers</i> <span class="smcap">Hecuba</span> <i>on a couch</i>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Arise, thou wretch, and from the dust uplift</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy drooping head; though Ilion be no more,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And thou a queen no longer, yet endure</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With patience Fortune’s change, and as the tide</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or as capricious Fortune wills, direct</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy sails, nor turn against the dashing wave</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Life’s stubborn prow, for chance must guide thy voyage.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Alas! for what but groans belongs to me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whose country, children, husband, are no more?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Oh, mighty splendour of my sires, now pent</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In a small tomb, how art thou found a thing</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of no account! What portion of my woes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall I suppress, or what describe, how frame</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A plaintive strain? Now fixed on this hard couch,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wretch that I am, are my unwieldy limbs.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ah me! my head, my temples, ah, my side!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Oh, how I wish to turn, and to stretch forth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These joints! My tears shall never cease to flow,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For like the Muse’s lyre, th’ affecting tale</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of their calamities consoles the wretched.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ye prows of those swift barks which to the coast</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of fated Ilion, from the Grecian ports</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Adventurous launched amid the purple wave,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Accompanied by inauspicious pæans</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From pipes, and the shrill flute’s enlivening voice,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">While from the mast devolved the twisted cordage</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By Egypt first devised, ye to the bay</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Troy did follow Menelaus’ wife,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Helen, abhorred adult’ress, who disgraced</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Castor her brother, and Eurotas’ stream:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">She murdered Priam, sire of fifty sons,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And me the wretched Hecuba hath plunged</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Into this misery. Here, alas! I sit</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In my loathed prison, Agamemnon’s tent;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From princely mansions dragged, an aged slave,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My hoary tresses shorn, this head deformed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With baldness. But, alas! ye hapless wives</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Ilion’s dauntless warriors, blooming maids,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And brides affianced in an evil hour,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Together let us weep, for Ilion’s smoke</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ascends the skies. Like the maternal bird,</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">[149]</span>Who wails her callow brood, I now commence</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A strain far different from what erst was heard</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When I on mighty Priam’s sceptred state</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Proudly relying, led the Phrygian dance</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Before the hallowed temples of the gods.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>She rises, and comes forth from the tent.</i></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Semichorus</span>, <span class="smcap">Hecuba</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> O Hecuba, what mean these clamorous notes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These shrieks of woe? for from the vaulted roof</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy plaints re-echoing smite my distant ear,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And fresh alarms seize every Phrygian dame</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who in these tents enslaved deplores her fate.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> E’en now, my daughter, at the Grecian fleet</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Th’ exulting sailors ply their oars.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> <span class="hemi28">Ah me!</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">What mean they? will they instantly convey me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Far from my ruined country?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi24">By conjecture</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Alone am I acquainted with our doom.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> Soon shall we hear this sentence: “From these doors</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Come forth ye Trojan captives, for the Greeks</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are now preparing to return.”</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi26">O cease,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">My friends, nor from her chambers hither bring</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Cassandra, frantic prophetess, defiled</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By Argive ruffians, for the sight of her</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Would but increase my griefs.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> <span class="hemi20">Troy, wretched Troy,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou art no more, they to whom fate ordains</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No longer on thy fostering soil to dwell</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are wretched, both the living and the slain.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Chorus</span>, <span class="smcap">Hecuba</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Trembling I come from Agamemnon’s tent,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of thee my royal mistress to inquire</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whether the Greeks have doomed me to be slain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And whether yet along the poop arranged</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The mariners prepare to ply their oars.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Deprived of sleep through horror, O my daughter,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I hither came: but on the road I see</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A Grecian herald.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi12">Tell me to what lord</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Am wretched I consigned.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi20">E’en now the lot</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is casting to decide your fate.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi26">What chief</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">To Argos, or to Phthia, me shall bear,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or to some island, sorrowing, far from Troy?</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">[150]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> To whom shall wretched I, and in what land</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Become a slave, decrepit like the drone</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Through age, mere semblance of a pallid corse,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or flitting spectre from the realms beneath?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall I be stationed or to watch the door,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or tend the children of a haughty lord,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Erst placed at Troy in rank supreme?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi32">Alas!</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> With what loud plaints dost thou revive thy woes!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> I never more through Ida’s loom shall dart</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The shuttle, nor behold a blooming race</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of children, in those lighter tasks employed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which suit the young and beauteous, to the couch</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of some illustrious Greek conveyed, the joys</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which night and fortune yields are lost to me;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or filled with water, from Pirene’s spring</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall I be doomed to bear the ponderous urn.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> O could we reach the famed and happy realm</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Theseus, distant from Eurotas’ tide,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And curst Therapne’s gates, where I should meet</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Perfidious Helen, and remain a slave</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To Menelaus, who demolished Troy.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> By fame’s loud voice I am informed, the vale</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Peneus, at Olympus base, abounds</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With wealth and plenteous fruitage.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi32">This I make</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">My second option, next the blest domain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Theseus.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi6">I am told that Vulcan’s realm</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Ætna, opposite Phœnicia’s coast</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The mother of Sicilian hills, is famed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For palms obtained by valour. Through the realm</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Adjacent, bordering on th’ Ionian deep,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Crathis the bright, for auburn hair renowned,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The tribute of its holy current pours,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And scatters blessings o’er a martial land.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But lo, with hasty step a herald comes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bearing some message from the Grecian host!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What is his errand? for we now are slaves</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To yon proud rulers of the Doric realm.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Talthybius</span>, <span class="smcap">Hecuba</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Tal.</span> O Hecuba, full oft, you know, to Troy</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I, as their herald, by the Grecian host</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have been despatched; you cannot be a stranger</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To me, Talthybius, who to you, and all,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">One message bring.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi14">This, this, my dearest friends,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is what I long have feared.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">[151]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Tal.</span> <span class="hemi24">The lots are cast</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Already, if your terrors thence arose.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Alas, to what Thessalian city saidst thou,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or to the Phthian, or the Theban realm</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall we be carried?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Tal.</span> <span class="hemi16">To a separate lord</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hath each of you distinctly been assigned.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> To whom, alas, to whom am I allotted?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What Phrygian dames do happier fortunes wait?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Tal.</span> I know; but be distinct in your inquiries,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor ask at once a multitude of questions.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Say who by lot hath gained my wretched daughter</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Cassandra?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Tal.</span> <span class="hemi6">Her the royal Agamemnon</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">His chosen prize hath taken.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi24">As a slave</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">To tend his Spartan wife? ah, me!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Tal.</span> <span class="hemi30">No slave,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">But concubine.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi10">What, Phœbus’ votive maid,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">To whom the god with golden tresses gave</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This privilege, that she should pass her life</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In celibacy?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Tal.</span> <span class="hemi8">With the shafts of love</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hath the prophetic nymph transpierced his breast.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> My daughter, cast the sacred keys away,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And rend the garlands thou with pride didst wear.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Tal.</span> Is it not great for captives to ascend</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The regal couch?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi12">But where is she whom late</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ye took away, and whither have ye borne</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That daughter?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Tal.</span> <span class="hemi10">Speak you of Polyxena,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or for whom else would you inquire?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi32">On whom</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hath chance bestowed her?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Tal.</span> <span class="hemi22">At Achilles’ tomb</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">It is decreed that she shall minister.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Wretch that I am! for his sepulchral rites</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have I then borne a priestess? but what law</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is this, what Grecian usage, O my friend?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Tal.</span> Esteem your daughter happy; for with her</div> + <div class="verse indent0">All now is well.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi12">What saidst thou? doth she live?</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Tal.</span> ’Tis her peculiar fate to be released</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From all affliction.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi16">But, alas! what fortune</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Attends the warlike Hector’s captive wife,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How fares it with the lost Andromache?</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">[152]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Tal.</span> Her to Achilles’ son hath from the band</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of captives chosen.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi16">As to me who need</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">For a third foot, the staff which in these hands</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I hold, whose head is whitened o’er with age,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To whom am I a slave?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Tal.</span> <span class="hemi18">By lot the king</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Ithaca Ulysses hath obtained you.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Alas! alas! let your shorn temples feel</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The frequent blow; rend your discoloured cheeks.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ah me! I am allotted for a slave</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To a detestable and treacherous man,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sworn foe of justice, to that lawless viper,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With double tongue confounding all, ’twixt friends</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Exciting bitter hate. Ye Trojan dames,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O shed the sympathizing tear: I sink</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beneath the pressure of relentless fate.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Thy doom, O queen, thou know’st: but to what chief,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hellenian or Achaian, I belong</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Inform me.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Tal.</span> <span class="hemi6">Peace! Conduct Cassandra hither</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">With speed, ye guards, into our general’s hands</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When I his captive have delivered up,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That we the rest may portion out. Why gleams</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That blazing torch within? would Ilion’s dames</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their chambers fire? what mean they? doomed to leave</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This land, and to be borne to Argive shores,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are they resolved to perish in the flames?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The soul, inspired with an unbounded love</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of freedom, ill sustains such woes. Burst open</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The doors, lest, to their honour and the shame</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Greece, on me the censure fall.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi30">They kindle</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">No conflagration, but, with frantic step,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My daughter, lo! Cassandra rushes hither.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Cassandra</span>, <span class="smcap">Talthybius</span>, <span class="smcap">Hecuba</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Cas.</span> Avaunt! the sacred flame I bring</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With reverential awe profound,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And wave the kindled torch around,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O Hymen, thou benignant king.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The bridegroom comes with jocund pride,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I too am styled a happy bride,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My name through Argos’ streets shall ring,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O Hymen, thou benignant king!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">While thou attend’st my father’s bier,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O Hecuba, with many a tear,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">While Ilion’s ramparts overthrown</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From thee demand th’ incessant groan,</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">[153]</span>Ere the bright sun withhold his ray,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E’en in the glaring front of day,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I bid the nuptial incense blaze</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To thee, O Hymen, thee whose power</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Invoking at her bridal hour</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The bashful virgin comes. Yon maze</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Encircling, ’mid the choral dance,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As ancient usage bids, advance,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And in thy hand a flaming pine,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O mother, brandish. God of wine,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy shouting votaries hither bring,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As if in Ilion thou hadst found</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Old Priam still a happy king.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Range that holy group around,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O Phœbus, in thy laureate mead,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy temple, shall the victim bleed.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Let Hymen, Hymen, Hymen, sound.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My mother, for the dance prepare,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Vault nimbly, and our revels share.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">At Hymen’s shrine, my friends, prolong</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your vows, awake th’ ecstatic song;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In honour of my bridal day,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Chant, Phrygian nymphs, the choral lay,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And celebrate the chief whom fate</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ordains to be Cassandra’s mate.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Wilt thou not stop the princess, lest she rush</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With frantic step amid the Grecian host?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> O Vulcan, wont to light the bridal torch,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Now dost thou brandish an accursed flame;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My soul foresaw not this. Alas! my daughter,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I little thought, that ’midst the din of arms,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or while we crouch beneath the Argive spear,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou couldst have celebrated such espousals.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Give me the torch, for while with frantic speed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou rushest on, it trembles in thy hand.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor yet have thy afflictions, O my daughter,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Brought back thy wandering reason, thou remain’st</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Disordered as before. Ye Trojan dames,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Remove yon blazing pines, and in the stead</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of these her bridal songs let tears express</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The anguish of your souls.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Cas.</span> <span class="hemi22">O mother, place</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">A laureate wreath on my victorious brow,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Exulting lead me to the monarch’s bed.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And if for thee too slowly I advance,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Drag me along by force; for I am now</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No more the spouse of Phœbus; but that king</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Greece, famed Agamemnon, shall in me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Take to his arms a bride more inauspicious</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">[154]</span>Than even Helen’s self: him will I smite,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And lay his palace waste, in great revenge</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For my slain sire and brothers. But I cease</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These menaces, and speak not of the axe</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which shall smite me and others, or the conflict</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My wedlock shall produce, whence by the hands</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of her own son a mother shall be slain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And th’ overthrow of Atreus’ guilty house.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This city will I prove to have been happier</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Than the victorious Greeks (for though the gods</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Inspire, I curb the transports of my soul),</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who for one single woman, to regain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The beauteous Helen only, wasted lives</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Unnumbered. Their wise leader, in the cause</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of those he hated, slew whom most he loved;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He to his brother yielded up his daughter,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Joy of his house, for that vile woman’s sake,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who with her own consent, and not by force,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Was borne away. But at Scamander’s banks</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When they arrived, they died, though not by exile</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Torn from their country, or their native towers:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But them who in embattled fields were slain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their children saw not, nor in decent shroud</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Were they enwrapped by their loved consorts’ hands,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But lie deserted on a foreign coast:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their sorrows also who remained at home</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are similar; in widowhood forlorn</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Some die; and others, of their own brave sons</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Deprived, breed up the children of a stranger;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor at their slighted tombs is blood poured forth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To drench the thirsty ground. Their host deserves</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Praises like these. ’Tis better not to speak</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of what is infamous, nor shall my Muse</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Record the shameful tale. But, first and greatest</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of glories, in their country’s cause expired</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The Trojans; the remains of those who fell</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In battle, by their friends borne home, obtained</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sepulchral honours in their native soil,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That duteous office kindred hands performed:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">While every Phrygian who escaped the sword</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Still with his wife and children did reside,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Joy to the Greeks unknown. Now hear the fate</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Hector, him whom thou bewail’st, esteemed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The bravest of our heroes, by the Greeks</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Landing on Ilion’s coast the warrior fell;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In their own country had the foe remained,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His valour ne’er had been displayed: but Paris</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wedded the daughter of imperial Jove,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In her possessing an illustrious bride.</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">[155]</span>It is the wise man’s duty to avoid</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Perilous war. After the die is cast,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He who undaunted meets the fatal stroke,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Adds to his native city fair renown;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But the last moments of a coward shame</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The land which gave him birth. Forbear to weep,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My mother, for thy ruined country’s fate;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Weep not because thou seest thy daughter borne</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To Agamemnon’s bed, for by these spousals</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Our most inveterate foes shall I destroy.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> How sweetly ’midst the sorrows of thy house</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou smil’st! ere long perchance wilt thou afford</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A melancholy instance that thy strains</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are void of truth.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Tal.</span> <span class="hemi14">Had not Apollo fired</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">E’en to distraction thy perverted soul,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou on my honoured leader, ere he quit</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The shores of Ilion, shouldst not unavenged</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Pour forth these omens. But, alas! the great,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And they who in th’ opinion of mankind</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are wise, in no respect excel the vulgar.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For the dread chieftain of the Grecian host,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The son of Atreus, loves with boundless passion</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This damsel frantic as the Mænades.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Myself am poor, yet would not I accept</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A wife like her. Since thou hast lost thy reason,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I to the winds consign thy bitter taunts</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Gainst Argos, with the praises thou bestow’st</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On Troy. Thou bride of Agamemnon, come,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Follow me to the fleet. But when Ulysses</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Would bear you hence, O Hecuba, obey</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The summons, you are destined to attend</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A queen called virtuous by all those who come</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To Ilion.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Cas.</span> <span class="hemi6">Arrogant, detested slave!</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">All heralds are like thee, the public scorn,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Crouching with abject deference to some king</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or city. Say’st thou, “To Ulysses’ house</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My mother shall be borne?” Of what account</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Were then the oracles Apollo gave</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Uttered by me his priestess, which declare,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">“She here shall die?” I spare the shameful tale.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He knows not, the unhappy Ithacus,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What evils yet await him, in the tears</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of me and every captive Phrygian maid,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">While he exults, and deems our misery gain.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ten more long years elapsed beyond the term</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Spent in besieging Ilion, he alone</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall reach his country; witness thou who dwell’st</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">[156]</span>’Midst ocean’s straits tempestuous, dire Charybdis,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ye mountains where on human victims feast</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The Cyclops, with Ligurian Circe’s isle,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whose wand transforms to swine, the billowy deep,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Covered with shipwrecks, the bewitching Lotus,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The sacred Oxen of the Sun, whose flesh</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Destined to utter a tremendous voice</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The banquet shall embitter: he at length,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In a few words his history to comprise,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Alive must travel to the shades beneath,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And hardly ’scaping from a watery grave</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In his own house find evils numberless.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But why do I recount Ulysses’ toils?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lead on, that I the sooner in the realms</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Pluto, with that bridegroom may consummate</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My nuptials. Ruthless miscreant as thou art,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou in the tomb ignobly shalt be plunged</div> + <div class="verse indent0">At midnight; nor shall the auspicious beams</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of day illumine thy funereal rites,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O leader of the Grecian host, who deem’st</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That thou a mighty conquest hast achieved.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Near to my lord’s remains, and in that vale,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where down a precipice the torrent foams,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My corse shall to the hungry wolves be thrown,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The corse of Phœbus’ priestess. O ye wreaths</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of him whom best of all the gods I loved,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Adieu, ye symbols of my holy office,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I leave those feasts the scenes of past delight,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Torn from my brows avaunt, for I retain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My chastity unsullied still; the winds</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To thee shall waft them, O prophetic king.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where is your general’s bark, which I am doomed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">T’ ascend? the rising breezes shall unfurl</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your sails this instant; for in me ye bear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">One of the three Eumenides from Troy.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Farewell, my mother, weep not for my fate,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O my dear country, my heroic brothers,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And aged father, in the realms beneath,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ere long shall ye receive me: but victorious</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will I descend among the mighty dead,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When I have laid th’ accursed mansions waste</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of our destroyers, Atreus’ impious sons.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exeunt</i> <span class="smcap">Cassandra</span> <i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Talthybius</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Attendants of the aged Hecuba,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Behold ye not your mistress, how she falls</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Upon the pavement speechless? Why neglect</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To prop her sinking frame! Ye slothful nymphs,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Raise up this woman, whom a weight of years</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bows to the dust.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">[157]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi14">Away, and on this spot</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Allow me, courteous damsels, to remain:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No longer welcome as in happier days</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are your kind offices; this humble posture,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This fall best suits my present lowly state,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Best suits what I already have endured</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And still am doomed to suffer. O ye gods,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In you I call upon no firm allies,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet sure ’tis decent to invoke the gods</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When we by adverse fortune are opprest.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">First, therefore, all the blessings I enjoyed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Would I recount, hence shall my woes demand</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The greater pity. Born to regal state,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And with a mighty king in wedlock joined,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A race of valiant sons did I produce;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I speak not of their numbers, but the noblest</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Among the Phrygian youths, such as no Trojan,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor Grecian, nor barbarian dame could boast:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Them saw I fall beneath the hostile spear,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And at their tomb these tresses cut: their sire,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The venerable Priam, I bewailed not,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From being told of his calamitous fate</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By others, but these eyes beheld him slain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E’en at the altar of Hercæan Jove,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And Ilion taken. I those blooming maids</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have also lost, whom with maternal love</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I nurtured for some noble husband’s bed;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They from these arms are torn: nor can I hope</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or to be seen by them, or e’er to see</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My children more. But last of all, to crown</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My woes, an aged slave, shall I be borne</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To Greece; and in such tasks will they employ me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As are most grievous in the wane of life;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Me, who am Hector’s mother, at the door</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Stationed to keep the keys, or knead the bread,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And on the pavement stretch my withered limbs,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which erst reposed upon a regal couch,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And in such tattered vestments, as belie</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My former rank, enwrap my wasted frame.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wretch that I am, who, through one woman’s nuptials,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have borne, and am hereafter doomed to bear,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such dreadful ills. O my unhappy daughter,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Cassandra, whom the gods have rendered frantic,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With what sad omens hath thy virgin zone</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Been loosed! and where, Polyxena, art thou,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O virgin most unfortunate? but none</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of all my numerous progeny, or male</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or female, comes to aid their wretched mother.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Why, therefore, would ye lift me up? what room</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">[158]</span>Is there for hope? me who with tender foot</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Paced through the streets of Troy, but now a slave,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Drag from the palace to the rushy mat</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And stony pillow, that where’er I fall</div> + <div class="verse indent0">There may I die, through many, many tears</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Exhausted. Of the prosperous and the great</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Pronounce none happy till the hour of death.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Chorus.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center allsmcap">ODE.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">I.</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Prepare, O Muse, prepare a song</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Expressive of the fall of Troy;</div> + <div class="verse indent8">The sympathetic dirge prolong</div> + <div class="verse indent8">And banish every note of joy.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">I with loud voice of Ilion’s fate will speak,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Sing how the foe our ramparts stormed</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Through the machine their treachery formed,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">The vehicle of many a daring Greek,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Who burst like thunder from that wooden steed,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">With gorgeous trappings graced, in mimic state,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Concealing armed bands, which passed the Scæan gate,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">They whom such semblance could mislead,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">The unsuspecting crowd,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">As on Troy’s citadel they stood,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Exclaimed; “Henceforth our toils shall cease,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Come on, and to Minerva’s fane convey</div> + <div class="verse indent8">This holy image, pledge of peace.”</div> + <div class="verse indent6">What veteran paused? what youth but led the way?</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Enlivening songs breathed round in notes so sweet,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">That gladly they received the pestilential cheat.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">II.</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Then did all Phrygia’s race combine</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Through their devoted gates to bear,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Enclosed in the stupendous pine</div> + <div class="verse indent8">The fraud of Greece, that latent snare,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">To glut Minerva with Dardanian blood,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">To pacify th’ immortal maid,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">They the huge mass with ropes conveyed:</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Thus the tall bark, into the briny flood</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Too ponderous to be borne, is rolled along:</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Till they had lodged it in th’ ill-omened fane</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Of her to whom we owe our ruined country’s bane.</div> + <div class="verse indent8">After their toil and festive song,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">The cloud-wrapped evening spread</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Her veil o’er each devoted head,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Shrill Phrygian voices did resound,</div> + <div class="verse indent8"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">[159]</span>And Libya’s flutes accompanied the choir,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">While nymphs high vaulting from the ground,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Mixed their applauses with the chorded lyre,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">And from each hearth the flames with radiance bright,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">While heedless warriors slept, dispelled the shades of night.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">III.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Then o’er the genial board, to her who reigns</div> + <div class="verse indent6">In woodland heights, Diana, child of Jove,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">I waked the choral strains.</div> + <div class="verse indent8">But soon there flew a dismal sound</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Pergamus’ wide streets around:</div> + <div class="verse indent8">The shrieking infant fondly strove</div> + <div class="verse indent6">To grasp the border of a mother’s vest,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">And with uplifted hands its little fears expressed:</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Mars from his ambush by Minerva’s aid</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Conspicuous issued and the fray began,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Thick gore adown our altars ran,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">And many a slaughtered youth was laid</div> + <div class="verse indent6">A headless trunk on the disfigured bed,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">That Greece might shine with laureate wreaths arrayed,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">By Troy while fruitless tears are shed.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Andromache</span>, <span class="smcap">Hecuba</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Seest thou, Andromache, O queen, this way</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Advancing, wafted in a foreign car?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Eager to cling to the maternal breast</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Close follows her beloved Astyanax,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The son of Hector.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi14">Whither art thou borne,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">O wretched woman, on a chariot placed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Midst Hector’s brazen armour, and those spoils</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From captive Phrygian chiefs in combat torn,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With which Achilles’ son from Ilion’s siege</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Triumphant, will the Phthian temples grace?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> Our Grecian masters drag me hence.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi36">Alas!</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> Why with your groans my anguish strive t’ assuage?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Oh!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> <span class="hemi6">I by griefs am compassed——</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi34">Mighty Jove!</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> And dread vicissitudes of fate.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi32">My children.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> We once were blest.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi20">Now are those prosperous days</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">No more; and Ilion is no more.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> <span class="hemi26">Most wretched!</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> My noble sons.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> <span class="hemi16">Alas!</span></div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">[160]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi20">Alas my——</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> <span class="hemi30">Woes.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> O piteous fortune——</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> <span class="hemi22">Of the city——</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi34">Wrapt</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">In smoke.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> <span class="hemi6">Return, my husband, O return.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> In clamorous accents thou invok’st my son,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whom Pluto’s realms detain, unhappy woman.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> Thy consort’s tutelary power.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi30">And thou,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whose courage long withstood the Grecian host,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou aged father of our numerous race,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lead me, O Priam, to the shades beneath.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> Presumptuous are such wishes.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi30">We endure</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">These grievous woes.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi16">While ruin overwhelms</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Our city, for on sorrows have been heaped</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Fresh sorrows, through the will of angry Heaven,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Since in an evil hour thy son was snatched</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From Pluto, who, determined to avenge</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Those execrable nuptials, with the ground</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hath levelled Pergamus’ beleaguered towers.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Near Pallas’ shrine the corses of the slain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Weltering in gore to vultures lie exposed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And Ilion droops beneath the servile yoke.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thee, O my wretched country, I with tears</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Forsake: e’en now thou view’st the piteous end</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of all thy woes, and my loved native house.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> My children! O my desolated city!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your mother is bereft of every joy.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> What shrieks, what plaints resound! what floods of tears</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Stream in our houses! but the dead forget</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their sorrows, and for ever cease to weep.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> To those who suffer, what a sweet relief</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Do tears afford! the sympathetic Muse</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Inspires their plaints.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> <span class="hemi20">O mother of that chief,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whose forceful javelin thinned the ranks of Greece,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Illustrious Hector, seest thou this?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi32">I see</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">The gods delight in raising up the low,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And ruining the great.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> <span class="hemi18">Hence with my son,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">A captive am I hurried; noble birth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Subject to these vicissitudes now sinks</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Into degrading slavery.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">[161]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi20">Uncontrolled</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">The power of fate: Cassandra from these arms</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But now with brutal violence was torn!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> A second Ajax to thy daughter seems</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To have appeared. Yet hast thou other griefs.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> All bounds, all numbers they exceed; with ills</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Fresh ills as for pre-eminence contend.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> Polyxena, thy daughter, at the tomb</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Peleus’ son hath breathed her last, a gift</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To the deceased.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi12">Wretch that I am, alas!</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Too clearly now I understand the riddle</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which in obscurer terms Talthybius uttered.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> I saw her bleed, and lighting from this car</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Covered her with the decent shroud and wailed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O’er her remains.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi14">Alas! alas! my child</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">To bloody altars dragged by impious hands,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Alas! alas! how basely wert thou slain!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> Most dreadfully she perished; yet her lot</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who perished is more enviable than mine.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Far different, O my daughter, is the state</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of them who live, from them who breathe no more:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For the deceased are nothing: but fair hope,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">While life remains, can never be extinct.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> Thou whom, although I sprung not from thy womb,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I deem a mother, to my cheering words</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With patience listen, they will yield delight</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To thy afflicted soul. ’Tis the same thing</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ne’er to be born, or die; but better far</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To die, than to live wretched: for no sorrow</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Affects th’ unconscious tenant of the grave.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But he who once was happy, he who falls</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From fortune’s summit down the vale of woe,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With an afflicted spirit wanders o’er</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The scenes of past delight. In the cold grave,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Like one who never saw the blessed sun,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Polyxena remembers not her woes.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But I who aimed the dextrous shaft, and gained</div> + <div class="verse indent0">An ample portion of renown, have missed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The mark of happiness. In Hector’s house</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I acted as behoves each virtuous dame.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">First, whether sland’rous tongues assail or spare</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The matron’s chastity, an evil name,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Her who remains not at her home, pursues:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such vain desires I therefore quelled, I stayed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In my own chamber, a domestic life</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Preferring, and forbore to introduce</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Vain sentimental language, such as gains</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">[162]</span>Too oft the ear of woman: ’twas enough</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For me to yield obedience to the voice</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of virtue, that best monitor. My lord</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With placid aspect and a silent tongue</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I still received, for I that province knew</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In which I ought to rule, and when to yield</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Submission to a husband’s will. The fame</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This conduct gained me, reached the Grecian camp,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And proved my ruin: for when I became</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A captive, Neoptolemus resolved</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To take me to his bed, and in the house</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of murderers I to slavery am consigned.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If shaking off my Hector’s loved remembrance</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To this new husband I my soul incline,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I shall appear perfidious to the dead;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or, if I hate Achilles’ son, become</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Obnoxious to my lords; though some assert</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That one short night can reconcile th’ aversion</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of any woman to the nuptial couch;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I scorn that widow, reft of her first lord,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who listens to the voice of love, and weds</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Another. From her comrade torn, the mare</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sustains the yoke reluctant, though a brute</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Dumb and irrational, by nature formed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Subordinate to man: but I in thee</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Possessed a husband, O my dearest Hector,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In wisdom, fortune, and illustrious birth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For me sufficient, great in martial deeds:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A spotless virgin-bride, me from the house</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of my great father, didst thou first receive;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But thou art slain, and I to Greece must sail</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A captive, and endure the servile yoke!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is not the death of that Polyxena,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whom thou, O Hecuba, bewail’st, an ill</div> + <div class="verse indent0">More tolerable than those which I endure?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For hope, who visits every wretch beside,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To me ne’er comes; to me no promised joys</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Afford a flattering prospect to deceive</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This anxious bosom; for ’tis sweet to think</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E’en of ideal bliss.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi16">Thou art involved</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">In the same sufferings, and in plaintive notes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bewailing thy calamity, inform’st me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What treatment to expect.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi22">I ne’er did mount</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">A ship, yet I from pictures and report</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These matters know: amidst a moderate storm,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such as they hope to weather out, the sailors</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To save themselves, exert a cheerful toil:</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">[163]</span>This to the rudder, to the shattered sails</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That goes, a third laborious at the pump</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Draws off the rising waters; but if vanquished</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By the tempestuous ocean’s rage, they yield</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To fortune, and consigning to the waves</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their vessel, are at random driven along.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thus I am mute beneath unnumbered woes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor can this tongue expatiate, for the gods</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such torrents pour as drown my feeble voice!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But, O my daughter, cease to name the fate</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of slaughtered Hector, whom no tears can save.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Pay due attention to thy present lord,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With amorous glances and a fond compliance</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Receiving him; act thus, and thou wilt cheer</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Our friends, and this my grandson educate</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A bulwark to fallen Ilion, that his race</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The city may rebuild, and dwell in Troy.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But a fresh topic of discourse ensues.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What servant of the Greeks do I behold</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Again draw near, t’ announce some new design?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Talthybius</span>, <span class="smcap">Andromache</span>, <span class="smcap">Hecuba</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Tal.</span> O thou who erst wert Hector’s wife, that bravest</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Phrygians, hate me not; for with reluctance</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will I the general sentence of the Greeks</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And Pelops’ progeny, announce.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> <span class="hemi26">What means</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">This evil prelude.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Tal.</span> <span class="hemi14">’Tis decreed thy son—</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">How shall I speak it?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> <span class="hemi18">To a separate lord</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall be consigned?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Tal.</span> <span class="hemi16">None of the Grecian chiefs</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall ever o’er Astyanax bear rule.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> Must I leave here, him who alone remains</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of all that erst was dear to me in Troy?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Tal.</span> Alas! I know not in what terms t’ express</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The miseries that await thee?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> <span class="hemi26">I commend</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such modesty, provided thou canst speak</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Aught to afford me comfort.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Tal.</span> <span class="hemi24">They resolve</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">To slay thy son; thou hear’st my dismal errand.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> Ah me! thou hast unfolded to these ears</div> + <div class="verse indent0">An evil, greater than my menaced spousals.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Tal.</span> By his harangues to the assembled Greeks,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ulysses hath prevailed.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> <span class="hemi20">Alas! alas!</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Immoderate are the sorrows I endure.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">[164]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Tal.</span> Saying they ought not to train up the son</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of that heroic sire.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> <span class="hemi16">May he obtain</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">O’er his own children triumphs great as these!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Tal.</span> He from the towers of Ilion must be thrown:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But I entreat thee, and thou hence shall seem</div> + <div class="verse indent0">More prudent, strive not to withhold thy son,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But bear thy woes with firmness; nor, though weak,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Deem thyself strong; for thou hast no support,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And therefore must consider that thy city</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is overthrown, thy husband is no more,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou art reduced to servitude; and we</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are strong enough to combat with one woman:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O therefore brave not this unequal strife,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Stoop not to aught that’s base, nor yet revile,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor idly scatter curses on thy foes;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For if thou utter aught that may provoke</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The anger of the host, thy son will bleed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Unburied and unwept: but if thou bear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With silence and composure thy misfortunes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Funereal honours shall adorn his grave,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And Greece to thee her lenity extend.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> Thee, O my dearest son, thy foes will slay;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Soon art thou doomed to leave thy wretched mother.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What saves the lives of others, the renown</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of an illustrious sire, to thee will prove</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The cause of death: by this paternal fame</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Art thou attended in an evil hour.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To me how luckless proved the genial bed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And those espousals, that to Hector’s house</div> + <div class="verse indent0">First brought me, when I trusted I should bear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A son, no victim to the ruthless Greeks,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But an illustrious Asiatic king.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Weep’st thou, my son? dost thou perceive thy woes?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Why cling to me with timid hands? Why seize</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My garment? thus beneath its mother’s wings</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The callow bird is sheltered. From the tomb,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No Hector brandishing his massive spear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Rushes to saves thee; no intrepid kinsman</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of thy departed father, nor the might</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Phrygian hosts is here: but from aloof</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Borne headlong by a miserable leap,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shalt thou pour forth thy latest gasp of life</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Unpitied. Tender burden in the arms</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of thy fond mother! what ambrosial odours</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Breathed from thy lips? I swathed thee to my breast</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In vain, I toiled in vain, and wore away</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My strength with fruitless labours. Yet embrace</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy mother once again; around my neck</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Entwine thine arms, and give one parting kiss.</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">[165]</span>Ye Greeks, who studiously invent new modes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of unexampled cruelty, why slay</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This guiltless infant? Helen, O thou daughter</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Tyndarus, never didst thou spring from Jove,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But I pronounce thee born of many sires,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">An evil Genius, Envy, Slaughter, Death,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And every evil that from Earth receives</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Its nourishment; nor dare I to assert</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That Jove himself begot a pest like thee,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Fatal to Greece and each barbarian chief.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Perdition overtake thee! for those eyes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By their seducing glances have o’erthrown</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The Phrygian empire. Bear this child away,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And cast him from the turrets if ye list,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Then banquet on his quivering flesh: the gods</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ordain that I shall perish: nor from him</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Can I repel the stroke of death. Conceal</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This wretched form from public view, and plunge me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In the ship’s hold; for I have lost my son,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such the blest prelude to my nuptial rite.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Thy myriads, hapless Ilion, did expire</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In combat for one woman, to maintain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Paris’ accursed espousals.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> <span class="hemi22">Cease, my child,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Fondly to lisp thy wretched mother’s name,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ascend the height of thy paternal towers,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whence ’tis by Greece decreed thy parting breath</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall issue. Take him hence. Aloud proclaim</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This deed ye merciless: that wretch alone</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who never knew the blush of virtuous shame,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your sentence can applaud.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exeunt</i> <span class="smcap">Andromache</span> <i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Talthybius</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi22">O child, thou son</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of my unhappy Hector, from thy mother</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And me thou unexpectedly art torn.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What can I do, what help afford? for thee</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I smite this head, this miserable breast;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thus far my power extends. Alas! thou city,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And, O my grandson! is there yet a curse</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beyond what we have felt? remains there aught</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To save us from the yawning gulf of ruin?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Chorus.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center allsmcap">ODE.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">I. 1.</div> + <div class="verse indent10">In Salamis’ profound retreat</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Famed for the luscious treasures of the bee,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">High raised above th’ encircling sea</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Thou, Telamon, didst fix thy regal seat;</div> + <div class="verse indent10"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">[166]</span>Near to those sacred hills, where spread</div> + <div class="verse indent10">The olive first its fragrant sprays,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">To form a garland for Minerva’s head,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">And the Athenian splendor raise:</div> + <div class="verse indent6">With the famed archer, with Alcmena’s son</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Thou cam’st exulting with vindictive joy;</div> + <div class="verse indent6">By your confederate arms was Ilion won,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">When from thy Greece thou cam’st our city to destroy.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">I. 2.</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Repining for the promised steeds,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">From Greece Alcides led a chosen band,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">With hostile prows th’ indented strand</div> + <div class="verse indent6">He reached, and anchored near fair Simois’ meads;</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Selected from each ship, he led</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Those who with dextrous hand could wing</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Th’ unerring shaft, till slaughter reached thy head,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Laomedon, thou perjured king:</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Those battlements which Phœbus’ self did rear</div> + <div class="verse indent6">The victor wasted with devouring flame;</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Twice o’er Troy’s walls hath waved the hostile spear,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Twice have insulting shouts announced Dardania’s shame.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">II. 1.</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Thou bear’st the sparkling wine in vain</div> + <div class="verse indent6">With step effeminate, O Phrygian boy,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Erewhile didst thou approach with joy</div> + <div class="verse indent6">To fill the goblet of imperial Jove;</div> + <div class="verse indent6">For now thy Troy lies levelled with the plain,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">And its thick smoke ascends the realms above.</div> + <div class="verse indent10">On th’ echoing coast our plaints we vent,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">As feathered songsters o’er their young bewail,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">A child or husband these lament,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">And those behold their captive mothers sail:</div> + <div class="verse indent6">The founts where thou didst bathe, th’ athletic sports,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Are now no more. Each blooming grace</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Sheds charms unheeded o’er thy placid face,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">And thou frequent’st Heaven’s splendid courts.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Triumphant Greece hath levelled in the dust</div> + <div class="verse indent4">The throne where Priam ruled the virtuous and the just.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">II. 2.</div> + <div class="verse indent10">With happier auspices, O love.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Erst didst thou hover o’er this fruitful plain,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Hence caught the gods thy thrilling pain;</div> + <div class="verse indent6">By thee embellished, Troy’s resplendent towers</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Reared their proud summits blest by thundering Jove,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">For our allies were the celestial powers.</div> + <div class="verse indent10">But I no longer will betray</div> + <div class="verse indent6"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">[167]</span>Heaven’s ruler to reproach and biting shame.</div> + <div class="verse indent10">The white-winged morn, blest source of day,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Who cheers the nations with her kindling flame,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Beheld these walls demolished, and th’ abode</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Of that dear prince who shared her bed</div> + <div class="verse indent6">In fragments o’er the wasted champaign spread:</div> + <div class="verse indent10">While swift along the starry road,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Her golden car his country’s guardian bore:</div> + <div class="verse indent4">False was each amorous god, and Ilion is no more.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Menelaus</span>, <span class="smcap">Hecuba</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> Hail, O ye solar beams, who on this day,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When I my consort Helen shall regain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your radiance shed. For I am he who long</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Endured the toils of battle, Menelaus,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Attended by the Grecian host. To Troy,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Not in a woman’s cause, as many deem,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I came, but came to punish him who broke</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The laws of hospitality, and ravished</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My consort from my palace. He hath suffered</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As he deserved, such was the will of Heaven,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He and his country by the spear of Greece</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have been destroyed. But I am come to bear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That Spartan dame away, whom with regret</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I term my consort, though she once was mine.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But she beneath these tents is with the rest</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Phrygia’s captives numbered: for the troops</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whose arms redeemed her, have to me consigned</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That I might either take away, or spare</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Her life, and waft her to the Argive coast.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I am resolved that Helen shall not bleed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In Troy, but o’er the foaming waves to Greece</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will I convey her, and to them whose friends</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Before yon walls were slain, surrender up</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To perish by their vengeance. But with speed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Enter the tent, thence by that hair defiled</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With murder, O my followers, drag her forth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And hither bring: for when a prosperous breeze</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Arises, her will I to Greece convey.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> O thou who mov’st the world, and in this earth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hast fixed thy station, whosoe’er thou art,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Impervious to our reason, whether thou,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O Jove, art dread necessity which rules</div> + <div class="verse indent0">All nature, or that soul which animates</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The breasts of mortals, thee do I adore,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For in a silent path thou tread’st and guid’st</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With justice the affairs of man.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi28">What means</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">[168]</span>This innovation in the solemn prayer</div> + <div class="verse indent0">You to the gods address?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi20">I shall applaud</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">The stroke, O Menelaus, if thou slay</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy wife; but soon as thou behold’st her, fly,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lest she with love ensnare thee. For the eyes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of men she captivates, o’erturns whole cities,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And fires the roofs of lofty palaces,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">She is possessed of such resistless charms;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Both I and thou and thousands to their cost,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Alas! are sensible how great her power.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Helen</span>, <span class="smcap">Menelaus</span>, <span class="smcap">Hecuba</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> O Menelaus, this is sure a prelude</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To greater horrors. For with brutal hands</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I by your servants from these tents am dragged?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Too well I know you hate me, yet would learn,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How you and Greece have of my life disposed.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> Thou by the utmost rigour of the laws</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hast not been sentenced; but the host, to me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whom thou hast wronged, consign thee to be slain.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> May not I answer to these harsh resolves,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That if I bleed, unjustly shall I bleed?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> I came not hither to debate, but slay thee?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Hear her, nor let her die, O Menelaus,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Without this privilege. Me too allow</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To make reply to her defence; for nought</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of the foul deeds, which she in Troy committed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet know’st thou: if united, the whole tale</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Must force thee to destroy her, and preclude</div> + <div class="verse indent0">All means of her escaping.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi22">An indulgence</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Like this supposes leisure to attend;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">However, if she have a wish to speak,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">She may: but be assured, that my compliance</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To your request is owing, for such favour</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To her I would not grant.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi22">Perhaps with me</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whom you account a foe, you will not deign,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whether I seem to utter truth or falsehood,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To parley. But to each malignant charge</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With which, O Hecuba, I know thou com’st</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Prepared against me, will I make reply,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And to o’erbalance all that thou canst urge</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Produce recriminations. First, she bore</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Paris, the author of these mischiefs, next</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Did aged Priam ruin Troy and me,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When erst that infant he forbore to slay,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That baleful semblance of a flaming torch!</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">[169]</span>Hear what ensued; by Paris were the claims</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of the three rival goddesses decided.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The gift Minerva proffered; that commanding</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The Phrygians, he should conquer Greece; while Juno</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Promised, that he his empire should extend</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From Asia to remotest Europe’s bounds,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If he to her adjudged the golden prize;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But Venus, who in rapturous terms extolled</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My charms, engaged that as the great reward</div> + <div class="verse indent0">She would on him bestow me; to her beauty</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If o’er each goddess he the preference gave.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Observe the sequel: Venus, o’er Minerva</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And Juno, gained the triumph; and my nuptials</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thus far have been a benefit to Greece;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ye are not subject to barbarian lords,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Crushed by invasion, or tyrannic power.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But I my ruin owe to what my country</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hath found thus advantageous, for my charms</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To Paris sold, and branded with disgrace,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E’en for such deeds as merited a wreath</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To crown these brows. But you may urge, that all</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I have alleged is of no real weight,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Because by stealth I from your palace fled.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Accompanied by no mean goddess, came</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That evil genius, sprung from Hecuba,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Distinguish him by either name you list,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Paris or Alexander, in your house,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whom, O delirious, you behind you left,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And sailed from Sparta to the Cretan isle.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Well, be it so. Of my own heart, not you</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I in regard to all that hence ensued</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will ask the question. What could have induced me,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Following that stranger, to forsake my home,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">False to my native land? impute the guilt</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To Venus, and assume a power, beyond</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E’en that of Jove, who rules th’ inferior gods</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But yields to her behests. My crime was venial;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet hence you may allege a specious charge</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Against me; since to earth’s dark vaults the corse</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Paris was consigned, no longer bound</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Through Heaven’s supreme decree in nuptial chains,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I to the Grecian fleet should have escaped</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From Ilion’s palace; such was my design:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This can the guards of Troy’s beleaguered towers,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And sentinels who on the walls were stationed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Attest, that oft they caught me, as with ropes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By stealth I strove to light upon the ground;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But a new husband, fierce Deiphobus,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Obtained me for a wife by brutal force,</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">[170]</span>Though every Phrygian disapproved. What law</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Can sentence me, whom ’gainst my will he wedded,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By you, my lord, with justice to be slain?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But for the benefits through me derived</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To Greece, I in the stead of laureate wreaths</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With slavery am requited. If you wish</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To overcome the gods’ supreme behests,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That very wish were folly.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi22">O my Queen,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Assert thy children’s and thy country’s cause,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Gainst her persuasive language, for she speaks</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With eloquence, though guilty: curst imposture!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> I those three goddesses will first defend,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And prove that she has uttered vile untruths:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For of such madness ne’er can I suspect</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Juno and Pallas that immortal maid,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As that the first should to barbarian tribes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Propose to sell her Argos, or Minerva</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To make her Athens subject to the Phrygians:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Seeking in sportive strife the palm of beauty</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They came to Ida’s mount. For through what motive</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Could Juno with such eagerness have wished</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Her charms might triumph? to obtain a husband</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Greater than Jove? could Pallas, who besought</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Her sire she ever might remain a virgin,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Propose to wed some deity? Forbear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To represent these goddesses as foolish,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That thy transgressions may by their example</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Be justified: thou never canst persuade</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The wise. Thou hast presumed t’ assert (but this</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Was a ridiculous pretence) that Venus</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Came with my son to Menelaus’ house.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Could she not calmly have abode in Heaven,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet wafted thee and all Amycla’s city</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To Ilion? but the beauty of my son</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Was great, and thy own heart, when thou beheld’st him</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Became thy Venus: for whatever folly</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Prevails, is th’ Aphrodite of mankind:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That of Love’s goddess, justly doth commence</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With the same letters as an idiot’s name.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Him didst thou see in a barbaric vest</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With gold refulgent, and thy wanton heart</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Was thence inflamed with love, for thou wert poor</div> + <div class="verse indent0">While yet thou didst reside in Greece; but leaving</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The Spartan regions, thou didst hope, the city</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Troy, with gold o’erflowing, could support</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy prodigality; for the revenues</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Menelaus far too scanty proved</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For thy luxuriant appetites: but sayst thou</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">[171]</span>That Paris bore thee thence by force? what Spartan</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Saw this? or, with what cries didst thou invoke</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Castor or Pollux, thy immortal brothers,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who yet on earth remained, nor had ascended</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The starry height? But since thou cam’st to Troy,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And hither the confederate troops of Greece</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Tracing thy steps, began the bloody strife,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whene’er thou heard’st that Menelaus prospered</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Him didst thou praise, and make my son to grieve</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That such a mighty rival shared thy love:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But if the Trojan army proved victorious,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He shrunk into a thing of nought. On Fortune</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Still didst thou look, still deaf to Virtue’s call</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Follow her banners: yet dost thou assert</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That thou by cords hast from the lofty towers</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In secrecy attempted to descend,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As if thou here hadst been constrained to stay?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where then wert thou surprised, or sharpened sword,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or ropes preparing, as each generous dame</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who sought her former husband would have done?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Oft have I counselled thee in many words:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">“Depart, O daughter, that my sons may take</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Brides less obnoxious: thee aboard the ships</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Greece, assisting in thy secret flight,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will I convey. O end the war ’twixt Greece</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And Ilion.” But to thee was such advice</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Unwelcome; for with pride thou in the house</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Paris didst behave thyself, and claim</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The adoration of barbaric tribes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For this was thy great object. But e’en now</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy charms displaying, clad in gorgeous vest</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Dost thou go forth, still daring to behold</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That canopy of Heaven which o’erhangs</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy injured husband; thou detested woman!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whom it had suited, if in tattered vest</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shivering, with tresses shorn, in Scythian guise</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou hadst appeared, and for transgressions past</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Deep smitten with remorse, assumed the blush</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of virtuous matrons, not that frontless air.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O Menelaus! I will now conclude;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By slaying her, prepare for Greece the wreaths</div> + <div class="verse indent0">It merits, and extend to the whole sex</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This law, that every woman who betrays</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Her lord shall die.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi14">As that illustrious stem</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whence thou deriv’st thy birth, and as thy rank</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Demand, on thy adulterous wife inflict</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Just punishment, and purge this foul reproach,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This instance of a woman’s lust, from Greece:</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">[172]</span>So shall thy very enemies perceive</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou art magnanimous.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi18">Your thoughts concur</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">With mine, that she a willing fugitive</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My palace left and sought a foreign bed;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But speaks of Venus merely to disguise</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Her infamy!—Away! thou shalt be stoned,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And in one instant for the tedious woes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Greece make full atonement; I will teach thee</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That thou didst shame me in an evil hour.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> I by those knees entreat you, O forbear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To slay me, that distraction sent by Heaven</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To me imputing: but forgive me.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi28">Wrong not</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy partners in the war, whom she hath slain;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In theirs, and in my children’s cause, I sue.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> Desist, thou hoary matron: her entreaties</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Move not this steadfast bosom. O my followers</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Attend her, I command you, to the ships</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which shall convey her hence.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi26">Let her not enter</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy ship.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi6">Is she grown heavier than before?</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> He never loved who doth not always love,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Howe’er the inclinations of the dame</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He loves may fluctuate.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi20">All shall be performed</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">According to thy wish; she shall not enter</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My bark: for thou hast uttered wholesome counsels:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But soon as she in Argos’ lands, with shame,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As she deserves, shall she be slain, and warn</div> + <div class="verse indent0">All women to be chaste. No easy task:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet shall her ruin startle every child</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of folly, though more vicious still than Helen.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Chorus.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center allsmcap">ODE.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">I. 1.</div> + <div class="verse indent10">E’en thus by too severe a doom,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">To Greece, O Jove, hast thou betrayed</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Our shrines, our altars, dropping rich perfume,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">The lambent flame that round the victims played,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Myrrh’s odorous smoke that mounts the skies,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Yon holy citadel, with Ida’s grove</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Around whose oaks the clasping ivy plies,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Where rivulets meandering rove</div> + <div class="verse indent6"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">[173]</span>Cold and translucent from the drifted snows;</div> + <div class="verse indent10">On that high ridge with orient blaze</div> + <div class="verse indent6">The sun first scatters his enlivening rays,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">And with celestial flame th’ ecstatic priestess glows.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">I. 2.</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Each sacrifice, each pious rite,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Hence vanished, with th’ harmonious choirs</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Whose accents soothed the languid ear of night,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">While to the gods we waked our sounding lyres;</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Their golden images no more</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Twelve times each year, on that revolving eve</div> + <div class="verse indent6">When shines the full-orbed moon, do we adore.</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Harassed by anxious fears, I grieve,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Oft thinking whether thou, O Jove, wilt deign</div> + <div class="verse indent10">To listen to our piteous moan,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">High as thou sitt’st on thy celestial throne;</div> + <div class="verse indent4">For Troy, by fire consumed, lies level with the plain.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">II. 1.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Thou, O my husband, roam’st a flitting shade,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">To thee are all funereal rites denied,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">To thee no lustral drops supplied:</div> + <div class="verse indent6">But I by the swift bark shall be conveyed</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Where Argos’ cloud-capped fortress stands,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Erected by the Cyclops’ skilful hands.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Before our doors assembling children groan,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">And oft repeat with clamorous moan</div> + <div class="verse indent6">A mother’s name. Alone shall I be borne</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Far from thy sight, by the victorious host</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Of Greece, and leaving Ilion’s coast,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">O’er ocean’s azure billows sail forlorn,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Either to Salamis, that sacred land,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Or where the Isthmian summit o’er two seas</div> + <div class="verse indent6">A wide extended prospect doth command,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Seated in Pelops’ straits where Greece the prize decrees.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">II. 2.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Its arduous voyage more than half complete,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">In the Ægean deep, and near the land,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">May the red lightning by Jove’s hand</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Winged from the skies with tenfold ruin, meet</div> + <div class="verse indent10">The bark that wafts me o’er the wave</div> + <div class="verse indent6">From Troy to Greece a miserable slave.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Before the golden mirror wont to braid</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Her tresses, like a sportive maid,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">May Helen never reach the Spartan shore,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Those household gods to whom she proved untrue,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Nor her paternal mansions view,</div> + <div class="verse indent6"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">[174]</span>Enter the streets of Pitane no more,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Nor Pallas’ temple with its brazen gate;</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Because her nuptials teemed with foul disgrace</div> + <div class="verse indent6">To mighty Greece through each confederate state;</div> + <div class="verse indent4">And hence on Simois’ banks were slain Troy’s guiltless race.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent6">But ha! on this devoted realm are hurled</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Successive woes. Ye hapless Phrygian dames,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Behold the slain Astyanax, whom Greece</div> + <div class="verse indent6">With rage inhuman from yon towers hath thrown.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Talthybius</span>, + <span class="smcap">Hecuba</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><i>The Body of</i> <span class="smcap">Astyanax</span> + <i>borne in upon a Shield</i>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Tal.</span> O Hecuba, one ship is left behind</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To carry the remainder of the spoils</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which to Achilles’ son have been adjudged,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To Phthia’s coast. For Neoptolemus,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hearing that recent evils hath befall’n</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His grandsire Peleus, and that Pelias’ son</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Acastus hath expelled him from his realm,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Already hath departed with such speed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As would admit of no delay: with him</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Andromache is gone, for whom I shed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A stream of tears, when from the land she went</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wailing her country, and to Hector’s tomb</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Her plaints addressing: the victorious chief</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hath she entreated, to allow the corse</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of your unhappy Hector’s son, who perished</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From Ilion’s ramparts thrown, to be interred,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor bear this shield, the terror of the Greeks,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With brass refulgent, which his father placed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Before his flank in battle, to the house</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Peleus; nor to that ill-omened chamber</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where spousals dire on her arrival wait</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The mother of the slain; for such an object</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Must grieve her to behold: but in the stead</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of cedar and the monumental stone,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bury the child in this: for she the corse</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hath to your arms consigned, that you may grace it</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With many a fragrant garland, and with vests</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such as your present fortunes will afford.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For she has sailed, and through his haste her lord</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Prevented her from lodging in the grave</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Her son. While thus you his remains adorn</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We will mark out the spot, and with our spears</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Dig up the ground. Without delay perform</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These duties: I one task to you most irksome</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have rendered needless: for I laved the body,</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">[175]</span>And cleansed the wounds as o’er Scamander’s stream</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I passed. But to prepare for the deceased</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A tomb, I go, that with united toil</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When this we have accomplished, they may steer</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Our vessel homeward.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exit</i> <span class="smcap">Talthybius</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi16">Place that orbed shield</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Hector on the ground, a spectacle</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Most piteous, and unwelcome to these eyes.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How, O ye Greeks, whose abject souls belie</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your brave achievements, trembling at a child,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Could ye commit this unexampled murder,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lest at some future time he should rebuild</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The walls of Ilion? Ye inhuman cowards!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Our ruin from that fatal hour we date</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When Hector with unnumbered heroes fell.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But having sacked our city, and destroyed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Each Phrygian warrior, feared ye such an infant</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The dastard I abhor who meanly shrinks</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Through groundless panic. O for ever loved,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By what a piteous fate didst thou expire!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hadst thou, the champion of thy country, died,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In riper years, when married, and endued</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With power scarce second to th’ immortal gods,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou hadst been blest, if aught on earth deserves</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The name of bliss. But thou, my son, beheld’st</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And hadst a distant knowledge of these joys,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which thou didst ne’er experience: for to thee</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The treasures which the palaces of Troy</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Contained, proved useless. O unhappy youth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How wert thou hurled from thy paternal walls</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Reared by Apollo’s hand; and through those ringlets,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which oft thy mother smoothed and kissed, the gore</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bursts from thy fractured skull: but let me waive</div> + <div class="verse indent0">So horrid a description. O ye hands,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How in your fingers do ye still retain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A pleasing sad remembrance of your sire,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or why do ye lie motionless before me?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Dear mouth, full many a babbling accent wont</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To utter, art thou closed by death? Thy voice</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Deceived me erst, when clinging to these garments,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">“O mother,” oft didst thou exclaim, “the hair</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shorn from my brows to thee I will devote,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lead round thy tomb my comrades, and address</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy hovering ghost in many a plaintive strain.”</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Now not to me, alas! dost thou perform</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These duteous offices, but I, bowed down</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With age, an exile, of my children reft,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Must bury the disfigured corse of thee</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A tender infant. These unnumbered kisses,</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">[176]</span>My cares in nurturing thee, and broken sleep,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Proved fruitless. What inscription can the bard</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Place o’er thy sepulchre? “The Greeks who feared</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This infant, slew him!” Such an epitaph</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Would shame them. As for thee who hast obtained</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nought of thy wealth paternal, yet this shield</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In which thou shalt be buried will be thine.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O brazen orb, which erst wert wont to guard</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The nervous arm of Hector, thou hast lost</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy best possessor: in thy concave circle</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How is that hero’s shape impressed; it bears</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Marks of that sweat which dropped from Hector’s brow,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wearied with toil, when ’gainst thy edge he leaned</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His cheek. Hence carry, to adorn the corse,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whate’er our present station will afford,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For such the fortunes which Jove grants us now</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As splendour suits not: yet accept these gifts</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Out of the little I possess. An idiot</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is he, who thinking himself blest, exults</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As if his joys were stable: like a man</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Smitten with frenzy, changeful fortune bounds</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Inconstant in her course, now here, now there,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor is there any one who leads a life</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of bliss uninterrupted.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi18">All is ready:</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">For from the spoils yon Phrygian matrons bear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Trappings to grace the dead.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi24">On thee, my son,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Not as a victor who with rapid steeds</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Didst ever reach the goal, or wing the shaft</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With surer aim, an exercise revered</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By each unwearied Phrygian youth, thy grandame</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Places these ornaments which erst were thine:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But now hath Helen, by the gods abhorred,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Stripped thee of all thou didst possess, and caused</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy murder, and the ruin of our house.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Alas! thou hast transpierced my inmost soul,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O thou, whom I expected to have seen</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Troy’s mighty ruler.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi16">But I now enwrap</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy body with the vest thou shouldst have worn</div> + <div class="verse indent0">At Hymen’s festive rites, in wedlock joined</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With Asia’s noblest princess. But, O source</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of triumphs numberless, dear shield of Hector,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Accept these laureate wreaths: for though by death</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou canst not be affected, thou shalt lie</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Joined with this corse in death; since thou deserv’st</div> + <div class="verse indent0">More honourable treatment, than the arms</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of crafty and malignant Ithacus.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">[177]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Thee, much lamented youth, shall earth receive.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Now groan, thou wretched mother.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi28">Oh!</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi32">Commence</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Those wailings which are uttered o’er the dead.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Ah me!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi6">Alas! too grievous are thy woes</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">To be endured.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi10">These fillets o’er thy wounds</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">I bind, and exercise the healing art</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In name and semblance only, but, alas!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Not in reality. Whate’er remains</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Unfinished, ’mid the shades beneath, to thee</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With tender care thy father will supply.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Smite with thy hand thy miserable head</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Till it resound. Alas!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi18">My dearest comrades.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Speak to thy friends; O Hecuba, what plaints</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hast thou to utter?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi16">Nought but woe for me</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Was by the gods reserved; beyond all cities</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To them hath Troy been odious. We in vain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have offered sacrifice. But had not Jove</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O’erthrown and plunged us in the shades beneath,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We had remained obscure, we by the Muse</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Had ne’er been sung, nor ever furnished themes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To future bards. But for this hapless youth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Go and prepare a grave; for the deceased</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is with funereal wreaths already crowned:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Although these pomps, I deem, are to the dead</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of little consequence; an empty pride</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They in the living serve but to display.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Thy wretched mother on thy vital thread</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Had stretched forth mighty hopes: though styled most happy</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From thy illustrious birth, thou by a death</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Most horrid didst expire.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi22">Ha! who are these</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whom I behold, in their victorious hands</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Waving those torches o’er the roofs of Troy?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E’en now o’er Ilion some fresh woes impend.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Talthybius</span>, <span class="smcap">Hecuba</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Tal.</span> To you I speak, O leaders of the troops</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who are ordained to burn this town of Priam.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No longer in your hands without effect</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Reserve those blazing torches: but hurl flames</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On this devoted city, for when Troy</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is utterly demolished, we shall leave</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">[178]</span>Its hated shores, exulting. But to you,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O Phrygians, I the same behests address;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When the shrill trumpet of our chief resounds,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ye to the Grecian navy must repair</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And from these regions sail. But as for thee,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou aged and most miserable dame,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Follow their steps who from Ulysses come.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To whom thy fate consigns thee for a slave</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Far from thy country in a foreign land.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Ah, wretched me! this surely is the last,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The dire completion this, of all my woes.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I leave my country: Ilion’s bulwarks flame.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet, O decrepit feet, with painful haste</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bear me along, that I may bid adieu</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To my unhappy city. Thou, O Troy,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Distinguished erst among barbarian tribes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By thy superior prowess, soon shalt lose</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The most illustrious name thou didst acquire:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thee will the flames consume, and us our foes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Drag from our home to slavery. O ye gods!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Upon the gods yet wherefore should I call?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For when we erst invoked them oft, they heard not.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Come on, and let us rush amid the flames:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For in the ruins of my blazing country</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Twill be to me most glorious to expire.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Tal.</span> Thy griefs, O wretched woman, make thee frantic.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But lead her hence, neglect not. For Ulysses</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Obtained this prize, and she to him must go.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> O dread Saturnian king, from whom the Phrygians</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Derive their origin, dost thou behold</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Our sufferings, most unworthy of the race</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Dardanus?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi8">He surely doth behold:</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">But this great city, city now no more,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is ruined: nought remains of Troy.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi30">The blaze</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Ilion glares, the fire hath caught the roofs,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The streets of Pergamus, and crashing towers.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> As the light smoke on rapid wing ascends</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To heaven, how swiftly vanishes fallen Troy!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Torrents of flame have laid the palace waste,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And o’er its summit waves the hostile spear.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> O fostering soil, that gave my children birth.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Alas! alas!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> <span class="hemi14">Yet hear me, O my sons,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your mother’s voice distinguish.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi28">With loud plaints</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou call’st upon the dead, those aged limbs</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Stretched on the ground, and scraping up the dust</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">[179]</span>With either hand. I follow thy example</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Kneeling on earth’s cold bosom, and invoke</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My wretched husband in the shades beneath.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> We forcibly are borne——</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi26">Most doleful sound!</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> To servile roofs.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi18">From my dear native land.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Slain, uninterred, abandoned by thy friends,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou sure, O Priam, know’st not what I suffer.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For sable death hath closed thine eyes for ever;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Though pious, thou by impious hands wert murdered.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O ye polluted temples of the gods,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And thou my dearest city.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi20">Ye, alas!</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are by the deadly flame and pointed spear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Now occupied, on this beloved soil</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Soon shall you lie a heap of nameless ruins:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For dust, which mixed with smoke, to Heaven ascends,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No longer will permit me to discern</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where erst my habitation stood: the land</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Loses its very name, and each memorial</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of pristine grandeur; wretched Troy’s no more.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hec.</span> Ye know the fatal truth, ye heard the crash</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of falling towers. Our city to its basis</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is shaken. O ye trembling, trembling limbs,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Support my steps!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Tal.</span> <span class="hemi14">Depart to end thy days</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">In servitude. Alas! thou wretched city!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet to the navy of the Greeks proceed.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_180">[180]</span></p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_181">[181]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="The_Cyclops"><span class="smcap">The Cyclops.</span></h2> + +</div> + +<div class="max30"> + +<h3>PERSONS OF THE DRAMA.</h3> + +<ul> + <li><span class="smcap">Silenus.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Chorus of Satyrs.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Ulysses.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Polypheme the Cyclops.</span></li> +</ul> + +<h3>SCENE.—<span class="smcap">The Mountain of Ætna in Sicily.</span></h3> + +</div> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Silenus.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">O Bacchus, for thy sake have I endured</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Unnumbered toils, both at the present hour,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And when these nerves by vigorous youth were strung:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By Juno first with wild distraction fired,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou didst forsake the mountain nymphs whose care</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nurtured thy infancy. Next in that war</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With the gigantic progeny of earth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Stationed beside thee to sustain thy shield,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Piercing the buckler of Enceladus,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I slew him with my lance. Is this a dream?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By Jove it is not: for I showed his spoils</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To Bacchus, and the labours I endure</div> + <div class="verse indent0">At present, are so great that they exceed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E’en those. For since ’gainst thee Saturnia roused,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To bear thee far away, Etruria’s race</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of impious pirates, I soon caught th’ alarm,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And sailed in quest of thee with all my children:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Myself the stern ascended, to direct</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The rudder, and each satyr plied an oar</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Till ocean’s azure surface with white foam</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Was covered; thee, O mighty King, they sought.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Near Malea’s harbour as the vessel rode,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">An eastern blast arose, and to this rock</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Ætna, drove us, where the sons of Neptune,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The one-eyed Cyclops, drenched with human gore,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Inhabit desert caves; by one of these</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Were we made captives, and beneath his roof</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To slavery are reduced. Our master’s name</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_182">[182]</span>Is Polypheme; instead of Bacchus’ orgies</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We tend the flocks of an accursed Cyclops.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My blooming sons, on yonder distant cliffs,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Feed the young lambs; while I at home am stationed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The goblet to replenish, and to scrape</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The rugged floor; to this unholy lord,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A minister of impious festivals:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And now must I perform the task assigned</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of cleansing with this rake the filthy ground,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">So shall the cave be fit for his reception,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When with his flocks my absent lord returns.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But I already see my sons approach,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their fleecy charge conducting. Ha! what means</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This uproar? would ye now renew the dance</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of the Sicinnides, as when ye formed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The train of amorous Bacchus, and assembled,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Charmed by the lute, before Althæa’s gate?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Chorus</span>, <span class="smcap">Silenus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Chorus.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center allsmcap">ODE.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">I.</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Sprung from an untainted race,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Hardy father of the fold,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Why, bounding o’er that craggy space,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Roam’st thou desperately bold,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Far from the refreshing gale,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">The verdant herbage of the mead,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">And sloping channel wont to feed</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Thy trough with springs that never fail?</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Yon caves with bleating lambkins ring,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Come, depasture with the flock;</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Leave, O leave the dewy rock,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Ere this ponderous stone I fling.</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Thee with speeding horns I call</div> + <div class="verse indent4">To the Cyclops’ lofty stall.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">II.</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Thou too those swollen udders yield,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">That thy young ones may be fed,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Who, while thou browsest o’er the field,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Lie neglected in the shed;</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Slumbering all the livelong day</div> + <div class="verse indent4">At length with clamorous plaints they wake,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Thou t’ appease them wilt forsake</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Ætna’s valleys ever gay.</div> + <div class="verse indent4"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_183">[183]</span>Young Bromius and his jocund rout</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Here their orgies ne’er repeat,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">No thyrsus waves, no drums they beat;</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Where the gurgling currents spout,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Here no vineyards yield delight,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Nor sport the nymphs on Nyssa’s height.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">III.</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Yet here I chaunt the strains which Bacchus taught,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">To that Venus whom I sought</div> + <div class="verse indent10">When with the Mænades I ranged.</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Where, gentle Evan, dost thou tread</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Alone, and from thy comrades far estranged,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Those auburn ringlets floating from thy head?</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Thy votary once, but now a slave</div> + <div class="verse indent4">To yonder one-eyed Cyclops, I abide</div> + <div class="verse indent12">In this detested cave:</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Covered with a goat’s vile hide,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Thy friend, alas! exposed to scorn</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Wanders helpless and forlorn.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> My sons, be silent: bid your followers drive</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their flocks into the stony cave.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi28">Proceed.</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">But wherefore, O my father, in this haste?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> A Grecian vessel, stranded on the coast,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I see, and to this cave the mariners</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Attend their leader, on their heads they bear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Those empty vessels which express they want</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Provisions, with fresh water too their urns</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Would they replenish. O unhappy strangers!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who are they? unapprised what lord here rules,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Dread Polypheme, they in an evil hour</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are entering this inhospitable threshold,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And rushing headlong e’en into the jaws</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of this fierce Cyclops, gorged with human flesh.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But interrupt me not; I will inquire</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whence to Sicilian Ætna’s mount they came.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Ulysses</span>, <span class="smcap">Silenus</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> Can ye direct me, strangers, where to find</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Fresh springs to slake our thirst; or who will sell</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Food to the hungry sailor? But what means</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That group of satyrs, whom before yon cave</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I see assembled? we at Bacchus’ city</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Seem to have landed. Thee, the elder-born,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thee first I hail.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_184">[184]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> <span class="hemi14">Hail! foreigner; acquaint us</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Both who you are, and from what realm you came.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> Ulysses, king of Ithaca, and th’ isle</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Cephalenè.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> <span class="hemi10">That loquacious man,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">The crafty brood of Sisyphus, full well</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I know.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> <span class="hemi4">Reproach me not, for I am he.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> Whence sailed you to Sicilia?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> <span class="hemi30">From the shores</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of blazing Ilion, from the war of Troy.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> What, knew you not the way to your own country?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> The tempests violently drove me hither.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> By Heaven, your fortunes are the same with mine.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> What cam’st thou hither too against thy will?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> Yes, in pursuit of those accursed pirates</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who seized on Bromius.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> <span class="hemi18">But what land is this,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">And by what men inhabitated?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> <span class="hemi24">This mountain,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Called Ætna, overlooks Sicilia’s plains.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> Where are the fortresses and lofty towers</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which guard its peopled cities?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> <span class="hemi28">They exist not.</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">No men, O stranger, on these summits dwell.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> But who possess the land, a savage race</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of beasts?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> <span class="hemi6">The Cyclops occupy these caves,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">They have no houses.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> <span class="hemi16">Governed by what chief?</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is this a mere democracy?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> <span class="hemi22">They lead</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">The life of shepherds, and in no respect</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yield to each other.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> <span class="hemi16">Do they sow the grain</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Ceres, or on what do they subsist?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> On milk, on cheese, and on their sheep, they feed.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> Affords the vine, nectareous juice, the drink</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bacchus invented?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> <span class="hemi14">No such thing: they dwell</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">In an ungrateful soil.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> <span class="hemi18">But do they practise</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">The rites of hospitality, and hold</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The stranger sacred?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> <span class="hemi16">They aver the flesh</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of strangers is a most delicious food.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> What saidst thou, banquet they on human flesh?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> Here no man lands who is not doomed to bleed.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> Where is this Cyclops, in the cave?</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_185">[185]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> <span class="hemi34">He went</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">To Ætna’s summit, with his hounds to trace</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The savage beasts.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> <span class="hemi14">But know’st thou by what means</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">We from this region may escape?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> <span class="hemi28">I know not.</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">But, O Ulysses, I’ll do everything</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To serve you.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> <span class="hemi10">Sell us bread, supply our want.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> I told you we have nothing here but flesh.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> By this, sharp hunger, which makes all things sweet,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">May be assuaged.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> <span class="hemi12">Cheese from the press, and milk</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of heifers too.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> <span class="hemi12">Produce them: while the day</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet lasts, should we conclude our merchandise.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> With how much gold will you repay me? Speak.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> No gold I bring, but Bacchus’ cheering juice.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> My dearest friend, you mention what we long</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have stood in need of.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> <span class="hemi18">This enchanting liquor</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Did Maron, offspring of the courteous god,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On us bestow.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> <span class="hemi10">Whom erst, while yet a boy</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">I in these arms sustained.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> <span class="hemi22">The son of Bacchus,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">T’ inform thee more minutely who he is.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> Aboard the ship, or have you hither brought it?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> Here is the cask, old man, which thou perceiv’st</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Contains the wine.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> <span class="hemi14">It hardly is a sup.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> But we have twice as much as this will yield.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> A most delicious spring is that you named.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> Shall I first treat thee with some wine unmixed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That thou may’st taste?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> <span class="hemi20">Well judged: this specimen</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Soon will induce me to conclude the purchase.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> A cup too I have brought as well as cask.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> Pour forth, that I may drink, and recollect</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The grateful taste of wine.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> <span class="hemi24">Look there!</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> <span class="hemi36">Ye gods!</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">How beauteous is its odour!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> <span class="hemi24">Hast thou seen it?</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> By Jove I have not, but I smell its charms.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> Taste, nor to words alone confine thy praise.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> Ha! ha! now Bacchus to the choral dance</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Invites me.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> <span class="hemi8">Hath it moistened well thy palate?</span></div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_186">[186]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> So well as e’en to reach my fingers’ ends.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> Beside all this, shall money too be thine.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> Empty the vessel, and reserve your gold.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> Bring forth the cheese and lambs.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> <span class="hemi32">That will I do,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Regardless of my lord, because I wish</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To drain one goblet of this wine, and give</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The flocks of all the Cyclops in its stead.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I’d from Leucadè, when completely drunk,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Into the ocean take a lover’s leap,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shutting my eyes. For he who, when he quaffs</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The mantling bowl, exults not, is a madman.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Through wine new joys our wanton bosoms fire,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With eager arms we clasp the yielding fair,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And in the giddy dance forget each ill</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That heretofore assailed us. So I kiss</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The rich potation; let the stupid Cyclops</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Weep with that central eye which in his front</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Glares horribly.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exit</i> <span class="smcap">Silenus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi12">Attend: for we must hold</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">A long confabulation, O Ulysses.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> We meet each other like old friends.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi36">Was Troy</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">By you subdued? was Helen taken captive?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> And the whole house of Priam we laid waste.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> When ye had seized on that transcendent fair,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Did ye then all enjoy her in your turn,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Because she loves variety of husbands?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">False to her vows, when she the painted greaves</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Around the legs of Paris, on his neck</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The golden chain, beheld, with love deep smitten</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From Menelaus, best of men, she fled.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ah! would to Heaven no women had been born</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But such as were reserved for my embraces.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Silenus</span> <i>returning</i>, <span class="smcap">Ulysses</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> Here, King Ulysses, is the shepherd’s food:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Banquet on bleating lambs, and bear away</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As many curdled cheeses as you can;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But from these caverns with your utmost speed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Depart, when ye have given me in return</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The clustering vine’s rich juice which Bacchus loves.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> The Cyclops comes. What shall we do? Old man,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We are undone. Ah, whither can we fly?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> Ye may conceal yourselves beneath that rock.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> Most dangerous is the scheme thou hast proposed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To rush into the toils.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> <span class="hemi20">No danger truly;</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">For in this rock is many a hiding-place.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> Not thus: indignant Troy might groan indeed</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_187">[187]</span>If from a single arm we basely fled.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Oft with my shield against a countless band</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Phrygians have I fought. If we must die,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Let us die nobly: or with life maintain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The fame we erst in dubious fields acquired.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Polpyheme</span>, <span class="smcap">Silenus</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>, <span class="smcap">Ulysses</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> What mean these transports, this insensate uproar,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These Bacchanalian orgies? Nyssa’s god,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The brazen timbrel, and the rattling drum,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are distant from these regions. In the cave</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How fare the new-yeaned lambkins? do they suck,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or follow they the ewes? have ye prepared</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In wicker vats the cheeses? No reply?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This club shall make ye weep forthwith. Look up,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Not on the ground.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi14">We lift our dazzled eyes</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">To Jove himself; I view the twinkling stars</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And bright Orion.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> <span class="hemi14">Is my dinner ready?</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> It is. Prepare your jaws for mastication.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> Are the bowls filled with milk?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi32">They overflow,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">And you may drink whole hogsheads if you will.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> Of sheep, or cows, or mixed?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi28">Whate’er you please;</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">But swallow not me too.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> <span class="hemi20">No certainly;</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">For ye would foot it in my tortured paunch,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And kill me with those antics. But what crowd</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Behold I in the stalls? Some thieves or pirates</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are landed: at the mouth of yonder cave</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The lambs are bound with osiers, on the floor</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The cheese-press scattered lies, and the bald head</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of this old man is swoll’n with many bruises.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> Ah me! into a fever I am beaten.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> By whom, old man, who smote thy hoary head?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> O Cyclops, by these ruffians whom I hindered</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From carrying off their plunder.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> <span class="hemi28">Know they not</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">I am a god sprung from the blest immortals?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> All this I told them, yet they seized your goods,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Eat up your cheese without my leave, dragged forth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The lambs, declared they would exhibit you</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In a huge collar of three cubits long,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Closely imprisoned, and before that eye,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which in the centre of your forehead glares,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bore out your entrails, soundly scourge your hide,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Then throw you into their swift vessel’s hold</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Tied hand and foot, and sell you, with a lever</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_188">[188]</span>To heave up ponderous stones, or to the ground</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Level some door.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> <span class="hemi12">Indeed! go whet the knives</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Without delay, collect a mighty pile</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of wood, and light it up with flaming brands,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They shall be slain immediately, and broiled</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To satisfy my appetite with viands</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hot from the coals. The rest shall be well sodden;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For I am sated with unsavoury beasts,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Enough on lions have I banqueted</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And stags that haunt this mountain: but ’tis long</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Since human flesh I tasted.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> <span class="hemi24">My dread lord,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Variety is sweet: no other strangers</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have reached of late these solitary caves.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> O Cyclops, hear the strangers also speak,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In their defence. We, wanting to buy food,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Came to your caverns from our anchored bark.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These lambs to us he bartered for our wine,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And of his own accord, when he had drank,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yielded them up; no violence was used:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But the account he gives is utter falsehood,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Since he was caught without your privity</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Vending your goods.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> <span class="hemi16">I? curses on your head!</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> If I have uttered an untruth.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> <span class="hemi30">By Neptune</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your sire, O Cyclops, by great Triton, Nereus,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Calypso, Nereus’ daughters, by the waves,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And all the race of fishes, I protest,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Most beauteous Cyclops, my dear little lord,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I sold not to the foreigners your goods;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">May swift perdition, if I did, o’ertake</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These sinners here, my children, whom I love</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beyond expression.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi14">Curb thy tongue: I saw thee</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Vending thy lord’s possessions to the strangers:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If I speak falsehood, may our father perish!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But injure not these foreigners.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> <span class="hemi28">Ye lie;</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">For I in him much rather would confide</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Than Rhadamanthus, and pronounce that he</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is a more upright judge. But I to them</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Some questions would propose. Whence sailed, strangers?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where is your country and your native town?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> We in the realms of Ithaca were born;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But after we had laid Troy’s bulwarks waste,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O Cyclops, by those howling winds which raise</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The ocean’s boisterous surges, to your coast</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Our vessel was impelled.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_189">[189]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> <span class="hemi20">Are ye the men</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who worthless Helen’s ravisher pursued</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To Ilion’s turrets on Scamander’s bank?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> The same: most dreadful toils have we endured.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> Dishonourable warfare; in the cause</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of one vile woman ye to Phrygia sailed.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> Such was the will of Jove; on no man charge</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The fault. But we to you, O generous son</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of ocean’s god, our earnest prayers address,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor fear with honest freedom to remonstrate</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That we your hapless friends, who to these caves</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For refuge fly, deserve not to be slain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To satiate with accursed human food</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your appetite: for to your sire, great king,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Full many a temple on the shores of Greece</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have we erected; Tænarus’ sacred haven</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To him remains inviolate, the cliff</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Malea, Sunium for its silver mines</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Renowned, on whose steep promontory stands</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Minerva’s fane, and the Gerastian bay.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But those intolerable wrongs which Greece</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From Troy had suffered, could we not forgive.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Our triumph interests you, who in a land</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With Greece connected, dwell, beneath the rock</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of flaming Ætna. Let those public laws</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which all mankind obey, on you prevail</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To change your ruthless purpose, and admit</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your suppliants to a conference, who have long</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Endured the perils of the billowy deep;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With hospitable gifts, and change of raiment</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Assist us, nor affix our quivering limbs</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On spits, to sate your gluttony. Enough</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hath Priam’s land depopulated Greece,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whole myriads have in fighting fields been slain;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The widowed bride, the aged childless matron,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And hoary sire, hath Troy made ever wretched.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But if you burn, and at your hateful feasts</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Devour the scattered relics of our host,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whither shall any Grecian turn? but listen</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To my persuasion, Cyclops, and control</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your gluttony. What piety enjoins,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Prefer to this defiance of the gods:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For ruin oft attends unrighteous gain.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> Leave not the smallest morsel of his flesh;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Take my advice, and if you eat his tongue,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">You certainly, O Cyclops, will become</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A most accomplished orator.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> <span class="hemi24">Vile caitiff,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wealth is the deity the wise adore,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But all things else are unsubstantial boasts,</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_190">[190]</span>And specious words alone. I nought regard</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Those promontories sacred to my sire.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Why dost thou talk of them? I tremble not,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O stranger, at the thunderbolts of Jove,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Him I account not a more powerful god</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Than I am, nor henceforth will heed him: hear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My reasons; when he from the skies sends down</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The rain, secure from its inclemency</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beneath this rock I dwell, and make a feast</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On roasted calves, or on the savage prey,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Stretched at my length supine, then drain a pitcher</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of milk, and emulate the thunder’s sound.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When Thracian Boreas pours his flaky showers,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In hides of beasts my body I enwrap,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Approach the fire, nor heed the pelting snows.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Compelled by strong necessity, the ground</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Produces grass, and nourishes my herds,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whom, to no other god except myself,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And to this belly, greatest of the gods,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I sacrifice. Because each day to eat,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To drink, and feel no grief, is bliss supreme,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The Heaven, the object of the wise man’s worship.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I leave those gloomy lawgivers to weep,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who by their harsh impertinent restrictions</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have chequered human life; but will indulge</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My genius, and devour thee. That my conduct</div> + <div class="verse indent0">May be exempt from blame, thou shalt receive</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As pledges of our hospitality</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The fire, and that hereditary cauldron</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Well heated, which shall boil thy flesh: walk in,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ye shall adorn my table, and produce</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Delicious meals to cheer my gloomy cave,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such as a god can relish.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> <span class="hemi22">I have ’scaped,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Alas! each danger at the siege of Troy,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Scaped the tempestuous ocean; but in vain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Attempt to soften the unpitying heart</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of him who spurns all laws. Now, sacred queen,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Daughter of Jove, now aid me, O Minerva,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For I such perils as far, far exceed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My Phrygian toils, encounter: and, O Jove,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Dread guardian of each hospitable rite,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who sitt’st enthroned above the radiant stars,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Look down: for if thou view not this, though deemed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Omnipotent, thou art a thing of nought.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exeunt</i> <span class="smcap">Polypheme</span>, <span class="smcap">Ulysses</span>, <i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Silenus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">1st <span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> That insatiate throat expand,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Boiled and roast are now at hand</div> + <div class="verse indent6">For thee, O Cyclops, to devour:</div> + <div class="verse indent6">From the coals in evil hour</div> + <div class="verse indent6"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_191">[191]</span>Yet reeking, shall thy teeth divide</div> + <div class="verse indent6">The limbs of each unhappy guest,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">To thy table served when dressed</div> + <div class="verse indent6">In dishes formed of shaggy hide.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">O betray me not, my friend,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">For I on you alone depend:</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Now approach the shades of night,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Launch the bark, and aid our flight.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">2nd <span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> Thou cave, and ye unholy rites,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Adieu, the Cyclops’ cursed delights,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Who on his prisoners wont to feed,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Hath banished pity from his breast.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Inhuman execrable deed!</div> + <div class="verse indent6">On his own hearth, the suppliant guest,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Regardless of the Lares’ guardian powers,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Now he slays, and now devours:</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Hot from the coals, with odious jaws,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Human flesh the miscreant gnaws.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Ulysses</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> How, mighty Jove! shall I express myself?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The dreadful scenes I in the cave have viewed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are so astonishing, they more resemble</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Some fable than the actions of a man.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> What now, Ulysses, on your loved companions</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Feasts this most impious Cyclops?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> <span class="hemi30">Two, the fattest,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Having well viewed and poised them in his hands——</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> How did you bear, O miserable man,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These cruel outrages?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> <span class="hemi18">Soon as we entered</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">The rocky cave, he lighted first the fire,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On the wide blaze heaped trunks of lofty oaks,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A load sufficient for three wains to bear;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Then near the flaming hearth, upon the ground,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Arranged his couch of pine leaves, filled a bowl,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Holding about ten firkins, with the milk</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of heifers, and beside it placed a jug</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Adorned with ivy, the circumference seemed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Three spacious ells, the depth no less than four:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Then made his cauldron bubble, and reached down</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Spits burnt at the extremities, and polished</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Not with a knife, but hatchets; Ætna furnished</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such instruments for sacrifice, the stems</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of thorn. No sooner had the hellish cook</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Finished his preparations, than he seized</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Two of my valiant comrades, whom he slew</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With calm deliberation; one he cast</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Into the hollow cauldron; from the ground</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Then lifting up his fellow by the foot</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_192">[192]</span>Dashed out his brains against the pointed rock;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Severing his flesh with an enormous knife,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Part at the fire he roasted, and to boil,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His other joints into the cauldron threw.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But I, though from these eyes full many a tear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Burst forth, approached the Cyclops, and on him</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Attended, while my friends, like timorous birds</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lurked in the distant crannies of the rock,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And all the blood forsook their pallid frame.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When sated with his feast the monster lay</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Supine, and snored, a thought by Heaven inspired</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Entered this bosom; having filled a cup</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With Maron’s juice unmingled, I to him</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bore it, that he might drink; and cried, “Behold,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O Cyclops, son of Neptune, how divine</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The beverage which our Grecian vineyards yield</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The stream of Bacchus.” But already glutted</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With his abominable food, he seized</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And emptied the whole bumper at one draught,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Then lifting up, in token of applause,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His hand: “O dearest stranger,” he exclaimed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">“To a delicious banquet thou hast added</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Delicious wine.” Perceiving he grew merry</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I plied him with a second cup, well knowing</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That wine will stagger him: he soon shall feel</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such punishment as he deserves. He sung;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I poured forth more and more, to warm his bowels</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With strong potations: ’midst my weeping crew</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He makes the cave with unharmonious strains</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Re-echo. But I silently came forth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And, if ye give consent, design to save</div> + <div class="verse indent0">You, and myself. Say, therefore, will ye fly</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From this unsocial monster, and reside</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With Grecian maids beneath the roofs of Bacchus?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your sire within approves of these proposals:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But now grown feeble and o’ercharged with wine,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Attracted by the goblet, as if birdlime</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Had smeared his wings, he wavers. But with me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Do thou preserve thyself, for thou art young:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And I to Bacchus, to thy ancient friend</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Far different from this Cyclops, will restore thee.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> My dearest friend, O could we see that day,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And ’scape yon impious monster! for we long</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have been deprived of the enlivening bowl,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor entertain a single hope of freedom.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> Now hear the means by which I can requite</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This odious savage, and thou too mayst ’scape</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From servitude.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi10">Speak, for we should not hear</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_193">[193]</span>The sound of Asia’s harp with more delight,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Than the glad tidings of the Cyclops’ death.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> By wine enlivened, he resolves to go</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And revel with his brethren.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi24">I perceive</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">You mean to seize and kill him when alone,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By some enchantment, or to dash him headlong</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From the steep rock.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> <span class="hemi16">I have no such design</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">As these: on craft alone my plan depends.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> How then will you proceed? For we long since</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have heard that you for wisdom are renowned.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> I will deter him from the feast, and say</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He must not portion out among the Cyclops</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This liquor, but reserve it for himself</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And lead a joyous life: when overcome</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By Bacchus’ gifts he sleeps, this sword shall point</div> + <div class="verse indent0">An olive pole, which to my purpose suited</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lies in the cave: I in the fire will heat,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And, when it flames, direct the hissing brand</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Full on the Cyclops’ forehead, to extinguish</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The orb of sight. As when some artist frames</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A nautic structure, he by thongs directs</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The ponderous auger: thus will I whirl round</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Within the Cyclops’ eye the kindled staff,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And scorch his visual nerve.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi24">Ho! I rejoice;</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">This blest invention almost makes me frantic.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> Thee, and thy friends, and thy decrepit sire,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This done, aboard my vessel will I place,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And from this region with a double tier</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of oars convey.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi10">But is it possible</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">That I, as if dread Jove were my confederate,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall guide the well-poised brand, and of his eyesight</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Deprive the monster? For I wish to share</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In such assassination.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> <span class="hemi18">I expect</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your aid: the brand is weighty, and requires</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Our social efforts.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi14">I’d sustain a load</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Equal to what a hundred teams convey,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Could I dash out the cursed Cyclops’ eye</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E’en as a swarm of wasps.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> <span class="hemi22">Be silent now;</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">(Ye know my stratagem) and at my bidding</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To those who o’er th’ adventurous scheme preside</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yield prompt obedience: for I scorn to leave</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My friends within, and save this single life.</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_194">[194]</span>True, ’scape I might, already having passed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The cavern’s deep recess: but it were mean</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If I should extricate myself alone,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">False to the faithful partners of my voyage.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exit</i> <span class="smcap">Ulysses</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Who first, who next, with steadfast hand</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ordained to guide the flaming brand,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The Cyclops’ radiant eye shall pierce?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">1st <span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> Silence! for from within a song</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bursts on my ear in tuneless verse,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Insensate minstrel, doomed ere long</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This luxurious meal to rue,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He staggers from yon rocky cave.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Him let us teach who never knew</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How at the banquet to behave,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Outrageous and unmannered hind,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Soon shall he totally be blind.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">2nd <span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> Thrice blest is he, in careless play</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Midst Bacchus’ orgies ever gay,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Stretched near the social board whence glides</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The vine’s rich juice in purple tides,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who fondly clasps with eager arms</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The consenting virgin’s charms;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Rich perfumes conspire to shed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sweetest odours on his head,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">While enamoured of the fair</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He wantons with her auburn hair.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But hark! for surely ’tis our mate</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Exclaiming, “Who will ope the gate?”</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Polypheme</span>, <span class="smcap">Ulysses</span>, <span class="smcap">Silenus</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> Ha! ha! I am replete with wine, the banquet</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hath cheered my soul: like a well-freighted ship</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My stomach’s with abundant viands stowed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Up to my very chin. This smiling turf</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Invites me to partake a vernal feast</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With my Cyclopean brothers. Stranger, bring</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That vessel from the cave.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exit</i> <span class="smcap">Ulysses</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi22">With bright-eyed grace</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Our master issues from his spacious hall;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">(Some god approves—the kindled torch—) that form</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Equals the lustre of a blooming nymph</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Fresh from the dripping caverns of the main.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Soon shall the variegated wreath adorn</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your temples.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> [<i>returning.</i>] Hear me, Cyclops; well I know</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Th’ effect of this potation, Bacchus’ gift,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which I to you dispensed.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_195">[195]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> <span class="hemi22">Yet say what sort</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of god is Bacchus by his votaries deemed?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> The greatest source of pleasure to mankind.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> I therefore to my palate find it sweet.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> A god like this to no man will do wrong.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> But in a bottle how can any god</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Delight to dwell?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> <span class="hemi14">In whatsoever place</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">We lodge him, the benignant power resides.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> The skins of goats are an unseemly lodging</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For deities.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> <span class="hemi8">If you admire the wine,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Why quarrel with its case?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> <span class="hemi22">Those filthy hides</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">I utterly detest, but love the liquor.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> Stay here; drink, drink, O Cyclops, and be gay.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> This luscious beverage, must I not impart</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To cheer my brothers?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> <span class="hemi18">Keep it to yourself</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">And you shall seem more honourable.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> <span class="hemi32">More useful,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">If I distribute largely to my friends.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> Broils, taunts, and discord from the banquet rise.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> Though I am fuddled, no man dares to touch me.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> He who hath drunk too freely, O my friend,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ought to remain at home.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> <span class="hemi20">Devoid of reason</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is he who when he drinks pays no regard</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To mirth and to good-fellowship.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> <span class="hemi28">More wise,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">O’ercharged with wine, who ventures not abroad.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> Shall we stay here? What think’st thou, O Silenus?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> With all my heart. What need, for our carousals,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of a more numerous company?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> <span class="hemi24">The ground</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beneath our feet, a flowery turf adorns.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> O how delightful ’tis to drink, and bask</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Here in the sunshine: on this grassy couch</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beside me take your seat.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> <span class="hemi22">Why dost thou place</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">The cup behind my elbow?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> <span class="hemi20">Lest some stranger</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Should come and snatch the precious boon away.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> Thou mean’st to tope clandestinely: between us</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Here let it stand. O stranger, by what name</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Say shall I call thee?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> <span class="hemi18">Noman is my name.</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">But for what favour shall I praise your kindness?</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_196">[196]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> The last of all the crew will I devour.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> A wondrous privilege is this, O Cyclops,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which on the stranger you bestow.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> <span class="hemi30">What mean’st thou?</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ha! art thou drinking up the wine by stealth?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> Only the gentle Bacchus gave that kiss,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Because I look so blooming.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> <span class="hemi24">Thou shalt weep,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Because thy lips were to the wine applied,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor did it seek thy mouth.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> <span class="hemi22">Not thus, by Jove;</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">I drank because the generous god of wine</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Declared that he admired me for my beauty.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> Pour forth; give me a bumper.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> <span class="hemi30">I must taste</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">To see what mixture it requires.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> <span class="hemi28">Damnation!</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Give it me pure.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> <span class="hemi12">Not so, the heavens forbid!</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Till you the wreath bind on your ample front,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And I again have tasted.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> <span class="hemi20">What a knave</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is this my cupbearer!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> <span class="hemi18">Accuse me not;</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">The wine is sweet: you ought to wipe your mouth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Before you drink.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> <span class="hemi14">My lips and beard are clean.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> Loll thus upon your elbow with a grace,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Drink as you see me drink, and imitate</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My every gesture.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> <span class="hemi14">What art thou about?</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> I swallowed then a most delicious bumper.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> Take thou the cask, O stranger, and perform</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The office of my cupbearer.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> <span class="hemi24">These hands</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have been accustomed to the pleasing office.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> Now pour it forth.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> <span class="hemi20">Be silent: I obey.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> Thou hast proposed a difficult restraint</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To him who largely drinks.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> <span class="hemi22">Now drain the bowl;</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Leave nought behind: the toper must not prate</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Before his liquor’s ended.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> <span class="hemi22">In the vine</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">There’s wisdom.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> <span class="hemi12">When to plenteous food you add</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">An equal share of liquor, and well drench</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The throat beyond what thirst demands, you sink</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Into sweet sleep: but if you leave behind</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_197">[197]</span>Aught of th’ unfinished beverage in your cup,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bacchus will scorch your entrails.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> <span class="hemi30">’Tis a mercy</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">How I swam out; the very heavens whirl round</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Mingled with earth. I view Jove’s throne sublime,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And the whole synod of encircling gods.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Were all the Graces to solicit me,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I would not kiss them: Ganymede himself</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Appears in matchless beauty.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> <span class="hemi24">I, O Cyclops,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Am Jove’s own Ganymede.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> <span class="hemi20">By Heaven thou art!</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whom from the realms of Dardanus I bore.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exit</i> <span class="smcap">Polypheme</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> Ruin awaits me.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi16">Dost thou loathe him now?</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Sil.</span> Ah me! I from this sleep shall soon behold</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The most accursed effects.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exit</i> <span class="smcap">Silenus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> <span class="hemi22">Come on, ye sons</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Bacchus, generous youths; for soon dissolved</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In slumber shall the monster from those jaws</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Vomit forth flesh, within the hall now smokes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The brand, and nought remains but to burn out</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The Cyclops’ eye: act only like a man.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> The firmness of my soul shall equal rocks</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And adamant. But go into the cave</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With speed, before tumultuous sounds assail</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Our aged father’s ears; for to effect</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your purpose, all is ready.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> <span class="hemi24">Vulcan, king</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Ætna, from this impious pest, who haunts</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy sacred mountain, free thyself at once,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By burning out his glaring eye; and thou</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nurtured by sable night, O sleep, invade</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With thy resistless force this beast abhorred</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By Heaven; nor after all the glorious deeds</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Achieved at Ilion, with his faithful sailors,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Destroy Ulysses’ self, by him who heeds</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor god nor mortal. Else must we hold fortune</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A goddess, and all other deities</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Inferior to resistless fortune’s power.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exit</i> <span class="smcap">Ulysses</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> The neck of him who slays his guest,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With burning pincers shall be prest,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And fire bereaving him of sight</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Soon shall destroy that orb of light.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Within the embers near at hand</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lies concealed a smoking brand,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Torn from its parental tree.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Maron, we depend on thee;</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_198">[198]</span>May th’ exasperated foe</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With success direct the blow!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">May the Cyclops lose his eye,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And curse his ill-timed jollity!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thee, Bromius, how I long to meet</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy front adorned with ivy twine;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Leaving this abhorred retreat.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ah, when shall such delight be mine?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Ulysses</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> Be silent, O ye savages, restrain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Those clamorous tongues: by Heaven ye shall not breathe,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor wink your eyes, nor cough, lest ye awaken</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This pest, the Cyclops, ere he of his eyesight</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is by the fire bereft.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi18">We will be silent,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">And in our jaws confine the very air.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> The ponderous weapon seize with dauntless hands,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Entering the cavern; for ’tis fully heated.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Will you not give directions who shall first</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Manage the glowing lever, and burn out</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The Cyclops’ eye, that in one common fortune</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We all may share.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">1st <span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> <span class="hemi6">We who before the portals</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are stationed, are not tall enough to drive</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Full on its destined mark the hissing brand.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">2nd <span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> But I am with a sudden lameness seized.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">1st <span class="smcap">Semichor.</span> The same calamity which you experience</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To me hath also happened; for my feet</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are by convulsions tortured, though the cause</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I know not.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> <span class="hemi8">If ye feel such dreadful spasms,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">How can ye stand?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi12">Our eyes are also filled</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">With dust or ashes.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> <span class="hemi16">These allies of mine</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are worthless cowards.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi18">We forsooth want courage</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Because we feel compassion for our shoulders,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor would be beaten till our teeth drop out.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But I a magic incantation know,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Devised by Orpheus, which hath such effect,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That of its own accord the brand shall pierce</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The skull of him, the one-eyed son of earth.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> Long have I known ye are by nature such;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But more than ever do I know you now.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On my own friends I therefore must rely.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet if thou hast no vigour in that arm,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Exhort my drooping friends to act with valour</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And let thy counsels aid the bold emprise.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exit</i> <span class="smcap">Ulysses</span>.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_199">[199]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Such be my province: we this Carian’s life</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will hazard. But my counsels shall induce them</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To burn the Cyclops. Ho! with courage whirl</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The brand, delay not to scorch out the eye</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of him who banquets on the stranger’s flesh.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With fire assail the savage, pierce the front</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Ætna’s shepherd, lest, with anguish stung,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On you he perpetrate some deed of horror.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> [<i>within.</i>] Ah me! by burning coals I am deprived</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of eyesight.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi8">That was a melodious pæan:</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">To me, O Cyclops, sing th’ enchanting strain.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Polypheme</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> Ah, how am I insulted and destroyed!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet shall ye never from this hollow rock</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Escape triumphant, O ye things of nought:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For in my station rooted, where this cleft</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Opens a door, will I spread forth my hands</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And stop your passage!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi18">Ha! what means these outcries,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">O Cyclops?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> <span class="hemi6">I am ruined.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi18">You appear</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">To have much been abused.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> <span class="hemi22">Deplorably.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> When fuddled, did you fall ’mid burning coals?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> Noman hath ruined me.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi22">To you then no one</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hath offered any wrong.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> <span class="hemi20">These lids hath Noman</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Deprived of sight.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi14">You therefore are not blind.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> Would thou couldst see as little.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi34">How can no man</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Put out your eye?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> <span class="hemi14">Thou art disposed to jest.</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">But where is Noman?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi14">He is nowhere, Cyclops.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> That execrable stranger, mark me well,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is author of my ruin, who produced</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The fraudful draught, and burned my visual nerves.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Wine is invincible.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> <span class="hemi22">By all the gods,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Answer me I conjure you; did they fly,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or are they here within?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi20">They on the top</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of yonder rock which screens them from your reach,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In silence take their stand.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> <span class="hemi24">But on which side?</span></div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_200">[200]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Your right.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> <span class="hemi14">Where, where?</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi26">Upon that very rock.</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have you yet caught them?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> <span class="hemi22">To mischance succeeds</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Mischance; I have fallen down and cracked my skull.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> They ’scape you now.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> <span class="hemi22">Ye misinformed me sure;</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">They are not here.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi14">I say not that they are.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> Where then?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi12">They wheel around you on your left.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> Ah me! I am derided, ye but mock</div> + <div class="verse indent0">At my affliction.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi12">They are there no longer:</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">But Noman stands before you.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> <span class="hemi24">O thou villain,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where art thou?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Ulysses</span>, <span class="smcap">Polypheme</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> <span class="hemi12">Keeping cautiously aloof,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thus I, Ulysses, guard my threatened life.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> What saidst thou? Wherefore hast thou changed thy name</div> + <div class="verse indent0">T’ assume a new one?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> <span class="hemi16">Me my father named</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ulysses. It was destined you should suffer</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A just requital for your impious feast;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For I in vain had with consuming flames</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Laid Ilion waste, had I forborne t’ avenge</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On you the murder of my valiant friends.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> Now is that ancient oracle, alas!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Accomplished, which foretold, that I by thee,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On thy return from Troy, should be deprived</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of sight: but that thou also for a deed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">So cruel, shalt be punished, and full long</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Endure the beating of tempestuous waves.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Uly.</span> Go weep, my actions justify these words.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But to the shore I haste; and to my country</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will steer the vessel o’er Sicilia’s waves.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pol.</span> Thou shalt not; with this fragment of the rock</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hurled at thy head, thee and thy perjured crew</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will I demolish: for I yet, though blind,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Can mount the cliff which overhangs the port,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And in its wonted crannies fix my steps.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> But we, blest partners in Ulysses’ voyage,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Henceforth the laws of Bacchus will obey.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_201">[201]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="Helen"><span class="smcap">Helen.</span></h2> + +</div> + +<div class="max30"> + +<h3>PERSONS OF THE DRAMA.</h3> + +<ul> + <li><span class="smcap">Helen.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Teucer.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Chorus of Grecian Dames</span> (<span class="smcap">Helen’s Attendants</span>).</li> + <li><span class="smcap">Menelaus.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Female Servant.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Messenger.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Theoclymenus.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Theonoe.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Castor and Pollux.</span></li> +</ul> + +<h3>SCENE.—<span class="smcap">Proteus’ Tomb, at the Entrance of Theoclymenus’ +Palace in Pharos, an Island at the Mouth of the Nile.</span></h3> + +</div> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Helen.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Bright are these virgin currents of the Nile</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which water Egypt’s soil, and are supplied,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Instead of drops from heaven, by molten snow.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But Proteus, while he lived, of these domains</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Was lord, he in the isle of Pharos dwelt,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">King of all Ægypt; for his wife he gained</div> + <div class="verse indent0">One of the nymphs who haunt the briny deep,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Fair Psamathe, after she left the bed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Æacus; she in the palace bore</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To him two children, one of them a son</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Called Theoclymenus, because his life</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is passed in duteous homage to the gods;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A daughter also of majestic mien,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Her mother’s darling, in her infant years</div> + <div class="verse indent0">(Eidothea called by her enraptured sire):</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But when the blooming maid became mature</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For nuptial joys, Theonoe was the name</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They gave her; all the counsels of the gods,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The present and the future, well she knew,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such privilege she from her grandsire Nereus</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Inherited. But not to fame unknown</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are Sparta’s realm, whence I derive my birth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And my sire, Tyndarus. There prevails a rumour</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That to my mother Leda Jove was borne</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On rapid wings, the figure of a swan</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_202">[202]</span>Assuming, and by treachery gained admission</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To her embraces, flying from an eagle,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If we may credit such report. My name</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is Helen; but I also will recount</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What woes I have endured; three goddesses,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For beauty’s prize contending, in the cave</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Ida, came to Paris; Juno, Venus,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And Pallas, virgin progeny of Jove,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Requesting him to end their strife, and judge</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whose charms outshone her rivals. But proposing</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For a reward, my beauty (if the name</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of beauty suit this inauspicious form)</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And promising in marriage to bestow me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On Paris, Venus conquered: for the swain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Ida, leaving all his herds behind,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Expecting to receive me for his bride,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To Sparta came. But Juno, whose defeat</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Fired with resentment her indignant soul,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Our nuptials frustrated; for to the arms</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of royal Priam’s son, she gave not me,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But in my semblance formed a living image</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Composed of ether. Paris falsely deemed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That he possessed me; from that time these ills</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have been increased by the decrees of Jove,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For he with war hath visited the realms</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Greece, and Phrygia’s miserable sons,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That he might lighten from th’ unrighteous swarms</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of its inhabitants the groaning earth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And on the bravest of the Grecian chiefs</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Confer renown. While in the Phrygian war,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As the reward of their victorious arms,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I to the host of Greece have been displayed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Though absent, save in likeness and in name.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But Mercury, receiving me in folds</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of air, and covering with a cloud (for Jove</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Was not unmindful of me), in this house</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of royal Proteus, who of all mankind</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Was in his judgment the most virtuous, placed me,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That undefiled I might preserve the bed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Menelaus. I indeed am here;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But with collected troops my hapless lord</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Pursues the ravisher to Ilion’s towers.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beside Scamander’s stream hath many a chief</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Died in my cause; but I, who have endured</div> + <div class="verse indent0">All these afflictions, am a public curse;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For ’tis supposed, that treacherous to my lord,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I have through Greece blown up the flames of war.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Why then do I prolong my life? these words</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I heard from Mercury: “That I again</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_203">[203]</span>In Sparta, with my husband shall reside,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When he discovers that I never went</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To Troy:” he therefore counselled me to keep</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A spotless chastity. While Proteus viewed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The solar beams, I from the nuptial yoke</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Still lived exempt; but since the darksome grave</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hath covered his remains, the royal son</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of the deceased solicits me to wed him:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But honouring my first husband, at this tomb</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Proteus, I a suppliant kneel, to him,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To him I sue, to guard my nuptial couch,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That if through Greece I bear a name assailed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By foul aspersions, no unseemly deed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">May cover me with real infamy.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Teucer</span>, <span class="smcap">Helen</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Teu.</span> Who rules this fortress? such a splendid dome</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With royal porticos and blazoned roofs</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Seems worthy of a Plutus for its lord.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But, O ye gods, what vision! I behold</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That hateful woman who hath ruined me,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And all the Greeks. Heaven’s vengeance on thy head!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such a resemblance bear’st thou to that Helen,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That if I were not in a foreign land,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I with this stone would smite thee; thou shouldst bleed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For being like Jove’s daughter.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi28">Wretched man,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whoe’er you are, why do you hate me thus</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Because of her misfortunes?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Teu.</span> <span class="hemi24">I have erred</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">In giving way to such unseemly rage.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">All Greece abhors Jove’s daughter. But forgive me,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O woman, for the words which I have uttered.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> Say who you are, and from what land you come?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Teu.</span> One of that miserable race the Greeks.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> No wonder is it then, if you detest</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The Spartan Helen. But to me declare,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who are you, whence, and from what father sprung?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Teu.</span> My name is Teucer, Telamon my sire;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The land which nurtured me is Salamis.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> But wherefore do you wander o’er these meads</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Laved by the Nile?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Teu.</span> <span class="hemi14">I from my native land</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Am banished.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi8">You, alas! must needs be wretched.</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who drove you thence?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Teu.</span> <span class="hemi18">My father Telamon.</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">What friend canst thou hold dearer?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi32">For what cause</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_204">[204]</span>Were you to exile doomed? your situation</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is most calamitous.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Teu.</span> <span class="hemi16">My brother Ajax,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who died at Troy, was author of my ruin.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> How? by your sword deprived of life?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Teu.</span> <span class="hemi36">He fell,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">On his own blade, and perished.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi28">Was he mad?</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who could act thus whose intellects are sound?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Teu.</span> Know’st thou Achilles, Peleus’ son?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi36">He erst,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">I heard, to Helen as a suitor came.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Teu.</span> He, at his death, his comrades left to strive</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which should obtain his arms.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi26">But why was this</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hurtful to Ajax?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Teu.</span> <span class="hemi12">When another won</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Those arms, he gave up life.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi24">Do your afflictions</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Rise from his fate?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Teu.</span> <span class="hemi16">Because I died not with him.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> O stranger, went you then to Troy’s famed city?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Teu.</span> And having shared in laying waste its bulwarks,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I also perished.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi12">Have the flames consumed,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">And utterly destroyed them?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Teu.</span> <span class="hemi24">Not a trace</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of those proud walls is now to be discerned.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> Through thee, O Helen, do the Phrygians perish.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Teu.</span> The Greeks too: for most grievous are the mischiefs</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which have been wrought.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi20">What length of time’s elapsed</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Since Troy was sacked?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Teu.</span> <span class="hemi18">Seven times the fruitful year</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hath almost turned around her lingering wheel.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> But how much longer did your host remain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Before those bulwarks?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Teu.</span> <span class="hemi18">Many a tedious moon;</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">There full ten years were spent.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi28">And have ye taken</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">That Spartan dame?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Teu.</span> <span class="hemi14">By her dishevelled hair,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Th’ adult’ress, Menelaus dragged away.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> Did you behold that object of distress,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or speak you from report?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Teu.</span> <span class="hemi22">These eyes as clearly</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Witnessed the whole, as I now view thy face.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> Be cautious, lest for her ye should mistake</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Some well-formed semblance which the gods have sent.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_205">[205]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Teu.</span> Talk if thou wilt on any other subject;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No more of her.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi12">Believe you this opinion</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">To be well-grounded?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Teu.</span> <span class="hemi16">With these eyes I saw her,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">And she e’en now is present to my soul.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> Have Menelaus and his consort reached</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their home.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Teu.</span> <span class="hemi8">They are not in the Argive land,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor on Eurotas’ banks.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi18">Alas! alas!</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">The tale you have recounted, is to her</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who hears you, an event most inauspicious.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Teu.</span> He and his consort, both they say are dead.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> Did not the Greeks in one large squadron sail?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Teu.</span> Yes; but a storm dispersed their shattered fleet.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> Where were they, in what seas?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Teu.</span> <span class="hemi32">They at that time</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Through the mid waves of the Ægean deep</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Were passing.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi10">Can none tell if Menelaus</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Escaped this tempest?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Teu.</span> <span class="hemi18">No man; but through Greece</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Tis rumoured he is dead.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi22">I am undone.</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is Thestius’ daughter living?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Teu.</span> <span class="hemi26">Mean’st thou Leda?</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">She with the dead is numbered.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi26">Did the shame</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Helen cause her wretched mother’s death?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Teu.</span> Around her neck, ’tis said the noble dame</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Entwined the gliding noose.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi24">But live the sons</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Tyndarus, or are they too now no more?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Teu.</span> They are, and are not, dead; for two accounts</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are propagated.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi12">Which is best confirmed?</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">O wretched me!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Teu.</span> <span class="hemi10">Some say that they are gods</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Under the semblance of two radiant stars.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> Well have you spoken. But what else is rumoured?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Teu.</span> That on account of their lost sister’s guilt</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They died by their own swords. But of these themes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Enough: I wish not to renew my sorrows.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But O assist me in the great affairs</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On which I to these royal mansions came,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wishing to see the prophetess Theonoe,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And learn, from Heaven’s oracular response,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How I may steer my vessel with success</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_206">[206]</span>To Cyprus’ isle, where Phœbus hath foretold</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That I shall dwell, and on the walls I rear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bestow the name of Salamis, yet mindful</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of that dear country I have left behind.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> This will your voyage of itself explain:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But fly from these inhospitable shores,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ere Proteus’ son, the ruler of this land,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Behold you: fly, for he is absent now</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Pursuing with his hounds the savage prey.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He slays each Grecian stranger who becomes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His captive: ask not why, for I am silent;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And what could it avail you to be told?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Teu.</span> O woman, most discreetly hast thou spoken;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy kindness may the righteous gods repay!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For though thy person so resemble Helen,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou hast a soul unlike that worthless dame.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Perdition seize her; never may she reach</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The current of Eurotas: but mayst thou,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Most generous woman, be for ever blest.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exit</i> <span class="smcap">Teucer</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> Plunged as I am ’midst great and piteous woes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How shall I frame the plaintive strain, what Muse</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With tears, or doleful elegies, invoke?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center allsmcap">ODE.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">I. 1.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Ye syrens, winged daughters of the earth,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Come and attune the sympathetic string,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Expressive now no more of mirth,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">To soothe my griefs, the flute of Libya bring;</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Record the tortures which this bosom rend,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">And echo back my elegiac strains:</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Proserpine next will I invoke, to send</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Numbers adapted to her votary’s pains;</div> + <div class="verse indent4">So shall her dark abode, while many a tear I shed,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Waft the full dirge to soothe th’ illustrious dead.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Chorus</span>, <span class="smcap">Helen</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Chorus.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">I. 2.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Near the cerulean margin of our streams</div> + <div class="verse indent6">I stood, and on the tufted herbage spread</div> + <div class="verse indent10">My purple vestments in those beams</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Which from his noontide orb Hyperion shed,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">When on a sudden from the waving reeds</div> + <div class="verse indent6">I heard a plaintive and unwelcome sound</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Of bitter lamentation; o’er the meads</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Groans inarticulate were poured around:</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Beneath the rocky cave, dear scene of past delight,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Some Naiad thus bewails Pan’s hasty flight.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_207">[207]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Helen.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">II. 1.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Ye Grecian nymphs, whom those barbarians caught,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">And from your native land reluctant bore,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">The tidings which yon sailor brought</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Call forth these tears; for Ilion is no more,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">By him of Ida, that predicted flame</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Destroyed; through me, alas! have myriads bled,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">If not through me, through my detested name.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">By th’ ignominious noose is Leda dead</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Who my imaginary guilt deplored;</div> + <div class="verse indent6">And doomed by the relentless Fates in vain</div> + <div class="verse indent6">To tedious wanderings, my unhappy lord</div> + <div class="verse indent6">At length hath perished ’midst the billowy main:</div> + <div class="verse indent6">The twin protectors of their native land,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Castor and Pollux, from all human eyes</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Are vanished, they have left Eurotas’ strand,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">And fields, in playful strife where each young wrestler vies.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Chorus.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">II. 2.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">My royal mistress, your disastrous fate</div> + <div class="verse indent6">With many a groan and fruitless tear I mourn.</div> + <div class="verse indent10">I from that hour your sorrows date</div> + <div class="verse indent6">When amorous Jove on snowy pinions borne,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">In form a swan, by Leda was carest.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Is there an evil you have not endured?</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Your mother is no more, through you unblest</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Are Jove’s twin sons. Nor have your vows procured</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Of your dear country the enchanting sight.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">A rumour too through various realms hath spread,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Caught by the envious vulgar with delight,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Assigning you to the barbarian’s bed.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Amid the waves, far from the wished-for shore,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Your husband hath been buried in the main.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">You shall behold your native walls no more</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Nor under burnished roofs your wonted state maintain.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Helen.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">III.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">What Phrygian artist on the top of Ide,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Or vagrant of a Grecian line,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Felled that inauspicious pine,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">To frame the bark which Paris o’er the tide</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Dared with barbaric oars to guide,</div> + <div class="verse indent6"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_208">[208]</span>When to my palace, in an evil hour</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Caught by beauty’s magic power,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">He came to seize me for his bride?</div> + <div class="verse indent6">But crafty Venus, authoress of these broils,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Marched thither, leagued with death, t’ annoy</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Triumphant Greece and vanquished Troy,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">(Wretch that I am, consumed with endless toils!)</div> + <div class="verse indent6">And Juno seated on her golden throne,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Consort of thundering Jove,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Sent Hermes from the realms above,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Who found me, when I carelessly had strewn</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Leaves plucked from roses in my vest,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">As Minerva’s votary drest;</div> + <div class="verse indent10">He bore me through the paths of air</div> + <div class="verse indent10">To this loathed, this dreary land,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Called Greece, and Priam’s friends the strife to share,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">And roused to bloody deeds each rival band;</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Where Simois’ current glides, my name</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Hence is marked with groundless shame.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Your woes I know are grievous: but to bear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With tranquil mind the necessary ills</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of life, is most expedient.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi24">To what ills</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have I been subject, O my dear companions!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Did not my mother, as a prodigy</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which wondering mortals gaze at, bring me forth?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For neither Grecian nor barbaric dame</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Till then produced an egg, in which her children</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Enveloped lay, as they report, from Jove</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Leda engendered. My whole life and all</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That hath befallen me, but conspires to form</div> + <div class="verse indent0">One series of miraculous events;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To Juno some, and to my beauty some.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are owing. Would to Heaven, that, like a tablet</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whose picture is effaced, I could exchange</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This form for one less comely, since the Greeks</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Forgetting those abundant gifts showered down</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By prosperous Fortune which I now possess,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Think but of what redounds not to my honour,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And still remember my ideal shame.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whoever therefore, with one single species</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of misery is afflicted by the gods,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Although the weight of Heaven’s chastising hand</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Be grievous, may with fortitude endure</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such visitation: but by many woes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Am I oppressed, and first of all exposed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To slanderous tongues, although I ne’er have erred.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">It were a lesser evil e’en to sin</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Then be suspected falsely. Then the gods,</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_209">[209]</span>’Midst men of barbarous manners, placed me far</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From my loved country: torn from every friend,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I languish here, to servitude consigned</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Although of free born race: for ’midst barbarians</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are all enslaved but one, their haughty lord.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My fortunes had this single anchor left,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Perchance my husband might at length arrive</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To snatch me from my woes; but he, alas!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is now no more, my mother too is dead,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And I am deemed her murd’ress, though unjustly,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet am I branded with this foul reproach;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And she who was the glory of our house,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My daughter in the virgin state grown grey,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Still droops unwedded: my illustrious brothers,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Castor and Pollux, called the sons of Jove,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are now no more. But I impute my death,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Crushed as I am by all these various woes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Not to my own misdeeds, but to the power</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of adverse fortune only: this one danger</div> + <div class="verse indent0">There yet remains, if at my native land</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I should again arrive, they will confine me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In a close dungeon, thinking me that Helen</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who dwelt in Ilion, till she thence was borne</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By Menelaus. Were my husband living,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We might have known each other, by producing</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Those tokens to which none beside are privy:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But this will never be, nor can he e’er</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Return in safety. To what purpose then</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Do I still lengthen out this wretched being?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To what new fortunes am I still reserved?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall I select a husband, but to vary</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My present ills, to dwell beneath the roof</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of a barbarian, at luxurious boards</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With wealth abounding, seated? for the dame</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whom wedlock couples with the man she hates</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Death is the best expedient. But with glory</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How shall I die? the fatal noose appears</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To be so base, that e’en in slaves ’tis held</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Unseemly thus to perish; in the poniard</div> + <div class="verse indent0">There’s somewhat great and generous. But to me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Delays are useless: welcome instant death:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Into such depth of misery am I plunged.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For beauty renders other women blest,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But hath to me the source of ruin proved.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> O Helen, whosoe’er the stranger be</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who hither came, believe not that the whole</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of what he said, is truth.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi22">But in plain terms</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hath he announced my dearest husband’s death.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_210">[210]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> The false assertions which prevail, are many.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> Clear is the language in which honest Truth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Loves to express herself.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi20">You are inclined</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Rather to credit inauspicious tidings</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Than those which are more favourable.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi34">By fears</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Encompassed, am I hurried to despair.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> What hospitable treatment have you found</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beneath these roofs?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi16">All here, except the man</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who seeks to wed me, are my friends.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi32">You know</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">How then to act: leave this sepulchral gloom.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> What are the counsels, or the cheering words</div> + <div class="verse indent0">You wish to introduce?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi18">Go in, and question</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">The daughter of the Nereid, her who knows</div> + <div class="verse indent0">All hidden truths, Theonoe, if your lord</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet live, or view the solar beams no more:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And when you have learnt this, as suit your fortunes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Indulge your joys, or pour forth all your tears:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But ere you know aught fully, what avail</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your sorrows? therefore listen to my words;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Leaving this tomb, attend the maid: from her</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall you know all. But why should you look farther</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When truth is in these mansions to be found?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With you the doors I’ll enter; we together</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The royal virgin’s oracles will hear.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For ’tis a woman’s duty to exert</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Her utmost efforts in a woman’s cause.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> My friends, your wholesome counsels I approve:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But enter ye these doors, that ye, within</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The palace, my calamities may hear.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> You summon her who your commands obeys</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Without reluctance.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi16">Woeful day! ah me,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">What lamentable tidings shall I hear?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Forbear these plaintive strains, my dearest queen,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor with presaging soul anticipate</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Evils to come.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi10">What hath my wretched lord</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Endured? Doth he yet view the light, the sun</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Borne in his radiant chariot, and the paths</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of all the starry train? Or hath he shared</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The common lot of mortals, is he plunged</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Among the dead, beneath th’ insatiate grave?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> O construe what time yet may bring to pass</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In the most favourable terms.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_211">[211]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi26">On thee</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">I call to testify, and thee adjure,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Eurotas, on whose verdant margin grow</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The waving reeds: O tell me, if my lord</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Be dead, as fame avers.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi18">Why do you utter</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">These incoherent ditties?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi22">Round my neck</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">The deadly noose will I entwine, or drive</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With my own hand a poinard through my breast;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For I was erst the cause of bloody strife;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But now am I a victim, to appease</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The wrath of those three goddesses who strove</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On Ida’s mount, when ’midst the stalls where fed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His lowing herds, the son of Priam waked</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The sylvan reed, to celebrate my beauty.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Cause these averted ills, ye gods, to light</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On other heads; but, O my royal mistress,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">May you be happy.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi14">Thou, O wretched Troy,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">To crimes which thou hast ne’er committed, ow’st</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy ruin, and those horrible disasters</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou hast endured. For as my nuptial gifts,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hath Venus caused an intermingled stream</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of blood and tears to flow, she, griefs to griefs</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And tears to tears hath added; all these sufferings</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have been the miserable Ilion’s lot.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of their brave sons the mothers were bereft</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The virgin sisters of the mighty dead</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Strewed their shorn tresses on Scamander’s banks,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">While, by repeated shrieks, victorious Greece</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Her woes expressing, smote her laurelled head,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And with her nails deep furrowing tore her cheeks.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Happy Calisto, thou Arcadian nymph</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who didst ascend the couch of Jove, transformed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To a four-footed savage, far more blest</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Art thou than she to whom I owe my birth:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For thou beneath the semblance of a beast,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy tender limbs with shaggy hide o’erspread,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And glaring with stern visage, by that change</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Didst end thy griefs. She too whom Dian drove</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Indignant from her choir, that hind whose horns</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Were tipped with gold, the bright Titanian maid,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Daughter of Merops, to her beauty owed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That transformation: but my charms have ruined</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Both Troy and the unhappy Grecian host.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exeunt</i> <span class="smcap">Helen</span> <i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_212">[212]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Menelaus.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent2">O Pelops, in the strife on Pisa’s field,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who didst outstrip the fiery steeds that whirled</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The chariot of Oenomaus, would to Heaven</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That when thy severed limbs before the gods</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Were at the banquet placed, thou then thy life</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Amidst the blest immortal powers hadst closed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ere thou my father Atreus didst beget,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whose issue by his consort Ærope</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Were Agamemnon and myself, two chiefs</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of high renown. No ostentatious words</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are these; but such a numerous host, I deem,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As that which we to Ilion’s shore conveyed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ne’er stemmed the tide before; these troops their king</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Led not by force to combat, but bore rule</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O’er Grecian youths his voluntary subjects,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And among these, some heroes, now no more,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">May we enumerate; others from the sea</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who ’scaped with joy, and to their homes returned,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E’en after fame had classed them with the dead.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But I, most wretched, o’er the briny waves</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of ocean wander, since I have o’erthrown</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The battlements of Troy, and though I wish</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Again to reach my country; by the gods</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Am I esteemed unworthy of such bliss.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E’en to the Libyan deserts have I sailed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And traversed each inhospitable scene</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of brutal outrage; still as I approach</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My country, the tempestuous winds repel me,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor hath a prosperous breeze from Heaven yet filled</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My sails, to waft me to the Spartan coast:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And now a shipwrecked, miserable man,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Reft of my friends, I on these shores am cast,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My vessel hath been shivered ’gainst the rocks</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Into a thousand fragments: on the keel,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The only part which yet remains entire</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of all that fabric, scarce could I and Helen,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whom I from Troy have borne, escape with life</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Through fortunes unforeseen: but of this land</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And its inhabitants, the name I know not:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For with the crowd I blushed to intermingle</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lest they my squalid garments should observe,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Through shame my wants concealing. For the man</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of an exalted station, when assailed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By adverse fortune, having never learned</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How to endure calamity, is plunged</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Into a state far worse than he whose woes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have been of ancient date. But pinching need</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_213">[213]</span>Torments me: for I have not either food</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or raiment to protect my shivering frame,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which may be guessed from these vile rags I wear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Cast up from my wrecked vessel: for the sea</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hath swallowed up my robes, my tissued vests,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And every ensign of my former state.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Within the dark recesses of a cave</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Having concealed my wife, that guilty cause</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of all my woes, and my surviving friends</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Enjoined to guard her, hither am I come.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Alone, in quest of necessary aid</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For my brave comrades whom I there have left,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If by my search I haply can obtain it,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I roam; but when I viewed this house adorned</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With gilded pinnacles, and gates that speak</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The riches of their owner, I advanced:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For I have hopes that from this wealthy mansion</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I, somewhat for my sailors, shall obtain.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But they who want the necessary comforts</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of life, although they are disposed to aid us,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet have not wherewithal. Ho! who comes forth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From yonder gate, my doleful tale to bear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Into the house?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Female Servant</span>, <span class="smcap">Menelaus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Female Ser.</span> Who at the threshold stands?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wilt thou not hence depart, lest thy appearance</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Before these doors give umbrage to our lords?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Else shalt thou surely die, because thou cam’st</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From Greece, whose sons shall never hence return.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> Well hast thou spoken, O thou aged dame.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wilt thou permit me? For to thy behests</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Must I submit: but suffer me to speak.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Female Ser.</span> Depart: for ’tis my duty to permit</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No Greek to enter this imperial dome.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> Lift not thy hand against me, nor attempt</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To drive me hence by force.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Female Ser.</span> <span class="hemi16">Thou wilt not yield</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">To my advice, thou therefore art to blame.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> Carry my message to thy lords within.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Female Ser.</span> I fear lest somewhat dreadful might ensue,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Should I repeat your words.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi24">I hither come</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">A shipwrecked man, a stranger, one of those</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whom all hold sacred.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Female Ser.</span> <span class="hemi10">To some other house,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Instead of this, repair.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi20">I am determined</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">To enter: but comply with my request.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_214">[214]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Female Ser.</span> Be well assured thou art unwelcome here,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And shalt ere long by force be driven away.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> Alas! alas! where are my valiant troops?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Female Ser.</span> Elsewhere, perhaps, thou wert a mighty man;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But here art thou no longer such.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi30">O Fortune!</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">How am I galled with undeserved reproach!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Female Ser.</span> Why are those eyelids moist with tears, why griev’st thou?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> Because I once was happy.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Female Ser.</span> <span class="hemi20">Then depart,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">And mingle social tears with those thou lov’st.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> But what domain is this, to whom belong</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These royal mansions?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Female Ser.</span> <span class="hemi10">Proteus here resides;</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">This land is Egypt.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi16">Egypt? wretched me!</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ah, whither have I sailed!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Female Ser.</span> <span class="hemi16">But for what cause</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Scorn’st thou the race of Nile?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi28">I scorn them not:</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">My own disastrous fortunes I bewail.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Female Ser.</span> Many are wretched, thou in this respect</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Art nothing singular.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi18">Is he, the king</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou speak’st of, here within?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Female Ser.</span> <span class="hemi20">To him belongs</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">This tomb; his son is ruler of this land.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> But where is he: abroad, or in the palace?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Female Ser.</span> He’s not within; but to the Greeks he bears</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The greatest enmity.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi16">Whence rose this hate,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Productive of such bitter fruits to me?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Female Ser.</span> Beneath these roofs Jove’s daughter Helen dwells.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> What mean’st thou? Ha! what words with wonder fraught</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are these which thou hast uttered? O repeat them.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Female Ser.</span> The child of Tyndarus, she who in the realm</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Sparta erst abode.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi18">Whence came she hither?</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">How can this be?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Female Ser.</span> <span class="hemi6">From Lacedæmon’s realm.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> When? Hath my wife been torn from yonder cave?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Female Ser.</span> Before the Greeks, O stranger, went to Troy</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Retreat then from these mansions, for within</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hath happened a calamitous event,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By which the palace is disturbed. Thou com’st</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Unseasonably, and if the king surprise thee,</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_215">[215]</span>Instead of hospitable treatment, death</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Must be thy portion. To befriend the Greeks</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Though well inclined, yet thee have I received</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With these harsh words, because I fear the monarch.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exit</i> <span class="smcap">Female Servant</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> What shall I say? For I, alas! am told</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of present sorrows added to the past.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Come I not hither, after having borne</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From vanquished Troy my consort, whom I left</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Within yon cave well guarded? Yet here dwells</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Another Helen, whom that woman called</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Jove’s daughter. Lives there on the banks of Nile</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A man who bears the sacred name of Jove?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For in the heavens there’s only one. What country,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But that where glides Eurotas’ stream beset</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With waving reeds, is Sparta? Tyndarus’ name</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Suits him alone. But is there any land</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Synonymous with Lacedæmon’s realm,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And that of Troy? I know not how to solve</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This doubt; for there are many, it appears,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In various regions of the world, who bear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Like appellations; city corresponds</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With city; woman borrows that of woman;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor must we therefore wonder. Yet again</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Here will I stay, though danger be announced</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By yonder aged servant at the door:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For there is no man so devoid of pity</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As not to give me food, when he the name</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Menelaus hears. That dreadful fire</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By which the Phrygian bulwarks were consumed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is memorable, and I who kindled it</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Am known in every land. I’ll therefore wait</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Until the master of this house return.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But I have two expedients, and will practise</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That which my safety shall require; of soul</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Obdurate, if he prove, in my wrecked bark</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Can I conceal myself, but if the semblance</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which he puts on, be mild, I for relief</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From these my present miseries, will apply.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But this of all the woes that I endure</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is the most grievous, that from other kings</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I, though a king myself, should be reduced</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To beg my food: but thus hath Fate ordained.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor is it my assertion, but a maxim</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Among the wise established, that there’s nought</div> + <div class="verse indent0">More powerful than the dread behests of Fate.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_216">[216]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Helen</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>, <span class="smcap">Menelaus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> I heard what yon prophetic maid foretold,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Who in the palace did unfold</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The oracles; that to the shades profound</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Of Erebus, beneath the ground</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Interred, not yet hath Menelaus ta’en</div> + <div class="verse indent4">His passage: on the stormy main</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Still tossed, he cannot yet approach the strand,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">The haven of the Spartan land:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The chief, who now his vagrant life bewails,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Without a friend, unfurls his sails,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From Ilion’s realm to every distant shore</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Borne o’er the deep with luckless oar.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> I to this hallowed tomb again repair,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Now I have heard the grateful tidings uttered</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By sage Theonoe, who distinctly knows</div> + <div class="verse indent0">All that hath happened? for she says my lord</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is living, and yet views the solar beams:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But after passing o’er unnumbered straits</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of ocean, to a vagrant’s wretched life</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Full long inured, on these Ægyptian coasts,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When he his toils hath finished, shall arrive.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet there is one thing more, which she hath left</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Unmentioned, whether he shall come with safety.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This question I neglected to propose,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O’erjoyed when she informed me he yet lives;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">She also adds, that he is near the land,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From his wrecked ship, with his few friends, cast forth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O mayst thou come at length; for ever dear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To me wilt thou arrive. Ha! who is that?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Am not I caught, through some deceitful scheme</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Proteus’ impious son, in hidden snares?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Like a swift courser, or the madding priestess</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Bacchus, shall I not with hasty step</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Enter the tomb, because his looks are fierce</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who rushes on, and strives to overtake me?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> On thee I call, who to the yawning trench</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Around that tomb, and blazing altars hiest</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Precipitate. Stay: wherefore dost thou fly?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With what amazement doth thy presence strike</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And almost leave me speechless!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi28">O my friends,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">I suffer violence; for from the tomb</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I by this man am dragged, who to the king</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will give me, from whose nuptial couch I fled.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> We are no pirates, nor the ministers</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of lustful villany.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_217">[217]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi16">Yet is the vest</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">You wear unseemly.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi14">Stay thy rapid flight,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Dismiss thy fears.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi14">I stop, now I have reached</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">This hallowed spot.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi16">Say, woman, who thou art;</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">What face do I behold?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi18">But who are you?</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">For I by the same reasons am induced</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To ask this question.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi18">Never did I see</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">A greater likeness.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi16">O ye righteous gods!</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">For ’tis a privilege the gods alone</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Confer, to recognize our long-lost friends.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> Art thou a Grecian or a foreign dame?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> Of Greece: but earnestly I wish to know</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whence you derive your origin.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi26">In thee</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">A wonderful resemblance I discern</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Helen.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi6">Menelaus’ very features</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">These eyes in you behold, still at a loss</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Am I for words t’ express my thoughts.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi32">Full clearly</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hast thou discovered a most wretched man.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> O to thy consort’s arms at length restored!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> To what a consort? O forbear to touch</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My garment!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi8">E’en the same, whom to your arms,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">A noble bride, my father Tyndarus gave.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> Send forth, O Hecate, thou orb of light,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Some more benignant spectre.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi24">You in me</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Behold not one of those who minister</div> + <div class="verse indent0">At Hecate’s abhorred nocturnal rites.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> Nor am I sure the husband of two wives.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> Say, to whom else in wedlock are you joined?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> To her who lies concealed in yonder cave,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The prize I hither bring from vanquished Troy.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> You have no wife but me.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi26">If I retain</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">My reason yet, these eyes are sure deceived.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> Seem you not then, while me you thus behold,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To view your real consort?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi22">Though your person</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Resemble hers, no positive decision</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Can I presume to form.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_218">[218]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi18">Observe me well,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">And mark wherein we differ. Who can judge</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With greater certainty than you?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi28">Thou bear’st</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Her semblance, I confess.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi22">Who can inform you</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Better than your own eyes?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi22">What makes me doubt</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is this; because I have another wife.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> To the domains of Troy I never went:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">It was my image only.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi18">Who can fashion</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such bodies, with the power of sight endued?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> Composed of ether, you a consort have,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Heaven’s workmanship.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi18">Wrought by what plastic god?</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">For the events thou speak’st of are most wondrous.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> Lest Paris should obtain me, this exchange</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Was made by Juno.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi14">How couldst thou be here,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">At the same time, and in the Phrygian realm?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> The name, but not the body, can be present</div> + <div class="verse indent0">At once in many places.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi20">O release me;</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">For I came hither in an evil hour.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> Will you then leave me here, and bear away</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That shadow of a wife?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi18">Yet, O farewell,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Because thou art like Helen.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi24">I’m undone:</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">For though my husband I again have found,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet shall not I possess him.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi24">My conviction,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">From all those grievous toils I have endured</div> + <div class="verse indent0">At Ilion, I derive, and not from thee.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> Ah, who is there more miserable than I am?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My dearest friends desert me: I, to Greece,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To my dear native land, shall ne’er return.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Messenger</span>, <span class="smcap">Menelaus</span>, <span class="smcap">Helen</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Mes.</span> After a tedious search, O Menelaus,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">At length have I with difficulty found you,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But not till over all the wide extent</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of this barbaric region I had wandered;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sent by the comrades whom you left behind.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> Have ye been plundered then by the barbarians?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Mes.</span> A most miraculous event hath happened,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet less astonishing by far in name</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Than in reality.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_219">[219]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi12">Speak, for thou bring’st</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Important tidings by this breathless haste.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Mes.</span> My words are these: in vain have you endured</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Unnumbered toils.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi14">Those thou bewail’st are ills</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of ancient date. But what hast thou to tell me?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Mes.</span> Borne to the skies your consort from our sight</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hath vanished, in the heavens is she concealed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Leaving the cave in which we guarded her,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When she these words had uttered: “O ye sons</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of hapless Phrygia, and of Greece: for me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beside Scamander’s conscious stream ye died,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Through Juno’s arts, because ye falsely deemed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Helen by Phrygian Paris was possest:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But after having here remained on earth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My stated time, observing the decrees</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Fate, I to my sire the liquid ether</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Return: but Tyndarus’ miserable daughter,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Though guiltless, hath unjustly been accused.”</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Daughter of Leda hail! wert thou then here?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">While I as if thou to the starry paths</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hadst mounted, through my ignorance proclaimed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou from this world on rapid wings wert borne.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But I no longer will allow thee thus</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To sport with the afflictions of thy friends;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For in thy cause thy lord and his brave troops</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On Ilion’s coast already have endured</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Abundant toils.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi12">These are the very words</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">She uttered; and by what ye both aver</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The truth is ascertained. O happy day</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which gives thee to my arms!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi24">My dearest lord,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">O Menelaus, it is long indeed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Since I have seen you: but joy comes at last.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My friends, transported I receive my lord</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whom I once more with these fond arms enfold,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">After the radiant chariot of the sun</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hath oft the world illumined.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi26">I embrace</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thee too: but having now so much to say</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I know not with what subject to begin.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> Joy raises my exulting crest, these tears</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are tears of ecstasy, around your neck</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My arms I fling with transport, O my husband,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O sight most wished for!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi20">I acquit the Fates,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Since Jove’s and Leda’s daughter I possess,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On whom her brothers borne on milk-white steeds</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_220">[220]</span>Erst showered abundant blessings, when the torch</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Was kindled at our jocund nuptial rite;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Though from my palace her the gods conveyed.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But evil now converted into good</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To me thy husband hath at length restored</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My long-lost consort: grant, O bounteous Heaven,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That I these gifts of fortune may enjoy.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> May you enjoy them, for my vows concur</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With yours; nor, of us two, can one be wretched</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Without the other. O my friends, I groan</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No longer, I no longer shed the tear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For my past woes: my husband I possess</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whom I from Troy expected to return</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Full many, many years.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi18">I still am thine,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">And thee with these fond arms again enfold.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But oft the chariot of the sun revolved</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Through his diurnal orbit, ere the frauds</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Juno I discerned. Yet more from joy</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Than from affliction rise the tears I shed.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> What shall I say? what mortal could presume</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E’er to have hoped for such a blest event?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">An unexpected visitant once more</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I clasp you to my bosom.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi20">And I thee</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who didst appear to sail for Ida’s town,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And Ilion’s wretched turrets. By the gods,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Inform me, I conjure thee, by what means</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou from my palace hither wert conveyed.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> Alas! you to the source of all my woes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ascend, and search into most bitter tidings.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> Speak: for whate’er hath been ordained by Heaven</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ought to be published.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi18">I abhor the topic</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">On which I now am entering.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi24">Yet relate</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">All that thou know’st; for pleasing ’tis to hear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of labours that are past.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi22">I never went</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">To that barbarian youth’s adulterous couch</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By the swift oar impelled: but winged love</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Those hapless spousals formed.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi26">What god, what fate</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hath torn thee from thy country?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi28">O my lord,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">The son of Jove hath placed me on the banks</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Nile.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi6">With what amazement do I hear</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">This wondrous tale of thy celestial guide!</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_221">[221]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> Oft have I wept, and still the tear bedews</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These eyes: to Juno, wife of Jove, I owe</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My ruin.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi6">Wherefore wished she to have heaped</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Mischiefs on thee?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi14">Ye sources of whate’er</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">To me hath been most dreadful, O ye baths</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And fountains, where those goddesses adorned</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their rival beauties, from whose influence rose</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That judgment!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi10">Were those curses on thy head</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">By Juno showered, that judgment to requite?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> To rescue me from Venus.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi26">What thou mean’st</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Inform me.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi6">Who to Paris had engaged——</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> O wretched woman!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi18">Wretched, wretched me!</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thus did she waft me to th’ Egyptian coast.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> Then in thy stead to him that image gave,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As thou inform’st me.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi18">But alas! what woes</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thence visited our wretched house! ah mother!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ah me!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi4">What sayst thou?</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi20">Leda is no more.</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Around her neck she fixed the deadly noose</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On my account, through my unhappy nuptials</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O’erwhelmed with foul disgrace.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi28">Alas! But lives</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hermione our daughter?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi18">Yet unwedded,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet childless, O my husband, she bewails</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My miserable ’spousals, my disgrace.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> O Paris, who hast utterly o’erthrown</div> + <div class="verse indent0">All my devoted house, these curst events,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Both thee, and myriads of the Grecian troops</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With brazen arms refulgent, have destroyed.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> But from my country in an evil hour,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From my loved native city, and from you,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Me hath the goddess driven, a wretch accursed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In that I left our home, and bridal bed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which yet I left not, for those base espousals.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> If ye hereafter meet with happier fortune,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This may atone for all ye have endured</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Already.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Mes.</span> <span class="hemi6">To me too, O Menelaus,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Communicate a portion of that joy</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which I perceive, but know not whence it springs.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_222">[222]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> Thou too, old man, shalt in our conference share.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Mes.</span> Was not she then the cause of all the woes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Endured at Troy?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi12">Not she: we were deceived</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">By those immortal Powers, whose plastic hand</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Moulded a cloud into that baleful image.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Mes.</span> What words are these you utter? have we toiled</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In vain, and only for an empty cloud?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> These deeds were wrought by Juno, and the strife</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Twixt the three goddesses.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Mes.</span> <span class="hemi24">But is this woman</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Indeed your wife?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi14">E’en she: and thou for this</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">On my assertion safely mayst depend.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Mes.</span> My daughter, O how variable is Jove,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And how inscrutable! for he with ease</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whirls us around, now here, now there; one suffers</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Full many toils; another, who ne’er knew</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What sorrow was, is swallowed up at once</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In swift perdition, nor in Fortune’s gifts</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A firm and lasting tenure doth enjoy.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou and thy husband have endured a war,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of slander thou, but he of pointed spears:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For by the tedious labours he endured</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He nothing could obtain, but now obtains</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The greatest and the happiest of all boons,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which comes to him unsought. Thou hast not shamed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy aged father, and the sons of Jove,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor acted as malignant rumour speaks.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I now renew thy hymeneal rite,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And still am mindful of the torch I bore,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Running before the steeds, when in a car</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou with this favoured bridegroom wert conveyed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From thy paternal mansion’s happy gates.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For worthless is that servant who neglects</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His master’s interests, nor partakes their joys,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor feels for their afflictions. I was born</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Indeed a slave, yet I with generous slaves</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Would still be numbered, for although the name</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I bear is abject, yet my soul is free.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Far better this, than if I had at once</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Suffered two evils, a corrupted heart,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And vile subjection to another’s will.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> Courage, old man: for thou hast borne my shield,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And in my cause endured unnumbered toils,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sharing my dangers: now partake my joys;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Go tell the friends I left, what thou hast seen,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And our auspicious fortunes: on the shore</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_223">[223]</span>Bid them remain, till our expected conflict</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is finished; and observe how we may sail</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From this loathed coast; that, with our better fortune</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Conspiring, we, if possible, may ’scape</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From these barbarians.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Mes.</span> <span class="hemi18">Your commands, O king,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall be obeyed. But I perceive how vain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And how replete with falsehood is the voice</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of prophets: no dependence can be placed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Upon the flames that from the altar rise,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or on the voices of the feathered choir.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">It is the height of folly to suppose</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That birds are able to instruct mankind.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For Calchas, to the host, nor by his words</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor signs, declared, “I for a cloud behold</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My friends in battle slain.” The seer was mute,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And Troy in vain was taken. But perhaps</div> + <div class="verse indent0">You will rejoin, “’Twas not the will of Heaven</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That he should speak.” Why then do we consult</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These prophets? We by sacrifice should ask</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For blessings from the gods, and lay aside</div> + <div class="verse indent0">All auguries. This vain delusive bait</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Was but invented to beguile mankind.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No sluggard e’er grew rich by divination,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The best of seers are Prudence and Discernment.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exit</i> <span class="smcap">Messenger</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> My sentiments on prophets well accord</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With those of this old man. He whom the gods</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Th’ immortal gods befriend, in his own house</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hath a response that never can mislead.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> So be it. All thus far is well. But how</div> + <div class="verse indent0">You came with safety, O unhappy man,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From Troy, ’twill nought avail for me to know;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet with the sorrows of their friends, have friends</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A wish to be acquainted.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi20">Thou hast asked</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">A multitude of questions in one short</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And blended sentence. Why should I recount</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To thee our sufferings on the Ægean deep,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Those treacherous beacons, by the vengeful hand</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Nauplius kindled on Eubœa’s rocks,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The towns of Crete, or in the Libyan realm,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which I have visited, and the famed heights</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Perseus? never could my words assuage</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy curiosity, and, by repeating</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My woes to thee, I should but grieve the more,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And yet a second time those sufferings feel.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> You in your answer have been more discreet</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Than I who such a question did propose.</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_224">[224]</span>But pass o’er all beside, and only tell me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How long you wandered o’er the briny main.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> Year after year, besides the ten at Troy,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Seven tedious revolutions of the sun.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> The time you speak of, O unhappy man,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is long indeed: but from those dangers saved</div> + <div class="verse indent0">You hither come to bleed.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi22">What words are these?</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">What dost thou mean? O, how hast thou undone me!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> Fly from these regions with your utmost speed:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or he to whom this house belongs will slay you.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> What have I done that merits such a fate?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> You hither come an unexpected guest,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And are a hindrance to my bridal rite.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> Is there a man then who presumes to wed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My consort?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi8">And with arrogance to treat me,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which I, alas! have hitherto endured.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> Of private rank, in his own strength alone</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Doth he confide, or rules he o’er the land?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> Lord of this region, royal Proteus’ son.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> This is the very riddle which I heard</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From yonder female servant.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi24">At which gate</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of this barbarian palace did you stand?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> Here, whence I like a beggar was repelled.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> What, did you beg for food! ah wretched me!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> The fact was thus: though I that abject name</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Assumed not.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi8">You then know, it seems, the whole</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">About my nuptials.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi14">This I know: but whether</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou has escaped th’ embraces of the king</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I still am uninformed.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi18">That I have kept</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your bed still spotless, may you rest assured.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> How canst thou prove the fact? if thou speak truth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To me, it will give pleasure.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi26">Do you see,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Close to the tomb, my miserable seat?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> I on the ground behold a couch: but what</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hast thou to do with that, O wretched woman?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> Here I a suppliant bowed, that I might ’scape</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From those espousals.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi18">Couldst thou find no altar,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or dost thou follow the barbarian mode?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> Equally with the temples of the gods</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will this protect me.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_225">[225]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi18">Is not then my bark</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Allowed to waft thee to the Spartan shore?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> Rather the sword than Helen’s bridal bed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Awaits you.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi8">Thus should I of all mankind</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Be the most wretched.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi18">Let not shame prevent</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your ’scaping from this land.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi26">And leaving thee,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">For whom I laid the walls of Ilion waste?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> ’Twere better than to perish in the cause</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of me your consort.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi16">Such unmanly deeds</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">As these thou speak’st of would disgrace the chief</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who conquered Troy.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi16">You cannot slay the king,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which is perhaps the project you have formed.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> Hath he then such a body as no steel</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Can penetrate?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi10">My reasons you shall know.</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">But it becomes not a wise man t’ attempt</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What cannot be performed.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi22">Shall I submit</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">My hands in silence to the galling chain?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> You know not how to act in these dire straits</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To which we are reduced: but of some plot</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Must we avail ourselves.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi20">’Twere best to die</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">In some brave action than without a conflict.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> One only hope of safety yet remains.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> By gold can it be purchased, or depends it</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On dauntless courage, or persuasive words?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> Of your arrival if the monarch hear not.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> Who can inform him? he will never sure</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Know who I am.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi10">He hath a sure associate,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Within his palace, equal to the gods.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> Some voice which from its inmost chambers sounds?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> No: ’tis his sister, her they call Theonoe.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> She bears indeed a most prophetic name;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But say, what mighty deeds can she perform?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> All things she knows, and will inform her brother</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That you are here.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi14">We both, alas! must die,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor can I possibly conceal myself.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> Could our united supplications move her?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> To do what action? Into what vain hope</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wouldst thou mislead me?</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_226">[226]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi20">Not to tell her brother</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">That you are in the land.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi22">If we prevail</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thus far, can we escape from these domains?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> With ease, if she concur in our design,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But not without her knowledge.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi26">This depends</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">On thee: for woman best prevails with woman.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> Around her knees these suppliant hands I’ll twine.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> Go then; but what if she reject our prayer?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> You certainly must die; and I by force</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall to the king be wedded.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi24">Thou betray’st me;</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">That force thou talk’st of is but mere pretence.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> But by your head that sacred oath I swear.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> What sayst thou, wilt thou die, and never change</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy husband?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi8">By the self-same sword: my corse</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall lie beside you.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi18">To confirm the words</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which thou hast spoken, take my hand.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi34">I take</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your hand, and swear that after you are dead</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I will not live.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi12">And I will put an end</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">To my existence, if deprived of thee.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> But how shall we die so as to procure</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Immortal glory?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi12">Soon as on the tomb</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thee I have slain, myself will I destroy.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But first a mighty conflict shall decide</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Our claims who to thy bridal bed aspire.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Let him who dares, draw near: for the renown</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I won at Troy, I never will belie,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor yet returning to the Grecian shore</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Suffer unnumbered taunts for having reft</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thetis of her Achilles, and beheld</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ajax the Telamonian hero slain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With Neleus’ grandson, though I dare not bleed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To save my consort. Yet on thy behalf</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Without regret, will I surrender up</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This fleeting life: for if the gods are wise</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They lightly scatter dust upon the tomb.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of the brave man who by his foes is slain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But pile whole mountains on the coward’s breast.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> O may the race of Tantalus, ye gods,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">At length be prosperous, may their sorrows cease!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> Wretch that I am! for such is my hard fate:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O Menelaus, we are lost for ever.</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_227">[227]</span>The prophetess Theonoe, from the palace</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Comes forth: I hear the sounding gates unbarred.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Fly from this spot. But whither can you fly?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For your arrival here, full well she knows,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Absent, or present. How, O wretched me,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Am I undone! in safety you return</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From Troy, from a barbarian land, to rush</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Again upon the swords of fresh barbarians.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Theonoe</span>, <span class="smcap">Menelaus</span>, <span class="smcap">Helen</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theon.</span> [<i>to one of her Attendants</i>.]</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lead thou the way, sustaining in thy hand</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The kindled torch, and fan the ambient air,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Observing every due and solemn rite,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That we may breathe the purest gales of Heaven.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Meanwhile do thou, if any impious foot</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have marked the path, with lustral flames efface</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The taint, and wave the pitchy brand around,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That I may pass; and when we have performed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Our duteous homage to th’ immortal powers,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Into the palace let the flame be borne,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Restore it to the Lares. What opinion</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have you, O Helen, of th’ events foretold</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By my prophetic voice? Your husband comes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your Menelaus in this land appears,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Reft of his ships, and of your image reft.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Scaped from what dangers, O unhappy man,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Art thou arrived, although thou know’st not yet</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whether thou e’er shalt to thy home return,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or here remain. For there is strife in Heaven;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And Jove on thy account this day will hold</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A council; Juno who was erst thy foe,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Now grown benignant, with thy consort safe</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To Sparta would convey thee, that all Greece</div> + <div class="verse indent0">May understand that the fictitious nuptials</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Paris, were the baleful gift of Venus.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But Venus wants to frustrate thy return,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lest she should be convicted, or appear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">At least the palm of beauty to have purchased</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By vending Helen for a wife to Paris.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But this important question to decide,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On me depends; I either can destroy thee,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which is the wish of Venus, by informing</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My brother thou art here; or save thy life</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By taking Juno’s side, and thy arrival</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Concealing from my brother, who enjoined me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To inform him whensoe’er thou on these shores</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shouldst land. Who bears the tidings to my brother,</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_228">[228]</span>That Menelaus’ self is here, to save me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From his resentment?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi16">At thy knees I fall,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">O virgin, as a suppliant, and here take</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My miserable seat, both for myself,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And him whom, scarce restored to me, I see</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Now on the verge of death. Forbear t’ inform</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy brother, that to these fond arms my lord</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Again is come. O save him, I implore thee;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor gratify thy brother, by betraying</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The feelings of humanity, to purchase</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A wicked and unjust applause: for Jove</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Detests all violence, he bids us use</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What we possess, but not increase our stores</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By rapine. It is better to be poor,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Than gain unrighteous wealth. For all mankind</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Enjoy these common blessings, Air and Earth;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor ought we our own house with gold to fill,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By keeping fraudfully another’s right,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or seizing it by violence. For Hermes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Commissioned by the blest immortal powers,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hath, at my cost, consigned me to thy sire,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To keep me for this husband, who is here</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And claims me back again: but by what means</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Can he receive me after he is dead?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or how can the Ægyptian king restore me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A living consort to my breathless lord?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Consider therefore, both the will of Heaven</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And that of thy great father. Would the god,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Would the deceased, surrender up or keep</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Another’s right? I deem they would restore it.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hence to thy foolish brother shouldst not thou</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Pay more respect than to thy virtuous sire.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And sure if thou, a prophetess, who utter’st</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Th’ oracular responses of the gods,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Break’st through thy father’s justice, to comply</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With an unrighteous brother: it were base</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In thee to understand each mystic truth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Revealed by the immortal powers, the things</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That are, and those that are not; yet o’erlook</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The rules of justice. But O stoop to save</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Me, miserable me, from all those ills</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In which I am involved; this great exertion</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of thy benignant aid, my fortunes claim.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For there is no man who abhors not Helen;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Tis rumoured through all Greece that I betrayed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My husband, and abode beneath the roofs</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of wealthy Phrygia. But to Greece once more</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Should I return, and to the Spartan realm;</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_229">[229]</span>When they are told, and see, how to the arts</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of these contending goddesses they owe</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their ruin; but that I have to my friends</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Been ever true, they to the rank I held</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Midst chaste and virtuous matrons, will restore me:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My daughter too, whom no man dares to wed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From me her bridal portion shall receive;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And I, no longer doomed to lead the life</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of an unhappy vagrant, shall enjoy</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The treasures that our palaces contain.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Had Menelaus died, and been consumed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In the funereal pyre, I should have wept</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For him far distant in a foreign realm;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But now shall I for ever be bereft</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of him who lives, and seem to have escaped</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From every danger. Virgin, act not thus;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To thee I kneel a suppliant; O confer</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On me this boon, and emulate the justice</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of your great sire. For fair renown attends</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The children, from a virtuous father sprung,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who equal their hereditary worth.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theon.</span> Most piteous are the words which you have spoken;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">You also claim my pity: but I wish</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To hear what Menelaus yet can plead</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To save his life.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi14">I cannot at your knees</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Fall prostrate, or with tears these eyelids stain:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For I should cover all the great exploits</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which I achieved at Ilion with disgrace,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If I became a dastard; though some hold</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Tis not unworthy of the brave to weep</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When wretched. But this honourable part</div> + <div class="verse indent0">(If such a part can e’er be honourable)</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I will not act, because the prosperous fortunes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which erst were mine, are present to my soul.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If then you haply are disposed to save</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A foreigner who justly claims his wife,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Restore her, and protect us: if you spurn</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Our suit, I am not now for the first time,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But have been often wretched, and your name</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall be recorded as an impious woman.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These thoughts, which I hold worthy of myself,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And just, and such as greatly must affect</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your inmost heart, I at your father’s tomb</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With energy will utter. Good old man,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beneath this marble sepulchre who dwell’st,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To thee I sue, restore my wife, whom Jove</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sent hither to thy realm, that thou for me</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_230">[230]</span>Might’st guard her. Thou, I know, since thou art dead,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Canst ne’er have power to give her back again:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But she, this holy priestess, will not suffer</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Reproach to fall on her illustrious sire,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whom I invoke amid the shades beneath:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For this depends on her. Thee too I call,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O Pluto, to my aid, who hast received</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Full many a corse, which fell in Helen’s cause</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beneath my sword, and still retain’st the prize:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Either restore them now to life, or force</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Her who seems mightier than her pious father,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To give me back my wife. But of my consort</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If ye resolve to rob me, I will urge</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Those arguments which Helen hath omitted.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Know then, O virgin, first I by an oath</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have bound myself, your brother to encounter,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And he, or I, must perish; the plain truth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is this. But foot to foot in equal combat.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If he refuse to meet me, and attempt</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To drive us suppliants from the tomb by famine,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My consort will I slay, and with the sword</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Here on this sepulchre my bosom pierce,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That the warm current of our blood may stream</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Into the grave. Thus shall our corses lie</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Close to each other on this polished marble:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To you eternal sorrow shall they cause,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And foul reproach to your great father’s name.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For neither shall your brother wed my Helen,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor any man beside: for I with me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will bear her; if I cannot bear her home,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet will I bear her to the shades beneath.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But why complain? If I shed tears, and act</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The woman’s part, I rather shall become</div> + <div class="verse indent0">An object of compassion, than deserve</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To be esteemed a warrior. If you list,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Slay me, for I can never fall inglorious.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But rather yield due credence to my words,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">So will you act with justice, and my wife</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall I recover.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi12">To decide the cause</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">On which we speak, belongs to thee, O virgin:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But so decide as to please all.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theon.</span> <span class="hemi26">By nature</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">And inclination am I formed to act</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With piety, myself too I revere:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor will I e’er pollute my sire’s renown,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or gratify my brother by such means</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As might make me seem base. For from my birth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hath justice in this bosom fixed her shrine:</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_231">[231]</span>And since from Nereus I inherited</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This temper, Menelaus will I strive</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To save. But now since Juno is disposed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To be your friend, with her will I accord:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">May Venus be propitious, though her rites</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I never have partaken, and will strive</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For ever to remain a spotless maid.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But I concur with thee, O Menelaus,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In all thou to my father at his tomb</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hast said: for with injustice should I act</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If I restored not Helen: had he lived,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My sire on thee again would have bestowed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy consort, and her former lord on Helen.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For vengeance, in the shades of Hell beneath,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And among all that breathe the vital air,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Attends on those who break their plighted trust.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The soul of the deceased, although it live</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Indeed no longer, yet doth still retain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A consciousness which lasts for ever, lodged</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In the eternal scene of its abode,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The liquid ether. To express myself</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Concisely, all that you requested me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will I conceal, nor with my counsels aid</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My brother’s folly; I to him shall show</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A real friendship, though without the semblance,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If I his vicious manners can reform</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And make him more religious. Therefore find</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Means to escape yourselves; for I will hence</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Depart in silence. First implore the gods;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To Venus sue, that she your safe return</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Would suffer; and to Juno, not to change</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The scheme which she hath formed, both to preserve</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your lord and you. O my departed sire,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For thee will I exert my utmost might,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That on thy honoured name no foul reproach</div> + <div class="verse indent0">May ever rest.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exit</i> <span class="smcap">Theonoe</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi10">No impious man e’er prospered:</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">But fairest hopes attend an honest cause.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> O Menelaus, as to what depends</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Upon the royal maid, are we secure:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But next doth it become you to propose</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Some means our safety to effect.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi28">Now listen</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">To me; thou in this palace long hast dwelt,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">An inmate with the servants of the king.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> Why speak you thus? for you raise hopes, as though</div> + <div class="verse indent0">You could do somewhat for our common good.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> Canst thou prevail on any one of those</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_232">[232]</span>Who guide the harnessed steeds, to furnish us</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With a swift car?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi14">Perhaps I might succeed</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">In that attempt. But how shall we escape</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who to these fields and this barbarian land</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are strangers? An impracticable thing</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is this you speak of.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi18">Well, but in the palace</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Concealed, if with this sword the king I slay.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> His sister will not suffer this in silence</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If you attempt aught ’gainst her brother’s life.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> We have no ship in which we can escape;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For that which we brought hither, by the waves</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is swallowed up.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi12">Now hear what I propose;</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">From woman’s lips if wisdom ever flow.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will you permit a rumour of your death</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To be dispersed?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi12">This were an evil omen:</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">But I, if any benefit arise</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From such report, consent to be called dead</div> + <div class="verse indent0">While I yet live.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi14">That impious tyrant’s pity</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Our female choir shall move, with tresses shorn,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And chaunt funereal strains.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi24">What tendency</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Can such a project have to our deliverance?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> I will allege that ’tis an ancient custom;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And of the monarch his permission crave,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That I on you, as if you in the sea</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Had perished, may bestow a vacant tomb.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> If he consent, how can this feigned interment</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Enable us to fly without a ship?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> I will command a bark to be prepared,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From whence into the bosom of the deep</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Funereal trappings I may cast.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi26">How well</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">And wisely hast thou spoken! but the tomb</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If he direct thee on the strand to raise,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nought can this scheme avail.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi26">But I will say</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Tis not the usage, in a Grecian realm,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With earth to cover the remains of those</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who perished in the waves.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi22">Thou hast again</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Removed this obstacle: I then with thee</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will sail, and the funereal trappings place</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In the same vessel.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi16">’Tis of great importance</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_233">[233]</span>That you, and all those mariners who ’scaped</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The shipwreck, should be present.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi30">If we find</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">A bark at anchor, with our falchions armed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In one collected band will we assail</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And board it.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi10">To direct all this, belongs</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">To you; but may the prosperous breezes fill</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Our sails, and guide us o’er the billowy deep.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> These vows shall be accomplished; for the gods</div> + <div class="verse indent0">At length will cause my toils to cease: but whence</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wilt thou pretend thou heard’st that I was dead?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> Yourself shall be the messenger; relate</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How you alone escaped his piteous doom,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A partner of the voyage with the son</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Atreus, and the witness of his death.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> This tattered vest will testify my shipwreck.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> How seasonable was that which seemed at first</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To be a grievous loss! but the misfortune</div> + <div class="verse indent0">May end perhaps in bliss.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi22">Must I with thee</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Enter the palace, or before this tomb</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sit motionless?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi12">Here stay: for if the king</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">By force should strive to tear you hence, this tomb</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And your drawn sword will save you. But I’ll go</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To my apartment, shear my flowing hair,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For sable weeds this snowy vest exchange,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And rend with bloody nails these livid cheeks:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For ’tis a mighty conflict, and I see</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These two alternatives: if in my plots</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Detected, I must die; or to my country</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I shall return, and save your life. O Juno,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou sacred queen, who shar’st the couch of Jove,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Relieve two wretches from their toils; to thee</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Our suppliant arms uplifting high t’wards Heaven</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With glittering stars adorned, thy blest abode,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We sue: and thou, O Venus, who didst gain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The palm of beauty through my promised ’spousals,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Spare me, thou daughter of Dione, spare;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For thou enough hast injured me already;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Exposing not my person, but my name,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To those barbarians; suffer me to die,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If thou wilt slay me, in my native land.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Why art thou still insatiably malignant?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Why dost thou harass me by love, by fraud,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By the invention of these new deceits,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And by thy magic philtres plunge in blood</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Our miserable house? If thou hadst ruled</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_234">[234]</span>With mildness, thou to man hadst been most grateful</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of all the gods. I speak not this at random.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<span class="smcap">Helen</span> <i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Menelaus</span> <i>retire behind the tomb</i>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Chorus.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center allsmcap">ODE.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">I. 1.</div> + <div class="verse indent10">On thee who build’st thy tuneful seat</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Protected by the leafy groves, I call,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">O nightingale, thy accents ever sweet</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Their murmuring melancholy fall</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Prolong! O come, and with thy plaintive strain</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Aid me to utter my distress,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Thy woes, O Helen, let the song express,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">And those of Troy now levelled with the plain</div> + <div class="verse indent6">By Grecian might. From hospitable shores,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Relying on barbaric oars,</div> + <div class="verse indent12">The spoiler Paris fled,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">And o’er the deep to Priam’s realm with pride</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Bore his imaginary bride,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Fancying that thou hadst graced his bed,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">To nuptials fraught with shame by wanton Venus led.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">I. 2.</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Unnumbered Greeks, transpierced with spears,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Or crushed beneath the falling ramparts, bled:</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Hence with her tresses shorn, immersed in tears</div> + <div class="verse indent10">The matron wails her lonely bed,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">But Nauplius, kindling near th’ Eubœan deep</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Those torches, o’er our host prevailed;</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Though with a single bark the traitor sailed,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">He wrecked whole fleets against Caphareus’ steep,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">And the Ægean coasts, the beacon seemed</div> + <div class="verse indent10">A star, and through Heaven’s conclave gleamed,</div> + <div class="verse indent12">Placed on the craggy height.</div> + <div class="verse indent4">While flushed with conquest, from the Phrygian strand</div> + <div class="verse indent10">They hastened to their native land,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Portentous source of bloody fight,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">The cloud by Juno formed, beguiled their dazzled sight.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">II. 1.</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Whether the image was divine,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Drew from terrestrial particles its birth,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Or from the middle region, how define</div> + <div class="verse indent10">By curious search, ye sons of earth?</div> + <div class="verse indent4"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_235">[235]</span>Far from unravelling Heaven’s abstruse intents,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">We view the world tost to and fro,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Mark strange vicissitudes of joy and woe,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Discordant and miraculous events.</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Thou, Helen, art indeed the child of Jove.</div> + <div class="verse indent10">The swan, thy sire, inflamed by love,</div> + <div class="verse indent12">To Leda’s bosom flew:</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Yet with imputed crimes malignant fame</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Through Greece arraigns thy slandered name.</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Of men I know not whom to trust,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">But what the gods pronounce have I found ever just.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">II. 2.</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Frantic are ye who seek renown</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Amid the horrors of th’ embattled field,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Who masking guilt beneath a laurel crown</div> + <div class="verse indent10">With nervous arm the falchion wield,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Not slaughtered thousands can your fury sate.</div> + <div class="verse indent10">If still success the judgment guide,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">If bloody battle right and wrong decide,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Incessant strife must vex each rival state:</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Hence from her home departs each Phrygian wife,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">O Helen, when the cruel strife</div> + <div class="verse indent12">Which from thy charms arose,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">One conference might have closed: now myriads dwell</div> + <div class="verse indent10">With Pluto in the shades of Hell,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">And flames, as when Jove’s vengeance throws</div> + <div class="verse indent4">The bolt, have caught her towers and finished Ilion’s woes.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Theoclymenus</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span> (<span class="smcap">Helen</span> <i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Menelaus</span> + <i>behind the tomb</i>).</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> Hail, O thou tomb of my illustrious sire!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For thee have I interred before my gate,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That with thy shade I might hold frequent conference,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O Proteus; Theoclymenus thy son</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thee, O my father, oft as he goes forth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Oft as he enters these abodes, accosts.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But to the palace now convey those hounds</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And nets, my servants. I full many a time</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have blamed myself, because I never punished</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With death such miscreants; now I am informed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That publicly some Greek to these domains</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is come unnoticed by my guards, a spy,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or one who means to carry Helen off</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By stealth: but if I seize him, he shall die.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Methinks I find all over: for the daughter</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Tyndarus sits no longer at the tomb,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But from these shores hath fled, and now is crossing</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_236">[236]</span>The billowy deep. Unbar the gates, bring forth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My coursers from the stalls, and brazen cars;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lest through my want of vigilance the dame</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whom I would make my consort, should escape me,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Borne from this land. Yet stay; for I behold</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Those we pursue still here beneath this roof,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor are they fled. Ho! why in sable vest</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hast thou arrayed thyself, why cast aside</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy robes of white, and from thy graceful head</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With ruthless steel thy glowing ringlets shorn,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And wherefore bathed thy cheek with recent tears?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Groan’st thou, by visions of the night apprized</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of some calamity, or hast thou heard</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Within, a rumour that afflicts thy soul?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> My lord (for I already by that name</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Accost you), I am utterly undone,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My former bliss is vanished, and I now</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Am nothing.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> <span class="hemi6">Art thou plunged into distress</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">So irretrievable? what cruel fate</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hath overtaken thee?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi16">My Menelaus,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">(Ah, how shall I express myself?) is dead.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> Although I must not triumph in th’ event</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou speak’st of, yet to me ’tis most auspicious.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How know’st thou? Did Theonoe tell thee this?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> She and this mariner, who when he perished</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Was present, both concur in the same tale.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> Is there a man arrived, who for the truth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of that account can vouch?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi22">He is arrived:</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">And would to Heaven that such auspicious fortune</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As I could wish attended him.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> <span class="hemi24">Who is he?</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where is he? I would know the real fact.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> ’Tis he who stupefied with sorrow sits</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Upon the tomb.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> <span class="hemi8">In what unseemly garb</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is he arrayed, O Phœbus!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi20">In that dress,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ah me! methinks my husband I behold.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> But in what country was the stranger born,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And whence did he come hither?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi26">He’s a Greek,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">One of those Greeks who with my husband sailed.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> How doth he say that Menelaus died?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> Most wretchedly, engulfed amid the waves.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> Where? as he passed o’er the barbarian seas?</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_237">[237]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> Dashed on the rocks of Libya, which affords</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No haven.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> <span class="hemi4">But whence happened it, that he</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">This partner of his voyage did not perish?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> The worthless are more prosperous than the brave.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> Where left he the wrecked fragments of his ship</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When he came hither?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi16">There, where would to Heaven</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Perdition had o’ertaken him, and spared</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The life of Menelaus.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> <span class="hemi16">He, it seems,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is then no more: but in what bark arrived</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This messenger?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi12">Some sailors, as he says,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">By chance passed by, and snatched him from the waves.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> But where’s that hateful pest which in thy stead</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Was sent to Ilion?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi14">Speak you of a cloud,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Resembling me? it mounted to the skies.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> O Priam, for how frivolous a cause</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou with thy Troy didst perish!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi28">In their woes</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">I too have been involved.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> <span class="hemi20">But did he leave</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy husband’s corse unburied, or strew dust</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O’er his remains?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi14">He left them uninterred,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ah, wretched me!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> <span class="hemi10">And didst thou for this cause</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sever the ringlets of thy auburn hair?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> Still is he dear, lodged in this faithful breast</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> Hast thou sufficient reason then to weep</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For this calamity?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi14">Could you bear lightly</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your sister’s death?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> <span class="hemi14">No surely. But what means</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy still residing at this marble tomb?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> Why do you harass me with taunting words,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And why disturb the dead?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> <span class="hemi20">Because, still constant</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">To thy first husband, from my love thou fliest.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> But I will fly no longer: haste, begin</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The nuptial rite.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> <span class="hemi12">’Twas long ere thou didst come</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">To this: but I such conduct must applaud.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> Know you then how to act? let us forget</div> + <div class="verse indent0">All that has passed.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> <span class="hemi14">Upon what terms? with kindness</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Should kindness be repaid.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_238">[238]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi22">Let us conclude</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">The peace, and O be reconciled.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> <span class="hemi26">All strife</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">With thee I to the winds of heaven consign.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> Now, since you are my friend, I by those knees</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Conjure you.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> <span class="hemi6">With what object in thy view,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">To me an earnest suppliant dost thou bend?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> I my departed husband would inter.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> What tomb can be bestowed upon the absent</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wouldst thou inter his shade?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi26">There is a custom</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Among the Greeks established, that the man</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who in the ocean perishes——</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> <span class="hemi24">What is it?</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">For in such matters Pelops’ race are wise.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> To bury in their stead an empty vest.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> Perform funereal rites, and heap the tomb</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On any ground thou wilt.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi20">We in this fashion</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bury not the drowned mariner.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> <span class="hemi24">How then?</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">I am a stranger to the Grecian customs.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> Each pious gift due to our breathless friends</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We cast into the sea.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> <span class="hemi16">On the deceased</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">What presents for thy sake can I bestow?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> I know not: for in offices like these</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Am I unpractised, having erst been happy.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> An acceptable message have you brought,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O stranger.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi8">Most ungrateful to myself</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">And the deceased.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> <span class="hemi12">What funereal rites on those</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ocean hath swallowed up, do ye bestow?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> Such honours as each individual’s wealth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Enables us to pay him.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> <span class="hemi16">Name the cost,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">And for her sake receive whate’er you will.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> Blood is our first libation to the dead.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> What blood? inform me, for with your instructions</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I will comply.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi10">Determine that thyself,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">For whatsoe’er thou giv’st will be sufficient.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> The customary victims ’mong barbarians</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are either horse or bull.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi22">Whate’er thou giv’st,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Let it be somewhat princely.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_239">[239]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> <span class="hemi22">My rich herds</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">With these are amply furnished.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi28">And the bier</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Without the corse is borne in solemn state.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> It shall: but what is there beside which custom</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Requires to grace the funeral.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi26">Brazen arms:</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">For war was what he loved.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> <span class="hemi20">We will bestow</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such presents as are worthy of the race</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of mighty Pelops.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi14">And those budding flowers</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Th’ exuberant soil produces.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> <span class="hemi22">But say, how</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">And in what manner ye these offerings plunge</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Into the ocean.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi12">We must have a bark</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">And mariners to ply the oars.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> <span class="hemi24">How far</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will they launch forth the vessel from the strand?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> So far as from the shore thou scarce wilt see</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The keel divide the waves.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> <span class="hemi20">But why doth Greece</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Observe this usage?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi16">’Lest the rising billows</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Cast back to land th’ ablutions.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> <span class="hemi26">Ye shall have</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">A swift Phœnician vessel.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi22">This were kind,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">And no small favour shown to Menelaus.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> Without her presence, cannot you perform</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These rites alone?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi14">Such task or to a mother,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or wife, or child, belongs.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> <span class="hemi22">’Tis then her duty,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">You say, to bury her departed lord?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> Sure, piety instructs us not to rob</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The dead of their accustomed dues.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> <span class="hemi28">Enough:</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">On me it is incumbent to promote</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such virtue in my consort. I will enter</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The palace, and from thence for the deceased</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bring forth rich ornaments; with empty hands</div> + <div class="verse indent0">You from this region will not I send forth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That you may execute what she desires.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But having brought me acceptable tidings,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Instead of these vile weeds shall you receive</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A decent garb and food, that to your country</div> + <div class="verse indent0">You may return: for clearly I perceive</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_240">[240]</span>That you are wretched now. But torture not</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy bosom with unprofitable cares,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O hapless woman, for thy Menelaus</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is now no more, nor can the dead revive.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> Thee it behoves, O blooming dame, to love</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy present husband, and to lay aside</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The fond remembrance of thy breathless lord;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For such behaviour suits thy fortunes best.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But if to Greece with safety I return,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That infamy which erst pursued thy name</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I’ll cause to cease, if thou acquit thyself</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of these great duties like a virtuous consort.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> I will; nor shall my husband e’er have cause</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To blame me: you too, who are here, shall witness</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The truth of my assertions. But within</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Go lave your wearied limbs, O wretched man,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And change your habit; for without delay</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To you will I become a benefactress.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hence too with greater zeal will you perform</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The rites my dearest Menelaus claims,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If all due honours you from me receive.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exeunt</i> <span class="smcap">Theoclymenus</span>, <span class="smcap">Helen</span>, <i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Menelaus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Chorus.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center allsmcap">ODE.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">I. 1.</div> + <div class="verse indent10">O’er mountains erst with hasty tread</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Did the celestial mother stray,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Nor stop where branching thickets spread,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Where rapid torrents crossed her way,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Or on the margin of the billowy deep;</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Her daughter whom we dread to name</div> + <div class="verse indent4">She wept, while hailing that majestic dame,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Cymbals of Bacchus from the craggy steep</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Sent forth their clear and piercing sound,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Her car the harnessed dragons drew;</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Following the nymph torn from her virgin crew.</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Amidst her maidens swift of foot were found</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Diana skilled the bow to wield,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Minerva, who in glittering state</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Brandished the spear and raised her Gorgon shield;</div> + <div class="verse indent4">But Jove looked down from Heaven t’ award another fate.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">I. 2.</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Soon as the mother’s toils were o’er,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">When she had finished her career,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">And sought the ravished maid no more,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">To caves where drifted snows appear,</div> + <div class="verse indent6"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_241">[241]</span>By Ida’s nymphs frequented, did she pass,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">And threw herself in sorrow lost,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">On rocks and herbage crusted o’er with frost,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Despoiled the wasted champaign of its grass,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Rendered the peasant’s tillage vain,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Consuming a dispeopled land</div> + <div class="verse indent6">With meagre famine; Spring at her command</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Denied the flocks that sickened on the plain</div> + <div class="verse indent10">The leafy tendrils of the vine;</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Whole cities died, no victims bled,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">No frankincense perfumed Heaven’s vacant shrine;</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Nor burst the current from the Spring’s obstructed head.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">II. 1.</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Then ceased the banquet, wont to charm</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Both gods above and men below:</div> + <div class="verse indent10">The mother’s anger to disarm,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">And mitigate the stings of woe,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Till in these words Jove uttered his behests:</div> + <div class="verse indent10">“Let each benignant grace attend</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Sweet music’s sympathizing aid to lend,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">And drive corrosive grief from Ceres’ breast</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Indignant for her ravished child:</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Now, O ye Muses, with the lyre</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Join the shrill hymns of your assembled choir,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">The brazen trumpet fill with accents wild,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">And beat the rattling drums amain.”</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Then first of the immortal band,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Venus with lovely smile approved the strain,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">And raised the deep-toned flute in her enchanting hand.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">II. 2.</div> + <div class="verse indent10">The laws reproved such foul desire,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Yet ’gainst religion didst thou wed;</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Thy uncle caught love’s baleful fire,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">And rushed to thy incestuous bed.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Thee shall the mighty mother’s wrath confound,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Because, through thee, before her shrine</div> + <div class="verse indent6">No victims slain appease the powers divine.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Great virtue have hinds’ hides, and ivy wound</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Upon a consecrated rod;</div> + <div class="verse indent10">And youths, with virgins in a ring,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">When high from earth with matchless force they spring,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Loose streams their hair, they celebrate that god</div> + <div class="verse indent10">The Bacchanalian votaries own,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">And waste in dance the sleepless night.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">But thou, confiding in thy charms alone,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Forgett’st the moon that shines with more transcendent light.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_242">[242]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Helen</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> Within the palace, O my friends, we prosper</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For Proteus’ royal daughter, in our schemes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Conspiring when her brother questioned her</div> + <div class="verse indent0">About my lord, no information gave</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of his arrival: to my interests true</div> + <div class="verse indent0">She said, that cold in death he views no longer</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The radiant sun. But now my lord hath seized</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A vengeful falchion, in that mail designed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To have been plunged beneath the deep arrayed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With nervous arm he lifts an orbed shield,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In his right hand protended gleams the spear,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As if with me he was prepared to pay</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To the deceased due homage. Furnished thus</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With brazen arms, he’s ready for the battle,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And numberless barbarians will subdue</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Unaided, soon as we the ship ascend.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Exchanging those unseemly weeds which clothe</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The shipwrecked mariner, in splendid robes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have I arrayed him, from transparent springs</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The laver filled, and bathed his wearied limbs</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But I must now be silent, for the man</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who fancies I am ready to become</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His consort, leaves the palace. O my friends,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In your attachment too I place my trust,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Restrain your tongues, for we, when saved ourselves,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If possible will save you from this thraldom.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Theoclymenus</span>, <span class="smcap">Helen</span>, <span class="smcap">Menelaus</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> Go forth, in such procession as the stranger</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Directs you, O my servants, and convey</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These gifts funereal to the briny deep.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But if thou disapprove not what I say,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Do thou, O Helen, yield to my persuasions,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And here remain. For whether thou attend,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or art not present at the obsequies</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of thy departed husband, thou to him</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wilt show an equal reverence. Much I dread</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lest hurried on by wild desire thou plunge</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Into the foaming billows, for the sake</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of him on whom thou doat’st, thy former lord,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Since thou his doom immoderately bewail’st</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Though he be lost, and never can return.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> O my illustrious husband, I am bound</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To pay due honours to the man whom first</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I wedded, of our ancient nuptial joys</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A memory still retaining, for so well</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I loved my lord that I could even die</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_243">[243]</span>With him. But what advantage would result</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To the deceased, should I lay down my life?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet let me go myself, and to his shade</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Perform each solemn rite. But may the gods,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On you, and on the stranger who assists me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In this my pious task, with liberal hand</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Confer the gifts I wish. But you in me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall such a consort to your palace bear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As you deserve, to recompense your kindness</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To me and Menelaus. Such events</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In some degree are measured by the will</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Fortune: but give orders for a ship</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To be prepared, these trappings to convey,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">So shall your purposed bounty be complete.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> [<i>to one of his Attendants.</i>]</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Go thou, and furnish them a Tyrian bark</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of fifty oars, with skilful sailors manned.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> But may not he who decorates the tomb</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Govern the ship?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> <span class="hemi10">My sailors must to him</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yield an implicit deference.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi24">This injunction</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Repeat, that they may clearly understand it.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> A second time, will I, and yet a third,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Issue this self-same mandate, if to thee</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This can give pleasure.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi20">May the gods confer</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Blessings on you, and prosper my designs!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theo.</span> Waste not thy bloom with unavailing tears.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> To you this day my gratitude will prove.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> All these attentions to the dead are nought</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But unavailing toil.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi16">My pious care</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Not to those only whom the silent grave</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Contains, but to the living too extends.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> In me thou mayst expect to find a husband</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who yields not to the Spartan Menelaus.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> I censure not your conduct, but bewail</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My own harsh destiny.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> <span class="hemi16">Bestow thy love</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">On me, and prosperous fortunes shall return.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> It is a lesson I have practised long,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To love my friends.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> <span class="hemi14">Shall I my navy launch,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">To join in these funereal rites?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hel.</span> <span class="hemi28">Dread lord,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Pay not unseemly homage to your vassals.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> Well! I each sacred usage will allow</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Practised by Pelops’ race, for my abodes</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_244">[244]</span>Are undefiled with blood: thy Menelaus</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In Ægypt died not. But let some one haste</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And bid the nobles bear into my house</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The bridal gifts: for the whole earth is bound</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To celebrate in one consenting hymn</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My blest espousals with the lovely Helen.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But go, embark upon the briny main,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O stranger, and as soon as ye have paid</div> + <div class="verse indent0">All decent homage to her former lord</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bring back my consort hither: that with me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When you have feasted at our nuptial rite</div> + <div class="verse indent0">You to your native mansion may return,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or here continue in a happy state.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exit</i> <span class="smcap">Theoclymenus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> O Jove, thou mighty father, who art called</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A god supreme in wisdom, from thy heaven</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Look down, and save us from our woes: delay not</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To aid us: for we drag the galling yoke</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of sorrow and mischance: if with thy finger</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou do but touch us, we shall soon attain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The fortune which we wish for, since the toils</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We have endured already are sufficient.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ye gods, I now invoke you, from my mouth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">So shall ye hear full many joyful accents</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Mixed with these bitter plaints: for I deserve not</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To be for ever wretched; but to tread</div> + <div class="verse indent0">At length secure. O grant me this one favour,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And make my future life completely blest.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exeunt</i> <span class="smcap">Menelaus</span> <i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Helen</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Chorus.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center allsmcap">ODE.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">I. 1.</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Swift bark of Sidon, by whose dashing oars</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Divided oft, the frothy billows rise,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Propitious be thy voyage from these shores:</div> + <div class="verse indent8">In thy train the dolphins play,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">O’er the deep thou lead’st the way,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">While motionless its placid surface lies.</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Soon as Serenity the fair,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">That azure daughter of the main,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Shall in this animating strain</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Have spoken: “To the gentle breeze of air</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Expand each undulating sail,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Row briskly on before the gale,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Ye mariners, in Perseus’ ancient seat</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Till Helen rest her wearied feet.”</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_245">[245]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">I. 2.</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Those sacred nymphs shall welcome thy return</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Who guard the portals of Minerva’s fane</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Or speed the current from its murmuring urn:</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Choral dances of delight</div> + <div class="verse indent8">That prolong the jocund night,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">At Hyacinthus’ banquet shalt thou join,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Fair stripling, whom with luckless hand</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Unwitting did Apollo slay</div> + <div class="verse indent8">At games that crowned the festive day,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Hurling his quoit on the Laconian strand;</div> + <div class="verse indent8">To him Jove’s son due honours paid:</div> + <div class="verse indent8">At Sparta too, that lovely maid</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Shalt thou behold, whom there thou left’st behind,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Still to celibacy consigned.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">II. 1.</div> + <div class="verse indent4">O might we cleave the air, like Libyan cranes,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Who fly in ranks th’ impending wintry storm;</div> + <div class="verse indent4">When their shrill leader bids them quit the plains,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">They the veteran’s voice obey,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">O’er rich harvests wing their way,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Or where parched wastes th’ unfruitful scene deform.</div> + <div class="verse indent8">With lengthened neck, ye feathered race</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Who skim the clouds in social band,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Where the seven Pleiades expand</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Their radiance, and Orion heaves his mace,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">This joyous embassy convey</div> + <div class="verse indent8">As near Eurotas’ banks ye stray;</div> + <div class="verse indent4">That Menelaus to his subject land</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Victorious comes from Phrygia’s strand.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">II. 2.</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Borne in your chariot down th’ ethereal height,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">At length, ye sons of Tyndarus, appear,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">While vibrates o’er your heads the starry light:</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Habitants of heaven above,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Now exert fraternal love,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">If ever Helen to your souls was dear,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">A calm o’er th’ azure ocean spread,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Bridle the tempests of the main,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Propitious gales from Jove obtain,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Your sister snatch from the barbarian’s bed:</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Commenced on Ida’s hill, that strife,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Embittered with reproach her life,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Although she never viewed proud Ilion’s tower</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Reared by Apollo’s matchless power.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_246">[246]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Theoclymenus</span>, <span class="smcap">Messenger</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Mes.</span> O king, I have discovered in the palace,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Events most inauspicious: what fresh woes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is it my doleful office to relate!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> Say what hath happened?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Mes.</span> <span class="hemi26">Seek another wife,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">For Helen hath departed from this realm.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> Borne through the air on wings, or with swift foot</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Treading the ground?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Mes.</span> <span class="hemi16">Her o’er the briny main</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">From Ægypt’s shores, hath Menelaus wafted,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who came in person with a feigned account</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of his own death.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> <span class="hemi12">O dreadful tale! what ship</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">From these domains conveys her? thou relat’st</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Tidings the most incredible.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Mes.</span> <span class="hemi24">The same</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">You to that stranger gave, and in one word</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To tell you all, he carries off your sailors.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> How is that possible? I wish to know:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For such an apprehension never entered</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My soul, as that one man could have subdued</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The numerous band of mariners, with whom</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou wert sent forth.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Mes.</span> <span class="hemi18">When from the royal mansion</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Jove’s daughter to the shore was borne, she trod</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With delicate and artful step, pretending</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To wail her husband’s loss, though he was present,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And yet alive. But when we reached the haven,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sidonia’s largest vessel we hauled forth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Furnished with benches, and with fifty oars;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But a fresh series of incessant toil</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Followed this toil; for while one fixed the mast,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Another ranged the oars, and with his hand</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The signal gave, the sails were bound together,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Then was the rudder fastened to the stern</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With thongs, cast forth: while they observed us busied</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In such laborious task, the Grecian comrades</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Menelaus to the shore advanced,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Clad in their shipwrecked vestments. Though their form</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Was graceful, yet their visages were squalid:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But Atreus’ son, beholding their approach,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Under the semblance of a grief that masked</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His treacherous purpose, in these words addressed them:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">“How, O ye wretched sailors, from what bark</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Greece that hath been wrecked upon this coast</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are ye come hither? will ye join with us</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In the funereal rites of Menelaus,</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_247">[247]</span>Whom Tyndarus’s daughter, to an empty tomb</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Consigns, though absent?” Simulated tears</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They shed, and went aboard the ship, conveying</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The presents to be cast into the sea</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For Menelaus. But to us these things</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Appeared suspicious, and we made remarks</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Among ourselves upon the numerous band</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of our intruding passengers; but checked</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Our tongues from speaking openly, through deference</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To your commands. For when you to that stranger</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Trusted the guidance of the ship, you caused</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This dire confusion. All beside, with ease</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Had we now lodged aboard, but could not force</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The sturdy bull t’ advance; he bellowing rolled</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His eyes around, bending his back and low’ring</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Betwixt his horns, nor dared we to approach</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And handle him. But Helen’s husband cried:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">“O ye who laid Troy waste, will ye forget</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To act like Greeks? why scruple ye to seize</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And on your youthful shoulders heave the beast</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Up to the rising prow, a welcome victim</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To the deceased?” His falchion, as he spoke,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The warrior drew. His summons they obeyed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Seized the stout bull, and carried him aboard:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But Menelaus stroked the horse’s neck</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And face, and with this gentle usage led him</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Into the bark. At length when all its freight</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The vessel had received, with graceful foot</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Helen, the steps ascending, took her seat</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On the mid deck; and Menelaus near her,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E’en he who they pretended was no more.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But some on the right side, and on the left</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Others in equal numbers, man to man</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Opposed, their station took, their swords concealing</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beneath their garments. We distinctly heard</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The clamorous sailors animate each other</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To undertake the voyage. But from land</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When a convenient distance we had steered,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The pilot asked this question: “Shall we sail,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O stranger, any farther from the coast,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or is this right? for ’tis my task to guide</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The vessel.” He replied: “Enough for me.”</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Then seized with his right hand the falchion, leaped</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Upon the prow, and standing o’er the bull</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The victim (without mentioning the name</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of any chief deceased; but as he drove</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The weapon through his neck) thus prayed: “O Neptune,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who in the ocean dwell’st, and ye chaste daughters</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Nereus, to the Nauplian shore convey</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_248">[248]</span>Me and my consort, from this hostile land,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In safety.” But a crimson tide of blood,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Auspicious to the stranger, stained the waves;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And some exclaimed: “There’s treachery in this voyage,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Let us sail homewards, issue thy commands,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And turn the rudder.” But the son of Atreus,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who had just slain the bull, to his companions</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Called loudly: “Why delay, O ye the flower</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Greece, to smite, to slaughter those barbarians,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And cast them from the ship into the waves?”</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But to your sailors our commander spoke</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A different language: “Will not some of you</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Tear up a plank, or with a shattered bench,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or ponderous oar, upon the bleeding heads</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of those audacious foreigners our foes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Impress the ghastly wound?” But on their feet</div> + <div class="verse indent0">All now stood up; our hands with nautic poles</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Were armed, and theirs with swords: a tide of slaughter</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ran down the ship. But Helen from the poop</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The Greeks encouraged; “Where is the renown</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ye gained at Troy? display ’gainst these barbarians</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The same undaunted prowess.” In their haste</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Full many fell, some rose again, the rest</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Might you have seen stretched motionless in death.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But Menelaus, sheathed in glittering mail,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wherever his confederates he descried</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hard pressed, rushed thither with his lifted sword,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Driving us headlong from the lofty deck</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Into the waves, and forced your mariners</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To quit their oars. But the victorious king</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Now seized the rudder, and to Greece declared</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He would convey the ship: they hoisted up</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The stately mast: propitious breezes came;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They left the land: but I from death escaping,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Let myself gently down into the waves</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Borne on the cordage which sustains the anchor;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My strength began to fail, when some kind hand</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Threw forth a rope, and brought me safe ashore,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That I to you these tidings might convey.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">There’s nought more beneficial to mankind</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Than wise distrust.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi14">I never could have thought</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">That Menelaus who was here, O king,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Could have imposed so grossly or on you</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or upon us.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> <span class="hemi6">Wretch that I am, ensnared</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">By woman’s treacherous arts! the lovely bride</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I hoped for, hath escaped me. If the ship</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Could be o’ertaken by our swift pursuit,</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_249">[249]</span>My wrongs would urge me with vindictive hand</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To seize the strangers. But I now will punish</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That sister who betrayed me; in my house</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who when she saw the Spartan Menelaus,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Informed me not: she never shall deceive</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Another man by her prophetic voice.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Ho! whither, O my sovereign, would you go,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And for what bloody purpose?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> <span class="hemi22">Where the voice</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of rigid justice summons me. Retire,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And stand aloof.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi12">Yet will not I let loose</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your garment; for you hasten to commit</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A deed most mischievous.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> <span class="hemi18">Wouldst thou, a slave,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Govern thy lord?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi12">Here reason’s on my side.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> That shall not I allow, if thou refuse</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To quit thy hold.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi12">I will not then release you.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> To slay that worst of sisters.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi32">That most pious.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> Her who betrayed me.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi22">Glorious was the fraud</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">That caused so just a deed.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> <span class="hemi22">When she bestowed</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">My consort on another.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi18">On the man</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who had a better claim——</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> <span class="hemi20">But who is lord</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of what belongs to me?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi18">Who from her sire</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Received her.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> <span class="hemi8">She by Fortune was bestowed</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">On me.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi4">But ta’en away again by Fate.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> Thou hast no right to judge of my affairs.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> If I but speak to give you better counsels.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> I am thy subject then, and not thy king.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> For having acted piously, your sister</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I vindicate.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> <span class="hemi6">Thou seem’st to wish for death.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Kill me. Your sister you with my consent</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall never slay; I rather would yield up</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My life on her behalf. It is most glorious</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To generous servants for their lords to die.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_250">[250]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Castor</span> <i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Pollux</span>, <span class="smcap">Theoclymenus</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Cas.</span> <i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Pol.</span> Restrain that ire that hurries thee away</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beyond the bounds of reason, O thou king</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Ægypt’s realm; and listen to the voice</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of us twin sons of Jove, whom Leda bore</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Together with that Helen who is fled</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From thy abodes. Thou rashly hast indulged</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thine anger, for the loss of her whom Fate</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ne’er destined to thy bed. Nor hath thy sister</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Theonoe, from th’ immortal Nereid sprung,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To thee done any injury; she reveres</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The gods, and her great father’s just behests.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For till the present hour, was it ordained</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That Helen in thy palace should reside:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But when Troy’s walls were from their bases torn,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And she had to the rival goddesses</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Furnished her name, no longer was it fit</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That she should for thy nuptials be detained,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But to her ancient home return, and dwell</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With her first husband. In thy sister’s breast</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Forbear to plunge the sword, and be convinced</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That she in this affair hath acted wisely.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We long ere this our sister had preserved,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Since Jove hath made us gods, but were too weak</div> + <div class="verse indent0">At once to combat the behests of Fate,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And the immortal powers, who had ordained</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That these events should happen. This to thee,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O Theoclymenus, I speak. These words</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Next to my lovely sister, I address;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sail with your husband, for a prosperous breeze</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your voyage shall attend. We your protectors</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And your twin brothers, on our coursers borne</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Over the waves, will guide you to your country,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But after you have finished life’s career,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">You shall be called a goddess, shall partake</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With us the rich oblations, and receive</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The gifts of men: for thus hath Jove decreed.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But where the son of Maia placed you first,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When he had borne you from the Spartan realm,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And formed by stealth from the aërial mansions</div> + <div class="verse indent0">An image of your person, to prevent</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Paris from wedding you, there is an isle</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Near the Athenian realm, which men shall call</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Helen in future times, because that spot</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Received you, when in secrecy conveyed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From Sparta. The Heavens also have ordained</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The wanderer Menelaus shall reside</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Among the happy islands. For the gods</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_251">[251]</span>To those of nobler minds no hatred bear;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">At their command though grievous toil await</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The countless multitude.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Theoc.</span> <span class="hemi20">Ye sons of Jove</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">And Leda, I the contest will decline</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which I at first so violently urged,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hoping your lovely sister to obtain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And my own sister’s life resolve to spare:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Let Helen to her native shores return,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If ’tis the will of Heaven: but be assured,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The same high blood ye spring from with the best</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And chastest sister: hail then, for the sake</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Helen with a lofty soul endued,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such as in female bosoms seldom dwells.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> A thousand shapes our varying fates assume</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The gods perform what least we could expect,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And oft the things for which we fondly hoped</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Come not to pass; but Heaven still finds a clue</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To guide our steps through life’s perplexing maze,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And thus doth this important business end.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_252">[252]</span></p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_253">[253]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="Andromache"><span class="smcap">Andromache.</span></h2> + +</div> + +<div class="max30"> + +<h3>PERSONS OF THE DRAMA.</h3> + +<ul> + <li><span class="smcap">Andromache.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Attendant.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Chorus of Phthian Women.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Hermione.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Menelaus.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Molossus.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Peleus.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Nurse of Hermione.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Orestes.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Messenger.</span></li> + <li><span class="smcap">Thetis.</span></li> +</ul> + +<h3>SCENE.—<span class="smcap">The Vestibule of Thetis’ Temple between +Phthia and Pharsalia in Thessaly.</span></h3> + +</div> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Andromache.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">O Thebes, thou pride of Asia, from whose gate</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I came resplendent with a plenteous dower,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To Priam’s regal house, the fruitful wife</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Hector: his Andromache was erst</div> + <div class="verse indent0">An envied name: but now am I more wretched</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Than any woman, or already born,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or to be born hereafter; for I saw</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My husband Hector by Achilles slain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And that unhappy son whom to my lord</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I bore, Astyanax, from Troy’s high towers</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thrown headlong; when our foes had sacked the city,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Myself descended from a noble line</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of freeborn warriors, reached the Grecian coast,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On Neoptolemus that island prince</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For the reward of his victorious arms</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bestowed: selected from the Phrygian spoils.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Twixt Phthia and Pharsalia, in these fields,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I dwell, where Thetis from the haunts of men</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Retreating, with her Peleus erst abode.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By Thessaly’s inhabitants, this spot</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is from th’ auspicious nuptials of that goddess</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Called Thetidæum: here Achilles’ son</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Residing, suffers Peleus still to rule</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Pharsalia’s land, nor will assume the sceptre</div> + <div class="verse indent0">While lives his aged grandsire. In these walls</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_254">[254]</span>A son, who to th’ embraces of my lord</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Achilles’ offspring, owes his birth, I bore,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And though I had been wretched, a fond hope</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Still cherished, that while yet the boy was safe</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I some protection and relief might find</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In my calamities; but since my lord</div> + <div class="verse indent0">(Spurning my servile couch) that Spartan dame</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hermione espoused, with ruthless hate</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By her am I pursued; for she pretends</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That I, by drugs endued with magic power,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Administered in secret, make her barren</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And odious to her lord, because I wish</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To occupy this mansion in her stead,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And forcibly to drive her from his couch,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To which, at first I with reluctance came,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But now have left it: mighty Jove can witness</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That I became the partner of his bed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Against my own consent. But she remains</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Deaf to conviction, and attempts to slay me:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In this design her father Menelaus</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Assists his daughter, he is now within,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And on such errand left the Spartan realm:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Fearing his rage, I near the palace take</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My seat, in Thetis’ temple, that the goddess</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From death may save me; for both Peleus’ self,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And the descendants of that monarch, hold</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This structure reared in memory of his wedlock</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With the fair Nereid, in religious awe.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But hence, in secret, trembling for his life,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My only child have I conveyed away,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Because his noble father is not present</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To aid me, and avails not now to guard</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His son, while absent in the Delphic land,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To expiate there the rage with which he sought</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The Pythian tripod, and from Phœbus claimed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A reparation for his father’s death.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If haply he can deprecate the curses</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Attendant on his past misdeeds, and make</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The god propitious to his future days.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Female Attendant</span>, <span class="smcap">Andromache</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Att.</span> My queen, for still I scruple not to use</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The same respectful title which I gave you</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When we in Ilion dwelt; you and your lord</div> + <div class="verse indent0">While he was living, shared my duteous love,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And now I with important tidings fraught</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To you am come, trembling indeed lest one</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of our new rulers overhear the tale,</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_255">[255]</span>Yet greatly pitying your disastrous fate:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For Menelaus and his daughter form</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Dire plots against you; of these foes beware.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> O my dear fellow-servant (for thou shar’st</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Her bondage who was erst thy queen, but now</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is wretched), ah! what mean they? what fresh schemes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have they devised to take away my life,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who am by woes encompassed?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Att.</span> <span class="hemi24">They intend,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">O miserable dame, to kill your son,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whom privately you from this house conveyed.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> Are they informed I sent the child away?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ah me! who told them? in what utter ruin</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Am I involved!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Att.</span> <span class="hemi10">I know not; but thus much</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of their designs I heard; in quest of him</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is Menelaus from these doors gone forth.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> Then am I lost indeed: for, O my child,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These two relentless vultures mean to seize thee,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And take away thy life, while he who bears</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A father’s name, at Delphi still remains.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Att.</span> You had not fared so ill, I am convinced,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If he were present, but now every friend</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Deserts you.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> <span class="hemi8">Is there not a rumour spread</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Peleus’ coming?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Att.</span> <span class="hemi14">He, though he were here,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is grown too old to aid you.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> <span class="hemi24">More than once</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">I sent to him.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Att.</span> <span class="hemi10">Suppose you that he heeds</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">None of your messengers?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> <span class="hemi20">What means this question?</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wilt thou accept such office?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Att.</span> <span class="hemi26">What pretext</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">To colour my long absence from this house</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall I allege?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> <span class="hemi12">Full many are the schemes</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which thou, who art a woman, can devise.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Att.</span> ’Twere dangerous; for Hermione is watchful.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> Dost thou perceive the danger, and renounce</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy friends in their distress?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Att.</span> <span class="hemi26">Not thus: forbear</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">To brand me with so infamous a charge:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I go; for of small value is the life</div> + <div class="verse indent0">(Whate’er befall me) of a female slave.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exit</i> <span class="smcap">Attendant</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> Proceed: meanwhile I to the conscious air</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Those plaints and bitter wailings will repeat,</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_256">[256]</span>On which I ever dwell. Unhappy women</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Find comfort in perpetually talking</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of what they suffer. But my groans arise</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Not from one ill, but many ills: the walls</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of my loved country razed, my Hector slain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And that hard fortune, in whose yoke bound fast,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thus am I fallen into th’ unseemly state</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of servitude. We never ought to call</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Frail mortals happy, at their latest hour</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Till we behold them to the shades descend.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Elegy.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">In Helen sure, to Troy’s imperial towers</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Young Paris wafted no engaging bride,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But when he led her to those nuptial bowers,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Some fiend infernal crossed the billowy tide.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">With brandished javelin and devouring flame,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">For her the Grecian warriors to thy shore,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O Ilion, in a thousand vessels came,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And drenched thy smould’ring battlements with gore.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Around the walls, my Hector, once thy boast,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Fixed to his car, was by Achilles borne,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And from my chamber hurried to the coast</div> + <div class="verse indent2">I veiled my head in servitude forlorn.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Much wept these streaming eyes, when in the dust</div> + <div class="verse indent2">My city, palace, husband, prostrate lay.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Subject to fierce Hermione’s disgust,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Why should I still behold the hated day?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Harassed with insults from that haughty dame,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Round Thetis’ bust my suppliant arms I fling,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And here with gushing tears bewail my shame,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">As from the rock bursts forth the living spring.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Chorus</span>, <span class="smcap">Andromache</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Chorus.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center allsmcap">ODE.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">I. 1.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">O thou, who seated in this holy space,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Hast Thetis’ temple thy asylum made,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Though Phthia gave me birth, to aid</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Thee, hapless dame of Asiatic race,</div> + <div class="verse indent4"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_257">[257]</span>I hither come; would I from direful harms</div> + <div class="verse indent12">Could guard, could heal the strife</div> + <div class="verse indent10">’Twixt thee and that indignant wife</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Hermione, whom ruthless discord arms</div> + <div class="verse indent4">To punish thee the rival of her charms,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">A captive, to the genial bed,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Who by Achilles’ son wert led.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">I. 2.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Aware of fate, th’ impending evil weigh,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">A helpless Phrygian nymph, thou striv’st in vain</div> + <div class="verse indent8">’Gainst her of Sparta’s proud domain:</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Cease, to this sea-born goddess, cease to pray,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">And at her blazing shrine no longer stay:</div> + <div class="verse indent12">For how can it avail</div> + <div class="verse indent10">To thee with hopeless sorrow pale</div> + <div class="verse indent4">To suffer all thy beauties to decay,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Because thy rulers with oppression sway?</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Thou to superior might must bend.</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Why, feeble as thou art, contend?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">II. 1.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Yet hasten from the Nereid’s lofty seat,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Consider that thou tread’st a foreign plain,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">And that these hostile walls detain</div> + <div class="verse indent4">In strictest bondage thy reluctant feet,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Here none of all those friends, that numerous band,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Who shared thy greatness, is at hand,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">To cheer thee in these days of shame,</div> + <div class="verse indent12">O wretched, wretched dame.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">II. 2.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">A miserable matron thou art come</div> + <div class="verse indent4">From Troy to our abodes, unwilling guest;</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Though mine the sympathizing breast,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Yet I through reverence to our lords am dumb,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Lest she, who springs from Helen, child of Jove,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Should be a witness of that love</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Which I to thee whose griefs I share,</div> + <div class="verse indent12">Impelled by pity bear.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Hermione</span>, <span class="smcap">Andromache</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> The gorgeous ornaments of gold, these brows</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Encircling, and the tissued robes I wear,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I from Achilles’, or from Peleus’ stores,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As chosen presents when I hither came,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Received not, but from Sparta’s realm, these gifts</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My father Menelaus hath bestowed</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_258">[258]</span>With a large dower, that I might freely speak</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such is the answer which to you I make,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O Phthian dames. But thou, who art a slave</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And captive, wouldst in these abodes usurp</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Dominion, and expel me; to my lord</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy drugs have made me odious, hence ensues</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My barrenness: the Asiatic dames,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For these abhorred devices are renowned;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But thee will I subdue, nor shall this dome</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of the immortal Nereid, nor her altar</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or temple save thee from impending death;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If either man or god should be disposed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To rescue thee, ’twere fit, that to atone</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For the proud thoughts thou in thy happier days</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Didst nourish, thou shouldst tremble, at my knees</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Fall low, and sweep the pavement of my house,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sprinkling the waters from a golden urn.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Know where thou art: no Hector governs here,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No Phrygian Priam doth this sceptre wield;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This is no Chrysa, but a Grecian city.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet thou, O wretched woman, art arrived</div> + <div class="verse indent0">At such a pitch of madness, that thou dar’st</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To sleep e’en with the son of him who slew</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy husband, and a brood of children bear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To him whose hands yet reek with Phrygian gore,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such is the whole abhorred barbarian race;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The father with his daughter, the vile son</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With his own mother, with her brother too</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The sister, sins, friends by their dearest friends</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are murdered; deeds like these no wholesome law</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Prohibits: introduce not among us</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such crimes, for ’tis unseemly that one man</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Possess two women; the fond youth who seeks</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Domestic harmony, confines his love</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To one fair partner of the genial bed.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> The female sex are envious, and pursue</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With an incessant hatred those who share</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their nuptial joys.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> <span class="hemi16">Alas! impetuous youth</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Proves baleful to mankind, and there are none</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who act with justice in their blooming years.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But what I dread is this, lest slavery curb</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My tongue, though I have many truths to utter:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In this dispute with you, if I prevail,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That very triumph may become my bane:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For those of haughty spirits ill endure</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The most prevailing arguments when urged</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By their inferiors. Yet my better cause</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I will not thus betray. Say, youthful princess,</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_259">[259]</span>What reasons of irrefragable force</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Enable me to drive you from the couch</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of your own lawful husband? to the Phrygians</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is Sparta grown inferior, and hath fortune</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On us conferred the palm? Do you behold me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Still free? elate with youth, a vigorous frame,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The wide extent of empire I possess,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And number of my friends, am I desirous</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To occupy these mansions in your stead,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That in your stead I might bring forth a race</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of slaves, th’ appendages of my distress?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will any one endure (if you produce</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No children) that my sons should be the kings</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Phthia?—the Greeks love me for the sake</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Hector, I too was forsooth obscure,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And not a queen, in Troy. Your husband’s hate,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Not from my drugs, but from your soul, unsuited</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For social converse, springs: there is a philtre</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To gain his love. Not beauty, but the virtues,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O woman, to the partners of our bed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Afford delight. But if it sting your pride</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That Sparta’s a vast city, while you treat</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Scyros with scorn, amidst the poor, display</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your riches, and of Menelaus speak</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As greater than Achilles; hence your lord</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Abhors you. For a woman, though bestowed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On a vile mate, should learn to yield, nor strive</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For the pre-eminence. In Thrace o’erspread</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With snow, if you were wedded to a king,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who to his bed takes many various dames,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Would you have slain them? you would cast disgrace</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On your whole sex by such unsated lust;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Base were the deed: for though our souls are warmed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With more intense desires than those of men</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We modestly conceal them. For thy sake</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I, O my dearest Hector, loved the objects</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of thy affections, whene’er Venus’ wiles</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Caused thee to err, and at my breast full oft</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nourished thy spurious children, that in nought</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy joys I might embitter: acting thus</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I won him by my virtues. But you tremble</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E’en if the drops of Heaven’s transparent dew</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Rest on your husband. Strive not to transcend</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your mother in a wild excess of love,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O woman. For the children, if endued</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With reason, such examples should avoid</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of those who bore them, as corrupt the soul.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> As far as possible, O queen, comply</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With my advice, and in mild terms accost her.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_260">[260]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> What mean’st thou by this arrogance of speech,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This vain debate, as if thou still wert chaste,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And I had strayed from virtue’s path?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> <span class="hemi34">The words</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">You have been using, now at least are void</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of modesty.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi8">O woman, may this breast</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Harbour no soul like thine.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> <span class="hemi24">Though bashful youth</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Glow on your cheek, indecent is your language.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> Thou by thy actions more than by thy words</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hast proved the malice which to me thou bear’st.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> Why will you not conceal th’ inglorious pangs</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of jealous love?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi12">What woman but resents</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such wrongs, and deems them great?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> <span class="hemi30">The use some make</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of these misfortunes adds to their renown:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But shame waits those who are devoid of wisdom.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> We dwell not in a city where prevail</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Barbarian laws.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> <span class="hemi12">In Phrygia or in Greece</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Base actions are with infamy attended.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> Though most expert in every subtle art,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet die thou must.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> <span class="hemi14">Behold you Thetis’ image</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Turning its eyes on you?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi20">She loathes thy country</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where her Achilles treacherously was slain.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> Your mother Helen caused his death, not I.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> Wouldst thou retrace still farther the sad tale</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of our misfortunes?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> <span class="hemi16">I restrain my tongue.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> Speak to me now on that affair which caused</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My coming hither.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> <span class="hemi14">All I say is this:</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">You have not so much wisdom as you need.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> From this pure temple of the sea-born goddess</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wilt thou depart?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> <span class="hemi14">Not while I live: you first</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Must slay, then drag me hence.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi26">I am resolved</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">How to proceed, and wait my lord’s return</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No longer.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> <span class="hemi6">Nor will I before he come</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Surrender up myself.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi16">With flaming brands</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hence will I drive thee, and no deference pay</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To thy entreaties.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_261">[261]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> <span class="hemi14">Kindle them; the gods</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will view the deed.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi16">The scourge too is prepared.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> Transpierce this bosom, deluge with my gore</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The altar of the goddess, you by her</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall be at length o’ertaken.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi26">From thy cradle,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Trained up and hardened in barbarian pride,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Canst thou endure to die? from this asylum</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Soon will I rouse thee by thy own consent,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I with such baits am furnished, but conceal</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My purpose, which th’ event itself ere long</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will make conspicuous. Keep a steady seat,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For though by molten lead thou wert enclosed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hence would I rouse thee, ere Achilles’ son,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whom thou confid’st in, to this land return.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exit</i> <span class="smcap">Hermione</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> In him I place my still unshaken trust.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet is it strange that the celestial powers,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To heal the serpent’s venom, have assigned</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Expedients, but no remedy devised</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Against an evil woman who surpasses</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or vipers’ stings or the consuming flame:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thus baleful is our influence on mankind.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Chorus.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center allsmcap">ODE.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">I. 1.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">The winged son of Maia and of Jove</div> + <div class="verse indent6">To many sorrowful events gave birth,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">And scattered discord o’er the bleeding earth,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">When he through sacred Ida’s piny grove</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Guided the car of three immortal dames,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">(The golden prize of beauty to obtain,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">In hateful strife engaged, who urged their claims);</div> + <div class="verse indent4">To where in his mean hut abode a lonely swain.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">I. 2.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">No sooner had they reached the destined bower,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Than in the limpid spring her snowy frame</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Each goddess laved; to Priam’s son then came</div> + <div class="verse indent6">With artful speeches of such winning power</div> + <div class="verse indent6">As might beguile the rash and amorous boy:</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Venus prevailed; her words, though sweet their sound,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Proved of destructive consequence to Troy,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Whose stately bulwarks hence lie levelled with the ground.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_262">[262]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">II. 1.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">When new-born Paris first beheld the light,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Would that his mother, o’er her head, this brand</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Ordained by Heaven to fire his native land,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Had cast, before he dwelt on Ida’s height.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Unheeded from the bay’s prophetic shade</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Exclaimed Cassandra: “Let the child be slain;</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Kill him, or Priam’s empire is betrayed.”</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Frantic she raved and sued to every prince in vain.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">II. 2.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Deaf was each prince, or Ilion ne’er had felt</div> + <div class="verse indent6">The servile yoke, nor hadst thou, hapless fair,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Beneath these roofs, encompassed by despair,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">And subject to a rigid master, dwelt.</div> + <div class="verse indent6">O had he died, the fated toil of Greece,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">That stubborn war through ten revolving years,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Had roused no heroes from the lap of peace,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Nor caused the widow’s shrieks, the hoary father’s tears.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Menelaus</span>, <span class="smcap">Molossus</span>, <span class="smcap">Andromache</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> Your son I hither bring, whom from this fane</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With secrecy, you to another house,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Without my daughter’s knowledge, had removed.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">You boasted that this image of the goddess</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To you, and those who hid him, would afford</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A sure asylum: but your deep-laid craft,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O woman, cannot baffle Menelaus.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If you depart not hence, he in your stead</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall be the victim; therefore well revolve</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Th’ important question; had you rather die,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or, with his streaming gore, let him atone</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The foul offence ’gainst me and ’gainst my daughter</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By you committed?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> <span class="hemi14">Thou, O vain opinion,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hast with renown puffed up full many men</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who were of no account. I deem those blest</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On whom with truth such honour is bestowed:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But them who by fallacious means obtain it</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I hold unworthy of possessing fame.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When all their seeming wisdom but arises</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From Fortune’s gifts. Thou with the bravest chiefs</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Greece, from Priam erst didst wrest his Troy;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">E’en thou who art so mean as to inspire</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy daughter with resentment ’gainst a child,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And strive with me a miserable captive:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Unworthy of thy conquest over Troy</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_263">[263]</span>Thee do I hold, and Troy yet more disgraced</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By such a victor. Some indeed there are</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To all appearance upright, who awhile</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Outwardly glitter, though they in their hearts</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are on a level with the worthless bulk</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of mortals, and superior but in wealth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whose power is great. This conference let us end,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O Menelaus, be it now supposed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I by thy daughter am already slain:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Twill be impossible for her to ’scape</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From the pollution ruthless murder brings;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou too by many tongues wilt be accused</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of this vile deed, with her will they confound</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thee the abettor. But if I preserve</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My life, are ye resolved to slay my son?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How will the father tamely bear the death</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of his loved offspring? he was not esteemed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">At Troy so void of courage. He is gone</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whither his duty calls. Soon will the chief</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Act worthy of the race from which he springs,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The hoary Peleus, and his dauntless sire</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Achilles, he from these abodes will cast</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy daughter forth, and when thou to another</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In marriage giv’st her, what hast thou to say</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On her behalf? “That from a worthless lord</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Her wisdom drove her?” This would be a falsehood</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Too gross. But who would wed her? till grown grey</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In widowhood, shall she beneath thy roofs</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Fix her loathed residence? O wretched man,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The rising conflux of unnumbered woes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Behold’st thou not? hadst thou not rather find</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy daughter wronged by concubines, than suffering</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Th’ indignities I speak of? we from trifles</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such grievous mischiefs ought not to create;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor if we women are a deadly bane,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To the degenerate nature of our sex</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Should men conform. If I pernicious drugs</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have to thy daughter ministered, and been,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As she pretends, the cause of her abortion,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Immediately will I without reluctance,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And without grovelling at this altar’s base,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To any rigid punishment submit</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Inflicted by thy son-in-law, from whom</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I surely merit as severe revenge</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For having made him childless. Such am I:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But in thy temper I perceive one cause</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of just alarm, since in that luckless strife</div> + <div class="verse indent0">About a woman, and a vile one too,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou the famed Phrygian city didst destroy.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_264">[264]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Too freely hast thou spoken, in a tone</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which ill becomes thy sex, and that high soul</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The bounds of wisdom hath o’erleaped.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi34">O woman,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">So small an object, as you rightly judge,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Deserves not the attention of my realm,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor that of Greece. But learn this obvious truth:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To any man whate’er he greatly needs,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is of more worth by far than taking Troy.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My daughter I assist, because I deem it</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A wrong of great importance should she lose</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Her bridal rights: for every woman looks</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On all beside as secondary ills:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But if she from her husband’s arms be torn,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Seems reft of life itself. That Phthia’s prince</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Direct my servants, and that his obey</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Me and my race, is fitting: for true friends</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have no distinct possessions, but hold all</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In common. While I wait for the return</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of her long absent lord, should I neglect</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My daughter’s interests, I were weak, not wise.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But leave this shrine of Thetis: for the child</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall if you bleed escape th’ impending doom:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Him, if you die not, will I slay, since fate</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of you or him the forfeit life demands.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> Ah me! a bitter and unwelcome choice</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of life on terms like these hast thou proposed;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wretch that I am! for whether I decline</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or make such option, I am wretched still.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O thou, who by a trifling wrong provoked,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Committ’st great crimes, attend: for what offence</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wouldst thou bereave me of my life? what city</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have I betrayed? what child of thine destroyed?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What mansion fired? I to my master’s bed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By force was dragged: yet me alone, not him</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The author of that crime, thou mean’st to slay.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou, the first cause o’erlooking, on th’ effect</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which it produces, vent’st thy rage. What woes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Encompass wretched me! alas! my country!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How dreadful are the wrongs which I endure!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But wherefore was I doomed to bear a child,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And to the burden under which I groan</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Add a new burden? what delight can life</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To me afford? or on what fortunes past</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or present should I turn these eyes which saw</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The corse of Hector by the victor’s car</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whirled round the walls, and wretched Troy a heap</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of blazing ruins? I meantime a slave</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By my dishevelled hair was dragged aboard</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The Argive navy; when I reached the coast</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_265">[265]</span>Of Phthia, and cohabited with those</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who slew my Hector; (but why lavish plaints</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On past calamities, without deploring</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or taking a due estimate of those</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which now impend?) I had this only son</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My life’s last comfort left, and they who take</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Delight in deeds of cruelty, would slay him;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet to preserve my miserable life</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He shall not perish; for auspicious hopes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Could he be saved, his future days attend:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But if I died not for my son, reproach</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Would be my portion. Lo! I leave the altar</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And now am in thy hands, stab, slay me, bind,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Strain hard the deadly noose. My son, thy mother,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To rescue thee from an untimely grave,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Descends the shades beneath; if thou escape</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The ruthless grasp of fate, remember me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How miserably I suffered; and with kisses,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">At his return, when thou goest forth to meet</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy father, when a flood of tears thou shedd’st,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And cling’st around him with those pliant arms,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Inform him how I acted. All men hold</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their children dear as life; but he who scorns them</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Because he ne’er experienced what it is</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To be a father, though with fewer griefs</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Attended, but enjoys imperfect bliss.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Rises, and advances from the altar.</i></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> I with compassion to this moving tale</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have listened; for distress, to all mankind,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Though strangers, must seem piteous: but on thee,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O Menelaus, ’tis incumbent now</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To reconcile thy daughter, and this captive,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That she may from her sorrows be released.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> Seize her, and bind her hands; for she shall hear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No pleasing language: I proposed to slay</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your son, that you might leave that hallowed altar</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Thetis, and thus craftily induced you</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To fall into my hands, and meet your death;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Be well assured, such is the present state</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of your affairs: as for that boy, on him</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My daughter shall pass judgment, or to kill,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or spare him: but now enter these abodes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That you may learn, slave as you are, to treat</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Those who are free no longer with disdain.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> Thou hast o’erreached me by thy treacherous arts;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Alas! I am betrayed.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi16">Proclaim these tidings</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">To all men; for I shall not contradict them.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> By those who dwell beside Eurotas’ stream</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are such base frauds called wisdom?</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_266">[266]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi32">Both at Troy</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">And there, ’tis just the injured should retaliate.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> Believ’st thou that the gods are gods no longer,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor wield the bolt of vengeance?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi28">We must look</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">To that: but you shall die.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> <span class="hemi24">And wilt thou seize</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">This unfledged bird, to slay him?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi30">No, I will not,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">But give him to my daughter, who must act</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As she thinks fit.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> <span class="hemi14">Then how, alas, my son!</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Can I sufficiently bewail thy fate?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> “Him,” ’twas but now with arrogance you said,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">“Auspicious hopes attend.”</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> <span class="hemi22">Ye worst of foes</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">To all mankind, inhabitants of Sparta!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Expert in treacherous counsels, still devising</div> + <div class="verse indent0">New falsehoods, curst artificers of mischief,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your paths are crooked, yet though void of worth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Through Greece by circumspection ye uphold</div> + <div class="verse indent0">An undeserved pre-eminence. What crimes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What murders, what a thirst for abject gain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Characterize your realm! with specious tongue</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Uttering a language foreign to your heart,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are ye not ever caught? Perdition seize you!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Death is less grievous than thou deem’st to me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who date my utter ruin from that hour</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When Ilion’s wretched city was involved</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In the same fate with my illustrious lord,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whose spear oft drove thee trembling from the field</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Into thy ships: but now against his wife</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A formidable warrior art thou come</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To murder me: strike, for this coward tongue</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall never leave thine and thy daughter’s shame</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Unpublished. If in Sparta thou art great,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">So was I erst in Ilion; but exult not</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In my disasters, for on thee ere long</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The same reverse of fortune may attend.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Chorus.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center allsmcap">ODE.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">I. 1.</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Two rival consorts ne’er can I approve,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Or sons, the source of strife, their birth who owe</div> + <div class="verse indent4">To different mothers; hence connubial love</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Is banished, and the mansion teems with woe.</div> + <div class="verse indent4"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_267">[267]</span>One blooming nymph let cautious husbands wed,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">And share with her alone an unpolluted bed.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">I. 2.</div> + <div class="verse indent4">No prudent city, no well-governed state,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">More than a single potentate will own;</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Their subjects droop beneath the grievous weight</div> + <div class="verse indent4">When two bear rule, and discord shakes the throne;</div> + <div class="verse indent4">And if two bards awake their sounding lyres</div> + <div class="verse indent4">E’en the harmonious Muse a cruel strife inspires,</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">II. 1.</div> + <div class="verse indent4">To aid the bark, when prosperous gales arise,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Two jarring pilots shall misguide the helm:</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Weak is a multitude when all are wise,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">One simpler monarch could have saved the realm.</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Let a sole chief the house or empire sway,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">And all who hope for bliss their lord’s behests obey.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">II. 2.</div> + <div class="verse indent4">This truth hath Menelaus’ daughter shown,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Furious she comes the victim to destroy;</div> + <div class="verse indent4">And, that their blood may nuptial wrongs atone,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">The Phrygian captive, and that hapless boy,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">With impious rage unjust would cause to bleed;</div> + <div class="verse indent4">May pity, awful queen, thy lifted arm impede!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">But I before these doors behold the pair</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On whom the fatal sentence now is passed.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou wretched dame, and wretched child who diest</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Because thy mother to a foreign bed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By force was dragged, in her imputed guilt</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou wert not an accomplice, thou thy lords</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hast not offended.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> <span class="hemi14">To the realms beneath,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lo, I am hurried, with these bloody hands</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Fast bound in galling chains.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Mol.</span> <span class="hemi26">I too, O mother,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Under thy wing, to those loathed shades descend</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A victim. O ye lords of Phthia’s land,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And thou, my father, succour those thou lov’st.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> Cling to thy mother’s bosom, O my child,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Together let us die.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Mol.</span> <span class="hemi16">Ah me! how grievous</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">My sufferings are! too clearly I perceive</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That I, and thou my mother, both are wretched.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> Go both together to th’ infernal realm:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For ye from hostile turrets hither came.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Although the cause why you and he must bleed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is not the same, my sentence takes away</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_268">[268]</span>Your life, and my Hermione’s your son’s.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The highest folly were it to permit</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A foe to live and vex us, whom with ease</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We might despatch, and from our house remove</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such danger.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> <span class="hemi8">O my husband, would to Heaven</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">I had thy arm to aid me; and thy spear,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou son of Priam.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Mol.</span> <span class="hemi14">Wretched me! what charm</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Can I devise t’ avert impending fate?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> My son, implore the mercy of our lord</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Clasping his knees.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Mol.</span> <span class="hemi16">Dear monarch, spare my life.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> Tears from these eyes burst forth like trickling drops</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By the sun’s heat forced from a solid rock,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wretch that I am!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Mol.</span> <span class="hemi14">What remedy, alas!</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">For these dire evils can my soul devise?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> Why dost thou idly grovel at my feet</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With fruitless supplications, while I stand</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Firm as a rock, or as th’ unpitying wave?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such conduct serves my interests: no affection</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To thee I bear, because my morn of life</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Was wasted in the conflict, ere I took</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Troy and thy mother, whose society</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou in the realms of Pluto shalt enjoy.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Peleus</span>, <span class="smcap">Menelaus</span>, + <span class="smcap">Andromache</span>, <span class="smcap">Molossus</span>, + <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Peleus, I see, draws near, his aged feet</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With eager haste advancing.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pel.</span> <span class="hemi24">You, and him</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who stands presiding o’er a murderous deed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What means this uproar that disturbs the house,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I question, and what practices are these</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ye carry on unauthorized by law?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O Menelaus, stay thy furious hand,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And let not execution thus outstrip</div> + <div class="verse indent0">All righteous judgment. O my friends, lead on;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For such a dread emergency appears</div> + <div class="verse indent0">T’ admit of no delay. Could I regain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That youthful vigour which I erst enjoyed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As prosperous breezes aid the floating sails,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This captive would I favour. Say, what right</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have they to bind your hands, and drag along</div> + <div class="verse indent0">You and your son? for like the bleating mother,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Led forth to slaughter with her lamb, you perish,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">While I and your unwitting lord are absent.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> They, as thou seest, O venerable man,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Me and my son thus bear to instant death.</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_269">[269]</span>What shall I say to thee, whom I with speed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Not by one single messenger but thousands</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have sent for? sure thou, of the fatal strife</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In these divided mansions, with his daughter,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To which I owe my ruin, must have heard:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And from the violated shrine of Thetis,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who bore to thee a noble son, the goddess</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whom thou rever’st e’en now with brutal force</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Me have they torn, nor judged my cause, nor wait</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For absent Neoptolemus, but, knowing</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That I and that this child who hath committed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No fault, are left alone and unprotected,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Would slay us both. But, O thou aged man,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thus prostrate on my knees, to thee I sue,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And, though this hand must not presume to touch</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy honoured beard, conjure thee by the gods,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Rescue us, or to thy eternal shame</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Both he and I must miserably bleed.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pel.</span> My orders are that you those galling chains</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Unbind and loose her hands, else will I make</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The disobedient weep.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi18">But I, your equal,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who have much more authority o’er her,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Forbid them.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pel.</span> <span class="hemi8">Com’st thou hither to direct</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">My household? is it not enough for thee</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To rule thy Spartans?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi18">Her I took at Troy.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pel.</span> She, to reward his valour, was bestowed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Upon my grandson.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi14">Doth not all he owns,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">To me, and what is mine, to him belong?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pel.</span> For honest purposes, but not for crimes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And murderous violence.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi20">You ne’er shall take her</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Out of my hands.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pel.</span> <span class="hemi12">Thy head I with this sceptre</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will smite.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi8">Draw near; if you presume to touch me,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Soon shall you rue such outrage.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pel.</span> <span class="hemi28">O thou villain,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sprung from a race of impious sires, what right</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To be accounted an illustrious man,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And numbered with the truly brave, hast thou,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who by a Phrygian wanderer wert deprived</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of thy fair consort, after thou hadst left</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy house unbarred and destitute of guards,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As if thou in thy mansions hadst possessed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A virtuous dame, though she of all her sex</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_270">[270]</span>Was the most dissolute? nor if she would</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Can any Spartan nymph be chaste? for wandering</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From their own homes, distinguished by bare legs,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And zoneless vest, they with young men contend</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In swiftness and in wrestling; I such customs</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hold in abhorrence. Is there any room</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For wonder if the women prove unchaste</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whom thus you educate? thy Helen ought</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To have proposed these questions, ere she left</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Her native realm, regardless of thy love,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And by that youthful paramour seduced,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wantonly fled into a foreign land.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet for her sake didst thou that numerous host</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Greeks collect, and lead them to assail</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The Phrygian ramparts. Thou that beauteous dame</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shouldst rather have despised, nor in her cause</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wielded the javelin, when thou found’st her worthless,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But suffered her in Ilion to remain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And sent rich gifts to Paris on these terms,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That to thy house she never should return.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But thou, instead of suffering these just motives</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To make their due impression on thy soul,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Full many valiant warriors hast destroyed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Made th’ aged matron childless, and deprived</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of his illustrious sons the hoary sire.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Numbered with those who owe to thee thy ruin</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Am wretched I: for like some evil genius</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In thee do these indignant eyes behold</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The murderer of Achilles: thou alone,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Save by the missile shaft, unwounded cam’st</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From Ilion’s hostile shores; in burnished chests</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Didst thou bear thither the same glittering arms</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which thou bear’st back again. Before he wedded,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I warned my grandson to form no connection</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With thee, nor into these abodes admit</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The brood of that adult’ress; for the daughters</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their mother emulate in deeds of shame.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Look well to this, ye suitors, and select</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The damsel with maternal worth endued.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Then with what scorn didst thou thy brother treat,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Commanding him ’gainst reason to transgress,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And sacrifice his daughter. Thou such fears,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lest thou that execrable wife shouldst lose,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Didst entertain. When thou hadst taken Troy,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This too I urge against thee, though thou hadst</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy consort in thy power, thou didst not slay her,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But when her throbbing bosom thou beheld’st</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Didst cast away thy sword, receive her kisses,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And soothe the fears of her who had betrayed thee.</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_271">[271]</span>O worthless miscreant, whom the Cyprian Queen</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hath thus debased! thou after this intrud’st</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Into my grandson’s palace, in his absence</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Committ’st these outrages, and basely slay’st</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A miserable woman, and her child,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thee and thy daughter who shall cause to weep</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Though trebly illegitimate his birth.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Oft the parched heath, when duly tilled, exceeds</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The richest soil, and greater instances</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of virtue are in many a bastard found</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Than in the lawfully begotten race.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But take thy daughter hence. Far better is it</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To form affinity and strictest friendship</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With a poor man of worth, than him who joins</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Iniquity with wealth: but as for thee,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou art a thing of nought.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi22">Among mankind,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Oft from a small beginning doth the tongue</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Great strife occasion: but the wise beware</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of entering on a contest with their friend.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> Why do we speak in such exalted terms</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of aged men, as if they were endued</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With wisdom, though in former days supposed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By the whole Grecian race to judge aright?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When you, O Peleus, who derive your birth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From an illustrious sire, and with my house</div> + <div class="verse indent0">So nearly are connected, hold a language</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Disgraceful to yourself, and slander me,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For a barbarian dame, whom from this land</div> + <div class="verse indent0">You ought to banish far beyond the Nile,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beyond the Phasis, and applaud my vengeance;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Because she comes from Asiatic shores,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where many valiant Grecian chiefs lie slain.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And hath in part been guilty of the blood</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of your famed son; for Paris, by whose shaft,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Transpierced, Achilles perished, was the brother,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And she the wife of Hector: yet you enter</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The same abode with her, the genial board</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With her partake, allow her to bring forth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Under your roofs an execrable brood.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These mischiefs both to you and me, old man,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Foreseeing, have I snatched her from your hands</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With a design to kill her. But, O say,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">(For there is nought of meanness in our holding</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This conference), if my daughter bear no child,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And she have sons, will you appoint them lords</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of this your Phthian land? shall they who spring</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From a barbarian race, o’er Greeks bear rule?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Am I, because I hate injustice, void</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_272">[272]</span>Of understanding, and are you discreet?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Reflect on this; had you bestowed your daughter</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On any citizen, were she thus treated,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Would you sit down and bear her wrongs in silence?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I deem you would not. Why then with such harshness</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Speak you in favour of a foreign dame</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Against your nearest friends? as great a right</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To vengeance as her husband, hath the wife</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whom her lord injures: for while he whose doors</div> + <div class="verse indent0">An unchaste consort enters, in his hands</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hath power to right himself, a woman’s strength</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lies only in her parents and her friends.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My daughter, therefore, am I bound to aid:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">You show the marks of age: for while you talk</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of that famed war I waged, you more befriend me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Than if you had been silent. Deep in woe</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Was Helen plunged, not by her own consent</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But by the gods: and this event hath proved</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To Greece most advantageous, for its sons</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who knew not how till then to wield the spear,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Grew valiant. From experience, best of tutors,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Men gather all the knowledge they possess.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But when I saw my consort, in forbearing</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To take away her life, I acted wisely:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And would that you had done like me, nor slain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your brother Phocus; this to you I speak</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Through mere benevolence, and not in wrath:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But if resentment o’er your soul usurp</div> + <div class="verse indent0">An empire, such intemperance of the tongue</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will be in you more shameful, while my wishes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I by a prudent forethought shall attain.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Now both desist (for this were better far)</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From such unprofitable strife of words,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O ye will both offend.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pel.</span> <span class="hemi18">Ah me! through Greece</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">What mischievous opinions have prevailed!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When with the spoils of vanquished foes, the host</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A trophy rear, they think not how ’twas gained</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By those brave soldiers who endure the toil</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of battle, while their general bears away</div> + <div class="verse indent0">All the renown: though he was only one</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who stood ’midst thousands brandishing his spear,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor any single combatant surpassed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He gains a larger portion of applause.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The venerable rulers of a city,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Placed in exalted stations, yet devoid</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of any real merit, overlook</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The populace, though many in the crowd</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of their inferiors are more wise than they,</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_273">[273]</span>If haply courage and an honest zeal</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Unite to place them in the public view.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou and thy brother thus are swollen with pride,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From having led those troops to conquer Troy,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And triumph in the sufferings of your friends.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But henceforth will I teach thee not to look</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On Paris, Ida’s shepherd, as a foe,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">More terrible than Peleus. If with speed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou quit not these abodes, and take away</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy childless daughter, my indignant grandson,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By her dishevelled hair around the palace</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will drag this barren dame, who stung with envy,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Cannot endure the fruitful mother’s joys.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But, if she prove so luckless as to bare</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No issue, ought she therefore to deprive us</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of our posterity? Begone, ye slaves,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That I may see who dares obstruct my loosing</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Her hands. Rise up: though trembling with old age,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your chains can I unbind. O worthless man,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hast thou thus galled her hands? didst thou suppose</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou held’st a bull or lion in the snare?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or didst thou shudder lest she should snatch up</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A sword, and wreak just vengeance on thy head?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Come hither to these sheltering arms, my child,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Unbind thy mother’s chains; in Phthia, thee</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I’ll educate, to them a bitter foe.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Should Sparta’s sons by the protended spear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Obtain no fame, nor in th’ embattled field</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their prowess signalize, be well assured</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ye have no other merit.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi18">Old men talk</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">With freedom, and their vehemence of soul</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is hard to be restrained.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men.</span> <span class="hemi22">Extremely prone</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are you to slander; much against my will</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I came to Phthia, and am here resolved</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That I will neither do nor suffer aught</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Disgraceful: but to my own home with speed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Am I returning, and have little time</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In vain debates to lavish: for a city</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Not far from Sparta’s gates and erst a friend</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is waging war against us: I would lead</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My hardy squadrons forth t’ assail the foe,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And utterly subdue them. To my wish</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Soon as this great affair I shall have settled,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hither will I return, and face to face,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When I my reasons to my son-in-law</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have in the clearest terms proposed, will hear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What he can urge; and if he punish her,</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_274">[274]</span>And for the future courteously to me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Demean himself, from me he in return</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall meet with courtesy; but if he rage,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He of my rage the dire effects shall feel:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For still such treatment as his deeds deserve</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall he experience. But I am not hurt</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By these injurious words of yours; for like</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Some disembodied ghost, you have a voice,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Although you are not able to do aught</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But merely speak.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exit</i> <span class="smcap">Menelaus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pel.</span> <span class="hemi14">Lead on, my boy; here take</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy station under these protecting arms;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And thou too, O thou miserable dame,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Driven hither by the furious storm; at length</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Into a quiet haven are ye come.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">And.</span> On thee and thy descendants may the gods</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shower every blessing, venerable man,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For having saved this child, and wretched me;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet O beware, lest in some lonely spot</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They suddenly assail us, and by force</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Drag me away, perceiving thou art old,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That I am a weak woman, and my son</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is but an infant: all precautions use,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Else we, who have escaped them, may again</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Be caught.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pel.</span> <span class="hemi6">Forbear to utter, in such language</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">As this, the dictates of a woman’s fear.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Advance, who dares to touch you? he shall weep.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For with the blessing of th’ immortal gods,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And by unnumbered troops of valiant horse,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And infantry supported, I bear rule</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Over the Phthian land. I am robust,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor, as you deem, impaired by palsied age.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Were I, opposed in battle, but to look</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On such a man as this, old as I am,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">An easy conquest soon should I obtain.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Superior is the veteran, if with courage</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Inspired, to many youths: for what avails</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A vigorous body with a coward’s heart?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exeunt</i> <span class="smcap">Peleus</span>, <span class="smcap">Andromache</span>, <i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Molossus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Chorus.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center allsmcap">ODE.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">I.</div> + <div class="verse indent8">My wish were this; or never to be born,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Or to descend from generous sires, and share</div> + <div class="verse indent6">The blessings which attend a wealthy heir.</div> + <div class="verse indent8">If heaviest woes assail, ne’er left forlorn</div> + <div class="verse indent8"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_275">[275]</span>Without a friend are they of nobler race,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Hereditary trophies deck their head:</div> + <div class="verse indent8">The records of the brave with joy we trace,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">No distant age their memory can efface,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">For virtue’s torch unquenched pours radiance o’er the dead.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">II.</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Better is conquest, when we gain our right</div> + <div class="verse indent6">By no reproachful means, no deeds of shame,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Than if to envy we expose our fame,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">And trample on the laws with impious might.</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Such laurels which at first too sweetly bloom,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Ere long are withered by the frost of time,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">And scorn pursues their wearers to the tomb.</div> + <div class="verse indent8">I in my household or the state presume</div> + <div class="verse indent4">To seek that power alone which rules without a crime.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">III.</div> + <div class="verse indent4">O veteran, sprung from Æacus, thy spear</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Chilled the Lapithæ with fear,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">And from their hills the Centaurs drove.</div> + <div class="verse indent10">When glory called, and prosperous gales</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Swelled the Argo’s daring sails,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Intrepid didst thou pass that strait</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Where ruin oft the crashing bark attends,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">And ocean’s foam descends</div> + <div class="verse indent4">From the Symplegades’ obstructing height.</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Next didst thou land on perjured Ilion’s shore,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">With Hercules illustrious son of Jove,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Then first its bulwarks streamed with gore:</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Till crowned with fame a partner of his toil,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Europe again thou sought’st and Phthia’s frozen soil.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">The Nurse of Hermione</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Nur.</span> How doth a rapid series of events</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The most disastrous, O my dearest friends,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This day invade us! for within these doors</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hermione my mistress, by her sire</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Forsaken, and grown conscious of the guilt</div> + <div class="verse indent0">She hath incurred, by that attempt to murder</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Andromache and her unhappy son,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Resolves to die, because she dreads, lest fired</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With indignation at her guilt, her lord</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Should cast her forth with scorn, or take away</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Her life, because she purposed to have slain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The innocent. The servants who attend</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Can hardly by their vigilance prevent her</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From fixing round her neck the deadly noose,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or snatch the dagger from her hand, so great</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_276">[276]</span>Is her affliction, and she now confesses</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That she has done amiss. My strength’s exhausted</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In striving to withhold my royal mistress</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From perishing by an ignoble death.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But enter ye these mansions, and attempt</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To save her life, for strangers can persuade</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Far better than old friends.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi24">We hear the voice</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of her attendants from within confirm</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Th’ intelligence thou hither cam’st to bring:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That hapless woman seems just on the point</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of showing with what rage she by her guilt</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is hurried on: for lo, she rushes forth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From yon abodes, already hath she ’scaped</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Her servants’ hands, and is resolved to die.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Hermione</span>, <span class="smcap">Nurse</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> Ah me! these ringlets how will I tear off,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How rend my cheeks!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Nur.</span> <span class="hemi16">What mean’st thou, O my daughter?</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wilt thou thus injure that fair frame?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi32">Away,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">O thou slight veil, I pluck thee from my head,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And toss thy scattered fragments in the air.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Nur.</span> Cover thy bosom with the decent robe.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> Why with a robe my bosom should I hide?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The crimes I have committed ’gainst my lord</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are clear, well known, and cannot be concealed.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Nur.</span> Griev’st thou because thou hast formed schemes to slay</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy rival?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi6">I with many groans bewail</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Those hostile darings, execrable wretch,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wretch that I am, an object of just hate</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To all mankind.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Nur.</span> <span class="hemi12">Thy husband such offence</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will pardon.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi8">From my hand why didst thou snatch</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">The sword? Restore, restore it, O my friends,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That I this bosom may transpierce. Why force me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To quit yon pendant noose?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Nur.</span> <span class="hemi22">In thy distraction</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall I forsake and leave thee thus to die?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> Where shall I find (inform me, O ye Fates)</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The blazing pyre, ascend the craggy rock,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Plunge in the billows, or amidst the woods</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On a steep mountain waste the life I loathe,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That after death the gods beneath may take me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To their protection?</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_277">[277]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi16">Why wouldst thou make efforts</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">So violent? some mischiefs sent by Heaven</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sooner or later visit all mankind.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> Me like a stranded bark, thou, O my sire,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hast left forsaken and without an oar.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To thee I owe my ruin. I no longer</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In these my bridal mansions can reside.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To the propitious statues of what God</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With suppliant haste shall I repair, or fall</div> + <div class="verse indent0">At a slave’s knees, myself an abject slave?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I from the land of Phthia, like a bird</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Upborne on azure wings, would speed my flight,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or imitate that ship whose dashing oars</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Twixt the Cyanean straits first urged their way.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Nur.</span> As little, O my daughter, can I praise</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That vehemence which caused thee to transgress</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Against the Trojan dame, as these thy fears</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which are immoderate. For such slight offence</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy lord, misled by the pernicious tongue</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of a barbarian woman, from his couch</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will not expel thee: for thou art not his</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By right of conquest, borne from vanquished Troy;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But thee, the daughter of a mighty king,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He with abundant dower, and from a city</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Most flourishing, received: nor will thy sire,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His child forsaking, as thou dread’st, permit thee</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To be cast forth: but enter these abodes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor show thyself without, lest some affront</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou shouldst receive if haply thou art seen</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Before these doors.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exit</i> <span class="smcap">Nurse</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi14">Behold a man, whose dress</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is of such different fashion that it speaks</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The foreigner, comes swiftly from the gate.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Orestes</span>, <span class="smcap">Hermione</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Ore.</span> Is this th’ abode of great Achilles’ son,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The regal mansion, O ye foreign dames?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> It is as thou hast said. But who art thou</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That ask’st this question?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Ore.</span> <span class="hemi22">Agamemnon’s son,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">And Clytemnestra’s; but my name’s Orestes:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I to Dodona, th’ oracle of Jove,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Am on my road; but since I now have reached</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The land of Phthia, first would I inquire</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How fares Hermione, the Spartan dame,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My kinswoman; doth she yet live and prosper?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For though from me far distant be the land</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In which she now resides, she still is dear.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> O son of Agamemnon, who thus make</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_278">[278]</span>Your seasonable appearance, like the haven</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To mariners amidst a furious storm,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Take pity, I implore you by those knees,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On me a wretch whose inauspicious fortunes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">You witness. Hence around your knees I fling</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These arms, which ought to prove of equal force</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With hallowed branches by the suppliant borne.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Ore.</span> What’s this? am I deceived? or do my eyes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Indeed behold the queen of these abodes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And Menelaus’ daughter?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi20">Th’ only child</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whom to the Spartan monarch Helen bore.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Mistake me not.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Ore.</span> <span class="hemi12">O Phœbus, healing power,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Protect us! But what dire mischance hath happened?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or from the gods, or human foes, proceed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The evils thou endur’st?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi20">Some from myself,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">But others from the husband whom I wedded</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The rest from one of the immortal gods.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I utterly am ruined.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Ore.</span> <span class="hemi16">What afflictions</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Can any woman who’s yet childless feel</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But those which from her nuptial union spring?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> Hence these distempers of the soul arise,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And well do you anticipate my words.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Ore.</span> Enamoured with another, is thy lord</div> + <div class="verse indent0">False to thy bed?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi14">He loves a captive dame,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">The wife of Hector.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Ore.</span> <span class="hemi16">This of which thou speak’st</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is a great evil, when one man possesses</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Two wives.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi8">’Twas thus, till I avenged the wrong.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Ore.</span> Didst thou with arts familiar to thy sex</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Plot ’gainst thy rival’s life?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi26">I would have killed</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Her and her spurious son.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Ore.</span> <span class="hemi22">Hast thou despatched them?</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or were they screened from their impending fate?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> Old Peleus to these worthless objects showed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Too great a reverence.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Ore.</span> <span class="hemi18">Was there any friend</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ready to aid thee in the purposed slaughter?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> My sire, who for this cause from Sparta came.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Ore.</span> Yet by that aged man was he subdued?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> Abashed he fled, and left me here alone.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Ore.</span> I understand thee well: thy husband’s wrath</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou fear’st for what thou’st done.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_279">[279]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> <span class="hemi32">The fact you know:</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hence justly will he take away my life.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What can be said? yet by immortal Jove,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Our grandsire, I conjure you, send me far</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From these domains, or to my father’s house.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Had but these walls a voice, they would proclaim</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The sentence of my exile, for the land</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Phthia hates me. If my lord return</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From Phœbus’ oracle, for the misdeeds</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I have committed, he will strike me dead,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or force me to become that harlot’s slave</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whom erst I ruled.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Ore.</span> <span class="hemi14">By some will it be asked</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whence then into such errors didst thou fall?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> My ruin I derive from the admission</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of these vile women, who inflamed my pride</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By uttering these rash words: “Wilt thou endure</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beneath thy roof that odious slave who shares</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy bridal couch? by Juno, awful queen,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I would not suffer such a wretch to breathe</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In my polluted chamber.” When I heard</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The language uttered by these crafty sirens,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Artificers of mischief, who, to suit</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their purpose, in persuasive strains displayed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The power of eloquence, I was puffed up</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With folly: for what need had I to hold</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My lord in reverence while possessed of all</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That I could wish? abundant wealth was mine,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O’er these abodes I reigned, and any children</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I to my husband might hereafter bare</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Would be legitimate; but hers, by mine</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In strict subjection held, a spurious race.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But never, never (I this truth repeat)</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Should wedded men, who have the gift of reason,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Let women have a free access, and visit</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their consort. For they teach her evil lessons:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Urged by the hopes of lucre, one corrupts</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Her chastity; a second hath already</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Transgressed herself, and wishes that her friend</div> + <div class="verse indent0">May be as vicious: many by their lust</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are led astray: hence to their husband’s house</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A train of mischief rises. Guard the doors</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of your abodes with locks and massive bars;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Since from the intrusion of these female guests,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No good, but mischiefs numberless ensue.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Thou to thy tongue hast given too free a scope</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In thus aspersing the whole female race:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy present woes indeed our pardon claim;</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_280">[280]</span>Yet every woman is in duty bound</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To gloss o’er the misconduct of her sex.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Ore.</span> Wisdom pertained to him who taught mankind</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To hear the reasons by both parties urged</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In a debate. Aware of the confusion</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In these abodes, and of the strife ’twixt thee</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And Hector’s wife, I stayed not to observe</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whether thou in this house wouldst still remain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or through a fear of yonder captive dame</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Abandon it: I therefore hither came,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor waited for intelligence from thee.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And if a satisfactory account</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of thy proceedings thou to me canst give,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I will convey thee hence. For thou, who erst</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wert mine, with this thy present husband liv’st,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Through the perfidious conduct of thy sire,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who ere he entered the domains of Troy</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Affianced thee to me, and then to him</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who now possesses thee, again engaged,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If he the Phrygian city should subdue.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But I forgive thy father for this wrong,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When hither great Achilles’ son returned,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And to the bridegroom sued that he would loose</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy plighted hand; of all my various fortunes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Informing him, and of my present woes;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How feasible it were for me to wed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Among my friends, but that for such an exile</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As I am, driven from my paternal throne,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Twould not be easy to obtain a consort</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In any foreign land: on this he grew</div> + <div class="verse indent0">More arrogant, and bitterly reproached me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Both with my mother’s murder, and those Furies</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whose blood-stained visages inspire dismay.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By the misfortunes of my house bowed down</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To earth, I grieved indeed, but grieving bore</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The weight of these calamities, and reft</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of thee my bride, reluctantly departed.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But since thy fortunes now have undergone</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A change so unexpected, and involved</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In woe, thou stand’st aghast; from these abodes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thee will I take and to thy sire convey.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For wondrous is the force of kindred ties;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And in misfortunes nought exceeds the friend</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who from the self-same house derives his birth.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Her.</span> My father will take care how to dispose</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of me in marriage, nor is it my province</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such question to decide. But, O convey me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From these loathed mansions with the utmost speed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lest when my husband at his first return</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_281">[281]</span>Enters the doors, he intercept my flight;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or, hearing that I leave his grandson’s house,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Peleus pursue me with his rapid steeds.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Ore.</span> Be of good cheer against that aged man,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And from thy furious lord, Achilles’ son,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who treated me with scorn, fear nought; this hand</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hath with such cautious artifice prepared</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For him th’ inevitable snares of death,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of which no previous mention will I make:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But when it is accomplished, this exploit</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall on the rock of Delphi be proclaimed.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I who my mother slew, if th’ armed friends</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whom I have stationed in the Pythian realm</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Observe their oaths, will teach him that he ought</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To have abstained from wedding any dame</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Betrothed to me. He in an evil hour</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall claim atonement for his father’s death</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Phœbus mighty king; nor shall repentance</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For these audacious blasphemies avail</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To save the miscreant on whose impious head</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Apollo wreaks just vengeance; by his wrath</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O’ertaken, and entangled in my snares,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He wretchedly shall perish. For the gods</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Subvert the prosperous fortunes of their foes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor suffer pride to rear her towering crest.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exeunt</i> <span class="smcap">Orestes</span> <i>and</i> <span class="smcap">Hermione</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Chorus.</span></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center allsmcap">ODE.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">I. 1.</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Phœbus, thou god who with a mound</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Of stately towers didst Ilion’s rock surround;</div> + <div class="verse indent4">And thou, O Neptune, ruler of the main,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Borne swiftly by thy azure steeds</div> + <div class="verse indent4">In a light car, who cleav’st the watery plain;</div> + <div class="verse indent4">After exerting with unwearied toil</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Such skill as human works exceeds,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">’Gainst wretched Troy when Mars his javelin bore,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Why, faithless to that chosen soil,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Left ye your city drenched in gore?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">I. 2.</div> + <div class="verse indent8">The steeds ye yoked on Simois’ banks</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Whirled many a chariot through the broken ranks;</div> + <div class="verse indent4">No hero gathered in that stubborn fray</div> + <div class="verse indent8">One laurel to adorn his head:</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Phrygia’s illustrious rulers swept away,</div> + <div class="verse indent4"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_282">[282]</span>Took their last voyage to a distant shore,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">And mingled with the vulgar dead,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">While the polluted altars ceased to gleam</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Upwafting to the skies no more</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Their frankincense in odorous steam.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">II. 1.</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Slain by his wife Atrides fell;</div> + <div class="verse indent4">His furious son sent to the shades of Hell</div> + <div class="verse indent4">The murderess, and returned th’ unnatural deed,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">That fatal stroke the god approved,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">His oracles ordained that she should bleed,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">When young Orestes at the inmost shrine</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Was by a heavenly impulse moved,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">His hands in gore maternal to imbrue.</div> + <div class="verse indent8">O Phœbus, O thou power divine,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">How shall I think th’ assertion true?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">II. 2.</div> + <div class="verse indent8">In Greece doth many a dame complain</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Chaunting rude dirges for her children slain;</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Others their native land reluctant leave,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">And to a foreign lord are brought.</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Nor yet hast thou alone just cause to grieve,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Nor to thy friends hath Heaven’s peculiar hate</div> + <div class="verse indent8">These signal miseries wrought:</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Victorious Greece still feels as deep a wound,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">From whence the thunderbolt of fate</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Through Phrygia scattered deaths around.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Peleus</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pel.</span> Answer my questions, O ye Phthian dames,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For doubtful is the rumour I have heard,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That Menelaus’ daughter, when she left</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This house departed from the realm. I come</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Anxious to learn if this account be true.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For ’tis their duty who remain at home</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To guard the fortunes of their absent friends.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> What thou hast heard, O Peleus, is the truth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And ill would it become me to conceal</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The woes in which I deeply am involved:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Our royal mistress from these walls is fled.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pel.</span> What feared she? say.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi22">The anger of her lord,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lest he from these abodes should cast her forth.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pel.</span> Because she plotted to have slain the boy?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> E’en so it was. Yon captive too she dreaded.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pel.</span> But from these mansions did she go, attended,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or by her father or by whom?</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_283">[283]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi24">The son</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Agamemnon from this land conveyed her.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pel.</span> What are his views? to take her for his bride?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Thy grandson too he meditates to slay.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pel.</span> Stationed in secret ambush, or resolved</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To meet the dauntless warrior face to face?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Beneath Apollo’s unpolluted fane</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With Delphi’s citizens.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pel.</span> <span class="hemi20">Atrocious crime!</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ah me! will no one with his utmost speed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Go to the altar of the Pythian god,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And to our friends disclose what passes here,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ere by his foes Achilles’ son is slain?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Messenger</span>, <span class="smcap">Peleus</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Mes.</span> What evil tidings do I bring to you,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O aged man, and all my master’s friends!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pel.</span> By a sad presage which affects my soul</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I of th’ impending evil am forewarned.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Mes.</span> Know then, O Peleus, that your wretched grandson</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is now no more, with such unnumbered wounds</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He by the Delphic citizens transpierced,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And by that stranger from Mycene died.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Alas! alas! but what resource is left</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For thee, thou hoary veteran? do not fall;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Raise thyself up.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pel.</span> <span class="hemi14">To very nothing now</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Am I reduced, I utterly am ruined:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The power of speech deserts me, and these limbs</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Forget their office.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Mes.</span> <span class="hemi16">Hear me, and from earth</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Arise, if, with th’ assistance of your friends,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">You for this murder wish to be revenged.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pel.</span> How hast thou compassed wretched me, who stand</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On the last verge of spiritless old age,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O cruel fate! say how the only son</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of my deceased, my only son, was slain.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These tidings though unwelcome would I hear.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Mes.</span> After we reached Apollo’s sacred realm,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">While thrice the chariot of the sun performed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Its bright career, we satiated our eyes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With viewing all around. The circumstance</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which raised suspicion first, was this: the people</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who dwell within the temple of the god</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Held frequent meetings, and in crowds assembled.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Meanwhile the son of Agamemnon went</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Through the whole city, and in every ear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whispered malignant words like these: “Behold</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_284">[284]</span>Him who is visiting the hallowed shrine</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Phœbus piled with gold, the treasures given</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By all mankind; the miscreant comes again</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On the same purpose which first drew him hither,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To overthrow the temple of the god.”</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Through the whole city hence an evil rumour</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Went forth, and all the magistrates, to whom</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The holy treasures were consigned, assembled,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In secret councils held, and placed a guard</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Behind the massive columns in the fane.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We, unapprized of this, meantime had caught</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Some sheep, that fed amid Parnassus’ grove,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And with our Delphic friends and Pythian seers</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Approached the altar: some one said: “Young man,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What vows on thy behalf shall we address</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To Phœbus? for what purpose art thou come?”</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He answered: “To the god I wish to make</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A due atonement for my past offence,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Because I erst from him with impious tongue</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Claimed satisfaction for my father’s blood.”</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hence did Orestes’ calumnies appear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To have great weight, suggesting that my lord</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Spoke an untruth, and that he hither came</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With vile designs. Beneath the holy roof,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That to Apollo he might offer up</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His prayers in that oracular abode,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He now advanced, and as they blazed, observed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The victims: here a troop with falchions armed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Screened by the branching laurels stood; the son</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Clytemnestra was the sole contriver</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of all these stratagems. Our lord stood forth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And, in the sight of this insidious band,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Adored the god: while they with their keen swords,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ere he discerned them, pierced Achilles’ son</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Unsheathed in mail. He instantly retreated;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For he as yet had by no deadly wound</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Been smitten; but snatched up in his retreat</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Those glittering arms which near the portals hung,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And stood a champion terrible to view,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Close to the blazing altar: with loud voice</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He questioned the inhabitants of Delphi:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">“Me who a pious votary hither come,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Why, or for what offences, would ye slay!”</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Although the number of his foes was great,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">None of them answered, but all hands hurled stones:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On every side assaulted by a storm</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thick as the falling snows, he warded off,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Extending the broad margin of his shield,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Each missile weapon: but of no avail</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_285">[285]</span>Was this resistance: for the spear, the shaft,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The dart, were thrown at once, and at his feet</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Mixed instruments of sacrifice lay scattered.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Th’ agility with which your grandson shunned</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The blows they aimed, was wondrous to behold:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They in a circle gathering round, closed in,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor gave him space to breathe, till from the altar</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Descending with a leap like that which bore</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The hapless Grecian chief to Phrygia’s coast,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He rushed among them: like a flock of doves</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who see the hawk appear, they turned and fled:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In heaps on heaps promiscuous, many fell,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Some in the narrow passage wounded lay,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">While others o’er them trampled, and their groans</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Unholy echoed through the hallowed dome.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But, tranquil as the waters in a calm,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In golden arms my lord resplendent stood,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Till from the inmost sanctuary burst forth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A deep-toned voice of horror, which impelled</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The recreant warriors to renew the fight:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Achilles’ son then smitten through the flank</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With a keen sword, by one of Delphi fell,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who slew him, yet ignobly, with the aid</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of multitudes. But after he to earth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Was fallen, what sword transpierced him not, what hand</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Threw not a stone to smite him? his whole frame,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">So graceful erst, was with unnumbered wounds</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Disfigured: till at length his mangled corse,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which stained the altar’s basis, from the fane</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Drenched with the blood of victims they cast forth.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But gathering up with speed, his loved remains</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To you we bear, O venerable man,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That o’er them you may shed the plenteous tear,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And grace them with sepulchral rites. Thus Phœbus,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who prophesies to others, mighty king,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And deals out justice to th’ admiring world,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hath on Achilles’ son revenged himself,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And, like some worthless human foe, revived</div> + <div class="verse indent0">An ancient grudge: how then can he be wise?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse right">[<i>Exit</i> <span class="smcap">Messenger</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> But lo! our royal master, from the land</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Delphi borne, approaches these abodes!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wretched was he, by such untimely doom</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O’ertaken: nor art thou, O aged man,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Less wretched than the slaughtered youth: for thou</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Into thy doors receiv’st Achilles’ son,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But not as thou couldst wish; thou too art fallen</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Into affliction’s snare.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pel.</span> <span class="hemi20">What piteous object,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_286">[286]</span>Ah me! do I behold, and with these hands</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Receive into my house! we are undone,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We are undone, O thou Thessalian city;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I have no children, no descendants left,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To occupy these mansions. On what friend</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall I a wretched sufferer turn my eyes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And hope to find relief? O thou dear face,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ye cheeks, ye hands! thee would to Heaven that fate</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In those embattled fields of Troy had slain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beside the waves of Simois!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi22">He in death</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hence would have found renown; thou too, old man,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wouldst have been happier.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pel.</span> <span class="hemi22">Thou, O wedlock, wedlock,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">These mansions and my city hast o’erthrown.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My grandson, through the inauspicious nuptials</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By thee contracted, would to heaven my gates</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Had ne’er received that execrable fiend</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hermione, thy bane! O had she first</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With thunderbolts been smitten! nor hadst thou,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Presumptuous mortal, charged the Delphic god</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With having aimed the shaft which slew thy sire!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> I will awake the sad funereal dirge,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And wailing pay to my departed lord</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Such customary tribute as attends</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The shades of mighty chiefs.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pel.</span> <span class="hemi24">Ah me! at once</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">With misery and old age bowed down to earth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I shed th’ incessant tear.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi22">Thus hath the god</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ordained, the god’s vindictive arm hath wrought</div> + <div class="verse indent0">All these calamities.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pel.</span> <span class="hemi18">O most beloved,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">This house, ah me! a desert hast thou left,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And me a miserable old man made childless.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Before thy children, O thou aged man,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou shouldst have died.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pel.</span> <span class="hemi20">Shall I not rend my hair,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">And beat with desperate hands this hoary head?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O city! Phœbus hath of both my sons</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Deprived me.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi8">O thou miserable old man,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">What evils hast thou witnessed and endured!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How wilt thou pass the remnant of thy life?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pel.</span> Childless, forlorn, no period to my woes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Can I discover, but till death must drink</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The bitter potion.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi14">Sure the gods in vain</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Showered blessings on thy nuptials.</div> + </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_287">[287]</span> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pel.</span> <span class="hemi32">Fled and withered</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is all our ancient pomp.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> <span class="hemi20">Alone thou mov’st</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Around thy lonely house.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pel.</span> <span class="hemi20">I have no city.</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thee, O my sceptre, to the ground I cast,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And from yon dreary caverns of the main,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Daughter of Nereus, me wilt thou behold</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Utterly ruined, grovelling in the dust.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> Ha! who was it that moved? what form divine</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Do I perceive? look there! ye nymphs, attend,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With rapid passage through the fleecy clouds</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Borne onward, some divinity arrives</div> + <div class="verse indent0">At Phthia’s pastures, famed for generous steeds.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center"><span class="smcap">Thetis</span>, <span class="smcap">Peleus</span>, <span class="smcap">Chorus</span>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">The.</span> O Peleus, mindful of the ties which bound</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Our plighted love, I hither from the house</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Nereus come, and with these wholesome counsels</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Begin; despair not, though thy present woes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are grievous: for e’en I who should have borne</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A race of children such as ne’er might cause</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My tears to stream, have lost the son who crowned</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Our hopes, Achilles, swift of foot, the first</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Grecian heroes. But to thee, the motives</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which brought me hither, will I now relate;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O listen to my voice. Back to that altar</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Devoted to the Pythian god, convey</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This body of Achilles’ slaughtered son,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And bury it; so shall his tomb declare</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The murderous violence Orestes’ band</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Committed: but yon captive dame, I mean</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Andromache, on Helenus bestowed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In marriage, in Molossia’s land must dwell,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And her young son, the only royal branch</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which of the stem of Æacus remains;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From him in long succession shall a race</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of happy kings Molossia’s sceptre wield:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor will our progeny, O aged man,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Be utterly extinct, when blended thus</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With Ilion, still protected by the gods,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Though by Minerva’s stratagems it fell.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But, as for thee, that thou mayst know the blessing</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of having wedded me, who am by birth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A goddess and the daughter of a god,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From all the ills which wait on human life</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Releasing, thee immortal will I make</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And incorruptible; with me a goddess</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In Nereus’ watery mansions thou a god</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_288">[288]</span>Hereafter shalt reside, and from the waves</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Emerging with dry feet, behold our son</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Achilles, to his parents justly dear,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Inhabiting that isle whose chalky coasts</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are laved by the surrounding Euxine deep.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But go to Delphi’s city by the gods</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Erected, thither bear this weltering corse,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And when thou hast interred it, to this land</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Return, and in that cave which through the rock</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Sepia time hath worn, thy station keep</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Till from the waves I with my sister choir</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The fifty Nereids come, to bear thee hence.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou must endure the woe’s imposed by fate,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For thus hath Jove ordained. But cease to grieve</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For the deceased: for by the righteous gods</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The same impartial sentence is awarded</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To the whole human race, and death’s a debt</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which all must pay.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Pel.</span> <span class="hemi16">Hail, venerable dame,</span></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Daughter of Nereus, my illustrious wife:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For what thou dost is worthy of thyself,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And of thy progeny. I cease to grieve</div> + <div class="verse indent0">At thy command, O goddess, and will go,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Soon as my grandson’s corse I have interred,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To Pelion’s cave, where first thy beauteous form</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I in these arms received. The man whose choice</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is by discretion guided, should select</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A consort nobly born, and give his daughters</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To those of virtuous families, nor wish</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To wed a damsel sprung from worthless sires,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Though to his house a plenteous dower she bring:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">So shall he ne’er incur the wrath of Heaven.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Chor.</span> A thousand shapes our varying fates assume,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The gods perform what we could least expect,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And oft the things for which we fondly hoped</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Come not to pass: but Heaven still finds a clue</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To guide our steps through life’s perplexing maze.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And thus does this important business end.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77336 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/77336-h/images/cover.jpg b/77336-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b33a4cd --- /dev/null +++ b/77336-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/77336-h/images/line.jpg b/77336-h/images/line.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2e2447d --- /dev/null +++ b/77336-h/images/line.jpg diff --git a/77336-h/images/morleys.jpg b/77336-h/images/morleys.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3c7853c --- /dev/null +++ b/77336-h/images/morleys.jpg diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6c72794 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This book, 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. 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