 | The Maidens of Trachis |  |
821–861.
Stroph. I.
See, O ye maidens, how the sacred word
Of that far-seeing Providence of Heaven
Hath sped, through which we heard
That, when the twelfth full harvest-tide should come,
Its months completed, there should then be given
To the true son of Zeus full rest at home
From many a toil and woe;
And rightly all things go;
For how can one who seeth not the day
In bondage still to evils wear his life away?
Antistroph. I.
Of that far-seeing Providence of Heaven
Hath sped, through which we heard
That, when the twelfth full harvest-tide should come,
Its months completed, there should then be given
To the true son of Zeus full rest at home
From many a toil and woe;
And rightly all things go;
For how can one who seeth not the day
In bondage still to evils wear his life away?
For if with murderous cloud from Kentaur fierce
A subtle fate wrap all his stalwart frame,
And the hot venom pierce,
Which Death begat and spotted dragon reared,
How can he hope to see the sun's bright flame,
Beyond to-day, by form fell, dark, and feared,
Of Hydra done to death,
While words of crafty breath
And deadly throbs of pain that seize and burn,
Caused by the swarth-maned monster, all his might o'er-turn?
Stroph. II.
A subtle fate wrap all his stalwart frame,
And the hot venom pierce,
471
How can he hope to see the sun's bright flame,
Beyond to-day, by form fell, dark, and feared,
Of Hydra done to death,
While words of crafty breath
And deadly throbs of pain that seize and burn,
Caused by the swarth-maned monster, all his might o'er-turn?
And she, (ah misery!)
Seeing a great evil to her home draw nigh
Of marriage strange and new,
Hath failed to scan aright the things she knew,
And now has cause to mourn
The alien counsel of fell converse born;
She pours, I trow, in fears,
A pelting rain of fast down-dropping tears;
And coming Destiny
Unfolds a subtle, great calamity.
Antistroph. II.
Seeing a great evil to her home draw nigh
Of marriage strange and new,
Hath failed to scan aright the things she knew,
And now has cause to mourn
The alien counsel of fell converse born;
She pours, I trow, in fears,
A pelting rain of fast down-dropping tears;
And coming Destiny
Unfolds a subtle, great calamity.
The flood of tears flows fast;
Sore evil spreads, like which in all the past
Ne'er from most hostile foe
Came on the son of Zeus far-famed, a woe
That well might move to tears.
O thou dark point of war's victorious spears,
Thou broughtest then yon bride,
Won where Œchalia soareth in its pride;
And she of Kypros still.
In speechless might, is seen to work out Heaven's high will.
Sore evil spreads, like which in all the past
Ne'er from most hostile foe
Came on the son of Zeus far-famed, a woe
That well might move to tears.
O thou dark point of war's victorious spears,
Thou broughtest then yon bride,
Won where Œchalia soareth in its pride;
And she of Kypros still.
In speechless might, is seen to work out Heaven's high will.
| The Maidens of Trachis | |