| Aeschylus Index |
SEMI-
CHORUS
antistrophe 2
Ah, but I tremble and quake lest again they should sail to
reclaim!
Alas for the sorrow to come, the blood and the carnage of war.
Ah, by whose will was it done that o'er the wide ocean they came,
Guided by favouring winds, and wafted by sail and by oar?
SEMI-
CHORUS
Peace! for what Fate hath ordained will surely not tarry but come;
Wide is the counsel of Zeus, by no man escaped or withstood:
Only I pray that whate'er, in the end, of this wedlock he doom,
We, as many a maiden of old, may win from the ill to the good.
SEMI-
CHORUS
strophe 3
Great Zeus, this wedlock turn from me-
Me from the kinsman bridegroom guard!
SEMI-
CHORUS
Come what come may, 'tis Fate's decree.
SEMI-
CHORUS
Soft is thy word-the doom is hard.
SEMI-
CHORUS
Thou know'st not what the Fates provide.
SEMI-
CHORUS
antistrophe 3
How should I scan Zeus' mighty will,
The depth of counsel undescried?
SEMI-
CHORUS
Pray thou no word of omen ill.
SEMI-
CHORUS
What timely warning wouldst thou teach?
SEMI-
CHORUS
Beware, nor slight the gods in speech.
SEMI-
CHORUS
strophe 4
Zeus, hold from my body the wedlock detested, the bridegroom
abhorred!
It was thou, it was thou didst release
Mine ancestress Io from sorrow: thine healing it was that
restored,
The touch of thine hand gave her peace.
SEMI-
CHORUS
antistrophe 4
Be thy will for the cause of the maidens! of two ills, the lesser
I pray-
The exile that leaveth me pure.
May thy justice have heed to my cause, my prayers to thy mercy
find way!
For the hands of thy saving are sure.
THE END
|
Buy Books!
|
