Four Plays of Aeschylus Part 6

Ay, but Come wolf, flee jackal, saith the saw; Nor can the flax-plant overbear the corn.

CHORUS

l.u.s.tful, accursed, monstrous is their will As of beasts ravening-'ware we of their power!

DANAUS

Look you, not swiftly puts a fleet to sea, Nor swiftly to its moorings; long it is Or e'er the saving cables to the sh.o.r.e Are borne, and long or e'er the steersmen cry, The good s.h.i.+p swings at anchor-all is well.

Longest of all, the task to come aland Where haven there is none, when sunset fades In night. To pilot wise, the adage saith, Night is a day of wakefulness and pain.

Therefore no force of weaponed men, as yet Scatheless can come ash.o.r.e, before the bank Lie at her anchorage securely moored.

Bethink thee therefore, nor in panic leave The shrine of G.o.ds whose succour thou hast won I go for aid-men shall not blame me long, Old, but with youth at heart and on my tongue [Exit DANAUS.

CHORUS

O land of hill and dale, O holy land, What shall befall us? whither shall we flee, From Apian land to some dark lair of earth?

O would that in vapour of smoke I might rise to the clouds of the sky, That as dust which flits up without wings I might pa.s.s and evanish and die!

I dare not, I dare not abide: my heart yearns, eager to fly; And dark is the cast of my thought; I shudder and tremble for fear.

My father looked forth and beheld: I die of the sight that draws near.

And for me be the strangling cord, the halter made ready by Fate, Before to my body draws nigh the man of my horror and hate.

Nay, ere I will own him as lord, as handmaid to Hades I go!

And oh, that aloft in the sky, where the dark clouds are frozen to snow, A refuge for me might be found, or a mountain-top smooth and too high For the foot of the goat, where the vulture sits lonely, and none may descry The pinnacle veiled in the cloud, the highest and sheerest of all, Ere to wedlock that rendeth my heart, and love that is loveless, I fall!

Yea, a prey to the dogs and the birds of the mount will I give me to be,- From wailing and curse and pollution it is death, only death, sets me free: Let death come upon me before to the ravisher's bed I am thrust; What champion, what saviour but death can I find, or what refuge from l.u.s.t?

I will utter my shriek of entreaty, a prayer that shrills up to the sky, That calleth the G.o.ds to compa.s.sion, a tuneful, a pitiful cry, That is loud to invoke the releaser.

O father, look down on the fight; Look down in thy wrath on the wronger, with eyes that are eager for right.

Zeus, thou that art lord of the world, whose kingdom is strong over all, Have mercy on us! At thine altar for refuge and safety we call.

For the race of Aegyptus is fierce, with greed and with malice afire; They cry as the questing hounds, they sweep with the speed of desire.

But thine is the balance of fate, thou rulest the wavering scale, And without thee no mortal emprise shall have strength to achieve or prevail.

Alack, alack! the ravisher- He leaps from boat to beach, he draweth near!

Away, thou plunderer accurst!

Death seize thee first, Or e'er thou touch me-off! G.o.d, hear our cry, Our maiden agony!

Ah, ah, the touch, the prelude of my shame.

Alas, my maiden fame!

O sister, sister, to the altar cling, For he that seizeth me, Grim is his wrath and stern, by land as on the sea.

Guard us, O king!

[Enter the HERALD OF AEGYPTUS]

HERALD OF AEGYPTUS

Hence to my barge-step swiftly, tarry not.

CHORUS

Alack, he rends-he rends my hair! O wound on wound!

Help! my lopped head will fall, my blood gush o'er the ground!

HERALD OF AEGYPTUS

Aboard, ye cursed-with a new curse, go!

CHORUS

Would G.o.d that on the wand'ring brine Thou and this braggart tongue of thine Had sunk beneath the main- Thy mast and planks, made fast in vain!

Thee would I drive aboard once more, A slayer and a dastard, from the sh.o.r.e!

HERALD OF AEGYPTUS

Be still, thou vain demented soul; My force thy craving shall control.

Away, aboard! What, clingest to the shrine?

Away! this city's G.o.ds I hold not for divine.

CHORUS

Aid me, ye G.o.ds, that never, never I may again behold The mighty, the life-giving river, Nilus, the quickener of field and fold!

Alack, O sire, unto the shrine I cling- Shrine of this land from which mine ancient line did spring!

HERALD OF AEGYPTUS

Shrines, shrines, forsooth!-the s.h.i.+p, the s.h.i.+p be shrine!

Aboard, perforce and will-ye nill-ye, go!

Or e'er from hands of mine Ye suffer torments worse and blow on blow.

CHORUS

Alack, G.o.d grant those hands may strive in vain With the salt-streaming wave, When 'gainst the wide-blown blasts thy bark shall strain To round Sarpedon's cape, the sandbank's treach'rous grave.

HERALD OF AEGYPTUS

Shrill ye and shriek unto what G.o.ds ye may, Ye shall not leap from out Aegyptus' bark, How bitterly soe'er ye wail your woe.

CHORUS

Alack, alack my wrong!

Stern is thy voice, thy vaunting loud and strong.

Thy sire, the mighty Nilus, drive thee hence Turning to death and doom thy greedy violence!

HERALD OF AEGYPTUS

Swift to the vessel of the double prow, Go quickly! let none linger, else this hand Ruthless will hale you by your tresses hence.

CHORUS

Alack, O father! from the shrine Not aid but agony is mine.

As a spider he creeps and he clutches his prey, And he hales me away.

A spectre of darkness, of darkness. Alas and alas! well-a-day!

O Earth, O my mother! O Zeus, thou king of the earth, and her child!

Turn back, we pray thee, from us his clamour and threatenings wild!

HERALD OF AEGYPTUS

Peace! I fear not this country's deities.

They fostered not my childhood nor mine age.

CHORUS

Like a snake that is human he comes, he shudders and crawls to my side; As an adder that biteth the foot, his clutch on my flesh doth abide.

O Earth, O my mother! O Zeus, thou king of the earth, and her child!

Turn back, we pray thee, from us his clamour and threatenings wild!

HERALD OF AEGYPTUS

Swift each unto the s.h.i.+p; repine no more, Or my hand shall not spare to rend your robe.

CHORUS

O chiefs, O leaders, aid me, or I yield!