The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries Volume I Part 100

Then will the mighty aim accomplish'd be; Such high reward deserves such striving;--wealth, Honor and glory, lengthen'd life, sound health, Knowledge withal and virtue--possibly.

Farewell!

WAGNER

Farewell! That grieves my heart full sore!

I fear indeed I ne'er shall see thee more.

MEPHISTOPHELES

Now to Peneios forth we wend!

We must not slight our cousin's aid.

(_To the spectators_)

At last, in sooth, we all depend On creatures we ourselves have made.

ACT THE THIRD

BEFORE THE PALACE OF MENELAUS IN SPARTA

_Enter_ HELENA, _with a chorus of captive Trojan women_ PENTHALIS, _leader of the chorus_

HELENA

The much admired and much upbraided, Helena, From yonder strand I come, where erst we disembark'd, Still giddy from the roll of ocean's billowy surge, Which, through Poseidon's favor and through Euros' might, On lofty crested backs. .h.i.ther hath wafted us, From Phrygia's open field, to our ancestral bays.

Yonder King Menelaus, glad of his return, With his brave men of war, rejoices on the beach.

But oh, thou lofty mansion, bid me welcome home, Thou, near the steep decline, which Tyndareus, my sire, From Pallas' hill returning, here hath builded up; Which also was adorned beyond all Sparta's homes, What time with Clytemnestra, sister-like, I grew, With Castor, Pollux, too, playing in joyous sport.

Wings of yon brazen portals, you I also hail!

Through you, ye guest-inviting, hospitable gates, Hath Menelaus once, from many princes chosen, Shone radiant on my sight, in nuptial sort arrayed.

Expand to me once more, that I the king's behest May faithfully discharge, as doth the spouse beseem.

Let me within, and all henceforth behind remain, That, charged with doom, till now darkly hath round me stormed!

For since, by care untroubled, I these sites forsook, Seeking Cythera's fane, as sacred wont enjoined, And by the spoiler there was seized, the Phrygian, Happened have many things, whereof men far and wide Are fain to tell, but which not fain to hear is he Of whom the tale, expanding, hath to fable grown.

CHORUS

Disparage not, oh glorious dame, Honor'd possession of highest estate!

For sole unto thee is the greatest boon given; The fame of beauty that all over-towers!

The hero's name before him resounds, So strides he with pride; Nathless at once the stubbornest yields To beauty, the presence which all things subdues.

HELENA

Enough! I with my spouse, s.h.i.+p-borne, have hither sped, And to his city now by him before am sent.

But what the thought he harbors, that I cannot guess.

Come I as consort hither? Come I as a queen?

Come I as victim for the prince's bitter pangs, And for the evils dire, long suffered by the Greeks?

Conquered I am; but whether captive, know I not: For the Immortal Powers fortune and fame for me Have doomed ambiguous; direful ministers that wait On beauty's form, who even on this threshold here, With dark and threat'ning mien, stand bodeful at my side!

Already, ere we left the hollow s.h.i.+p, my spouse Looked seldom on me, spake no comfortable word; As though he mischief brooded, facing me he sat.

But now, when to Eurotas' deeply curving sh.o.r.es Steering our course, scarce had our foremost vessel's beak The land saluted, spake he, as by G.o.d inspired: "Here let my men of war, in ordered ranks, disbark; I marshal them, drawn up upon the ocean strand; But thou, pursue thy way, not swerving from the banks, Laden with fruit, that bound Eurotas' sacred stream, Thy coursers guiding o'er the moist enamelled meads, Until thou may'st arrive at that delightful plain, Where Lacedaemon, once a broad fruit-bearing field, By mountains stern surrounded lifteth now its walls.

Set thou thy foot within the tower-crown'd princely house, a.s.semble thou the maids, whom I at parting left, And with them summon too the wise old stewardess.

Bid her display to thee the treasures' ample store, As by thy sire bequeathed, and which, in peace and war, Increasing evermore, I have myself up-piled.

All standing shalt thou find in ancient order; for, This is the prince's privilege, that to his home, When he returns at last, safe everything he finds, Each in its proper place, as he hath left it there.

For nothing of himself the slave hath power to change."

CHORUS

Oh gladden now, with glorious wealth, Ever increasing, thine eye and heart!

For beautiful chains, the adornment of crowns, Are priding themselves, in haughty repose; But step thou in, and challenge them all, They arm themselves straight; I joy to see beauty contend for the prize, With gold, and with pearls, and with jewels of price.

HELENA

Forthwith hath followed next this mandate of my lord: "Now when in order thou all things hast duly seen, As many tripods take, as needful thou may'st deem, And vessels manifold, which he at hand requires, Who duly would perform the sacrificial rite, The caldrons, and the bowls, and shallow altar-plates; Let purest water, too, from sacred fount be there, In lofty pitchers; further, store of season'd wood, Quick to accept the flame, hold thou in readiness; A knife, of sharpest edge, let it not fail at last.

But I all other things to thy sole care resign."

So spake he, urging me at once to part; but naught, Breathing the breath of life, the orderer appoints, That, to the Olympians' honor, he to slaughter doom'd: Suspicious seems it! yet, dismiss I further care; To the high G.o.ds' decree be everything referred, Who evermore fulfil, what they in thought conceive; It may, in sooth, by men, as evil or as good Be counted, it by us, poor mortals, must be borne.

Full oft the ponderous axe on high the priest hath raised, In consecration o'er the earth-bowed victim's neck.

Nor could achieve the rite, for he was hindered, Or by approaching foe, or intervening G.o.d.

CHORUS

What now will happen, canst thou not guess; Enter, queen, enter thou in, Strong of heart!

Evil cometh and good Unexpected to mortals; Though foretold, we credit it not.

Troya was burning, have we not seen Death before us, terrible death!

And are we not here, Bound to thee, serving with joy, Seeing the dazzling suns.h.i.+ne of heaven, And of earth too the fairest, Kind one--thyself--happy are we!

HELENA

Come what come may! Whate'er impends, me it behoves To ascend, without delay, into the royal house, Long missed, oft yearned-for, well-nigh forfeited; Before mine eyes once more it stands, I know not how.

My feet now bear me not so lightly as of yore, When up the lofty steps I, as a child, have sprung.

CHORUS

Fling now, O sisters, ye Captives who mourn your lot, All your sorrows far from you.

Share ye your mistress' joy!

Share ye Helena's joy, Who to the dear paternal hearth, Though returning full late in sooth, Nathless with surer, firmer tread Joyfully now approaches!

Praise ye the holy ones, Happy restoring ones, G.o.d's, the home-leaders, praise ye!

Soars the enfranchised one, As upon out-spread wings, Over the roughest fate, while in vain Pines the captured one, yearning-fraught Over the prison-battlements Arms out-stretching, in anguish.

Nathless her a G.o.d hath seized, The exiled one, And from Ilion's wreck Bare her hitherward back once more, To the ancient, the newly-adorned Father-house, After unspeakable Pleasure and anguish, Earlier youthful time, Newly quicken'd, to ponder.

PENTHALIS (_as leader of the chorus_)

Forsake ye now of song the joy-surrounded path, As toward the portal-wings turn ye forthwith your gaze!

What see I, sisters? Here, returneth not the queen?

With step of eager haste, comes she not back to us?-- What is it, mighty queen, that in the palace-halls, Instead of friendly hail, could there encounter thee, And shatter thus thy being? Thou conceal'st it not; For I abhorrence see, impressed upon thy brow, And n.o.ble anger, that contendeth with surprise.

HELENA (_who has left the folded doors open, excited_)