more fierce they are than
serpents
fell
THE KING OF ARGOS
We spake thee fair--speak thou them fair in turn.
THE KING OF ARGOS
We spake thee fair--speak thou them fair in turn.
Aeschylus
Swift is this folk to censure those who rule;
But, if they see these signs of suppliance,
It well may chance that each will pity you,
And loathe the young men's violent pursuit;
And thus a fairer favour you may find:
For, to the helpless, each man's heart is kind.
DANAUS
To us, beyond gifts manifold it is
To find a champion thus compassionate;
Yet send with me attendants, of thy folk,
Rightly to guide me, that I duly find
Each altar of your city's gods that stands
Before the fane, each dedicated shrine;
And that in safety through the city's ways
I may pass onwards: all unlike to yours
The outward semblance that I wear--the race
that Nilus rears is all dissimilar
That of Inachus. Keep watch and ward
Lest heedlessness bring death: full oft, I ween,
Friend hath slain friend, not knowing whom he slew.
THE KING OF ARGOS
Go at his side, attendants,--he saith well.
On to the city's consecrated shrines!
Nor be of many words to those ye meet,
The while this suppliant voyager ye lead.
[_Exit_ DANAUS _with attendants_.
CHORUS
Let him go forward, thy command obeying.
But me how biddest, how assurest thou?
THE KING OF ARGOS
Leave there the new-plucked boughs, thy sorrow's sign.
CHORUS
Thus beckoned forth, at thy behest I leave them.
THE KING OF ARGOS
Now to this level precinct turn thyself.
CHORUS
Unconsecrate it is, and cannot shield me.
THE KING OF ARGOS
We will not yield thee to those falcons' greed.
CHORUS
What help?
more fierce they are than serpents fell
THE KING OF ARGOS
We spake thee fair--speak thou them fair in turn.
CHORUS
What marvel that we loathe them, scared in soul?
THE KING OF ARGOS
Awe towards a king should other fears transcend.
CHORUS
Thus speak, thus act, and reassure my mind.
THE KING OF ARGOS
Not long thy sire shall leave thee desolate.
But I will call the country's indwellers,
And with soft words th' assembly will persuade,
And warn your sire what pleadings will avail.
Therefore abide ye, and with prayer entreat
The country's gods to compass your desire;
The while I go, this matter to provide,
Persuasion and fair fortune at my side.
[_Exit the_ KING OF ARGOS.
CHORUS
O King of Kings, among the blest
Thou highest and thou happiest,
Listen and grant our prayer,
And, deeply loathing, thrust
Away from us the young men's lust,
And deeply drown
In azure waters, down and ever down,
Benches and rowers dark,
The fatal and perfidious bark!
Unto the maidens turn thy gracious care;
Think yet again upon the tale of fame,
How from the maiden loved of thee there sprung
Mine ancient line, long since in many a legend sung!
Remember, O remember, thou whose hand
Did Io by a touch to human shape reclaim.
For from this Argos erst our mother came
Driven hence to Egypt's land,
Yet sprung of Zeus we were, and hence our birth we claim.
And now have I roamed back
Unto the ancient track
Where Io roamed and pastured among flowers,
Watched o'er by Argus' eyes,
Through the lush grasses and the meadow bowers.
Thence, by the gadfly maddened, forth she flies
Unto far lands and alien peoples driven
And, following fate, through paths of foam and surge,
Sees, as she goes, the cleaving strait divide
Greece, from the Eastland riven.
And swift through Asian borders doth she urge
Her course, o'er Phrygian mountains' sheep-clipt side;
Thence, where the Mysian realm of Teuthras lies
Towards Lydian lowlands hies,
And o'er Cilician and Pamphylian hills
And ever-flowing rills,
And thence to Aphrodite's fertile shore, [5]
[Footnote: 5: Cyprus. ]
The land of garnered wheat and wealthy store
And thence, deep-stung by wild unrest,
By the winged fly that goaded her and drave,
Unto the fertile land, the god-possest,
(Where, fed from far-off snows,
Life-giving Nilus flows,
Urged on by Typho's strength, a fertilizing wave)
She roves, in harassed and dishonoured flight
Scathed by the blasting pangs of Hera's dread despite.