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.
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.
Aeschylus
Go--but remember ye your sire's behest,
And hold your life less dear than chastity.
CHORUS
The gods above grant that all else be well.
But fear not thou, O sire, lest aught befall
Of ill unto our ripened maidenhood.
So long as Heaven have no new ill devised,
From its chaste path my spirit shall not swerve.
SEMI-CHORUS
Pass and adore ye the Blessed, the gods of the city
who dwell
Around Erasinus, the gush of the swift immemorial
tide.
SEMI-CHORUS
Chant ye, O maidens; aloud let the praise of
Pelasgia swell;
Hymn we no longer the shores where Nilus to ocean
doth glide.
SEMI-CHORUS
Sing we the bounteous streams that ripple and gush
through the city;
Quickening flow they and fertile, the soft new life of
the plain.
SEMI-CHORUS
Artemis, maiden most pure, look on us with grace
and with pity--
Save us from forced embraces: such love hath no
crown but a pain.
SEMI-CHORUS
Yet not in scorn we chant, but in honour of
Aphrodite;
She truly and Hera alone have power with Zeus and
control.
Holy the deeds of her rite, her craft is secret and
mighty,
And high is her honour on earth, and subtle her
sway of the soul.
SEMI-CHORUS
Yea, and her child is Desire: in the train of his
mother he goeth--
Yea and Persuasion soft-lipped, whom none can deny
or repel:
Cometh Harmonia too, on whom Aphrodite bestoweth
The whispering parley, the paths of the rapture that
lovers love well.
SEMI-CHORUS
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. [7]
[Footnote: 7: The ambiguity of these two lines is reproduced from
the original. The Semi-Chorus appear to pray, in one aspiration,
that the threatened wedlock may never take place, and, _if_ it does
take place, may be for weal, not woe. ]
SEMI-CHORUS
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
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
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
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!
