Æschylos Tragedies and Fragments. Aeschylus

give up their sweet bodies. And the land

      Pelasgian196 shall receive them, when by stroke

      Of woman's murderous hand these men shall lie

      Smitten to death by daring deed of night:

      For every bride shall take her husband's life,

      And dip in blood the sharp two-edgèd sword

      (So to my foes may Kypris show herself!)197

      Yet one of that fair band shall love persuade

      Her husband not to slaughter, and her will

      Shall lose its edge; and she shall make her choice

      Rather as weak than murderous to be known.

      And she at Argos shall a royal seed

      Bring forth (long speech 'twould take to tell this clear)

      Famed for his arrows, who shall set me free198

      From these my woes. Such was the oracle

      Mine ancient mother Themis, Titan-born,

      Gave to me; but the manner and the means, —

      That needs a lengthy tale to tell the whole,

      And thou can'st nothing gain by learning it.

      Io. Eleleu! Oh, Eleleu!199

      The throbbing pain inflames me, and the mood

      Of frenzy-smitten rage;

      The gadfly's pointed sting,

      Not forged with fire, attacks,

      And my heart beats against my breast with fear.

      Mine eyes whirl round and round:

      Out of my course I'm borne

      By the wild spirit of fierce agony,

      And cannot curb my lips,

      And turbid speech at random dashes on

      Upon the waves of dread calamity.

Strophe I

      Chor. Wise, very wise was he

      Who first in thought conceived this maxim sage,

      And spread it with his speech,200—

      That the best wedlock is with equals found,

      And that a craftsman, born to work with hands,

      Should not desire to wed

      Or with the soft luxurious heirs of wealth,

      Or with the race that boast their lineage high.

Antistrophe I

      Oh ne'er, oh ne'er, dread Fates,

      May ye behold me as the bride of Zeus,

      The partner of his couch,

      Nor may I wed with any heaven-born spouse!

      For I shrink back, beholding Io's lot

      Of loveless maidenhood,

      Consumed and smitten low exceedingly

      By the wild wanderings from great Hera sent!

Strophe II

      To me, when wedlock is on equal terms,

      It gives no cause to fear:

      Ne'er may the love of any of the Gods,

      The strong Gods, look on me

      With glance I cannot 'scape!

Antistrophe II

      That fate is war that none can war against,

      Source of resourceless ill;

      Nor know I what might then become of me:

      I see not how to 'scape

      The counsel deep of Zeus.

      Prom. Yea, of a truth shall Zeus, though stiff of will,

      Be brought full low. Such bed of wedlock now

      Is he preparing, one to cast him forth

      In darkness from his sovereignty and throne.

      And then the curse his father Cronos spake

      Shall have its dread completion, even that

      He uttered when he left his ancient throne;

      And from these troubles no one of the Gods

      But me can clearly show the way to 'scape.

      I know the time and manner: therefore now

      Let him sit fearless, in his peals on high

      Putting his trust, and shaking in his hands

      His darts fire-breathing. Nought shall they avail

      To hinder him from falling shamefully

      A fall intolerable. Such a combatant

      He arms against himself, a marvel dread,

      Who shall a fire discover mightier far

      Than the red levin, and a sound more dread

      Than roaring of the thunder, and shall shiver

      That plague sea-born that causeth earth to quake,

      The trident, weapon of Poseidon's strength:

      And stumbling on this evil, he shall learn

      How far apart a king's lot from a slave's.

      Chor. What thou dost wish thou mutterest against Zeus.

      Prom. Things that shall be, and things I wish, I speak.

      Chor. And must we look for one to master Zeus?

      Prom. Yea, troubles harder far than these are his.

      Chor. Art not afraid to vent such words as these?

      Prom. What can I fear whose fate is not to die?

      Chor. But He may send on thee worse pain than this.

      Prom. So let Him do: nought finds me unprepared.

      Chor. Wisdom is theirs who Adrasteia worship.201

      Prom. Worship then, praise and flatter him that rules;

      My care for Zeus is nought, and less than nought:

      Let Him act, let Him rule this little while,

      E'en as He will; for long He shall not rule

      Over the Gods. But lo! I see at hand

      The courier of the Gods, the minister

      Of our new sovereign. Doubtless he has come

      To bring me tidings of some new device.

Enter Hermes

      Herm. Thee do I speak to, – thee, the teacher wise,

196

Argos. So in the Suppliants, Pelasgos is the mythical king of the Apian land who receives them.

197

Hypermnæstra, who spared Lynceus, and by him became the mother of Abas and a line of Argive kings.

198

Heracles, who came to Caucasos, and with his arrows slew the eagle that devoured Prometheus.

199

The word is simply an interjection of pain, but one so characteristic that I have thought it better to reproduce it than to give any English equivalent.

200

The maxim, “Marry with a woman thine equal,” was ascribed to Pittacos.

201

The Euhemerism of later scholiasts derived the name from a king Adrastos, who was said to have been the first to build a temple to Nemesis, and so the power thus worshipped was called after his name. A better etymology leads us to see in it the idea of the “inevitable” law of retribution working unseen by men, and independently even of the arbitrary will of the Gods, and bringing destruction upon the proud and haughty.