Chapter 3
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] 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. And they within the land With terror shook and wanned, So strange the sight they saw, and were afraid— A wild twy-natured thing, half heifer and half maid. Whose hand was laid at last on Io, thus forlorn, With many roamings worn? Who bade the harassed maiden’s peace return? Zeus, lord of time eterne. Yea, by his breath divine, by his unscathing strength, She lays aside her bane, And softened back to womanhood at length Sheds human tears again. Then, quickened with Zeus’ veritable seed, A progeny she bare, A stainless babe, a child of heavenly breed. Of life and fortune fair. _His is the life of life_—so all men say,— _His is the seed of Zeus. Who else had power stern Hera’s craft to stay, Her vengeful curse to loose?_
Yea, all from Zeus befell! And rightly wouldst thou tell That we from Epaphus, his child, were born: Justly his deed was done; Unto what other one, Of all the gods, should I for justice turn? From him our race did spring; Creator he and King, Ancient of days and wisdom he, and might. As bark before the wind, So, wafted by his mind, Moves every counsel, each device aright. Beneath no stronger hand Holds he a weak command, No throne doth he abase him to adore; Swift as a word, his deed Acts out what stands decreed In counsels of his heart, for evermore.
Re-enter DANAUS.
DANAUS. Take heart, my children: the land’s heart is kind, And to full issue has their voting come.
CHORUS. All hail, my sire; thy word brings utmost joy. Say, to what issue is the vote made sure, And how prevailed the people’s crowding hands?
DANAUS. With one assent the Argives spake their will, And, hearing, my old heart took youthful cheer, The very sky was thrilled when high in air The concourse raised right hands and swore their oath:— _Free shall the maidens sojourn in this land. Unharried, undespoiled by mortal wight: No native hand, no hand of foreigner Shall drag them hence; if any man use force— Whoe’er of all our countrymen shall fail To come unto their aid, let him go forth, Beneath the people’s curse, to banishment_. So did the king of this Pelasgian folk Plead on behalf of us, and bade them heed That never, in the after-time, this realm Should feed to fulness the great enmity Of Zeus, the suppliants’ guard, against itself! A twofold curse, for wronging stranger-guests Who are akin withal, confrontingly Should rise before this city and be shown A ruthless monster, fed on human doom. Such things the Argive people heard, and straight, Without proclaim of herald, gave assent: Yea, in full conclave, the Pelasgian folk Heard suasive pleas, and Zeus through them resolved.
CHORUS. Arouse we now to chant our prayer For fair return of service fair And Argos’ kindly will. Zeus, lord of guestright, look upon The grace our stranger lips have won. In right and truth, as they begun, Guide them, with favouring hand, until Thou dost their blameless wish fulfil!
Now may the Zeus-born gods on high Hear us pour forth A votive prayer for Argos’ clan!— Never may this Pelasgian earth, Amid the fire-wrack, shrill the dismal cry On Ares, ravening lord of fight, Who in an alien harvest mows down man! For lo, this land had pity on our plight, And unto us were merciful and leal, To us, the piteous flock, who at Zeus’ altar kneel! They scornèd not the pleas of maidenhood, Nor with the young men’s will hath their will stood. They knew right well.
Th’ unearthly watching fiend invincible, The foul avenger—let him not draw near! For he, on roofs ill-starred, Defiling and polluting, keeps a ghastly ward! They knew his vengeance, and took holy heed To us, the sister suppliants, who cry To Zeus, the lord of purity: Therefore with altars pure they shall the gods revere.
Thus, through the boughs that shade our lips, fly forth in air, Fly forth, O eager prayer! May never pestilence efface This city’s race, Nor be the land with corpses strewed, Nor stained with civic blood! The stem of youth, unpluckt, to manhood come, Nor Ares rise from Aphrodité’s bower, The lord of death and bane, to waste our youthful flower. Long may the old Crowd to the altars kindled to consume Gifts rich and manifold— Offered to win from powers divine A benison on city and on shrine: Let all the sacred might adore Of Zeus most high, the lord Of guestright and the hospitable board, Whose immemorial law doth rule Fate’s scales aright: The garners of earth’s store Be full for evermore, And grace of Artemis make women’s travail light; No devastating curse of fell disease This city seize; No clamour of the State arouse to war Ares, from whom afar Shrinketh the lute, by whom the dances fail— Ares, the lord of wail. Swarm far aloof from Argos’ citizens All plague and pestilence, And may the Archer-God our children spare! May Zeus with foison and with fruitfulness The land’s each season bless, And, quickened with Heaven’s bounty manifold, Teem grazing flock and fold. Beside the altars of Heaven’s hallowing Loud let the minstrels sing, And from pure lips float forth the harp-led strain in air! And let the people’s voice, the power That sways the State, in danger’s hour Be wary, wise for all; Nor honour in dishonour hold, But—ere the voice of war be bold— Let them to stranger peoples grant Fair and unbloody covenant— Justice and peace withal; And to the Argive powers divine The sacrifice of laurelled kine, By rite ancestral, pay. Among three words of power and awe, Stands this, the third, the mighty law— _Your gods, your fathers deified, Ye shall adore_. Let this abide For ever and for aye.
DANAUS. Dear children, well and wisely have ye prayed; I bid you now not shudder, though ye hear New and alarming tidings from your sire. From this high place beside the suppliants’ shrine The bark of our pursuers I behold, By divers tokens recognized too well. Lo, the spread canvas and the hides that screen The gunwale; lo, the prow, with painted eyes That seem her onward pathway to descry, Heeding too well the rudder at the stern That rules her, coming for no friendly end. And look, the seamen—all too plain their race— Their dark limbs gleam from out their snow-white garb; Plain too the other barks, a fleet that comes All swift to aid the purpose of the first, That now, with furled sail and with pulse of oars Which smite the wave together, comes aland. But ye, be calm, and, schooled not scared by fear, Confront this chance, be mindful of your trust In these protecting gods. And I will hence, And champions who shall plead your cause aright Will bring unto your side. There come perchance Heralds or envoys, eager to lay hand And drag you captive hence; yet fear them not; Foiled shall they be. Yet well it were for you (If, ere with aid I come, I tarry long), Not by one step this sanctuary to leave. Farewell, fear nought: soon shall the hour be born When he that scorns the gods shall rue his scorn
CHORUS. Ah but I shudder, father!—ah, even now, Even as I speak, the swift-winged ships draw nigh!
I shudder, I shiver, I perish with fear: Overseas though I fled, Yet nought it avails; my pursuers are near!
DANAUS. Children, take heart; they who decreed to aid Thy cause will arm for battle, well I ween.
CHORUS. But desperate is Aegyptus’ ravening race, With fight unsated; thou too know’st it well.
In their wrath they o’ertake us; the prow is deep-dark In the which they have sped, And dark is the bench and the crew of the bark!
DANAUS. Yea but a crew as stout they here shall find, And arms well steeled beneath a noon-day sun.
CHORUS. Ah yet, O father, leave us not forlorn! Alone, a maid is nought, a strengthless arm. With guile they pursue me, with counsel malign, And unholy their soul; And as ravens they seize me, unheeding the shrine!
DANAUS. Fair will befall us, children, in this chance, If thus in wrath they wrong the gods and you.
CHORUS. Alas, nor tridents nor the sanctity Of shrines will drive them, O my sire, from us!
Unholy and daring and cursed is their ire, Nor own they control Of the gods, but like jackals they glut their desire!
DANAUS. Ay, but _Come wolf, flee jackal_, saith the saw; Nor can the flax-plant overbear the corn.
CHORUS. Lustful, accursèd, 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 shore Are borne, and long or e’er the steersmen cry, _The good ship 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 ashore, before the bank Lie at her anchorage securely moored. Bethink thee therefore, nor in panic leave The shrine of gods 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 pass 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 lust? I will utter my shriek of entreaty, a prayer that shrills up to the sky, That calleth the gods to compassion, 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! God, 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 cursèd—with a new curse, go!
CHORUS. Would God 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 shore!
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 gods I hold not for divine.
CHORUS. Aid me, ye gods, 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 ship, the ship 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, God 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 gods 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 ship; repine no more, Or my hand shall not spare to rend your robe.
CHORUS. O chiefs, O leaders, aid me, or I yield!
HERALD OF AEGYPTUS. Peace! if ye have not ears to hear my words, Lo, by these tresses must I hale you hence.
CHORUS. Undone we are, O king! all hope is gone.
HERALD OF AEGYPTUS. Ay, kings enow ye shall behold anon, Aegyptus’ sons—Ye shall not want for kings.
Enter the KING OF ARGOS.
THE KING OF ARGOS. Sirrah, what dost thou? in what arrogance Darest thou thus insult Pelasgia’s realm? Deemest thou this a woman-hearted town? Thou art too full of thy barbarian scorn For us of Grecian blood, and, erring thus, Thou dost bewray thyself a fool in all!
HERALD OF AEGYPTUS. Say thou wherein my deeds transgress my right.
THE KING OF ARGOS. First, that thou play’st a stranger’s part amiss.
HERALD OF AEGYPTUS. Wherein? I do but search and claim mine own.
THE KING OF ARGOS. To whom of our guest-champions hast appealed?
HERALD OF AEGYPTUS. To Hermes, herald’s champion, lord of search.
THE KING OF ARGOS. Yea, to a god—yet dost thou wrong the gods!
HERALD OF AEGYPTUS. The gods that rule by Nilus I revere.
THE KING OF ARGOS. Hear I aright? our Argive gods are nought?
HERALD OF AEGYPTUS. The prey is mine, unless force rend it from me.
THE KING OF ARGOS. At thine own peril touch them—’ware, and soon!
HERALD OF AEGYPTUS. I hear thy speech, no hospitable word.
THE KING OF ARGOS. I am no host for sacrilegious hands.
HERALD OF AEGYPTUS. I will go tell this to Aegyptus’ sons.
THE KING OF ARGOS. Tell it! my pride will ponder not thy word.
HERALD OF AEGYPTUS. Yet, that I have my message clear to say (For it behooves that heralds’ words be clear, Be they or ill or good), how art thou named? By whom despoilèd of this sister-band Of maidens pass I homeward?—speak and say! For lo, henceforth in Ares’ court we stand, Who judges not by witness but by war: No pledge of silver now can bring the cause To issue: ere this thing end, there must be Corpse piled on corpse and many lives gasped forth.
THE KING OF ARGOS. What skills it that I tell my name to thee? Thou and thy mates shall learn it ere the end. Know that if words unstained by violence Can change these maidens’ choice, then mayest thou, With full consent of theirs, conduct them hence. But thus the city with one voice ordained—
_No force shall bear away the maiden band_.
Firmly this word upon the temple wall Is by a rivet clenched, and shall abide: Not upon wax inscribed and delible, Nor upon parchment sealed and stored away.— Lo, thou hast heard our free mouths speak their will: Out from our presence—tarry not, but go!
HERALD OF AEGYPTUS. Methinks we stand on some new edge of war: Be strength and triumph on the young men’s side!
THE KING OF ARGOS. Nay but here also shall ye find young men, Unsodden with the juices oozed from grain.[6]
[_Exit HERALD OF AEGYPTUS._]
But ye, O maids, with your attendants true, Pass hence with trust into the fencèd town, Ringed with a wide confine of guarding towers. Therein are many dwellings for such guests As the State honours; there myself am housed Within a palace neither scant nor strait. There dwell ye, if ye will to lodge at ease In halls well-thronged: yet, if your soul prefer, Tarry secluded in a separate home. Choose ye and cull, from these our proffered gifts, Whiche’er is best and sweetest to your will: And I and all these citizens whose vote Stands thus decreed, will your protectors be. Look not to find elsewhere more loyal guard.
CHORUS. O godlike chief, God grant my prayer: _Fair blessings on thy proffers fair, Lord of Pelasgia’s race!_ Yet, of thy grace, unto our side Send thou the man of courage tried, Of counsel deep and prudent thought,— Be Danaus to his children brought; For his it is to guide us well And warn where it behoves to dwell— What place shall guard and shelter us From malice and tongues slanderous: Swift always are the lips of blame A stranger-maiden to defame— But Fortune give us grace!
THE KING OF ARGOS. A stainless fame, a welcome kind From all this people shall ye find: Dwell therefore, damsels, loved of us, Within our walls, as Danaus Allots to each, in order due, Her dower of attendants true.
Re-enter DANAUS.
DANAUS High thanks, my children, unto Argos con, And to this folk, as to Olympian gods, Give offerings meet of sacrifice and wine; For saviours are they in good sooth to you. From me they heard, and bitter was their wrath, How those your kinsmen strove to work you wrong, And how of us were thwarted: then to me This company of spearmen did they grant, That honoured I might walk, nor unaware Die by some secret thrust and on this land Bring down the curse of death, that dieth not. Such boons they gave me: it behoves me pay A deeper reverence from a soul sincere. Ye, to the many words of wariness Spoken by me your father, add this word, That, tried by time, our unknown company Be held for honest: over-swift are tongues To slander strangers, over-light is speech To bring pollution on a stranger’s name. Therefore I rede you, bring no shame on me Now when man’s eye beholds your maiden prime. Lovely is beauty’s ripening harvest-field, But ill to guard; and men and beasts, I wot, And birds and creeping things make prey of it. And when the fruit is ripe for love, the voice Of Aphrodite bruiteth it abroad, The while she guards the yet unripened growth. On the fair richness of a maiden’s bloom Each passer looks, o’ercome with strong desire, With eyes that waft the wistful dart of love. Then be not such our hap, whose livelong toil Did make our pinnace plough the mighty main: Nor bring we shame upon ourselves, and joy Unto my foes. Behold, a twofold home— One of the king’s and one the people’s gift— Unbought, ’tis yours to hold,—a gracious boon. 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.