Æschylos Tragedies and Fragments
i. 53) represents him as holding the pillars which separate heaven
from earth; Hesiod (_Theogon._ v. 517) as himself standing near the Hesperides (this too points to Teneriffe), sustaining the heavens with his head and shoulders.
Footnote 157:
The volcanic character of the whole of Asia Minor, and the liability to earthquakes which has marked nearly every period of its history, led men to connect it also with the traditions of the Titans, some accordingly placing the home of Typhon in Phrygia, some near Sardis, some, as here, in Kilikia. Hesiod (_Theogon._ v. 820) describes Typhon (or Typhoeus) as a serpent-monster hissing out fire; Pindar (_Pyth._ i. 30, viii. 21) as lying with his head and breast crushed beneath the weight of Ætna, and his feet extending to Cumæ.
Footnote 158:
The words point probably to an eruption, then fresh in men's memories, which had happened B.C. 476.
Footnote 159:
By some editors this speech from “No, not so,” to “thou know'st how,” is assigned to Okeanos.
Footnote 160:
These are, of course, the Amazons, who were believed to have come through Thrakè from the Tauric Chersonesos, and had left traces of their name and habits in the Attic traditions of Theseus.
Footnote 161:
Beyond the plains of Skythia, and the lake Mæotis (the sea of Azov) there would be the great river Okeanos, which was believed to flow round the earth.
Footnote 162:
Sarmatia has been conjectured instead of Arabia. No Greek author sanctions the extension of the latter name to so remote a region as that north of the Caspian.
Footnote 163:
The Greek leaves the object of the sympathy undefined, but it seems better to refer it to that which Atlas receives from the waste of waters around, and the dark world beneath, than to the pity shown to Prometheus. This has already been dwelt on in line 421.
Footnote 164:
The passage that follows has for modern palæontologists the interest of coinciding with their views as to the progress of human society, and the condition of mankind during what has been called the “Stone” period. Comp. Lucretius, v. 955-984.
Footnote 165:
Comp. Mr. Blakesley's note on Herod. ii. 4, as showing that here there was the greater risk of faulty observation.
Footnote 166:
Another reading gives perhaps a better sense—
“Memory, handmaid true And mother of the Muses.”
Footnote 167:
In Greece, as throughout the East, the ox was used for all agricultural labours, the horse by the noble and the rich, either in war chariots, or stately processions, or in chariot races in the great games.
Footnote 168:
Compare with this the account of the inventions of Palamedes in Sophocles, _Fragm._ 379.
Footnote 169:
Here we can recognise the knowledge of one who had studied in the schools of Pythagoras, or had at any rate picked up their terminology. A more immediate connexion may perhaps be traced with the influence of Epimenides, who was said to have spent many years in searching out the healing virtues of plants, and to have written books about them.
Footnote 170:
The lines that follow form almost a manual of the art of divination as then practised. The “ominous sounds” include chance words, strange cries, any unexpected utterance that connected itself with men's fears for the future. The flights of birds were watched by the diviner as he faced the north, and so the region on the right hand was that of the sunrise, light, blessedness; on the left there were darkness and gloom and death.
Footnote 171:
So Io was represented, we are told, by Greek sculptors (Herod. ii. 41), as Isis was by those of Egypt. The points of contact between the myth of Io and that of Prometheus, as adopted, or perhaps developed, by Æschylos are—(1) that from her the destined deliverer of the chained Titan is to come; (2) that both were suffering from the cruelty of Zeus; (3) that the wanderings of Io gave scope for the wild tales of far countries on which the imagination of the Athenians fed greedily. But, as the _Suppliants_ may serve to show, the story itself had a strange fascination for him. In the birth of Epaphos, and Io's release from her frenzy, he saw, it may be, a reconciliation of what had seemed hard to reconcile, a solution of the problems of the world, like in kind to that which was shadowed forth in the lost _Prometheus Unbound_.
Footnote 172:
Argos had been slain by Hermes, and his eyes transferred by Hera to the tail of the peacock, and that bird was henceforth sacred to her.
Footnote 173:
Inachos the father of Io (identified with the Argive river of the same name), was, like all rivers, a son of Okeanos, and therefore brother to the nymphs who had come to see Prometheus.
Footnote 174:
The words used have an almost technical meaning as applied to animals that were consecrated to the service of a God, and set free to wander where they liked. The fate of Io, as at once devoted to Zeus and animalised in form, was thus shadowed forth in the very language of the Oracle.
Footnote 175:
Lerna was the lake near the mouth of the Inachos, close to the sea. Kerchneia may perhaps be identified with the Kenchreæ, the haven of Korinth in later geographies.
Footnote 176:
The wicker huts used by Skythian or Thrakian nomads (the Calmucks of modern geographers) are described by Herodotos (iv. 46) and are still in use.
Footnote 177:
_Sc._, the N.E. boundary of the Euxine, where spurs of the Caucasos ridge approach the sea.
Footnote 178:
The Chalybes are placed by geographers to the south of Colchis. The description of the text indicates a locality farther to the north.
Footnote 179:
Probably the Araxes, which the Greeks would connect with a word conveying the idea of a torrent dashing on the rocks. The description seems to imply a river flowing into the Euxine from the Caucasos, and the condition is fulfilled by the Hypanis or _Kouban_.
Footnote 180:
When the Amazons appear in contact with Greek history, they are found in Thrace. But they had come from the coast of Pontos, and near the mouth of the Thermodon (_Thermeh_). The words of Prometheus point to yet earlier migrations from the East.
Footnote 181:
Here, as in Soph. _Antig._ (970) the name Salmydessos represents the rockbound, havenless coast from the promontory of Thynias to the entrance of the Bosporos, which had given to the Black Sea its earlier name of Axenos, the “inhospitable.”
Footnote 182:
The track is here in some confusion. From the Amazons south of the Caucasos, Io is to find her way to the Tauric Chersonese (the Crimea) and the Kimmerian Bosporos, which flows into the Sea of Azov, and so to return to Asia.
Footnote 183:
Here, as in a hundred other instances, a false etymology has become the parent of a myth. The name Bosporos is probably Asiatic not Greek, and has an entirely different signification.
Footnote 184:
The lines refer to the story that Zeus loved Thetis the daughter of Nereus, and followed her to Caucasos, but abstained from marriage with her because Prometheus warned him that the child born of that union should overthrow his father. Here the future is used of what was still contingent only. In the lost play of the Trilogy the myth was possibly brought to its conclusion and connected with the release of Prometheus.
Footnote 185:
Heracles, whose genealogy was traced through Alcmena, Perseus, Danae, Danaos and seven other names, to Epaphos and Io.
Footnote 186:
Probably the Kimmerian Bosporos. The Tanais or Phasis has, however, been conjectured.
Footnote 187:
The history of the passage in brackets is curious enough to call for a note. They are not in any extant MS., but they are found in a passage quoted by Galen (v. p. 454), as from the _Prometheus Bound_, and are inserted here by Mr. Paley.
Footnote 188:
Kisthene belongs to the geography of legend, lying somewhere on the shore of the great ocean-river in Lybia or Æthiopia, at the end of the world, a great mountain in the far West, beyond the Hesperides, the dwelling-place, as here, of the Gorgons, the daughters of Phorkys. Those first-named are the Graiæ.
Footnote 189:
Here, like the “wingèd hound” of v. 1043, for the eagles that are the messengers of Zeus.
Footnote 190:
We are carried back again from the fabled West to the fabled East. The Arimaspians, with one eye, and the Grypes or Gryphons (the griffins of mediæval heraldry), quadrupeds with the wings and beaks of eagles, were placed by most writers (Herod. iv. 13, 27) in the north of Europe, in or beyond the _terra incognita_ of Skythia. The mention of the “ford of Pluto” and Æthiopia, however, may possibly imply (if we identify it, as Mr. Paley does, with the Tartessos of Spain, or Bœtis—_Guadalquivir_) that Æschylos followed another legend which placed them in the West. There is possibly a _paronomasia_ between Pluto, the God of Hades, and Plutos, the ideal God of riches.
Footnote 191:
The name was applied by later writers (Quintus Curtius, iv. 7, 22; Lucretius, vi. 848) to the fountain in the temple of Jupiter Ammon in the great Oasis. The “river Æthiops” may be purely imaginary, but it may also suggest the possibility of some vague knowledge of the Niger, or more probably of the Nile itself in the upper regions of its course. The “Bybline hills” carry the name Byblos, which we only read of as belonging to a town in the Delta, to the Second Cataract.
Footnote 192:
Comp. Sophocles, _Trachin._, v. 1168.
Footnote 193:
The Adriatic or Ionian Gulf.
Footnote 194:
In the _Suppliants_, Zeus is said to have soothed her, and restored her to her human consciousness by his “divine breathings.” The thought underlying the legend may be taken either as a distortion of some primitive tradition, or as one of the “unconscious prophecies” of heathenism. The deliverer is not to be born after the common manner of men, and is to have a divine as well as a human parentage.
Footnote 195:
See the argument of the _Suppliants_, who, as the daughters of Danaos, descended from Epaphos, are here referred to. The passage is noticeable as showing that the theme of that tragedy was already present to the poet's thoughts.
Footnote 196:
Argos. So in the _Suppliants_, Pelasgos is the mythical king of the Apian land who receives them.
Footnote 197:
Hypermnæstra, who spared Lynceus, and by him became the mother of Abas and a line of Argive kings.
Footnote 198:
Heracles, who came to Caucasos, and with his arrows slew the eagle that devoured Prometheus.
Footnote 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.
Footnote 200:
The maxim, “Marry with a woman thine equal,” was ascribed to Pittacos.
Footnote 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.
Footnote 202:
Comp. _Agam._ 162-6.
Footnote 203:
Either a mere epithet of intensity, as in our “thrice blest,” or rising from the supposed fact that every third wave was larger and more impetuous than the others, like _fluctus decumanus_ of the Latins, or from the sequence of three great waves which some have noted as a common phenomenon in storms.
Footnote 204:
Here again we have a strange shadowing forth of the mystery of Atonement, and what we have learnt to call “vicarious” satisfaction. In the later legend, Cheiron, suffering from the agony of his wounds, resigns his immortality, and submits to die in place of the ever-living death to which Prometheus was doomed.
Footnote 205:
It is noticeable that both Æschylos and Sophocles have left us tragedies which end in a thunderstorm as an element of effect. But the contrast between the _Prometheus_ and the _Œdipus at Colonos_ as to the impression left in the one case of serene reconciliation, and in the other of violent antagonism, is hardly less striking than the resemblance in the outward phenomena which are common to the two.
THE SUPPLIANTS
DRAMATIS PERSONÆ
DANAOS Herald PELASGOS, _king of_ Argos _Chorus of the daughters of_ DANAOS
_ARGUMENT.—When Io, after many wanderings, had found refuge in Egypt, and having been touched by Zeus, had given birth to Epaphos, it came to pass that he and his descendants ruled over the region of Canôpos, near one of the seven mouths of Neilos. And in the fifth generation there were two brothers, Danaos and Ægyptos, the sons of Belos, and the former had fifty daughters and the latter fifty sons, and Ægyptos sought the daughters of Danaos in marriage for his sons. And they, looking on the marriage as unholy, and hating those who wooed them, took flight and came to Argos, where Pelasgos then ruled as king, as to the land whence Io, from whom they sprang, had come. And thither the sons of Ægyptos followed them in hot pursuit._
SCENE.—Argos, _the entrance of the gates. Statues of_ ZEUS,
ARTEMIS, _and other Gods, placed against the walls_
_Enter Chorus of the_ Daughters of DANAOS,[206] _in the dress of Egyptian women, with the boughs of suppliants in their hands, and fillets of white wool twisted round them, chanting as they move in procession to take up their position round the thymele_
Zeus, the God of Suppliants, kindly Look on this our band of wanderers, That from banks at mouths of Neilos, Banks of finest sand, departed![207] Yea, we left the region sacred, Grassy plain on Syria's borders,[208] Not for guilt of blood to exile By our country's edict sentenced, But with free choice, loathing wedlock, Fleeing marriage-rites unholy With the children of Ægyptos. 10 And our father Danaos, ruler, Chief of council, chief of squadrons, Playing moves on fortune's draught-board,[209] Chose what seemed the best of evils, Through the salt sea-waves to hasten, Steering to the land of Argos, Whence our race has risen to greatness; Sprung, so boasts it, from the heifer Whom the stinging gadfly harassed, By the touch of Zeus love-breathing:[210] And to what land more propitious Could we come than this before us, 20 Holding in our hand the branches Suppliant, wreathed with white wool fillets? O State! O land! O water gleaming! Ye the high Gods, ye the awful, In the dark the graves still guarding; Thou too with them, Zeus Preserver,[211] Guardian of the just man's dwelling, Welcome with the breath of pity, Pity as from these shores wafted, Us poor women who are suppliants. And that swarm of men that follow, Haughty offspring of Ægyptos, 30 Ere they set their foot among you On this silt-strown shore,[212]—oh, send them Seaward in their ship swift-rowing; There, with whirlwind tempest-driven, There, with lightning and with thunder, There, with blasts that bring the storm-rain, May they in the fierce sea perish, Ere they, cousin-brides possessing, Rest on marriage-beds reluctant, Which the voice of right denies them!
STROPHE I
And now I call on him, the Zeus-sprung steer,[213] 40 Our true protector, far beyond the sea, Child of the heifer-foundress of our line, Who cropped the flowery mead, Born of the breath, and named from touch of Zeus. *And lo! the destined time *Wrought fully with the name, And she brought forth the “Touch-born,” Epaphos.
ANTISTROPHE I
And now invoking him in grassy fields, 50 Where erst his mother strayed, to dwellers here Telling the tale of all her woes of old, I surest pledge shall give; And others, strange beyond all fancy's dream, Shall yet perchance be found; And in due course of time Shall men know clearly all our history.
STROPHE II
And if some augur of the land be near, Hearing our piteous cry, Sure he will deem he hears The voice of Tereus' bride,[214] Piteous and sad of soul, The nightingale sore harassed by the kite. 60
ANTISTROPHE II
*For she, driven back from wonted haunts and streams,[215] Mourns with a strange new plaint The home that she has lost, And wails her son's sad doom, How he at her hand died, Meeting with evil wrath unmotherly;
STROPHE III
E'en so do I, to wailing all o'er-given, In plaintive music of Ionian mood,[216] *Vex the soft cheek on Neilos' banks that bloomed, And heart that bursts in tears, And pluck the flowers of lamentations loud, Not without fear of friends, 70 *Lest none should care to help This flight of mine from that mist-shrouded shore.
ANTISTROPHE III
But, O ye Gods ancestral! hear my prayer, Look well upon the justice of our cause, Nor grant to youth to gain its full desire Against the laws of right, But with prompt hate of lust, our marriage bless. *Even for those who come As fugitives in war The altar serves as shield that Gods regard.
STROPHE IV
May God good issue give![217] 80 And yet the will of Zeus is hard to scan: Through all it brightly gleams, E'en though in darkness and the gloom of chance For us poor mortals wrapt.
ANTISTROPHE IV
Safe, by no fall tripped up, The full-wrought deed decreed by brow of Zeus; For dark with shadows stretch The pathways of the counsels of his heart, And difficult to see.
STROPHE V
And from high-towering hopes He hurleth down 90 To utter doom the heir of mortal birth; Yet sets He in array No forces violent; All that Gods work is effortless and calm: Seated on holiest throne, Thence, though we know not how, He works His perfect will.
ANTISTROPHE V
Ah, let him look on frail man's wanton pride, With which the old stock burgeons out anew, By love for me constrained, In counsels ill and rash, 100 And in its frenzied, passionate resolve Finds goad it cannot shun; But in deceivèd hopes, Shall know, too late, its woe.
STROPHE VI
Such bitter griefs, lamenting, I recount, With cries shrill, tearful, deep, (Ah woe! ah woe!) That strike the ear with mourner's woe-fraught cry. Though yet alive, I wail mine obsequies; Thee, Apian sea-girt bluff,[218] I greet (our alien speech Thou knowest well, O land,) 110 And ofttimes fall, with rendings passionate, On robe of linen and Sidonian veil.
ANTISTROPHE VI
But to the Gods, for all things prospering well, When death is kept aloof, Gifts votive come of right. Ah woe! Ah woe! Oh, troubles dark, and hard to understand! Ah, whither will these waters carry me? Thee, Apian sea-girt bluff, 120 I greet (our alien speech Thou knowest well, O land,) And ofttimes fall, with rendings passionate, On robe of linen and Sidonian veil.
STROPHE VII
The oar indeed and dwelling, timber-wrought, With sails of canvas, 'gainst the salt sea proof Brought me with favouring gales, By stormy wind unvexed; Nor have I cause for murmur. Issues good May He, the all-seeing Father, grant, that I, 130 Great seed of Mother dread, In time may 'scape, still maiden undefiled, My suitor's marriage-bed.
ANTISTROPHE VII
And with a will that meets my will may She, The unstained child of Zeus, on me look down, *Our Artemis, who guards The consecrated walls; And with all strength, though hunted down, uncaught, May She, the Virgin, me a virgin free, 140 Great seed of Mother dread, That I may 'scape, still maiden undefiled, My suitor's marriage-bed.
STROPHE VIII
But if this may not be, We, of swarth sun-burnt race, Will with our suppliant branches go to him, Zeus, sovereign of the dead,[219] The Lord that welcomes all that come to him, Dying by twisted noose 150 If we the grace of Gods Olympian miss. By thine ire, Zeus, 'gainst Io virulent, The Gods' wrath seeks us out, And I know well the woe Comes from thy queen who reigns in heaven victorious; For after stormy wind The tempest needs must rage.
ANTISTROPHE VIII
And then shall Zeus to words Unseemly be exposed, Having the heifer's offspring put to shame, 160 Whom he himself begat, And now his face averting from our prayers: Ah, may he hear on high, Yea, pitying look and hear propitiously! By thine ire, Zeus, 'gainst Io virulent, The Gods' wrath seeks us out, And I know well the woe Comes from thy queen, who reigns in heaven victorious; For after stormy wind 170 The tempest needs must rage.
_Danaos._ My children, we need wisdom; lo! ye came With me, your father wise and old and true, As guardian of your voyage. Now ashore, With forethought true I bid you keep my words, As in a tablet-book recording them: I see a dust, an army's voiceless herald, Nor are the axles silent as they turn; And I descry a host that bear the shield, And those that hurl the javelin, marching on With horses and with curvèd battle-cars. Perchance they are the princes of this land, 180 Come on the watch, as having news of us; But whether one in kindly mood, or hot With anger fierce, leads on this great array, It is, my children, best on all accounts To take your stand hard by this hill of Gods Who rule o'er conflicts.[220] Better far than towers Are altars, yea, a shield impenetrable. But with all speed approach the shrine of Zeus, The God of mercy, in your left hand holding The suppliants' boughs wool-wreathed, in solemn guise,[221] And greet our hosts as it is meet for us, 190 Coming as strangers, with all duteous words Kindly and holy, telling them your tale Of this your flight, unstained by guilt of blood; And with your speech, let mood not overbold, Nor vain nor wanton, shine from modest brow And calm, clear eye. And be not prompt to speak, Nor full of words; the race that dwelleth here Of this is very jealous:[222] and be mindful Much to concede; a fugitive thou art, A stranger and in want, and 'tis not meet That those in low estate high words should speak.
_Chor._ My father, to the prudent prudently 200 Thou speakest, and my task shall be to keep Thy goodly precepts. Zeus, our sire, look on us!
_Dan._ Yea, may He look with favourable eye!
_Chor._ I fain would take my seat not far from thee.
[_Chorus moves to the altar not far from_ DANAOS
_Dan._ Delay not then; success go with your plan.
_Chor._ Zeus, pity us with sorrow all but crushed!
_Dan._ If He be willing, all shall turn out well.
_Chor._ . . . . .
_Dan._ Invoke ye now the mighty bird of Zeus.[223]
_Chor._ We call the sun's bright rays to succour us.
_Dan._ Apollo too, the holy, in that He, 210 A God, has tasted exile from high heaven.[224]
_Chor._ Knowing that fate, He well may feel for men.
_Dan._ So may He feel, and look on us benignly!
_Chor._ Whom of the Gods shall I besides invoke?
_Dan._ I see this trident here, a God's great symbol.[225]
_Chor._ Well hath He brought us, well may He receive!
_Dan._ Here too is Hermes,[226] as the Hellenes know him.
_Chor._ To us, as free, let Him good herald prove.
_Dan._ Yea, and the common shrine of all these Gods Adore ye, and in holy precincts sit, Like swarms of doves in fear of kites your kinsmen, 220 Foes of our blood, polluters of our race. How can bird prey on bird and yet be pure? And how can he be pure who seeks in marriage Unwilling bride from father too unwilling? Nay, not in Hades' self, shall he, vain fool, Though dead, 'scape sentence, doing deeds like this; For there, as men relate, a second Zeus[227] Judges men's evil deeds, and to the dead Assigns their last great penalties. Look up, And take your station here, that this your cause May win its way to a victorious end.
_Enter the_ KING _on his chariot, followed by_ Attendants
_King._ Whence comes this crowd, this non-Hellenic band, 230 In robes and raiment of barbaric fashion So gorgeously attired, whom now we speak to? This woman's dress is not of Argive mode, Nor from the climes of Hellas. How ye dared, Without a herald even or protector, Yea, and devoid of guides too, to come hither Thus boldly, is to me most wonderful. And yet these boughs, as is the suppliant's wont, Are set by you before the Gods of conflicts: By this alone will Hellas guess aright. Much more indeed we might have else conjectured, 240 Were there no voice to tell me on the spot.
_Chor._ Not false this speech of thine about our garb; But shall I greet thee as a citizen, Or bearing Hermes' rod, or city ruling?[228]
_King._ Nay, for that matter, answer thou and speak Without alarm. Palæchthon's son am I, Earth-born, the king of this Pelasgic land; And named from me, their king,[229] as well might be, The race Pelasgic reaps our country's fruits; *And all the land through which the Strymon pours 250 Its pure, clear waters to the West I rule; And as the limits of my realm I mark The land of the Perrhæbi, and the climes Near the Pæonians, on the farther side Of Pindos, and the Dodonæan heights;[230] And the sea's waters form its bounds. O'er all Within these coasts I govern; and this plain, The Apian land, itself has gained its name Long since from one who as a healer lived;[231] For Apis, coming from Naupactian land That lies beyond the straits, Apollo's son, Prophet and healer, frees this land of ours 260 From man-destroying monsters, which the soil, Polluted with the guilt of blood of old, By anger of the Gods, brought forth,—fierce plagues, The dragon-brood's dread, unblest company; And Apis, having for this Argive land Duly wrought out his saving surgery, Gained his reward, remembered in our prayers; And thou, this witness having at my hands, May'st tell thy race at once, and further speak; Yet lengthened speech our city loveth not.
_Chor._ Full short and clear our tale. We boast that we Are Argives in descent, the children true 270 Of the fair, fruitful heifer. And all this Will I by what I speak show firm and true.
_King._ Nay, strangers, what ye tell is past belief For me to hear, that ye from Argos spring; For ye to Libyan women are most like,[232] And nowise to our native maidens here. Such race might Neilos breed, and Kyprian mould, Like yours, is stamped by skilled artificers On women's features; and I hear that those Of India travel upon camels borne, 280 Swift as the horse, yet trained as sumpter-mules, E'en those who as the Æthiops' neighbours dwell. And had ye borne the bow, I should have guessed, Undoubting, ye were of th' Amâzon's tribe, Man-hating, flesh-devouring. Taught by you, I might the better know how this can be, That your descent and birth from Argos come.
_Chor._ They tell of one who bore the temple-keys Of Hera, Io, in this Argive land.
_King._ So was't indeed, and wide the fame prevails: And was it said that Zeus a mortal loved? 290
_Chor._ And that embrace was not from Hera hid.
_King._ What end had then these strifes of sovereign Ones?
_Chor._ The Argive goddess made the maid a heifer.
_King._ Did Zeus that fair-horned heifer still approach?
_Chor._ So say they, fashioned like a wooing steer.
_King._ How acted then the mighty spouse of Zeus?
_Chor._ She o'er the heifer set a guard all-seeing.
_King._ What herdsman strange, all-seeing, speak'st thou of?
_Chor._ Argos, the earth-born, him whom Hermes slew. 300
_King._ What else then wrought she on the ill-starred heifer?
_Chor._ She sent a stinging gadfly to torment her. [Those who near Neilos dwell an _æstros_ call it.]
_King._ Did she then drive her from her country far?
_Chor._ All that thou say'st agrees well with our tale.
_King._ And did she to Canôbos go, and Memphis?
_Chor._ Zeus with his touch, an offspring then begets.
_King._ What Zeus-born calf that heifer claims as mother?
_Chor._ *He from that touch which freed named Epaphos.310
_King._ [_What offspring then did Epaphos beget?_][233]
_Chor._ Libya, that gains her fame from greatest land.
_King._ What other offspring, born of her, dost tell of?
_Chor._ Sire of my sire here, Belos, with two sons.
_King._ Tell me then now the name of yonder sage.
_Chor._ Danaos, whose brother boasts of fifty sons.
_King._ Tell me his name, too, with ungrudging speech.
_Chor._ Ægyptos: knowing now our ancient stock, Take heed thou bid thine Argive suppliants rise.
_King._ Ye seem, indeed, to make your ancient claim To this our country good: but how came ye 320 To leave your father's house? What chance constrained you?
_Chor._ O king of the Pelasgi, manifold Are ills of mortals, and thou could'st not find The self-same form of evil anywhere. Who would have said that this unlooked-for flight Would bring to Argos race once native here, Driving them forth in hate of wedlock's couch?
_King._ What seek'st thou then of these the Gods of conflicts, Holding your wool-wreathed branches newly-plucked?
_Chor._ That I serve not Ægyptos' sons as slave.
_King._ Speak'st thou of some old feud, or breach of right? 330
_Chor._ Nay, who'd find fault with master that one loved?
_King._ Yet thus it is that mortals grow in strength.[234]
_Chor._ True; when men fail, 'tis easy to desert them.
_King._ How then to you may I act reverently?
_Chor._ Yield us not up unto Ægyptos' sons.
_King._ Hard boon thou ask'st, to wage so strange a war.
_Chor._ Nay, Justice champions those who fight with her.
_King._ Yes, if her hand was in it from the first.
_Chor._ Yet reverence thou the state-ship's stern thus wreathed.[235]
_King._ I tremble as I see these seats thus shadowed. 340
STROPHE I
_Chor._ Dread is the wrath of Zeus, the God of suppliants: Son of Palæchthon, hear; Hear, O Pelasgic king, with kindly heart. Behold me suppliant, exile, wanderer, *Like heifer chased by wolves Upon the lofty crags, Where, trusting in her strength, She lifteth up her voice And to the shepherd tells her tale of grief.
_King._ I see, o'ershadowed with the new-plucked boughs, *Bent low, a band these Gods of conflict own; And may our dealings with these home-sprung strangers 350 Be without peril, nor let strife arise To this our country for unlooked-for chance And unprovided! This our State wants not.
ANTISTROPHE I
_Chor._ Yea, may that Law that guards the suppliant's right Free this our flight from harm, Law, sprung from Zeus, supreme Apportioner, But thou, [_to the King_,] though old, from me, though younger, learn: If thou a suppliant pity Thou ne'er shall penury know, So long as Gods receive Within their sacred shrines Gifts at the hands of worshipper unstained.
_King._ It is not at my hearth ye suppliant sit; But if the State be as a whole defiled, 360 Be it the people's task to work the cure. I cannot pledge my promise to you first Ere I have counselled with my citizens.[236]
STROPHE II
_Chor._ Thou art the State—yea, thou the commonwealth, Chief lord whom none may judge; 'Tis thine to rule the country's altar-hearth, With the sole vote of thy prevailing nod; And thou on throne of state, Sole-sceptred in thy sway, Bringest each matter to its destined end; Shun thou the curse of guilt.
_King._ Upon my foes rest that dread curse of guilt! 370 Yet without harm I cannot succour you, Nor gives it pleasure to reject your prayers. In a sore strait am I; fear fills my soul To take the chance, to do or not to do.
ANTISTROPHE II
_Chor._ Look thou on Him who looks on all from heaven, Guardian of suffering men Who, worn with toil, unto their neighbours come As suppliants, and receive not justice due: For these the wrath of Zeus, Zeus, the true suppliant's God, Abides, by wail of sufferer unappeased. 380
_King._ Yet if Ægyptos' sons have claim on thee By their State's law, asserting that they come As next of kin, who dare oppose their right? Thou must needs plead that by thy laws at home They over thee have no authority.[237]
STROPHE III
_Chor._ Ah! may I ne'er be captive to the might Of males! Where'er the stars Are seen in heaven, I track my way in flight, As refuge from a marriage that I hate. But thou, make Right thy friend, And honour what the Gods count pure and true. 390
_King._ Hard is the judgment: choose not me as judge. But, as I said before, I may not act Without the people, sovereign though I be, Lest the crowd say, should aught fall out amiss, “In honouring strangers, thou the State did'st ruin.”
ANTISTROPHE III
_Chor._ Zeus, the great God of kindred, in these things Watches o'er both of us, Holding an equal scale, and fitly giving To the base evil, to the righteous blessing. Why, when these things are set In even balance, fear'st thou to do right? 400
_King._ Deep thought we need that brings deliverance, That, like a diver, mine eye too may plunge Clear-seeing to the depths, not wine-bedrenched, That these things may be harmless to the State, And to ourselves may issue favourably: That neither may the strife make you its prey, Nor that we give you up, who thus are set Near holy seat of Gods, and so bring in To dwell with us the Avenger terrible, God that destroyeth, who not e'en in Hades 410 Gives freedom to the dead. Say, think ye not That there is need of counsel strong to save?
STROPHE I
_Chor._ Take heed to it, and be Friend to the stranger wholly faithful found; Desert not thou the poor, Driven from afar by godless violence.
ANTISTROPHE I
See me not dragged away, O thou that rul'st the land! from seat of Gods: Know thou men's wanton pride, 420 And guard thyself against the wrath of Zeus.
STROPHE II
Endure not thou to see thy suppliant, Despite of law, torn off, As horses by their frontlets, from the forms Of sculptured deities, Nor yet the outrage of their wanton hands, Seizing these broidered robes.
ANTISTROPHE II
For know thou well, whichever course thou take, Thy sons and all thy house *Must pay in war the debt that Justice claims, Proportionate in kind. 430 Lay well to heart these edicts, wise and true, Given by great Zeus himself.
_King._ Well then have I thought o'er it. To this point Our ship's course drives. Fierce war we needs must risk Either with these (_pointing to the Gods_) or those. Set fast and firm Is this as is the ship tight wedged in stocks; And without trouble there's no issue out. For wealth indeed, were our homes spoiled of that, There might come other, thanks to Zeus the Giver, More than the loss, and filling up the freight; 440 And if the tongue should aim its adverse darts, Baleful and over-stimulant of wrath, There might be words those words to heal and soothe. But how to blot the guilt of kindred blood, This needs a great atonement—many victims Falling to many Gods—to heal the woe. *I take my part, and turn aside from strife; And I far rather would be ignorant Than wise, forecasting evil. May the end, Against my judgment, show itself as good!
_Chor._ Hear, then, the last of all our pleas for pity.
_King._ I hear; speak on. It shall not 'scape my heed. 450
_Chor._ Girdles I have, and zones that bind my robes.
_King._ Such things are fitting for a woman's state.
_Chor._ With these then, know, as good and rare device....
_King._ Nay, speak. What word is this thou'lt utter now?
_Chor._ Unless thou giv'st our band thy plighted word....
_King._ What wilt thou do with this device of girdles?
_Chor._ With tablets new these sculptures we'll adorn.
_King._ Thou speak'st a riddle. Make thy meaning plain.
_Chor._ Upon these Gods we'll hang ourselves at once.
_King._ I hear a word which pierces to the heart. 460
_Chor._ Thou see'st our meaning. Eyes full clear I've given.
_King._ Lo then! in many ways sore troubles come. A host of evils rushes like a flood; A sea of woe none traverse, fathomless, This have I entered; haven there is none. For if I fail to do this work for you, Thou tellest of defilement unsurpassed;[238] And if for thee against Ægyptos' sons, Thy kindred, I before my city's walls In conflict stand, how can there fail to be A bitter loss, to stain the earth with blood 470 Of man for woman's sake? And yet I needs Must fear the wrath of Zeus, the suppliant's God; That dread is mightiest with the sons of men. Thou, then, O aged father of these maidens! Taking forthwith these branches in thine arms, Lay them on other altars of the Gods Our country worships, that the citizens May all behold this token of thy coming, And about me let no rash speech be dropped; For 'tis a people prompt to blame their rulers. And then perchance some one beholding them, 480 And pitying, may wax wrathful 'gainst the outrage Of that male troop, and with more kindly will The people look on you; for evermore Men all wish well unto the weaker side.
_Dan._ This boon is counted by us of great price, To find a patron proved so merciful. And thou, send with us guides to lead us on, And tell us how before their shrines to find The altars of the Gods that guard the State, *And holy places columned round about; And safety for us, as the town we traverse. Not of like fashion is our features' stamp; 490 For Neilos rears not race like Inachos.[239] Take heed lest rashness lead to bloodshed here; Ere now, unknowing, men have slain their friends.
_King_ (_to Attendants_). Go then, my men; full well the stranger speaks; And lead him where the city's altars stand, The seats of Gods; and see ye talk not much To passers-by as ye this traveller lead, A suppliant at the altar-hearth of Gods.
[_Exeunt_ DANAOS _and Attendants_
_Chor._ Thou speak'st to him; and may he go as bidden! But what shall I do? What hope giv'st thou me?
_King._ Leave here those boughs, the token of your grief. 500
_Chor._ Lo! here I leave them at thy beck and word.
_King._ Now turn thy steps towards this open lawn.
_Chor._ What shelter gives a lawn unconsecrate?[240]
_King._ We will not yield thee up to birds of prey.
_Chor._ Nay, but to foes far worse than fiercest dragons.
_King._ Good words should come from those who good have heard.
_Chor._ No wonder they wax hot whom fear enthrals.
_King._ But dread is still for rulers all unmeet.
_Chor._ Do thou then cheer our soul by words and deeds.
_King._ Nay, no long time thy sire will leave thee lorn; 510 And I, all people of the land convening, Will the great mass persuade to kindly words; And I will teach thy father what to say. Wherefore remain and ask our country's Gods, With suppliant prayers, to grant thy soul's desire, And I will go in furtherance of thy wish: Sweet Suasion follow us, and Fortune good! [_Exit_
STROPHE I
_Chor._ O King of kings! and blest Above all blessed ones, And Power most mighty of the mightiest! O Zeus, of high estate! 520 Hear thou and grant our prayer! Drive thou far off the wantonness of men, The pride thou hatest sore, And in the pool of darkling purple hue Plunge thou the woe that comes in swarthy barque.
ANTISTROPHE I
Look on the women's cause; Recall the ancient tale, Of one whom Thou did'st love in time of old, The mother of our race: Remember it, O Thou Who did'st on Io lay thy mystic touch. We boast that we are come Of consecrated land the habitants, 530 And from this land by lineage high descended.
STROPHE II
Now to the ancient track, Our mother's, I have passed, The flowery meadow-land where she was watched,— The pastures of the herd, Whence Io, by the stinging gadfly driven, Flees, of her sense bereft, Passing through many tribes of mortal men; And then by Fate's decree Crossing the billowy straits, On either side she leaves a continent.[241] 540
ANTISTROPHE II
Now through the Asian land She hastens o'er and o'er, Right through the Phrygian fields where feed the flocks; And passes Teuthras' fort, Owned by the Mysians,[242] and the Lydian plains; And o'er Kilikian hills, And those of far Pamphylia rushing on, By ever-flowing streams, On to the deep, rich lands, And Aphrodite's home in wheat o'erflowing.[243]
STROPHE III
And so she cometh, as that herdsman winged 550 Pierces with sharpest sting, To holy plain all forms of life sustaining, Fields that are fed from snows,[244] Which Typhon's monstrous strength has traversed,[245] And unto Neilos' streams, By sickly taint untouched,[246] Still maddened with her toil of ignominy, By torturing stings driven on, great Hera's frenzied slave.
ANTISTROPHE III
And those who then the lands inhabited, Quivered with pallid fear, 560 That filled their soul at that unwonted marvel, Seeing that monstrous shape, The human joined with brute, Half heifer, and half form of woman fair:[247] And sore amazed were they. Who was it then that soothed Poor Io, wandering in her sore affright, Driven on, and ever on, by gadfly's maddening sting?
STROPHE IV
Zeus, Lord of endless time [Was seen All-working then;] He, even He, for by his sovereign might That works no ill, was she from evil freed; 570 And by his breath divine She findeth rest, and weeps in floods of tears Her sorrowing shame away; And with new burden big, Not falsely 'Zeus-born' named, She bare a son that grew in faultless growth,
ANTISTROPHE IV
Prosperous through long, long years; And so the whole land shouts with one accord, “Lo, a race sprung from him, the Lord of life, In very deed, Zeus-born! 580 Who else had checked the plagues that Hera sent?” This is the work of Zeus: And speaking of our race That sprang from Epaphos As such, thou would'st not fail to hit the mark.
STROPHE V
Which of the Gods could I with right invoke As doing juster deeds? He is our Father, author of our life, The King whose right hand worketh all his will, Our line's great author, in his counsels deep Recording things of old, Directing all his plans, the great work-master, Zeus.
ANTISTROPHE V
For not as subject hastening at the beck Of strength above his own,[248] Reigns He subordinate to mightier powers; 590 Nor does He pay his homage from below, While One sits throned in majesty above;[249] Act is for him as speech, To hasten what his teeming mind resolves.
_Re-enter_ DANAOS
_Dan._ Be of good cheer, my children. All goes well With those who dwell here, and the people's voice Hath passed decrees full, firm, irrevocable.
_Chor._ Hail, aged sire, that tell'st me right good news! But say with what intent the vote hath passed, And on which side the people's hands prevail.
_Dan._ The Argives have decreed without division, So that my aged mind grew young again; 600 For in full congress, with their right hands raised Rustled the air as they decreed their vote That we should sojourn in their land as free, Free from arrest, and with asylum rights; And that no native here nor foreigner Should lead us off; and, should he venture force, That every citizen who gave not help Dishonoured should be driven to exile forth. Such counsel giving, the Pelasgian King 610 Gained their consent, proclaiming that great wrath Of Zeus the God of suppliants ne'er would let The city wax in fatness,—warning them That double guilt[250] upon the State would come, Touching at once both guests and citizens, The food and sustenance of sore disease That none could heal. And then the Argive host, Hearing these things, decreed by show of hands, Not waiting for the herald's proclamation, So it should be. They heard, indeed, the crowd Of those Pelasgi, all the winning speech, The well-turned phrases cunning to persuade; But it was Zeus that brought the end to pass.
_Chor._ Come then, come, let us speak for Argives Prayers that are good for good deeds done; 620 Zeus, who o'er all strangers watches, May He regard with his praise and favour The praise that comes from the lips of strangers, *And guide in all to a faultless issue.
STROPHE I
_Half-Chor. A._ Now, now, at last, ye Gods of Zeus begotten,[251] Hear, as I pour my prayers upon their race, That ne'er may this Pelasgic city raise From out its flames the joyless cry of War, War, that in other fields Reapeth his human crop: For they have mercy shown, And passed their kind decree, 630 Pitying this piteous flock, the suppliants of great Zeus.
ANTISTROPHE I
They did not take their stand with men 'gainst women Casting dishonour on their plea for help, *But looked to Him who sees and works from heaven, *Full hard to war with. Yea, what house could bear To see Him on its roof Casting pollution there?[252] Sore vexing there he sits. Yes, they their kin revere, Suppliants of holiest Zeus; 640 Therefore with altars pure shall they the Gods delight.
STROPHE II
Therefore from faces by our boughs o'ershadowed[253] Let prayers ascend in emulous eagerness: Ne'er may dark pestilence This State of men bereave; May no fierce party strife Pollute these plains with native carcases; And may the bloom of youth Be with them still uncropt; And ne'er may Aphrodite's paramour, 650 Ares the scourge of men, Mow down their blossoms fair!
ANTISTROPHE II
And let the altars tended by the old *Blaze with the gifts of men with hoary hairs; So may the State live on In full prosperity! Let them great Zeus adore, The strangers' God, the one Supreme on high, By venerable law Ordering the course of fate. And next we pray that ever more and more Earth may her tribute bear, And Artemis as Hecate preside[254] O'er woman's travail-pangs. 660
STROPHE III
Let no destroying strife come on, invading This city to lay waste, Setting in fierce array War, with its fruit of tears, Lyreless and danceless all, And cry of people's wrath; And may the swarm of plagues, Loathly and foul to see, Abide far off from these our citizens, And that Lykeian king, may He be found Benignant to our youth![255]
ANTISTROPHE III
And Zeus, may He, by his supreme decree, 670 Make the earth yield her fruits Through all the seasons round, And grant a plenteous brood Of herds that roam the fields! May Heaven all good gifts pour, And may the voice of song Ascend o'er altar shrines, Unmarred by sounds of ill! And let the voice that loves with lyre to blend Go forth from lips of blameless holiness, In accents of great joy!
STROPHE IV
*And may the rule in which the people share Keep the State's functions as in perfect peace, E'en that which sways the crowd, *Which sways the commonwealth, 680 By counsels wise and good; And to the strangers and the sojourners May they grant rights that rest on compacts sure, Ere War is roused to arms, So that no trouble come!
ANTISTROPHE IV
And the great Gods who o'er this country watch, May they adore them in the land They guard, With rites of sacrifice, And troops with laurel boughs, As did our sires of old! For thus to honour those who gave us life, This stands as one of three great laws on high,[256] Written as fixed and firm, The laws of Right revered.
_Dan._ I praise these seemly prayers, dear children mine. 690 But fear ye not, if I your father speak Words that are new, and all unlooked-for by you; For from this station to the suppliant given I see the ship; too clear to be mistaken The swelling sails, the bulwark's coverings, And prow with eyes that scan the onward way,[257] But too obedient to the steerman's helm, Being, as it is, unfriendly. And the men Who sail in her with swarthy limbs are seen, In raiment white conspicuous. And I see 700 Full clear the other ships that come to help; And this as leader, putting in to shore, Furling its sails, is rowed with equal stroke. 'Tis yours, with mood of calm and steadfast soul, To face the fact, and not to slight the Gods. And I will come with friends and advocates; For herald, it may be, or embassy, May come, and wish to seize and bear you off, Grasping their prey. But nought of this shall be; Fear ye not them. It were well done, however, If we should linger in our help, this succour 710 In no wise to forget. Take courage then; In their own time and at the appointed day, Whoever slights the Gods shall pay for it.
STROPHE I
_Chor._ I fear, my father, since the swift-winged ships Are come, and very short the time that's left. A shuddering anguish makes me sore afraid, Lest small the profit of my wandering flight. I faint, my sire, for fear.
_Dan._ My children, since the Argives' vote is passed, Take courage: they will fight for thee, I know. 720
ANTISTROPHE I
_Chor._ Hateful and wanton are Ægyptos' sons, Insatiable of conflict, and I speak To one who knows them. They in timbered ships, Dark-eyed, have sailed in wrath that hits its mark, With great and swarthy host.
_Dan._ Yet many they shall find whose arms are tanned In the full scorching of the noontide heat.[258]
STROPHE II
_Chor._ Leave me not here alone, I pray thee, father! Alone, a woman is as nought, and war Is not for her. Of over-subtle mind, And subtle counsel in their souls impure, 730 Like ravens, e'en for altars caring not,— Such, such in soul are they.
_Dan._ That would work well indeed for us, my children, Should they be foes to Gods as unto thee.
ANTISTROPHE II
_Chor._ No reverence for these tridents or the shrines Of Gods, my father, will restrain their hands: Full stout of heart, of godless mood unblest, Fed to the full, and petulant as dogs, And for the voice of high Gods caring not,— Such, such in soul are they.
_Dan._ Nay, the tale runs that wolves prevail o'er dogs; 740 And byblos fruit excels not ear of corn.[259]
_Chor._ But since their minds are as the minds of brutes, Restless and vain, we must beware of force.
_Dan._ Not rapid is the getting under weigh Of naval squadron, nor their anchoring, Nor the safe putting into shore with cables. Nor have the shepherds of swift ships quick trust In anchor-fastenings, most of all, as now, When coming to a country havenless; And when the sun has yielded to the night, That night brings travail to a pilot wise, 750 [Though it be calm and all the waves sleep still;] So neither can this army disembark Before the ship is safe in anchorage. And thou beware lest in thy panic fear Thou slight the Gods whom thou hast called to help. The city will not blame your messenger, Old though he be, being young in clear-voiced thought. _Exit_
STROPHE I
_Chor._ Ah, me! thou land of jutting promontory Which justly all revere, What lies before us? Where in Apian land Shall we a refuge find, If still there be dark hiding anywhere? Ah! that I were as smoke That riseth full and black Nigh to the clouds of Zeus, 760 Or soaring up on high invisible, Like dust that vanishes, Pass out of being with no help from wings!
ANTISTROPHE I
*E'en so the ill admits not now of flight; My heart in dark gloom throbs; My father's work as watcher brings me low; I faint for very fear, And I would fain find noose that bringeth death, In twisted cordage hung, Before the man I loathe Draws near this flesh of mine: 770 Sooner than that may Hades rule o'er me Sleeping the sleep of death!
STROPHE II
Ah, might I find a place in yon high vault, Where the rain-clouds are passing into snow, Or lonely precipice Whose summit none can see, Rock where the vulture haunts, Witness for me of my abysmal fall, Before the marriage that will pierce my heart Becomes my dreaded doom!
ANTISTROPHE II
I shrink not from the thought of being the prey 780 Of dogs and birds that haunt the country round; For death shall make me free From ills all lamentable: Yea, let death rather come Than the worse doom of hated marriage-bed! What other refuge now remains for me That marriage to avert?
STROPHE III
Yea, to the Gods raise thou Cloud-piercing, wailing cry Of songs and litanies, Prevailing, working freedom out for me: 790 And thou, O Father, look, Look down upon the strife, With glance of wrath against our enemies From eyes that see the right; With pity look on us thy suppliants, O Lord of Earth, O Zeus omnipotent!
ANTISTROPHE III
For lo! Ægyptos' house, In pride intolerable, O'er-masculine in mood, Pursuing me in many a winding course, Poor wandering fugitive, With loud and wild desires, Seek in their frenzied violence to seize: 800 But thine is evermore The force that turns the balance of the scale: What comes to mortal men apart from Thee?
Ah! ah! ah! ah! *Here on the land behold the ravisher Who comes on us by sea! *Ah, may'st thou perish, ravisher, ere thou Hast stopped or landed here! *I utter cry of wailing loud and long, *I see them work the prelude of their crimes, Their crimes of violence. Ah! ah! Ah me! 810 Haste in your flight for help! The mighty ones are waxing fat and proud, By sea and land alike intolerable. Be thou, O King, our bulwark and defence!
_Enter_ Herald _of the sons of_ ÆGYPTOS, _advancing to the daughters of_ DANAOS
_Her._ Haste, haste with all your speed unto the barque.
_Chor._ Tearing of hair, yea, tearing now will come, And print of nails in flesh, And smiting off of heads, With murderous stream of blood.
_Her._ Haste, haste ye, to that barque that yonder lies, 820 Ye wretches, curse on you.
STROPHE I
_Chor._ Would thou had'st met thy death Where the salt waves wildly surge, Thou with thy lordly pride, In nail-compacted ship: *Lo! they will smite thee, weltering in thy blood, *And drive thee to thy barque.
_Her._ I bid you cease perforce, the cravings wild Of mind to madness given. Ho there! what ho! I say; 830 Give up those seats, and hasten to the ship: I reverence not what this State honoureth.
ANTISTROPHE I
_Chor._ Ah, I may ne'er again Behold the stream where graze the goodly kine, Nourished and fed by which[260] The blood of cattle waxes strong and full! *As with a native's right, *And one of old descent, I keep, old man, my seat, my seat, I say.
_Her._ Nay, in a ship, a ship them shalt soon go, 840 With or without thy will, By force, I say, by force: Come, come, provoke not evils terrible, Falling by these my hands.
STROPHE II
_Chor._ Ah me! ah me! Would thou may'st perish with no hand to help, Crossing the sea's wide plain, In wanderings far and wide, Where Sarpedonian sand-bank[261] spreads its length, Driven by the sweeping blasts!
_Her._ Sob thou, and howl, and call upon the Gods: 850 Thou shalt not 'scape that barque from Ægypt come, Though thou should'st pour a bitterer strain of grief.
ANTISTROPHE II
_Chor._ Woe! woe! Ah woe! ah woe, For this foul wrong! Thou utterest fearful things; *Thou art too bold and insolent of speech. *May mighty Nile that reared thee turn away Thy wanton pride and lust That we behold it not!
_Her._ I bid you go to yon ship double-prowed,[262] With all your speed. Let no one lag behind; But little shall my grasp your ringlets spare. 860
[_Seizes on the leader of the Suppliants_
STROPHE III
_Chor._ Ah me! my father, ah! The help of holiest statues turns to woe; He leads me to the sea, With motion spider-like, Or like a dream, a dark and dismal dream, Ah woe! ah woe! ah woe! O mother Earth! O Earth! O mother mine! Avert that cry of fear, O Zeus, thou king! O son of mother Earth!
_Her._ Nay, I fear not the Gods they worship here; They did not rear nor lead me up to age. 870
ANTISTROPHE III
_Chor._ Near me he rages now, · · · · · That biped snake, And like a viper bites me by the foot. Oh, woe is me! woe! woe! O mother Earth! O Earth! O mother mine! Avert that cry of fear, O Zeus, thou king! O son of mother Earth!
_Her._ If some one yield not, and to yon ship go, The hand that tears her tunic will not pity.
STROPHE IV
_Chor._ Ho! rulers of the State! 880 Ye princes! I am seized.
_Her._ It seems, since ye are slow to hear my words, That I shall have to drag you by the hair.
ANTISTROPHE IV
_Chor._ We are undone, undone! We suffer, prince, unlooked-for outrages,
_Her._ Full many princes, heirs of great Ægyptos, Ye soon shall see. Take courage; ye shall have No cause to speak of anarchy as there.
_Enter_ KING _followed by his_ Bodyguard
_King._ Ho there! What dost thou? and with what intent Dost thou so outrage this Pelasgic land? Dost think thou comest to a town of women? 890 Too haughty thou, a stranger 'gainst Hellenes, And, sinning much, hast nothing done aright.
_Her._ What sin against the right have I then done?
_King._ First, thou know'st not how stranger-guest should act.
_Her._ How so? When I, but finding what I lost....
_King._ Whom among us dost thou then patrons call?
_Her._ Hermes the Searcher, chiefest patron mine.[263]
_King._ Thou, Gods invoking, honourest not the Gods.
_Her._ The Gods of Neilos are the Gods I worship.
_King._ Ours then are nought, if I thy meaning catch. 900
_Her._ These girls I'll lead, if no one rescues them.
_King._ Lay hand on them, and soon thou'lt pay the cost.
_Her._ I hear a word in no wise hospitable.
_King._ Who rob the Gods I welcome not as guests.
_Her._ I then will tell Ægyptos' children this.
_King._ This threat is all unheeded in my mind.
_Her._ But that I, knowing all, may speak it plain, (For it is meet a herald should declare Each matter clearly,) what am I to say? By whom have I been robbed of that fair band Of women whom I claim as kindred? Nay, 910 But it is Ares that shall try this cause, And not with witnesses, nor money down, Settling the matter, but there first must fall Full many a soldier, and of many a life The rending in convulsive agony.
_King._ Why should I tell my name? In time thou'lt know it, Thou and thy fellow-travellers. But these maidens, With their consent and free choice of their wills, Thou may'st lead off, if godly speech persuade them: But this decree our city's men have made With one consent, that we to force yield not This company of women. Here the nail 920 Is driven tight home to keep its place full firm;[264] These things are written not on tablets only, [Nor signed and sealed in folds of byblos-rolls;] Thou hear'st them clearly from a tongue that speaks With full, free speech. Away, away, I say: And with all speed from out my presence haste.
_Her._ It is thy will then a rash war to wage: May strength and victory on our males attend!
[_Exit_
_King._ Nay, thou shall find the dwellers of this land Are also males, and drink not draughts of ale 930 From barley brewed.[265] [_To the Suppliants._] But ye, and your attendants, Take courage, go within the fencèd city, Shut in behind its bulwark deep of towers; Yea, many houses to the State belong, And I a palace own not meanly built, If ye prefer to live with many others In ease and plenty: or if that suits better, Ye may inhabit separate abodes. Of these two offers that which pleases best Choose for yourselves, and I as your protector, 940 And all our townsmen, will defend the pledge Which our decree has given you. Why wait'st thou For any better authorised than these?
_Chor._ For these thy good deeds done may'st thou in good, All good, abound, great chief of the Pelasgi! But kindly send to us Our father Danaos, brave and true of heart, To counsel and direct. His must the first decision be where we Should dwell, and where to find A kindly home; for ready is each one To speak his word of blame 'gainst foreigners. 950 But may all good be ours! And so with fair repute and speech of men, Free from all taint of wrath, So place yourselves, dear handmaids, in the land, As Danaos hath for each of us assigned Dowry of handmaid slaves.
_Enter_ DANAOS _followed by_ Soldiers
_Dan._ My children, to the Argives ye should pray, And sacrifice, and full libations pour, As to Olympian Gods, for they have proved, With one consent, deliverers: and they heard *All that I did towards those cousins there, 960 *Those lovers hot and bitter. And they gave To me as followers these that bear the spear, That I might have my meed of honour due, And might not die by an assassin's hand A death unlooked-for, and thus leave the land A weight of guilt perpetual: and 'tis fit That one who meets such kindness should return, *From his heart's depths, a nobler gratitude; And add ye this to all already written, Your father's many maxims of true wisdom, That we, though strangers, may in time be known; 970 For as to aliens each man's tongue is apt For evil, and spreads slander thoughtlessly; But ye, I charge you, see ye shame me not, With this your life's bloom drawing all men's eyes. The goodly vintage is full hard to watch, All men and beasts make fearful havoc of it, Nay, birds that fly, and creeping things of earth; And Kypris offers fruitage, dropping ripe, *As prey to wandering lust, nor lets it stay;[266] And on the goodly comeliness of maidens 980 Each passer-by, o'ercome with hot desire, Darts forth the amorous arrows of the eye. And therefore let us suffer nought of this, Through which our ship has ploughed such width of sea, Such width of trouble; neither let us work Shame to ourselves, and pleasure to our foes. This twofold choice of home is open to you: [Pelasgos offers his, the city theirs,] To dwell rent-free. Full easy terms are these: Only, I charge you, keep your father's precepts, Prizing as more than life your chastity. 990
_Chor._ May the high Gods that on Olympos dwell Bless us in all things; but for this our vintage Be of good cheer, my father; for unless The counsels of the Gods work strange device, I will not leave my spirit's former path.
STROPHE I
_Semi-Chor. A_. Go then and make ye glad the high Gods, blessed for ever, Those who rule our towns, and those who watch over our city, And they who dwell by the stream of Erasinos ancient.[267]
_Semi-Chor. B_. And ye, companions true, Take up your strain of song. 1000 Let praise attend this city of Pelasgos; Let us no more, no more adore the mouths of Neilos With these our hymns of praise;
ANTISTROPHE I
_Semi-Chor. A_. Nay, but the rivers here that pour calm streams through our country,[268] Parents of many a son, making glad the soil of our meadows, With wide flood rolling on, in full and abounding richness.
_Semi-Chor. B_. And Artemis the chaste, May she behold our band 1010 With pity; ne'er be marriage rites enforcèd On us by Kythereia: those who hate us, Let that ill prize be theirs.
STROPHE II
_Semi-Chor. A_. Not that our kindly strain does slight to Kypris immortal; For she, together with Hera, as nearest to Zeus is mighty, A goddess of subtle thoughts, she is honoured in mysteries solemn.
_Semi-Chor. B_. Yea, as associates too with that their mother belovèd,1020 Are fair Desire and Suasion,[269] whose pleading no man can gainsay, Yea, to sweet Concord too Aphrodite's power is entrusted, *And the whispering paths of the Loves.
ANTISTROPHE II
_Semi-Chor. A_. Yet am I sore afraid of the ship that chases us wanderers, Of terrible sorrows, and wars that are bloody and hateful; *Why else have they had fair gale for this their eager pursuing?1030
_Semi-Chor. B_. Whate'er is decreed of us, I know that it needs must happen; The mighty purpose of Zeus, unfailing, admits no transgression: *May this fate come to us, as to many women before us, *Fate of marriage and spouse!
STROPHE III
_Semi-Chor. A_. Ah, may great Zeus avert From me all marriage with Ægyptos' sons!
_Semi-Chor. B_. Nay, all will work for good.
_Semi-Chor. A_. Thou glozest that which will no glozing bear.1040
_Semi-Chor. B_. And thou know'st not what future comes to us.
ANTISTROPHE III
_Semi-Chor. A_. How can I read the mind Of mightiest Zeus, to sight all fathomless?
_Semi-Chor. B_. Well-tempered be thy speech!
_Semi-Chor. A_. What mood of calmnesss wilt thou school me in?
_Semi-Chor. B_. Be not o'er-rash in what concerns the Gods.
STROPHE IV
_Semi-Chor. A_. Nay, may our great king Zeus avert that marriage With husbands whom we hate, E'en He who, touching her with healing hand, Freed Io from her pain, Putting an end from all her wanderings, Working with kindly force! 1050
ANTISTROPHE IV
_Semi-Chor. B_. And may He give the victory to women! I choose the better part, Though mixed with ill; and that the trial end Justly, as I have prayed, By means of subtle counsels which God gives To liberate from ills.[270]
ÆSCHYLOS
Footnote 206:
The daughters of Danaos are always represented as fifty in number. It seems probable, however, that the vocal chorus was limited to twelve, the others appearing as mutes.
Footnote 207:
The alluvial deposit of the Delta.
Footnote 208:
Syria is used obviously with a certain geographical vagueness, as including all that we know as Palestine, and the wilderness to the south of it, and so as conterminous with Egypt.
Footnote 209:
Elsewhere in Æschylos (_Agam._ 33, _Fr._ 132) we trace allusion to games played with dice. Here we have a reference to one, the details of which are not accurately known to us, but which seems to have been analogous to draughts or chess.
Footnote 210:
See the whole story, given as in prophecy, in the _Prometheus_, v. 865-880.
Footnote 211:
The invocation is addressed—(1) to the Olympian Gods in the brightness of heaven; (2) to the Chthonian deities in the darkness below the earth; (3) to Zeus, the preserver, as the supreme Lord of both.
Footnote 212:
An Athenian audience would probably recognise in this a description of the swampy meadows near the coast of Lerna. The descendants of Io had come to the very spot where the tragic history of their ancestors had had its origin.
Footnote 213:
The invocation passes on to Epaphos, as a guardian deity able and willing to succour his afflicted children.
Footnote 214:
Philomela. See the tale as given in the notes to _Agam._ 1113.
Footnote 215:
“Streams,” as flowing through the shady solitude of the groves which the nightingale frequented.
Footnote 216:
“Ionian,” as soft and elegiac, in contrast with the more military character of Dorian music.
Footnote 217:
In the Greek the _paronomasia_ turns upon the supposed etymological connection between θεὸς and τιθήμι. I have here, as elsewhere, attempted an analogous rather than identical _jeu de mot_.
Footnote 218:
The Greek word which I have translated “bluff” was one not familiar to Attic ears, and was believed to be of Kyrenean origin. Æschylos accordingly puts it into the lips of the daughters of Danaos, as characteristic more or less of the “alien speech” of the land from which they came.
Footnote 219:
So in v. 235 Danaos speaks of the “second Zeus” who sits as Judge in Hades. The feeling to which the Chorus gives utterance is that of—
“Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo.”
Footnote 220:
Some mound dedicated to the Gods, with one or more altars and statues of the Gods on it, is on the stage, and the suppliants are told to take up their places there. The Gods of conflict who are named below, Zeus, Apollo, Poseidon, presided generally over the three great games of Greece. Hermes is added to the list.
Footnote 221:
Comp. _Libation-Pourers_, 1024, _Eumen._ 44.
Footnote 222:
The Argives are supposed to share the love of brevity which we commonly connect with their neighbours the Laconians.
Footnote 223:
The “mighty bird of Zeus” seems here, from the answer of the Chorus, to mean not the “eagle” but the “sun,” which roused men from their sleep as the cock did, so that “cockcrow” and “sunrise” were synonymous. It is, in any case, striking that Zeus, rather than Apollo, appears as the Sun-God.
Footnote 224:
The words refer to the myth of Apollo's banishment from heaven and servitude under Admetos.
Footnote 225:
In the Acropolis at Athens the impress of a trident was seen on the rock, and was believed to commemorate the time when Poseidon had claimed it as his own by setting up his weapon there. Something of the same kind seems here to be supposed to exist at Argos, where a like legend prevailed.
Footnote 226:
The Hellenic Hermes is distinguished from his Egyptian counterpart, Thoth, as being different in form and accessories.
Footnote 227:
A possible reference to the Egyptian Osiris, as lord or judge of Hades. Comp. v. 145.
Footnote 228:
“Shall I,” the Chorus asks, “speak to you as a private citizen, or as a herald, or as a king?”
Footnote 229:
It would appear from this that the king himself bore the name Pelasgos. In some versions of the story he is so designated.
Footnote 230:
The lines contain a tradition of the wide extent of the old Pelasgic rule, including Thessalia, or the Pelasgic Argos, between the mouths of Peneus and Pindos, Perrhæbia, Dodona, and finally the Apian land or Peloponnesos.
Footnote 231:
The true meaning of the word “Apian,” as applied to the Peloponnesos, seems to have been “distant.” Here the myth is followed which represented it as connected with Apis the son of Telchin (son of Apollo, in the sense of being a physician-prophet), who had freed the land from monsters.
Footnote 232:
The description would seem to indicate—(1) that the daughter of Danaos appeared on the stage as of swarthy complexion; and (2) that Indians, Æthiopians, Kyprians, and Amazons, were all thought of as in this respect alike.
Footnote 233:
The line is conjectural, but some question of this kind is implied in the answer of the Chorus.
Footnote 234:
By sacrificing personal likings to schemes of ambition, men and women contract marriages which increase their power.
Footnote 235:
The Gods of conflict are the pilots of the ship of the State. The altar dedicated to them is as its stern: the garlands and wands of suppliants which adorn it are as the decorations of the vessels.
Footnote 236:
Some editors have seen in this an attempt to enlist the constitutional sympathies of an Athenian audience in favour of the Argive king, who will not act without consulting his assembly. There seems more reason to think that the aim of the dramatist was in precisely the opposite direction, and that the words which follow set forth his admiration for the king who can act, as compared with one who is tied and hampered by restrictions.
Footnote 237:
By an Attic law, analogous in principle to that of the Jews, (Num. xxxvi. 8; 1 Chron. xxiii. 22), heiresses were absolutely bound to marry their next of kin, if he claimed his right. The king at once asserts this as the law which was _primâ facie_ applicable to the case, and declares himself ready to surrender it if the petitioners can show that their own municipal law is on the other side. He will not thrust his country's customs upon foreigners, who can prove that they live under a different rule, but in the absence of evidence must act on the law which he is bound officially to recognise.
Footnote 238:
_Sc._, the pollution which the statues of the Gods would contract if they carried into execution their threat of suicide.
Footnote 239:
Inachos, the river-God of Argos, and as such contrasted with Neilos.
Footnote 240:
_i.e._, “Unconsecrate,” marked out by no barriers, accessible to all, and therefore seeming to offer but little prospect of a safe asylum. The place described seems to have been an open piece of turf rather than a grove of trees.
Footnote 241:
Comp. the narrative as given in _Prometheus Bound_, vv. 660, _et seq._
Footnote 242:
Teuthras' fort, or Teuthrania, is described by Strabo (xii. p. 571) as lying between the Hellespont and Mount Sipylos, in Magnesia.
Footnote 243:
Kypros, as dedicated to the worship of Aphrodite, and famous for its wine, and oil, and corn.
Footnote 244:
The question, what caused the mysterious exceptional inundations of the Nile, occupied, as we see from Herodotos (ii. c. 19-27), the minds of the Greeks. Of the four theories which the historian discusses, Æschylos adopts that which referred it to the melting of the snows on the mountains of central Africa.
Footnote 245:
Typhon, the mythical embodiment of the power of evil, was fabled to have wandered over Egypt, seeking the body of Osiris. Isis, to baffle him, placed coffins in all parts of Egypt, all empty but the one which contained the body.
Footnote 246:
The fame of the Nile for the purity of its water, after the earthy matter held in solution had been deposited, seems to have been as great in the earliest periods of its history as it is now.
Footnote 247:
Io was represented as a woman with a heifer's head, and was probably a symbolic representation of the moon, with her crescent horns. Sometimes the transformation is described (as in v. 294) in words which imply a more thorough change.
Footnote 248:
Perhaps—
“For not as subject sitting 'neath the sway Of strength above his own.”
Footnote 249:
The passage takes its place among the noblest utterances of a faith passing above the popular polytheism to the thought of one sovereign Will ruling and guiding all things, as Will—without effort, in the calmness of a power irresistible.
Footnote 250:
Double, as involving a sin against the laws of hospitality, so far as the suppliants were strangers—a sin against the laws of kindred, so far as they might claim by descent the rights of citizenship.
Footnote 251:
If, as has been conjectured, the tragedy was written with a view to the alliance between Argos and Athens, made in B.C. 461, this choral ode must have been the centre, if not of the dramatic, at all events of the political interest of the play.
Footnote 252:
The image is that of a bird of evil omen, perched upon the roof, and defiling the house, while it uttered its boding cries.
Footnote 253:
The suppliants' boughs, so held as to shade the face from view.
Footnote 254:
The name of Hecate connected Artemis as, on the one side, with the unseen world of Hades, so, on the other, with childbirth, and the purifications that followed on it.
Footnote 255:
The name of Lykeian, originally, perhaps, simply representing Apollo as the God of Light, came afterwards to be associated with the might of destruction (the Wolf-destroyer) and the darts of pestilence and sudden death. The prayer is therefore that he, the Destroyer, may hearken to the suppliants, and spare the people for whom they pray.
Footnote 256:
The “three great laws” were those ascribed to Triptolemos, “to honour parents, to worship the Gods with the fruits of the earth, to hurt neither man nor beast.”
Footnote 257:
The Egyptian ships, like those of many other Eastern countries, had eyes (the eyes of Osiris, as they were called) painted on their bows.
Footnote 258:
A side-thrust, directed by the poet, who had fought at Marathon, against the growing effeminacy of the Athenian youth, many of whom were learning to shrink from all activity and exposure that might spoil their complexions. Comp. Plato, _Phædros_, p. 239.
Footnote 259:
The saying is somewhat dark, but the meaning seems to be that if the “dogs” of Egypt are strong, the “wolves” of Argos are stronger; that the wheat on which the Hellenes lived gave greater strength to limbs and sinew than the “byblos fruit” on which the Egyptian soldiers and sailors habitually lived. Some writers, however, have seen in the last line, rendered—
“The byblos fruit not always bears full ear,”
a proverb like the English,
“There's many a slip 'Twixt the cup and the lip.”
Footnote 260:
The words recall the vision of the “seven well-favoured kine and fat-fleshed,” which “came out of the river,” as Pharaoh dreamed (Gen.