most excelled in skill and prowess. And when I looked into the swift ship and sought my comrades there, 'twas then I espied their feet and hands above, as they were borne on high: and they cried and called me by my name, a last farewell, in the anguish of their hearts. As when upon a point of rock a fisherman with long rod, letting down baits to delude the little fish, casts forth into the deep the horn of the shelterless ox, and then when he has caught one throws it struggling on the shore, thus struggling they were lifted toward the rocks : and there at the doors she ate them up as they shrieked stretching out their hands to me in the fearful deathstruggle. W. E. C. VII. THE BOW OF ODYSSEUS. And when the fair lady came to the inner chamber, and reached the oaken threshold which erst the carpenter deftly planed and made straight by his rule, fitting therein doorposts and hanging thereon shining doors, straightway she hasted to loose the strap from the handle, and thrust in the key, and shot up the bars of the doors, aiming aright: and they grated as the bellowing of a bull feeding in a meadow, so loudly grated the beautiful doors when the key smote them, then quickly flew open before her. Then she mounted the high step, where there were chests standing wherein sweet-smelling ἕστασαν, ἐν δ ̓ ἄρα τῇσι θυώδεα εἵματ ̓ ἔκειτο. ἑζομένη δὲ κατ ̓ αὖθι, φίλοις ἐπὶ γούνασι θεῖσα, τῇ δ ̓ ἄρ ̓ ἅμ ̓ ἀμφίπολοι φέρον ἔγκιον, ἔνθα σίδηρος κεῖτο πολὺς καὶ χαλκός, ἀέθλια τοῖο ἄνακτος. Odyssey ΧΧΙ. 42-62. VIII. ΑΠΟΙΝΑ ΜΟΧΘΩΝ ΑΟΙΔΑΙ. εἰ δὲ τύχῃ τις ἔρδων, μελίφρον ̓ αἰτίαν 23 ῥοαῖσι Μοισᾶν ἐνέβαλεν· αἱ μεγάλαι γὰρ ἀλκαὶ σκότον πολὺν ὕμνων ἔχοντι δεόμεναι· ἔργοις δὲ καλοῖς ἔσοπτρον ἴσαμεν ἑνὶ σὺν τρόπῳ, εἰ Μνημοσύνας ἕκατι λιπαράμπυκος εὕρηται ἄποινα μόχθων κλυταῖς ἐπέων ἀοιδαῖς. σοφοὶ δὲ μέλλοντα τριταῖον ἄνεμον ἔμαθον, οὐδ ̓ ἀπὸ κέρδει βάλον ἀφνεὸς πενιχρός τε θάνατον πάρα θαμὰ νέονται. ἐγὼ δὲ πλέον ̓ ἔλπομαι λόγον Οδυσσέος ἢ πάθεν διὰ τὸν ἁδυεπῆ γενέσθ' “Ομηρον. and took from the which guarded it. garments were laid. Thence she stretched out her hand peg the bow with the shining case And she sat down there, and laying the case on her knees wailed in shrill tones, and took out the king's bow. And so when she had had her fill of weeping and wailing she went her way to the hall to the proud suitors, holding the arching bow in her hand and the quiver of arrows; many were the deadly shafts in it. And with her went her maids bearing a casket, wherein was great store of iron and copper, the prizes the king had won. H. J. VIII. THE POWER OF POETRY. When a man prospers in his work, he throws a honied motive into the stream of song. Deep in gloom lie the triumphs of prowess, if unsung: and we know but one way to mirror noble deeds,-when, by grace of Memory with the glittering diadem, a guerdon for toils has been found in the strains of famous verse. The wise descry the coming gale three days off, and do not lose their cargo through greed. Rich and poor come together to death. And methinks the fame of Odysseus has been greater than his sufferings, thanks to the sweet minstrel, Homer; for a certain majesty ἐπεὶ ψεύδεσί οἱ ποτανᾷ τε μαχανᾷ σεμνὸν ἔπεστί τι· σοφία δὲ κλέπτει παράγοισα μύθοις. τυφλὸν δ ̓ ἔχει ἦτορ ὅμιλος ἀνδρῶν ὁ πλεῖστος. εἰ γὰρ ἦν λευρὸν ξίφος· ὃν κράτιστον ̓Αχιλέος ἄτερ μάχα ξανθῷ Μενέλᾳ δάμαρτα κομίσαι θοαῖς ἐν ναυσὶ πόρευσαν εὐθυπνόου Ζεφύροιο πομπαὶ πρὸς Ἴλου πόλιν. ἀλλὰ κοινὸν γὰρ ἔρχεται κῦμ ̓ ̓Αΐδα, πέσε δ ̓ ἀδόκητον ἐν καὶ δοκέοντα· τιμὰ δὲ γίγνεται ὧν θεὸς ἁβρὸν αὔξει λόγον τεθνακότων βοαθόον, τοὶ παρὰ μέγαν ὀμφαλὸν εὐρυκόλπου μόλου χθονός. PINDAR, Nemeans, VII. II-34. IX. ΕΤΕΟΚΛΗΣ. ΧΟΡΟΣ. ΕΤ. θεοῖς μὲν ἤδη πως παρημελήμεθα, ΕΤ. ἐξέζεσεν γὰρ Οἰδίπου κατεύγματα clothes his fictions and his soaring science; and Art cheats us with enticing fables. A blind heart have the common crowd of men: for had it been given to them to see the truth, never would the stalwart Ajax, in his wrath for the arms, have driven the smooth sword through his heart; than whom no braver man, save Achilles, was borne to the town of Ilus in the swift ships by the urgence of the wafting West, to win back a wife for bright-haired Menelaus. Howbeit the wave of death rolls over all: it bursts unlooked for, it bursts on him that looks for it but honour comes to those whose choice renown, champion of the dead, Heaven makes ever brighter, and who have visited the mighty centre of broadbosomed Earth. R. C. J. IX. ETEOKLES. CHORUS OF THEBAN E. The gods have well-nigh cast us off already; the tribute which they prize is the tribute of our deaths. Why then fawn longer on our deathful doom? Ch. Relent now, when the thought has come to thee. Changing, perchance, with the tardy change of thine own spirit our Fortune will come with a more genial breath; but now it is still fierce. E. And fiercely the curses of Oedipus have broken forth; too prophetic were those phantoms of the night, those spectral sharers of a heritage. |