A. Suffice thee the bitter fact: ask not the cause. A. (Looking towards the corpses of the children.) O Zeus, seest thou this from Hera's throne? H. Then have we suffered aught of malice at her hand? A. My son, thou hast urged a nameless war against thy children. H. 'War,' sayest thou? Who murdered these? A. Thou and thy arrows and some prompting god. R. C. J. XVI. CHORUS OF WOMEN OF TROEZEN. O for a shelter in some dizzy eyrie, where some god should make me a winged bird among the tribes of the air! Then would I take my flight to the sea-wave of the Adrian shore, and to the waters of Eridanus, where the unhappy sisters, in their lament for Phaethon, shed upon the father's dark flood the amberlike brilliance of their tears. And I would win my way to the orchard shore of the sweetvoiced maidens of the West, where the lord of the deep, dark sea gives a path to mariners no more, σεμνὸν τέρμονα κύρων κακονυμφοτάταν ὄνασιν. ἡ γὰρ ἀπ ̓ ἀμφοτέρων στρ. β'. ἢ Κρησίας ἐκ γᾶς δύσορνις ἔπτατο κλεινὰς ̓Αθάνας, Μουνύχου δ ̓ ἀκταῖσιν ἐκδήσαντο πλεκτὰς πεισμά των άρ χὰς, ἐπ ̓ ἀπείρου τε γᾶς ἔβασαν. EURIPIDES, Hippolytus, 732—762. XVII. ΑΓΡΟΙΚΟΣ ΗΔΙΣΤΟΣ ΒΙΟΣ. ἥδομαί γ' ἥδομαι κράνους ἀπηλλαγμένος τυροῦ τε καὶ κρομμύων. meeting there the awful boundary of the sky that Atlas bears up; where fountains divinely clear gush beside the restful courts of Zeus, and the plenteous, heavenly earth makes a new heaven for the gods. Thou white-winged messenger from Krete, that didst waft my queen from her happy home across the sounding, surging brine, to bless her with a marriage most unblest! Ay, under a ban from both havens, (or surely under a ban from Krete,) sped that ship to famous. Athens, until they made fast the knotted cable-ends on the shores of Munychus, and set foot upon the mainland. R. C. J. XVII. PLEASURES OF COUNTRY LIFE. O how glad, how glad I am to have done with helm and cheese and onions! I don't like fighting: I like a drinking bout by the fireside with a few dear comrades when the driest logs rooted up in the summer are kindled ἐκπεπρεμνισμένα, κἀνθρακίζων τοὐρεβίνθου, τήν τε φηγὸν ἐμπυρεύων, χαμα τὴν Θρᾷτταν κυνῶν τῆς γυναικὸς λουμένης. οὐ γὰρ ἔσθ ̓ ἥδιον ἢ τυχεῖν μὲν ἤδη σπαρμένα τὸν θεὸν δ ̓ ἐπιψακάζειν καί τιν' εἰπεῖν γείτονα, εἰπέ μοι, τί τηνικαῦτα δρωμεν, ὦ Κωμαρχίδη ; ἐμπιεῖν ἔμοιγ ̓ ἀρέσκει τοῦ θεοῦ ὁρῶντος καλῶς. ἀλλ ̓ ἄφευε τῶν φασήλων, ὦ γύναι, τρεῖς χοίνικας τῶν τε πυρῶν μῖξον αὐτοῖς τῶν τε σύκων ἔξελε, τόν τε Μανὴν ἡ Σύρα βωστρησάτω κ τοῦ χωρίου. οὐ γὰρ οἷόν τ' ἐστὶ πάντως οἰναρίζειν τήμερον οὐδὲ τυντλάζειν, ἐπειδὴ παρδακὸν τὸ χωρίον κἀξ ἐμοῦ δ ̓ ἐνεγκάτω τις τὴν κίχλην καὶ τὰ σπίνω· ἦν δὲ καὶ πυός τις ἔνδον καὶ λαγῷα τέτταρα, εἴ τι μὴ ἐξήνεγκεν αὐτῶν ἡ γαλῆ τῆς ἑσπέρας· ἐψόφει γοῦν ἔνδον οὐκ οἶδ ̓ ἅττα κακυδοιδόπα· ὧν ἔνεγκ ̓, ὦ παῖ, τρί ̓ ἡμῖν, ἓν δὲ δοῦναι τῷ πατρί· μυρρίνας τ' αἴτησον ἐξ Αἰσχυνάδου τῶν καρπίμων· χαμα τῆς αὐτῆς ὁδοῦ Χαρινάδην τις βωσάτω, ὡς ἂν ἐμπίῃ μεθ ̓ ἡμῶν εὖ ποιοῦντος κὠφελοῦντος τοῦ θεοῦ τἀρώματα. ARISTOPHANES, Peace, 1127—1158. on the hearth: I like parching chickpeas or roasting acorns, and kissing the Thracian maid whilst my wife is washing herself. O nothing is pleasanter than that some neighbour should say, when sowing is over and the god is sending us rain, 'Tell me, Comarchides, what shall we do next? I propose that we have something to drink in honour of the god's goodness. Here, good wife, toast us three quarts of kidney-beans, and mix a little wheat with them, and pick out a few figs: and let Syra call Manes from the field; for it's quite impossible to strip the vines of their leaves to-day, or to grub at the roots, because the place is so wet and some one bring from my house the thrush and the brace of siskins: there was some beestings there as well, and four hares-if the cat did not steal one of them last night; I know she was making a noise and a clatter in the house about something or other :-bring three of them for us, boy, and give one to your father and beg some myrtle boughs from Æschynades's orchard: and then at the same time let some one invite Charinades to join our drinking party, now the god is so kind and good to the crops.' H. J. |