116 AESCHYLUS
This : " He should drive me from my home and
land, And bid me wander to the extreme verge Of all the earth ; or, if he willed it not, Should have a thunder with a fiery eye Leap straight from Zeus to burn up all his race τβο To the last root of it." By which Loxian word Subdued, he drove me forth, and shut me out, He loath, me loath ; but Zeus's violent bit Compelled him to the deed : when instantly My body and soul were changed and distraught, 785 And, horned as ye see, and spurred along By the fanged insect, with a maniac leap I rushed on to Cenchrea's ^ limpid stream. And Lerne's fountain-water. There, the earth-bom, The herdsman Argus, most immitigable 790
Of wrath, did find me out, and track me out With countless eyes set staring at my steps ; And though an unexpected sudden doom Drew him from life, I, curse-tormented still. Am driven from land to land before the scourge 795 The gods hold o'er me. So thou hast heard the
past ; And, if a better future thou canst tell. Speak on. I charge thee, do not flatter me. Through pity, with false words ; for in my mind Deceiving works more shame than torturing doth, soo
Chorus.
Ah, silence here ! Nevermore, nevermore, Would I languish for The stranger's word
To thrill in mine ear — 805
^ Near lo's home at Argos.
