118 AESCHYLUS
And nowise bland to strangers. Reaching so
The stream Hybristes (well the scorner called),^
Attempt no passage, — it is hard to pass, —
Or ere thou come to Caucasus itself,
That highest of mountains, where the river leaps 84o
The precipice in his strength. Thou must toil up
Those mountain-tops that neighbor with the stars,
And tread the southway, and draw near, at last,
The Amazonian host that hateth man,
Inhabitants of Themiscyra, close 845
Upon Thermodon,^ where the sea's rough jaw
Doth gnash at Salmydessa,^ and provide
A cruel host to seamen, and to ships
A stepdame. They, with unreluctant hand,
Shall lead thee on and on till thou arrive &50
Just where the ocean-gates show narrowest
On the Cimmerian isthmus. Leaving which,
Behooves thee swim with fortitude of soul
The strait Maeotis. Ay, and evermore
That traverse shall be famous on men's lips, ess
That strait called Bosporus,^ the horned one's road,
So named because of thee,^ who so wilt pass
From Europe's plain to Asia's continent.
How think ye, nymphs ? the king of gods appears
Impartial in ferocious deeds ? Behold ! seo
The god desirous of this mortal's love
Hath cursed her with these wanderings. Ah, fair child,
Thou hast met a bitter groom for bridal troth !
^ No river is known of this name. Perhaps the Araxes is meant.
2 Strictly, " on the banks of the Thermodon."
^ More literally, " the Salmydessian Jaw (or promontory) of the sea." The Jaw is Salmydessus.
- The Cimmeric Bosporus, near the Crimea, not the Thracian
Bosporus, near Constantinople.
^ Bosporus, interpreted as Ox-ford.
