SECOND STROPHE.
By the double sea and the rocks dark-blue
Stand Bosporus’ heights where the waters gush through—
Salmydessus of Thrace.
There Ares that hard by the city dwelt
Saw the wound in savage fury dealt,
The accursed blow in the face
Of the two sons of Phineus by his cruel wife
With her shuttle in bloody hands, like a knife—
Full into the orbs of sight
The blinding murderous dagger was driven;
And those eyes appealed mutely for vengeance to Heaven
Out of their darkness of night.
SECOND ANTISTROPHE.
Their pitiful doom, as the hours sped,
Did those sons of a mother unhappily wed
In misery pining bewail;
Yet her ancestors came of a noble race,
The Erechtheidæ—in a far distant place
That child of the Northern Gale
Fleet of foot as a steed o’er the hills, in a cave
Mid the Thracian storms of her father that rave
Round the mountain, was cradled and nursed—
A child of the gods was she, O my daughter,
Yet the fates all hoary with age, they sought her,—
Be content, thy doom’s not the worst.
On the entrance of Teiresias the Chorus gathers on the R. side of stage. Teiresias, led by a boy, enters L.
My lords of Thebes, joint journey have we made,
Directed by the eyes of one,—the blind
Must ever walk depending on a guide.
Creon. What tidings, aged Teiresias, dost bring?
Teiresias. I ’ll teach thee—listen to the prophet’s voice.
Creon. Thy counsel I have never disregarded.
Teiresias. And for that reason steered the state aright.
Creon. Thy service my experience attests.
