Erechtheus | Page 2

and temple and citadel?Drawn round beneath thy bosom, and fast linked?As to thine heart's root--this dear crown of thine,?This present light, this city--be not thou?Slow to take heed nor slack to strengthen her,?Fare we so short-lived howsoe'er, and pay?What price we may to ransom thee thy town, 90 Not me my life; but thou that diest not, thou,?Though all our house die for this people's sake,?Keep thou for ours thy crown our city, guard?And give it life the lovelier that we died.
CHORUS.
Sun, that hast lightened and loosed by thy might?Ocean and Earth from the lordship of night,?Quickening with vision his eye that was veiled,?Freshening the force in her heart that had failed,?That sister fettered and blinded brother?Should have sight by thy grace and delight of each other, 100
Behold now and see?What profit is given them of thee;?What wrath has enkindled with madness of mind?Her limbs that were bounden, his face that was blind,?To be locked as in wrestle together, and lighten?With fire that shall darken thy fire in the sky,?Body to body and eye against eye
In a war against kind,?Till the bloom of her fields and her high hills whiten?With the foam of his waves more high. 110 For the sea-marks set to divide of old?The kingdoms to Ocean and Earth assigned,?The hoar sea-fields from the cornfields' gold,?His wine-bright waves from her vineyards' fold,
Frail forces we find?To bridle the spirit of Gods or bind?Till the heat of their hearts wax cold.?But the peace that was stablished between them to stand Is rent now in twain by the strength of his hand?Who stirs up the storm of his sons overbold 120 To pluck from fight what he lost of right,?By council and judgment of Gods that spake?And gave great Pallas the strife's fair stake,?The lordship and love of the lovely land,?The grace of the town that hath on it for crown
But a headband to wear?Of violets one-hued with her hair:?For the vales and the green high places of earth
Hold nothing so fair,?And the depths of the sea bear no such birth 130 Of the manifold births they bear.?Too well, too well was the great stake worth?A strife divine for the Gods to judge,?A crowned God's triumph, a foiled God's grudge,?Though the loser be strong and the victress wise?Who played long since for so large a prize,?The fruitful immortal anointed adored?Dear city of men without master or lord,?Fair fortress and fostress of sons born free,?Who stand in her sight and in thine, O sun, 140 Slaves of no man, subjects of none;?A wonder enthroned on the hills and sea,?A maiden crowned with a fourfold glory?That none from the pride of her head may rend,?Violet and olive-leaf purple and hoary,?Song-wreath and story the fairest of fame,?Flowers that the winter can blast not or bend;?A light upon earth as the sun's own flame,
A name as his name,?Athens, a praise without end. 150
A noise is arisen against us of waters, [_Str._ 1. A sound as of battle come up from the sea.?Strange hunters are hard on us, hearts without pity;?They have staked their nets round the fair young city, That the sons of her strength and her virgin daughters Should find not whither alive to flee.?And we know not yet of the word unwritten, [_Ant._ 1. The doom of the Pythian we have not heard;?From the navel of earth and the veiled mid altar?We wait for a token with hopes that falter, 160 With fears that hang on our hearts thought-smitten?Lest her tongue be kindled with no good word.?O thou not born of the womb, nor bred [_Str._ 2. In the bride-night's warmth of a changed God's bed,?But thy life as a lightning was flashed from the light of thy
father's head,?O chief God's child by a motherless birth,?If aught in thy sight we indeed be worth,?Keep death from us thou, that art none of the Gods of the dead
under earth.?Thou that hast power on us, save, if thou wilt; [_Ant._ 2. Let the blind wave breach not thy wall scarce built; 170 But bless us not so as by bloodshed, impute not for grace to us
guilt,?Nor by price of pollution of blood set us free;?Let the hands be taintless that clasp thy knee,?Nor a maiden be slain to redeem for a maiden her shrine from the
sea.?O earth, O sun, turn back [_Str._ 3. Full on his deadly track?Death, that would smite you black and mar your creatures,
And with one hand disroot?All tender flower and fruit,?With one strike blind and mute the heaven's fair features, 180
Pluck out the eyes of morn, and make?Silence in the east and blackness whence the bright songs break.
Help, earth, help, heaven, that hear [_Ant._ 3. The song-notes of our fear,?Shrewd notes and shrill, not clear or joyful-sounding;
Hear, highest of Gods, and stay?Death on his hunter's way,?Full on his forceless prey his