Page:Four Plays of Aeschylus (Cookson).djvu/156

144 Of earth's vast wheel the massy nave,

The priestess cried 'If thou would'st save

Thy kingdom, get no child.'

But Love was master; he begot

Death for himself and shame,

The son that slew him, witting not,—

King Œdipus his name.

Who eared the womb where he lay hid,

Seed of a curse unborn,

Sowing the sacred field forbid

To reap in blood the corn.

Their bridal torch Erinys fed.

And madness strewed their nuptial bed.

And now, as 'twere a sea of woe

That may not come to rest,

Wave follows after wave; and, lo,

A third with triple crest

That breaks with moaning thunder stored

About the ship of State;

Scarce wall-wide is the weather-board

Stretched betwixt us and Fate;

And I have fears lest Cadmus Town,

Whelmed with its royal house, go down!

Like an old debt unpaid is an ancient curse:

And in the soul's commerce

It comes to audit, hath its settling day:

A heavy reckoning for man to pay

When not one damning entry is passed by.

From deck to keelson there is rummage then

And jettison of wealth of moiling men,

Waxed fat with overmuch prosperity.