Page:Four Plays of Aeschylus (Cookson).djvu/194

182 Moiled, until I the rising of the stars

Showed them, and when they set, though much obscure.

Moreover, number, the most excellent

Of all inventions, I for them devised,

And gave them writing that retaineth all,

The serviceable mother of the Muse.

I was the first that yoked unmanaged beasts,

To serve as slaves with collar and with pack,

And take upon themselves, to man's relief,

The heaviest labour of his hands: and I

Tamed to the rein and drove in wheelèd cars

The horse, of sumptuous pride the ornament.

And those sea-wanderers with the wings of cloth,

The shipman's waggons, none but me devised.

These manifold inventions for mankind

I perfected, who, out upon't, have none,—

No, not one shift—to rid me of this shame.

Thy sufferings have been shameful, and thy mind

Strays at a loss: like to a bad physician

Fallen sick, thou'rt out of heart: nor cans't prescribe

For thine own case the draught to make thee sound.

But hear the sequel and the more admire

What arts, what aids I cleverly evolved.

The chiefest that, if any man fell sick,

There was no help for him, comestible,

Lotion or potion; but for lack of drugs

They dwindled quite away; until I taught them

To compound draughts and mixtures sanative,