Page:Four Plays of Aeschylus (Cookson).djvu/68

56

But we forget not Cypris. Let none deem

Our harmless song is meant in her dispraise.

For she with Hera sways

The heart of Zeus, and he is Lord Supreme.

The subtle Goddess hath her rites;—with young

Desire playing at his mother's side;

Nor less Persuasion to whose charming tongue

No boon that heart can give or worth approves

May be denied.

Yea, music hath her share

In Aphrodite's Empire fair,

Music with all the train of whispering Loves.

All is fulfilled as Destiny decrees,

And Zeus is great: it is not given to men

To thwart his purposes

Or reach beyond the bounds that he hath set.

Pray rather, then,

That once the rite be said,

This marriage that we so much dread

May bring more bliss than ever wife knew yet.

May the great Zeus grant that I ne'er

Wed with a son of King Ægyptus.

Yea,

That boon were best of all; and yet thy prayer

Would move a will that none can sway.