Page:Masterpieces of Greek Literature (1902).djvu/148

118 118 AESCHYLUS

And nowise bland to strangers. Reaching so

The stream Hybristes (well the scorner called),^

Attempt no passage, — it is hard to pass, —

Or ere thou come to Caucasus itself,

That highest of mountains, where the river leaps 84o

The precipice in his strength. Thou must toil up

Those mountain-tops that neighbor with the stars,

And tread the southway, and draw near, at last,

The Amazonian host that hateth man,

Inhabitants of Themiscyra, close 845

Upon Thermodon,^ where the sea's rough jaw

Doth gnash at Salmydessa,^ and provide

A cruel host to seamen, and to ships

A stepdame. They, with unreluctant hand,

Shall lead thee on and on till thou arrive &50

Just where the ocean-gates show narrowest

On the Cimmerian isthmus. Leaving which,

Behooves thee swim with fortitude of soul

The strait Maeotis. Ay, and evermore

That traverse shall be famous on men's lips, ess

That strait called Bosporus,^ the horned one's road,

So named because of thee,^ who so wilt pass

From Europe's plain to Asia's continent.

How think ye, nymphs ? the king of gods appears

Impartial in ferocious deeds ? Behold ! seo

The god desirous of this mortal's love

Hath cursed her with these wanderings. Ah, fair child,

Thou hast met a bitter groom for bridal troth !

^ No river is known of this name. Perhaps the Araxes is meant.

2 Strictly, " on the banks of the Thermodon."

^ More literally, " the Salmydessian Jaw (or promontory) of the sea." The Jaw is Salmydessus.

Bosporus, near Constantinople.
 * The Cimmeric Bosporus, near the Crimea, not the Thracian

^ Bosporus, interpreted as Ox-ford.