Page:Masterpieces of Greek Literature (1902).djvu/162

132 132 AESCHYLUS

Hermes. I have indeed, methinks, said much in vain, For still thy heart beneath my showers of prayers 1195 Lies dry and hard, nay, leaps like a young horse Who bites against the new bit in his teeth, And tugs and struggles against the new-tried rein, Still fiercest in the feeblest thing of all, Which sophism is ; since absolute will disjoined 1200 From perfect mind is worse than weak. Behold, Unless my words persuade thee, what a blast And whirlwind of inevitable woe Must sweep persuasion through thee ! For at first The Father will split up this jut of rock 1205

With the great thunder and the bolted flame, And hide thy body where a hinge of stone Shall catch it like an arm ; and, when thou hast passed A long black time within, thou shalt come out To front the sun while Zeus's winged hound, mo

The strong, carnivorous eagle, shall wheel down To meet thee, self-called to a daily feast, And set his fierce beak in thee, and tear off The long rags of thy flesh, and batten deep Upon thy dusky liver.^ Do not look 1215

For any end, moreover, to this curse, Or ere some god appear to accept thy pangs On his own head vicarious, and descend With unreluctant step the darks of hell^ And gloomy abysses around Tartarus. 1220

Then ponder this, — this threat is not a growth

^ I. e., the vnltore •will feed upon the liver until it is black. The liver was the seat of the affections, to the Greek mind, and thus is punished.

- The Centaur Chiron was to do this, being hopelessly wounded, and therefore resigning iniraortality, but such an event seemed im- probable.