Page:Miscellanies - With a biographical sketch by Ralph Waldo Emerson and a general index to the writings. -- by Thoreau, Henry David.djvu/346

326 By Nile's very mouth and bank;

There at length Zeus makes thee sane,

Stroking with gentle hand, and touching only.

And, named from Zeus' begetting,

Thou wilt bear dark Epaphus, who will reap

As much land as broad-flowing Nile doth water;

And fifth from him, a band of fifty children

Again to Argos shall unwilling come,

Of female sex, avoiding kindred marriage

Of their cousins; but they, with minds inflamed,

Hawks by doves not far left behind,

Will come pursuing marriages

Not to be pursued, but heaven will take vengeance on their bodies;

For them Pelasgia shall receive by Mars

Subdued with woman's hand with night-watching boldness.

For each wife shall take her husband's life,

Staining a two-edged dagger in his throat.

Such 'gainst my foes may Cypris come.—

But one of the daughters shall love soften

Not to slay her bedfellow, but she will waver

In her mind; and one of two things will prefer,

To hear herself called timid, rather than stained with blood;

She shall in Argos bear a royal race.—

Of a long speech is need this clearly to discuss.

From this seed, however, shall be born a brave,