Page:Ten Tragedies of Seneca (1902).djvu/118

98 ATR. Fas est in illo, quidquid in fratre est nesas.

Quid enim reliquit crimine intactum? aut ubi

Sceleri pepercit? conjugem stupro abstulit,

Regnumque furto: specimen antiquum imperii

Fraude est adeptus; fraude turbavit domum.

Est Pelopis altis nobile in stabilus pecus,

Arcanus aries, ductor opulenti gregis;

Cujus per omne corpus effuso coma

Dependet auro; cujus e tergo novi

Aurata reges sceptra Tantalici gerunt;

Possessor hujus regnat: hunc cunctæ domus

Fortuna sequitur. tuta seposita facer

In parte carpit prata, quæ claudit lapis,

Fatale saxeo pascuum muro tegens;

Hunc, facinus ingens ausus, assumta in scelus

Conforte nostri perfidus thalami avehit:

Hinc omne cladis mutuæ fluxit malum.

Per regna trepidus exsul erravi mea:

Pars nulla generis tuta ab insidiis vacat.

Corrupta conjux, imperii quassa est fides,

Domus ægra, dubius sanguis: est certi nihil,

Nisi frater hostis. quid stupes? tandem incipe,

Animoque sume Tantalum, & Pelopem aspice:

Ad hæc manus exempla poscuntur meæ.

Profare, dirum qua caput mactem via.

SAT. Ferro peremtus spiritum inimicum exspuat.

ATR. De fine pœnæ loqueris, ego pœnam volo.

Perimat tyrannus lenis. in regno meo

Mors impetratur. SAT. Nulla te pietas movet?

ATR. Excede, pietas; (si modo nostra in domo

Unquam fuisti) dira Furiarum cohors,

Discorsque Erinnys veniat, & geminas faces

Megæra quatiens, non satis magno meum

Ardet furore pectus: impleri juvat

Majore monstro. SAT. Quid novi rabidus struis?

 ATR. Whatsoever has been unlawful in my brother towards me, is only justice on my part to recrimmate. What has he left to be done, but what is already stamped with the seal of crime? or when has he spared crime? He has robbed me of my wife by his adultery, and stolen my kingdom (into the bargain). He has fraudulently possessed himself of the traditional emblem of our dynasty, and he has brought about endless disaster upon our royal house! There is in the royal mews of Pelops, a noble wool-bearing animal, a mysterious Ram, the bellwether of an illustrious flock, whose dense fleece hangs down over its entire body, and profusely loaded with gold, and from whose back the wool is taken, which adorns the golden sceptre, which every newly-appointed 