Page:Ten Tragedies of Seneca (1902).djvu/144

124 Laxantur adyto fata, & immugit specus

Vocem Deo solvente. Quo postquam furens

Intravit Atreus, liberos fratris trahens,

Ornantur areæ. qui queat digne eloqui?

Post terga juvenum nobiles revocat manus,

Et mæsta vitta capita purpurea ligat:

Non thura desunt, non sacer Bacclii liquor.

Tangensve salsa victimam culter mola.

Servatur omnis ordo, ne tantum nefas

Non rite fiat. CHOR. Quis manum ferro admovet?

NUNT. Ipse est sacerdos. ipse funesta prece

Letale carmen ore violento canit.

Stat ipse ad aras. ipse devotos neci

[sic]Contrctat, & componit, & ferro admovet.

Attendit ipse, nulla pars sacri perit.

Lucus tremiscit. tota succusso solo

Nutavit aula, dubia, quo pondus daret,

Ac fluctuanti similis. e lævo æthere

Atrum cucurrit limitem fidus trahens.

Libata in ignes vina mutato fluunt

Cruenta Baccho. regium capiti decus

Bis terque lapsum est, flevit in templis ebur.

Movere cunctos monstra: sed solus sibi

Immotus Atreus constat, atque ultro Deos

Terret minantes. jamque dimissa mora

Assiluit aris, torvum & obliquum intuens.

Jejuna silvis qualis in Gangeticis

Inter juvencos tigris erravit duos,

Utriusque prædæ cupida, quo primos ferat

Incerta morsus, flectit huc rictus suos,

Illo reflectit, & famem dubiam tenet;

Sic dirus Atreus capita devota impiæ

Speculatur iræ. quem prius mactet sibi,

Dubitat; secunda deinde quem cæde immolet.

Nec interest: sed dubitat. & sævum scelus

 of the consuming results of positive ignition following that phenomenon—Oftentimes, the grove resounds with loud barking, as if coming from three throats simultaneously (Cerberus-like), and very often the palace is haunted with enormous and terrifying ghosts! Nor does the light of day, when it arrives, allay one's fright—for night is the peculiar feature of this grove, and superstitious alarms take a firm hold of the imagination, even in broad daylight! Here responses are given to earnest supplicants upon which they can depend, for from a wide entrance, with a loud sound the decrees are pronounced, and the cavern groans again, whilst the judicial Deity is delivering his sentence! Into this place we see furious Atreus enter, dragging with him the children of Thyestes, and 