Page:Ten Tragedies of Seneca (1902).djvu/424

404 Dominumque regni tristis, & dominam fide

Meliore raptam, voce non fausta precor:

Adeste, adeste sceleris ultrices Deæ,

Criuem solutis squallidæ serpentibus,

Atram cruentis manibus amplexæ facem,

Adeste: thalamis horridæ quondam meis

Quales stetistis, conjugi letum novæ,

Letumque socero & regiæ stirpi date.

Mihi pejus aliquid, quod precer sponso malum:

Vivat, per urbes erret ignotas egens,

Exsul, pavens, invisus, incerti laris:

Me conjugem optet; limen alienum expetat,

Jam notus hospes: quoque non aliud queam

Pejus precari, liberos similis patri,

Similesque matri. parta jam, parta ultio est.

Peperi. querelas, verbaque incassum fero.

Non ibo in hostes? manibus excutiam faces,

Cœloque lucem? spectat hoc nostri sator

Sol generis! & spectatur, & curru infidens

Per solita puri spatia decurrit poli?

Non redit in ortus, & remetitur diem?

Da, da per auras curribus patriis vehi.

Committe habenas, genitor, & flagrantibus

Ignifera loris tribue moderari juga.

Gemino Corinthos litori opponens moras,

Cremata flammis maria committet duo.

Hoc restat unum: pronubam thalamo feram

Ut ipsa pinum; postque sacrificas preces

Cædam dicatis victimas altaribus.

Per viscera ipsa quære supplicio viam,

Si vivis, anime: si quid antiqui tibi

Remanet vigoris, pelle femineos metus,

Et inhospitalem Caucasum mente indue.

Quodcunque vidit Phasis aut Pontus nefas,

Videbit Isthmos essera, ignota, horrida,

Tremenda cœlo pariter ac terris mala,

Mens intus agitat; vulnera, & cædem, & vagum

 and thou, the Chaos of Eternal Night,—ye, the kingdoms that are below those which are immediately above the Earth, and the impious progeny of the Manes, and the ruler of that sad kingdom, (Pluto,) and thou, Proserpine, who wast carried away by Pluto, but with the faithful observance of his conjugal vows, (which has not fallen to my lot,) I pray thee, though with a modified degree of confidence, be present. Oh! ye Eumenides, the avenging goddesses of crimes, with your repulsive locks hanging down with the dangling serpents, be present, holding the dreaded torch in your blood-thirsty hands—stand ye forth, as ye did at my marriage ceremony, terrible to behold, causing death to reach this newly imported spouse! 