Page:The Dramas of Aeschylus (Swanwick).djvu/105

Rh What time the Pleiades in ocean waned;

So, bounding o'er the towers, of princely blood

The raw-devouring lion lapped his fill.

This lengthened prelude to the gods! and now

Weighing the judgment ye erewhile expressed,

I say the same, and am with you agreed.

To few is it congenial, envy-free,

To venerate the friend whom Fortune crowns.

The jealous poison, lodged within the heart,

Tortures with twofold pang whom it infects;

By his own griefs oppressed, the envious man

Groans also to behold another's joy.

Out of my proof I speak, for, well I wot,

Who friendship most pretended, only were

Its mirrored image, shadow of a shade.

None but Odysseus, who unwilling sailed,

Once harnessed, was my trusty yoke-fellow;

This I affirm, be he alive or dead.

But for the rest, what to the state pertains,

And to the gods, a full assembly called,

We'll weigh in free debate. Counsel we need.

That where the state is sound, we keep it so;

But where disease the healer's art requires,

By kind excision, or by cautery,

We shall attempt to remedy the harm.

Now to my palace and my household hearth

Returning, first will I the gods salute,

Who forward sped me, and who lead me home;

Since victory so far hath followed me,

Here may she henceforth stedfastly [sic] abide!