Page:The Dramas of Aeschylus (Swanwick).djvu/111

Rh Screening the mansion from the dog-star's ray.

So now, returning to thy household hearth,

As warmth in winter doth thy presence show.

And when Zeus breweth from the acrid grape

Rich wine, then coolness thro' the halls is shed,

Where, crowner of the home, the husband dwells.

Zeus, Zeus, all-crowner, my petitions crown:

Thine be the care of that which crown thou wilt.

Whence this dread portent, that untired

Before my bodeful spirit floats?

Wherefore, unbidden and unhired,

Waken these dark prophetic notes?

Why sits not on my bosom's throne

The direful presage to disown

As riddling dream, assurance strong?

Time's youth hath flown

Since the stern-cables from the boats

Were flung, what time the ship-borne host

Marched on to Ilion from the sandy coast.

After long absence their return

With self-informing eyes I learn;

Yet in its depths my soul, self-taught,

Chanteth Erinys' lyreless strains;

My hopes, of courage reft, depart;

Not vainly throb my inmost reins;