Page:The Dramas of Aeschylus (Swanwick).djvu/236

166 Direful issue doth impend;

Honour then with holy fear

Thy parents,—household rights revere,

Nor guest-observing ordinance offend.

But who unforced, with spirit free

Dares to be just, is ne'er unblest;

Whelmed utterly he cannot be:

But for the wretch with lawless breast,

Bold seizer of promiscuous prey,—

I warn you,—he, perforce, his sail

In time shall strike, when troubles him assail,

And breaks his yard-arm, neath the tempest's sway.

He cries, but mid the whirlpool's roar

None heeds him; for the gods deride,

Eyeing the boaster, proud no more,

Struggling amid the surging tide;

Shorn of his strength he yields to Fate;—

The cape he weathers not, but thrown

On Justice' sunken reef, with precious freight,

He perisheth for aye, unwept, unknown.

Herald, proclaim! Hold back the multitude,

Let Tyrrhene trumpet, filled with mortal breath,

Piercing the welkin with sonorous blast,

Ring out its brazen summons to the crowd: