Page:The Dramas of Aeschylus (Swanwick).djvu/440

370 So in clear word all ye desire to know

That shall ye hear;—Yet am I shamed to tell

Wherefore on me, forlorn one, burst the storm

Heaven-sent and whence this form's disfigurement.

For evermore would nightly visions haunt

My virgin chambers, gently urging me

With soothing words;—"O damsel, highly blest,

Why longer live in maidenhood when thee

Wait loftiest nuptials? For by passion's dart

Inflamed is Zeus for thee and fain would share

The yoke of Kypris. Spurn not thou, O child,

The couch of Zeus, but to the grassy mead

Of Lerna hie thee, to thy father's herds

And cattle-stalls, that so the eye of Zeus

From longing may find respite." By such dreams

From night to night still was I visited,

Unhappy one; till, taking heart at length,

My night-born visions to my sire I told.

Then he to Pytho many a herald sent

And to Dodona; seeking to be taught

How best, by deed or word, to please the gods.

But they returned, announcing oracles

Of riddling import, vague and hard to spell.

At length to Inachos came clear response,

By voice oracular commanding him

From home and father-land to thrust me forth,

At large to range, as consecrate to heaven,

Far as earth's utmost bounds. Should he refuse,

From Zeus would come the fiery thunderbolt,

And his whole race extirpate utterly.