Page:The Dramas of Aeschylus (Swanwick).djvu/460

390 To search for prudent counsel. Be advised!

For to the wise it bringeth shame to err.

To me who knew them, hath he told

His messages, with utterance shrill.

But nowise I unseemly hold

That foe from foe should suffer ill.

So 'gainst me now be hurled amain

Curled lightning's two-edged glare!

By thunder and spasmodic whirl

Of savage gales be upper air

Madly convulsed! Let hurricane

Earth from its deep foundation rend,

E'en from its roots. Let ocean's wave,

Surging aloft, tumultuous rave,

And, foaming, with the courses blend

Of heavenly stars! Ay, let him hurl

This body to the murky gloom

Of Tartaros, in stubborn whirl

Of fortune caught! Do what he will

My death he may not doom.

From fools brain-stricken may one hear

Such counsels and such words. But say,—

What sign of madness lacketh here?

What respite knows his frenzied ire?

Nathless do ye, who thus condole

With his sore pangs, far hence retire;