Page:Tragedies of Seneca (1907) Miller.djvu/103

Rh Thou who alone canst rule the heart of the war-god, Thou who linkest in peace the opposing nations, Out of thy generous hand abundance pouring— Thee we offer a daintier gift, O Concord!

Thou who, on the marriage torches attending, Night's dark gloom with favoring hand dispellest, Hither come with languishing footstep drunken, Binding thy temples fair with garlands of roses!

Star of the evening, thou who to twilight leadest The day, and hailest again the dawn of the morning, All too slowly thou com'st for lovers impatient, Eager to see thy sign in the glow of the sunset.

The fairest of girls is she, The Athenian maids outshining, Or the Spartan maiden with armor laden, No burden of war declining.

Not by Alpheus' sacred stream, Nor Boeotia's musical water, Is there any fair who can compare With our lovely Corinthian daughter.

Our Thessalian prince excels, In beauty of form and face, Even Bacchus, the son of the fierce-flaming one, Who yokes the wild tigers in place.

The murmuring tripod's lord, Though the fairest in heavenly story, The twins with their star bright gleaming afar— All yield to our Jason in glory.

When in her train of courtly maidens she mingles— Like the bright sunshine paling the starry splendor, Or the full moonlight quenching the Pleiads' brilliance, So does she shine, all peerless, of fair ones the fairest.

Now, O Jason, freed from the hateful wedlock That held thee bound to the barbarous Colchian woman, Joyfully wed the fair Corinthian maiden, While at last her parents' blessings attend thee.