Page:Tragedies of Seneca (1907) Miller.djvu/159

Rh As e'en in safety make me tremble still. For I can scarce believe that even yet I breathe the vital air. My eye's clear sight Is blinded, and, by that thick darkness dimmed, Can scarce endure the unaccustomed light. Amphitr.: But conquer thou the fear that still remains Deep in thy heart; and do not rob thyself Of the best fruit of toil. For what was hard To bear becomes most sweet in memory. Go on, and tell us all thy sufferings. Theseus: O god of heaven, and thou who holdest sway In that deep, all-embracing realm of death, And thou whose mother sought thee (but in vain) Through all the world: your powers I supplicate That I may speak with boldness of the things Concealed and buried in the hold of earth. The Spartan land lifts high a famous cliff Where Taenarus juts out upon the sea, Dense wooded. Here the realm of hated Dis Opes wide its mouth; the high cliff spreads apart, And in a mighty cavern yawns a pit With jaws portentous, huge, precipitous; And for all nations ample passage gives. The way begins, not dark with heavy shades. A watery gleam of daylight follows in, And doubtful light, as of the sun eclipsed, Falls there and mocks the eye. Such light the day, While mingled still with night, at early dawn Or in its waning hour, is wont to give. The way then broadens into spaces vast And empty, where the human race entire Might plunge and perish. 'Tis no labor here To travel, for the road itself draws down. As often whirlpools suck unwilling ships, So does the air, down streaming, urge us on, And hungry chaos. Here the clutching shades Permit no backward step. Deep in the abyss, With peaceful shallows gentle Lethe glides, And by its draughts removes all mortal care