Page:Tragedies of Seneca (1907) Miller.djvu/272

254 With his sad song; and the sullen gods Of Erebus were moved to tears. He feared not the pool of the Stygian stream By whose dread waves the heavenly gods Make oath unbreakable. The whirling rim of the restless wheel Stood still, its breathless speed at rest. The immortal liver of Tityos Grew, undevoured, while at the song The spellbound birds forgot their greed. Thou, too, didst hear, O boatman grim, And thy bark that plies the infernal stream With oars all motionless came on. Then first the hoary Phrygian Forgot his thirst, although no more The mocking waters fled his lips But stood enchanted; now no more He reaches hungry hands to grasp The luscious fruit. When thus through that dark world of souls Sweet Orpheus poured such heavenly strains That the impious rock of Sisyphus Was moved to follow him; Then did the goddesses of fate Renew the exhausted thread of life For fair Eurydice. But when, Unmindful of the law they gave, And scarce believing that his wife Was following, the hapless man Looked back, he lost his prize of song; For she, who to the very verge Of life had come again, fell back And died again. Then, seeking solace still in song, Orpheus unto the Getans sang:

The gods themselves are under law, Yea he, who through the changing year Directs the seasons in their course.