Page:Tragedies of Seneca (1907) Miller.djvu/288

270 Some son of Thracian Rhodope, With heart more hard than the frozen lands That lie 'neath snowy Helice, Should stain his stalls with human gore? Who will give peace to the trembling folk If angry gods with monstrous birth Should curse the world again? Behold, The mate for common man he lies, Whom earth produced a mate for Jove. Let lamentations loud resound Through all the world; with streaming hair Let women smite their naked arms; Let all the temples of the gods Be closed save Juno's; she alone Is free from care. To Lethe and the Stygian shore Now art thou going, whence no keel Will ever bring thee back. Thou goest, Lamented one, unto the shades, Whence, death o'ercome, thou once return'dst In triumph with thy prize; but now, An empty shade, with fleshless arms, Wan face, and slender, drooping neck, Thou goest back. Nor will the skiff (Which once bore only thee and feared That even so 'twould be o'erturned) Bear thee alone across the stream. But not with common shades shalt thou Be herded. Thou with Aeacus And pious kings of Crete shalt sit In judgment on the deeds of men, And punish tyrants. O ye kings, Be merciful, restrain your hands. 'Tis worthy praise to keep the sword Unstained with blood; while thou didst reign, Upon thy realm to have allowed Least privilege to bloody fate. But place among the stars is given