Page:Tragedies of Seneca (1907) Miller.djvu/325

Rh Tantalus: Leave it to thy sons. Thyestes: No realm on earth can stand divided power. Tantalus: Should he, who can be happy, still be sad? Thyestes: Believe me, son, 'tis by their lying names That things seem great, while others harsh appear Which are not truly so. When high in power I stood, I never ceased to be in fear; Yea, even did I fear the very sword Upon my thigh. Oh, what a boon it is To be at feud with none, to eat one's bread Without a trace of care, upon the ground! Crime enters not the poor man's humble cot; And all in safety may one take his food From slender boards; for 'tis in cups of gold That poison lurks—I speak what I do know. Ill fortune is to be preferred to good. For since my palace does not threatening stand In pride upon some lofty mountain top, The people fear me not; my lowering roofs Gleam not with ivory, nor do I need A watchful guard to keep me while I sleep I do not fish with fleets, nor drive the sea With massive dykes back from its natural shore; I do not gorge me at the world's expense; For me no fields remote are harvested Beyond the Getae and the Parthians; No incense burns for me, nor are my shrines Adorned in impious neglect of Jove; No forests wave upon my battlements, No vast pools steam for my delight; my days Are not to slumber given, nor do I spend The livelong night in drunken revelry. No one feels fear of me, and so my home, Though all unguarded, is from danger free; For poverty alone may be at peace. And this I hold: the mightiest king is he, Who from the lust of sovereignty is free. Tantalus: But if some god a kingdom should bestow, It is not meet for mortal to refuse: