Page:Tragedies of Seneca (1907) Miller.djvu/360

342 Chorus: Hail! Priam the blessed we all do proclaim him; For himself and his kingdom be rules yet below; Now through the still depths of Elysium's shadows 'Midst calm, happy spirits he seeks the great Hector. Then hail, happy Priam! Hail all who in battle Have lost life and country, but liberty gained.

Talthybius: Alas, 'tis thus the Greeks are ever doomed To lie impatient of the winds' delay, Whether on war or homeward journey bent. Chorus: Tell thou the cause of this the Greeks' delay. What god obstructs the homeward-leading paths? Talthybius: My soul doth quake, and all my limbs with fear Do tremble. Scarce is credence given to tales That do transcend the truth. And yet I swear, With my own eyes I saw what I relate. Now with his level rays the morning sun Just grazed the summits of the hills, and day Had vanquished night; when suddenly the earth, 'Mid rumblings hidden deep and terrible, To her profoundest depths convulsive rocked. The tree-tops trembled, and the lofty groves Gave forth a thunderous sound of crashing boughs; While down from Ida's rent and rugged slopes The loosened bowlders rolled. And not alone The earth did quake: behold, the swelling sea Perceived its own Achilles drawing near, And spread its waves abroad. Then did the ground Asunder yawn, revealing mighty caves, And gave a path from Erebus to earth. And then the high-heaped sepulcher was rent, From which there sprang Achilles' mighty shade, In guise as when, in practice for thy fates, O Troy, he prostrate laid the Thracian arms, Or slew the son of Neptune, doomed to wear The swan's white plumes; or when, amidst the ranks In furious battle raging, he the streams Did choke with corpses of the slain, and Xanthus