Page:Tragedies of Seneca (1907) Miller.djvu/49

Rh And Maenads have they become. Holy Cithaeron too has streamed with slaughter, Where was spilt the noble blood of Ophion. Proetus' daughters the forests sought; and Argus, Juno at last consenting, paid homage to Bacchus. The island of Naxos, girt by the broad Aegean, Gave to Bacchus the maid whom Theseus abandoned, Compensating her loss by a better husband. Out of the rock there gushed Nyctelian liquor; Babbling streams at his word clove the grassy meadows; Deep the earth drank in the nectarean juices; Streams of snowy milk burst forth from the fountains, Mingled with Lesbian wine all fragrant with spices. Now is the bride to her place in the heavens conducted; Phoebus, with flowing locks, sings a stately anthem; Love, in honor of both, bears the wedding torches; Jove lays down the deadly darts of his lightning, Hating his bolts of flame at the coming of Bacchus. While the gleaming stars in their boundless pasturage wander, While the sea shall gird th' imprisoned earth with its waters, While the full-orb'd moon shall gather her lost refulgence, While the morning star shall herald the coming of Phoebus, While in the north the Bear shall fear the cerulean ocean, Still shall we worship the shining face of the beautiful Bacchus.

[Enter Creon, returned from the rites of necromancy.]

Oedipus: Although thy face displays the marks of grief, Declare whose death an angry heaven demands. Creon: Thou bid'st me speak where fear would silence keep. Oedipus: If Thebes, to ruin falling, move thee not, Regard the scepter of thy kindred house. Creon: Thou wilt repent the knowledge which thou seek'st. Oedipus: A useless cure for ills is ignorance. And wilt thou still obstruct the public weal? Creon: Where foul the cure, 'tis grievous to be cured. Oedipus: Thy tidings speak; or, by thy pains subdued, Thou soon shalt know what angered kings can do. Creon: Kings hate the words whose speech they would compel.