Page:Tragedies of Sophocles (Plumptre 1878).djvu/565

Rh For who hath seen in all the past till now

Zeus to his children known as careless or unkind?

Let the loud shout arise,

With clear, re-echoing cries,

From maidens bright and fair with youth's fresh glow;

And let the cry of men,

Again and yet again,

Hail great Apollo, bearer of the bow:

Pæans on pæans raise,

Ye maidens, in his praise,

And on his sister call, Ortygian Artemis,

The huntress of the deer,

With torches flashing clear,

And all the Nymphs whose dwelling near us is.

I quiver through each vein,

And dare not slight thy strain,

Ο flute, thou sovereign master of my soul;

Lo! the twined ivy-wreath

Stirs me with passionate breath,

And bids me leap in Bacchic strife beneath its strong control.

Great is the power the Kyprian Goddess wields:

I speak not of the things

That touch on Heaven's high kings,

I will not tell how e'en the son of Cronos yields

To wiles that mock and cheat;

Nor how the dark retreat