Works of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Page 249
(Passing in chorus before Nereus,mounted upon dolphins.)
Luna, light and shadow throwing,
Round this youthful band, shine clear!
For we come our Father showing
Prayerfully, our bridegrooms dear.
(To Nereus.)
Them, soft pity’s voice obeying,
From the rock’s fell tooth we bore,
And on moss and sea-weed laying,
Warm’d them back to light once more;
Kisses upon us bestowing,
Thus their grateful temper showing;
View them kindly, we implore!
Nereus.
Precious indeed the twofold gain:
To show compassion, and delight obtain!
Dorides.
Dost praise, O Father, our endeavor?
Grudge us not our joy, well-earn’d;
Deathless youth, enjoyed forever
In the bliss of love return’d!
Nereus.
Would ye enjoy your captur’d treasure!
Then mould each youth to be a man;
Powerless am I to do your pleasure;
Accord your prayer Zeus only can.
The waves, whose foam around you playeth,
All steadfastness in love ignore,
And if its spell no longer swayeth,
Then place them quietly ashore.
Dorides.
Dear ye are, sweet youths, in sooth;
Yet from you we needs must sever:
We have crav’d eternal truth,
But the Gods allow it never!
The Youths.
Gallant sailor-youths and true,
If ye still will fondly tend us;
Life so fair we never knew,
Nor could fate a fairer send us.
[Galateaapproaches in the shell chariot.
Nereus.
’Tis thou, my beloved one!
Galatea.
Sire! what delight!
Linger, ye dolphins, enchain’d is my sight.
Nereus.
Gone already! They forsake me,
Speeding on with circling motion!
What to them the heart’s emotion!
Oh! that with them they would take me!
Yet such rapture yields one gaze,
The livelong year it well repays.
Thales.
Hail! all hail! The cry renew!
Blooms my spirit, pierced through
By the Beautiful, the True! . . .
All from water sprang amain!
All things water doth sustain:
Ocean grant thy deathless reign!
Were no clouds by thee outspread,
No rich brooklets by thee fed,
On their course no rivers sped,
And no streamlets perfected,
What then were the world, what were ocean and plain?
’Tis thou, who the freshness of life dost maintain.
Echo.
(Chorus of the collective circles.)
’Tis thou, from whom freshness of life pours amain!
Nereus.
Far distant now they wheel and turn,
And vainly glance for glance must yearn;
Circle in circle wide extending,
The countless throngs, in order blending,
Urge o’er the waves their glad career.
But Galatea’s pearly throne,
Behold I still, behold; alone
Now it glitters like a star
‘Midst, the crowd; with radiance tender,
Shines through the press the lov’d one’s splendor;
Though so far, so very far,
Still it shimmers bright and clear,
Ever true and ever near!
Homunculus.
In this moisture calm and dear,
All I shine on doth appear
Exquisitely fair!
Proteus.
In this living dewy sphere,
First thy flamelet shineth clear,
Breathing tones most rare.
Nereus.
But lo! what new mystery, fraught with surprise,
Reveals itself now, ‘mid yon crowds, to our eyes?
What flames round the shell, round the feet of my child?
Now strongly it glitters, now sweetly, now mild,
As if by the pulses of love it were sway’d!
Thales.
Homunculus is it, by Proteus betray’d . . .
A yearning majestic these symptoms disclose,
Presageful they tell of his passionate throes;
Against the bright throne he’ll be shatter’d! It glows,
It flashes, it sparkles, abroad now it flows!
Sirens.
What marvel illumines the billows, which dash
Against one another in glory? They flash,
They waver, they hitherward glitter, and bright
All forms are ablaze in the pathway of night;
And all things are gleaming, by fire girt around.
Prime source of creation, let Eros be crown’d!
Hail ye billows! Hail to thee,
Girt by holy fire, O sea!
Water hail! Hail fire’s bright glare!
Hail to this adventure rare!
All Together.
Hail each softly blowing gale!
Caverns rich in marvels, hail!
Highly honor’d evermore
Be the elemental four!
ACT III.
Before the Palace of Menelaus in Sparta.
Enter Helena,with a chorus of captive Trojan women. Penthalis,leader of the chorus.
Helena.
The much admir’d and much upbraided, Helena,
From yonder strand I come, where erst we disembark’d,
Still giddy from the roll of ocean’s billowy surge,
Which, through Poseidon’s favor and through Euros’ might,
On lofty crested backs hither hath wafted us,
From Phrygia’s open field, to our ancestral bays.
Yonder King Menelaus, glad of his return,
With his brave men of war, rejoices on the beach.
But oh, thou lofty mansion, bid me welcome home,
Thou, near the steep decline, which Tyndareus, my sire,
From Pallas’ hill returning, here hath builded up;
Which also was adorn’d beyond all Sparta’s homes,
What time with Clytemnestra, sister-like, I grew,
With Castor, Pollux, too, playing in joyous sport.
Wings of yon brazen portals, you I also hail!
Through you, ye guest-inviting, hospitable gates,
Hath Menelaus once, from many princes chosen,
Shone radiant on my sight, in nuptial sort array’d.
Expand to me once more, that I the king’s behest
May faithfully discharge, as doth the spouse beseem.
Let me within, and all henceforth behind remain,
That, charg’d with doom, till now darkly hath round me storm’d!
For since, by care untroubled, I these sites forsook,
Seeking Cythera’s fane, as sacred wont enjoin’d,
And by the spoiler there was seiz’d, the Phrygian,
Happen’d have many things, whereof men far and wide
Are fain to tell, but which not fain to hear is he
Of whom the tale, expanding, hath to fable grown.
Chorus.
Disparage not, O glorious dame,
Honor’d possession of highest estate!
For sole unto thee is the greatest boon given;
The fame of beauty that all overtowers!
The hero’s name before him resounds,
So strides he with pride;
Nathless at once the stubbornest yields
To beauty, the presence which all things subdues.
Helena.
Enough! I with my spouse, ship-borne, have hither sped,
And to his city now by him before am sent.
Come I as consort hither? Come I as a queen?
Come I as victim for the prince’s bitter pangs,
And for the evils dire, long suffer’d by the Greeks?
Conquer’d I am; but whether captive, know I not:
For the Immortal Powers fortune and fame for me
Have doom’d ambiguous; direful ministers that wait
On beauty’s form, who even on this threshold here,
With dark and threat’ning mien, stand bodeful at my side!
Already, ere we left the hollow ship, my spouse
Look’d seldom on me, spake no comfortable word;
As though he mischief brooded, facing me he sat.
But now, when to Eurotas’ deeply curving shores
Steering our course, scarce had our foremost vessel’s beak
The land saluted, spake he, as by God inspir’d:
“Here let my men of war, in order’d ranks, disbark;
I marshal them, drawn up upon the ocean strand;
But thou, pursue thy way, not swerving from the banks,
Laden with fruit, that bound Eurotas’ sacred stream,
Thy coursers guiding o’er the moist, enamell’d meads,
Until thou may’st arrive at that delightful plain,
Where Lacedæmon, once a broad fruit-bearing field,
By mountains stern surrounded lifteth now its walls.
Set thou thy foot within the tower-crown’d princely house,
Assemble thou the maids, whom I at parting left,
And with them summon too the wise old stewardess.
Bid her display to thee the treasures’ ample store,
As by thy sire bequeath’d, and which, in peace and war,
Increasing evermore, I have myself up-piled.
All standing shalt thou find in ancient order; for,
This is the prince’s privilege, that to his home,
When he returns at last, safe everything he finds,
Each in its proper place, as he hath left it there.
For nothing of himself the slave hath power to change.”
Chorus.
Oh, gladden now, with glorious wealth,
Ever increasing, thine eye and heart!
For beautiful chains, the adornment of crowns,
Are priding themselves, in haughty repose;
But step thou in, and challenge them all,
They arm themselves straight;
I joy to see beauty contend for the prize,
With gold, and with pearls, and with jewels of price.
Helena.
Forthwith hath follow’d next this mandate of my lord:
“Now when in order thou all things hast duly seen,
As many tripods take, as needful thou may’st deem,
And vessels manifold, which he at hand requires,
Who duly would perform the sacrificial rite,
The caldrons, and the bowls, and shallow altar-plates;
Let purest water, too, from sacred fount be there,
In lofty pitchers; further, store of season’d wood,
Quick to accept the flame, hold thou in readiness;
A knife, of sharpest edge, let it not fail at last.
But I all other things to thy sole care resign.”
So spake he, urging me at once to part; but naught,
Breathing the breath of life, the orderer appoints,
That, to the Olympians’ honor, he to slaughter doom’d:
Suspicious seems it! yet, dismiss I further care;
To the high gods’ decree be everything referr’d,
Who evermore fulfil, what they in thought conceive;
It may, in sooth, by men, as evil or as good
Be counted, it by us, poor mortals, must be borne.
Full oft the ponderous axe on high the priest hath rais’d,
In consecration o’er the earth-bow’d victim’s neck.
Nor could achieve the rite, for he was hinder’d,
Or by approaching foe, or intervening God.
Chorus.
What now will happen, canst thou not guess;
Enter, queen, enter thou in,
Strong of heart!
Evil cometh and good
Unexpected to mortals;
Though foretold, we credit it not.
Troya was burning, have we not seen
Death before us, terrible death!
And are we not here,
Bound to thee, serving with joy,
Seeing the dazzling sunshine of heaven,
And of earth too the fairest,
Kind one — thyself — happy are we!
Helena.
Come what come may! Whate’er impends, me it behoves
To ascend, without delay, into the royal house,
Long miss’d, oft yearn’d for, well-nigh forfeited;
Before mine eyes once more it stands, I know not how.
My feet now bear me not so lightly as of yore,
When up the lofty steps I, as a child, have sprung.
Chorus.
Fling now, O sisters, ye
Captives who mourn your lot,
All your sorrows far from you.
Share ye your mistress’ joy!
Share ye Helena’s joy,
Who to the dear paternal hearth,
Though returning full late in sooth,
Nathless with surer, firmer tread
Joyfully now approaches!
Praise ye the holy ones,
Happy restoring ones,
Gods, the home-leaders, praise ye!
Soars the enfranchis’d one,
As upon outspread wings,
Over the roughest fate, while in vain
Pines the captur’d one, yearning-fraught,
Over the prison-battlements
Arms outstretching, in anguish.
Nathless her a god hath seized,
The exil’d one,
And from Ilion’s wreck
Bare her hitherward back once more,
To the ancient, the newly-adorned
Father-house,
After unspeakable
Pleasure and anguish,
Earlier youthful time,
Newly quicken’d, to ponder.
Penthalis.
(As leader of the Chorus.)
Forsake ye now of song the joy-surrounded path,
And toward the portal-wings turn ye forthwith your gaze!
What see I, sisters? Here, returneth not the queen?
With step of eager haste, comes she not back to us? —
What is it, mighty queen, that in the palace-halls,
Instead of friendly hail, could there encounter thee,
And shatter thus thy being? Thou conceal’st it not;
For I abhorrence see, impress’d upon thy brow,
And noble anger, that contendeth with surprise.
Helena.
(Who has left the folded doors open, excited.) No vulgar fear beseems the daughter of high Zeus,
And her no lightly-fleeting terror-hand may touch;
But that dire horror which, from womb of ancient Night,
In time primeval rising, still in divers shapes,
Like lurid clouds, from out the mountain’s fiery gorge,
Whirls itself forth, may shake even the hero’s breast.
Thus have the Stygian gods, with horror fraught, to-day
Mine entrance to the house so mark’d, that fain I am,
Back from the oft-time trod, long-yearn’d-for threshold, now,
Like to a guest dismiss’d, departing, to retire.
Yet no, retreated have I hither to the light;
No further shall ye drive me, Powers, whoe’er ye be!
Some expiation I’ll devise, then purified,
The hearth flame welcome may the consort as the lord.
Leader of the Chorus.
Discover, noble queen, to us thy handmaidens,
Devotedly who serve thee, what hath come to pass!
Helena.
What I have seen ye too, with your own eyes, shall see,
If ancient Night, within her wonder-teeming womb,
Hath not forthwith engulf’d, once more, her ghastly birth;
But yet, that ye may know, with words I’ll tell it you: —
What time the royal mansion’s gloomy inner court,
Upon my task intent, with solemn step I trod,
I wonder’d at the drear and silent corridors.
Fell on mine ear no sound of busy servitors,
No stir of rapid haste, officious, met my gaze;
Before me there appear’d no maid, no stewardess,
Who every stranger erst, with friendly greeting, hail’d.
But when I near’d at length the bosom of the hearth,
There saw I, by the light of dimly smouldering fire,
Crouch’d on the ground, a crone, close-veil’d, of stature huge,
Not like to one asleep, but as absorb’d in thought!
With accent of command I summon her to work,
The stewardess in her surmising, whom perchance
My spouse, departing hence, with foresight there had plac’d;
Yet, closely muffl’d up, still sits she, motionless;
At length, upon my threat, uplifts she her right arm,
As though from hearth and hall she motion’d me away.
Wrathful from her I turn, and forthwith hasten out,
Towards the steps, whereon aloft the Thalamos
Rises adorn’d, thereto the treasure-house hard by;
When, on a sudden, starts the wonder from the floor;
Barring with lordly mien my passage, she herself
In haggard height displays, with hollow eyes, blood-grim’d,
An aspect weird and strange, confounding eye and thought.
Yet speak I to the winds; for language all in vain
Creatively essays to body forth such shapes.
There see herself! The light she ventures to confront!
Here are we master, till the lord and monarch comes;
The ghastly brood of Night doth Phœbus, beauty’s friend,
Back to their caverns drive, or them he subjugates.
[Phorkyasstepping on the threshold, between the door-posts.
Chorus.
Much have I liv’d through, although my tresses
Youthfully waver still round my temples;
Manifold horrors have mine eyes witness’d;
Warfare’s dire anguish, Ilion’s night,
When it fell;
Through the o’erclouded, dust overshadow’d,
Tumult of war, to gods have I hearken’d,
Fearfully shouting; hearken’d while discord’s
Brazen voices clang through the field
Rampartwards.
Ah, yet standing were Ilion’s
Ramparts; nathless the glowing flames
Shot from neighbor to neighbor roof,