Delphi Complete Works of Aeschylus (Illustrated) (Delphi Ancient Classics)
Page 9
KING
[338] In this way families have enhanced their power.
CHORUS
[339] And it is easy then, if things go ill, to separate from a wife.
KING
[340] How then am I to deal with you in accordance with my sacred duty?
CHORUS
[341] By not surrendering us at the demand of Aegyptus’ sons.
KING
[342] A serious request — to take upon myself a dangerous war.
CHORUS
[343] But Justice protects her champions.
KING
[344] True, if she had a share in the matter from the beginning.
CHORUS
[345] Show reverence for the ship of state thus crowned.
KING
[346] I shrink as I gaze upon these shaded shrines.
CHORUS
[347] Yet heavy is the wrath of Zeus, god of the suppliant.Son of Palaechthon, lord of the Pelasgians, hear me with a benign heart. Behold me, your suppliant, a fugitive, running around like a heifer chased by wolves upon precipitous crags, where, confident in his help, she lows to tell the herdsman of her distress.
KING
[354] I see a company of assembled gods assenting beneath the shade of fresh-plucked boughs. Nevertheless may this affair of claimants to the friendship of our city bring no mischief in its wake! And let no feud come upon the state from causes unforeseen and unforestalled; for the state has no need of such trouble.
CHORUS
[359] Indeed, may Justice, daughter of Zeus the Apportioner, Justice who protects the suppliant, look upon our flight that it bring no mischief in its wake. But you, aged in experience, learn from one of younger birth. If you show mercy to a suppliant . . . from a man of holiness.
KING
[365] It is not my own house at whose hearth you sit. If the state is stained by pollution in its commonalty, in common let the people strive to work out the cure. For myself, I will pledge no promise before I have communicated these events to all the citizens.
CHORUS
[370] You are the state, you are the people. Being subject to no judge, you rule the altar, your country’s hearth by your will’s sole ordinance; and, enthroned in sole sovereignty, you determine every issue. Beware pollution!
KING
[376] Pollution on my enemies! But without harm I do not know how to help you. And yet again, it is not well advised to slight these supplications. I am perplexed, and fear possesses my soul whether to act, or not to act and take what fortune sends.
CHORUS
[381] Look to him who looks down from above, to him, the guardian of mortals sore-distressed, who appeal to their neighbors, yet do not obtain the justice that is their right. The wrath of Zeus, the suppliant’s god, remains, and will not be softened by a sufferer’s complaints.
KING
[387] If the sons of Aegyptus have authority over you by the law of your country claiming that they are nearest of kin, who would wish to contest it? You must plead in accordance with the laws of the land you have fled, that they have no authority over you.
CHORUS
[392] Never, oh never, may I fall subject to the power and authority of these men. I am determined to flee to escape this marriage that offends my soul, piloting my course by the stars.Take Justice as your ally, and render judgment for the cause deemed righteous by the gods.
KING
[397] The judgment is not easy — do not make me the judge. I have declared already that, though I am ruler, I will not do this thing without the consent of my people, lest hereafter, if any evil befall, the people should say, “You honored aliens and brought ruin upon your own land.”
CHORUS
[402] Kindred to both in blood, Zeus surveys both sides alike in this dispute with an impartial scale, apportioning, as is due, to the wicked their wrongdoing and to the godly their works of righteousness. When these things are thus equally balanced, why do you fear to act justly?
KING
[407] Surely there is need of deep and salutary counsel; need for a keen-sighted eye, not confused, to descend, like some diver, into the depths; that to the state above all things this matter may not work mischief, but may end well for us; that strife may not seize you for its prize, nor yet that we surrender you from these seats of sanctuary, and bring upon ourselves the dire, abiding vengeance of the all-destroying god, who, even in the realm of Death, does not set his victim free. Surely you cannot think there is no need of salutary counsel?
CHORUS
[418] Take counsel, and, as is your sacred duty, prove yourself our sacred champion. Do not betray the fugitive who has been impiously cast out and driven from afar. And see me not ravished from this sanctuary of many gods, oh you who hold sovereign power over the land. Recognize men’s wantonness, and guard against wrath. Do not see your suppliant dragged, in spite of justice, from the images of the gods, like a horse by the bridle, and see rude hands laid upon my fine-woven robes. For be assured of this — whichever end you bring to pass, to your children and house does it remain to make full payment. Consider these just ordinances of God.
KING
[438] I have considered them; and I am driven to this cruel predicament. I must take upon myself a mighty war against one side or the other. There is no escape, it is as firmly fixed as a ship’s hull drawn tight by windlasses. There is no result without grievous hurt. Now when goods are plundered from a homestead, other goods may come by grace of Zeus, guardian of household wealth; as a tongue that has shot arrows beside the mark, one speech may be the healer of another. But to avoid the shedding of kindred blood, surely there is need of sacrifice and that many a victim fall to many a god as a deliverance from impending harm. For truly, it is to my undoing that I have come into this quarrel; and yet I prefer to be unskilled rather than practised in the lore of foretelling ill. But may my judgment belie itself and all go well!
CHORUS
[455] Hear now the end of my appeals for compassion.
KING
[456] I hear; say on. It shall not escape me.
CHORUS
[457] I have breast-bands and girdles to gather up my robes.
KING
[458] Such things are proper, no doubt, for women.
CHORUS
[459] In these then, be sure, I have a beautiful instrument —
KING
[460] Tell me what speech you plan to utter.
CHORUS
[461] If you will not give some pledge to this group —
KING
[462] What will the contrivance of the sashes do for you?
CHORUS
[463] To adorn these images with tablets of strange sort.
KING
[464] Your words are riddling; come, explain in simple speech.
CHORUS
[465] To hang ourselves from the statues of these gods.
KING
[466] I detect a threat that is a lash upon my heart.
CHORUS
[467] You have grasped my intention, for I have cleared your vision.
KING
[468] And on many sides there are difficulties hard to wrestle with; for, like a flood, a multitude of ills bursts on me. It is a sea of ruin, fathomless and impassable, which I am launched upon, and nowhere is there a haven from distress. For should I not pay the debt due to you, the pollution you name is beyond all range of speech; yet if I take my stand before the walls and try the issue of battle with the sons of Aegyptus, your kinsmen, how will the cost not mount to a cruel price — men’s blood to stain the ground for women’s sake?
[478] And yet the wrath of Zeus who guards the suppliant compels my reverence; for supreme among mortals is the fear of him. Aged father of these maidens, take these boughs straightway in your arms and place them upon other altars of the country’s gods, that all the natives may see the sign that you have come in suppliance. And let no random word fall against me; for the people could complain against authority. It may well be that s
ome, stirred to compassion at the sight, will hate the wantonness of the troop of males, and that the people will be more friendly towards you; for all men are well disposed to the weaker cause.
DANAUS
[490] We consider it worth much to have gained a champion who is compassionate. Yet send escorts and guides of the country’s people with me so we may find where the gods who protect your city have their altars at the temple porches and their . . . seats, and that we may go safely through the town. My shape is unlike yours, for Nile and Inachus rear a different race. Beware lest boldness give birth to fear; for through ignorance men have slain those they love.
KING
[500] Come, men, the stranger speaks well. Be his guides to the altars of the city and to the sanctuaries of the gods. Do not speak at length with whomever you meet on the way while you are bringing this seafarer to be a suppliant at the hearths of the gods.
[Exit Danaus with attendants.]
CHORUS
[504] You told him, and let him go as directed. But what of me? What am I to do? Where do you assign security to me?
KING
[506] Leave your boughs here, tokens of your distress.
CHORUS
[507] Behold, I leave them at your signal and command.
KING
[508] Go now along this level space about the sanctuary.
CHORUS
[509] But it is not holy ground. How can it keep me safe?
KING
[510] Be assured, we will not surrender you to winged creatures’ ravishment.
CHORUS
[511] But what about those whom we dread worse than evil serpents?
KING
[512] Speak with good omen, as I have spoken auspiciously to you.
CHORUS
[513] No wonder I am fretful through alarm of mind.
KING
[514] Excessive fear is always uncontrolled.
CHORUS
[515] Cheer my heart by deeds as well as words.
KING
[516] Your father will not leave you here alone for long. I am going now to call together the people of the land, that I may make the masses friendly; and I will instruct your father in what things he should say. Now stay here and beseech the gods of the land with prayers to grant what you desire, while I go to advance your cause. May persuasion and efficacious fortune attend me!
[Exit with attendants.]
CHORUS
[524] Lord of lords, most blessed among the blessed, power most perfect among the perfect, O blessed Zeus, hear! And from your offspring ward off in utter abhorrence the lust of men, and into the purple sea cast their black-benched madness!
[531] Look benignly upon the women’s cause, look upon our race ancient in story, and recall the happy tale of our ancestress, the woman of your love. Show that you remember all, you who laid your hand upon Io. It is from Zeus that we claim descent, and it is from this, our homeland, that we went forth.
[538] I have come here to the prints of ancient feet, my mother’s, even to the region where she was watched while she browsed among the flowers — into that pasture, from which Io, tormented by the gad-fly’s sting, fled in frenzy, traversing many tribes of men, and according to fate, cut in two the surging strait, marking off the land upon the farther shore.
[547] And through the land of Asia she gallops, straight through sheep-pasturing Phrygia, and she passes the city of Teuthras among the Mysians, and the hollow vales of Lydia, across the mountains of the Cilicians and the Pamphylians, speeding over ever-flowing rivers and earth deep and rich, and the land of Aphrodite that teems with wheat.
[556] Harassed by the sting of the winged herdsman she gains at last the fertile groves sacred to Zeus, that snow-fed pasture assailed by Typho’s fury, and the water of the Nile that no disease may touch — maddened by her ignominious toils and frenzied with the pain of Hera’s torturing goad.
[565] And mortals, who in those days dwelled in the land, shook with pallid terror at the terrible sight as they beheld a being fearsome, half-human, part cow and part of woman; and they were astonished at the monstrous thing. And then, at last, who was it who calmed the far-wandering, the wretched, the sting-tormented Io?
[574] Zeus, it was, through endless time, the lord, . . . and by the unharming might of his hand, and by his divine breath, she gained rest, and let fall the sorrowing shame of tears. And, taking Zeus as her support, according to a true story, she bore a blameless son —
[582] Tthroughout long ages blessed. All the earth cries aloud, “This is in very truth the offspring of life-giving Zeus; for who else could have endured the suffering plotted by Hera?” Call this the work of Zeus and this his race sprung from Epaphus and you will hit the truth.
[590] Which of the gods has accomplished deeds which, with good reason, warrant more justly my appeal to him? Father himself and lord, he planted us with his own hand; he is the mighty fashioner of our race, ancient in wisdom, who devises everything, whose breath makes all things prosper, Zeus himself.
[595] He does not sit upon his throne by mandate of another and hold his dominion beneath a mightier. No one sits above him whose power he holds in awe. He speaks, and it is done — he hastens to execute whatever his counselling mind conceives.
[Re-enter Danaus.]
DANAUS
[600] Be of good cheer, my children, all goes well on the part of the citizens. Decrees, carrying full authority, have been passed.
CHORUS
[602] Hail, our envoy, harbinger of tidings most welcome, But tell us — to what end has the decision been carried, and to what course does the majority of the people’s votes incline?
DANAUS
[605] Action was taken by the Argives, not by any doubtful vote but in such a way as to make my aged heart renew its youth. For the air bristled with right hands held aloft as, in full vote, they ratified this resolution into law: “That we are settlers in this land, and are free, subject to no seizure, and secure from robbery of man; that no one, native or alien, lead us captive; but, if they turn to violence, any landholder who refuses to rescue us, should both forfeit his rights and suffer public banishment.” Such was the persuasive speech that the king of the Pelasgians delivered on our behalf, uttering the solemn warning that never in the future should the city feed the great wrath of Zeus, protector of the suppliant; and declaring that, should a twofold defilement — from strangers and from natives at once — arise before the city, it would become fodder for distress past all relief. Hearing these words, the Argive people, waiting for no proclamation of crier, voted by uplifted hand that this should be so. It was the Pelasgian people, won readily to assent, who heard the subtle windings of his speech; but it was Zeus who brought the end to pass.
CHORUS
[625] Come, let us invoke blessings upon the Argives in return for blessings. And may Zeus, god of strangers, behold the offerings of gratitude voiced by a stranger’s lips, that they may in true fulfilment reach their perfect goal.
[630] Divinely-born gods! Hear now as I pour forth libations for blessings upon our kindred. Never may the wanton lord of war, insatiate of battle-cry, Ares, who reaps a human harvest in alien fields, destroy this Pelasgian land by fire; for they had compassion for us, and cast a vote in our favor, respecting our pitiable flock, suppliants in the name of Zeus.
[643] Nor did they cast their votes for the side of the males, disregarding the women’s cause, since they honored the avenging eye of Zeus, against which there is no battling, and what house would have it defiling its roof? For he sits heavily upon it. They take reverent heed of their kin, petitioners of holy Zeus; therefore with pure altars shall they please the gods.
[656] Therefore let there fly forth from our overshadowed lips a prayer of gratitude. Never may pestilence empty this city of its men nor strife stain the soil of the land with the blood of slain inhabitants. But may the flower of its youth be unplucked, and may Ares, the partner of Aphrodite’s bed, he who makes havoc of men, not shear off the
ir bloom.
[667] And may the altars, where the elders gather, blaze in honor of venerable men. Thus may their state be regulated well, if they hold in awe mighty Zeus, and, most of all, Zeus the warden of the guest, who by venerable enactment guides destiny straight. We pray that other guardians be always renewed, and that Artemis-Hecate watch over the childbirth of their women.
[678] And let no murderous havoc come upon the realm to ravage it, by arming Ares — foe to the dance and lute, parent of tears — and the shout of civil strife. And may the joyless swarm of diseases settle far from the heads of the inhabitants, and to all the young people may Lyceus be graciously disposed.
[688] May Zeus cause the earth to bring forth its tribute of fruit by the produce of every season; may their grazing cattle in the fields have abundant increase, and may they obtain all things from the heavenly powers. May minstrels sing hymns of praise at the altars; and from pure lips let there proceed the phorminx-loving chant.
[698] May the people who control the state guard its privileges free from fear — a prudent government counselling wisely for the public prosperity. And should they have recourse to arms may they inflict no loss, but grant just rights of covenant to the stranger within their gates.
[704] And may they worship forever the gods who possess the land [with native honors of laurel bough held aloft, and oxen slain, even as their fathers did before their time. Since reverence for parents stands written third among the statutes of Justice, to whom honor supreme is due.
DANAUS
[710] I commend these sensible prayers, dear children; but do not be troubled yourselves when you hear the unexpected and startling tidings your father has to tell. From my post of look-out here on the sanctuary of suppliants I see that ship; for it is well-marked and does not escape me: the trimming of its sail, its side-guards, and the prow that with its eyes scans its onward course, obeying — all too well for those to whom it is unfriendly — the guiding rudder at the stern. The men on board are plainly seen, their black limbs showing from their white attire. The rest of the ships and all the assisting fleet stand clear in view: but the leading ship herself has furled her sail and draws near the shore with full sweep of sounding oars. Yet you must face the matter calmly and with self-control, and not be unmindful of these gods. For my part, I will secure allies and advocates to urge our cause, and return. Perhaps some herald or envoys may come, eager to seize you as a prize and drag you away, but nothing will happen: do not fear them. Yet in the event that we should be slow in bringing aid, it would be better not to forget for a moment the means of help you have here at hand. Courage! In good time, assuredly, and on the day ordained, he who dishonors the gods will suffer punishment.