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Original / primary: Perseus Eng2
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winning Persuasion; and to Harmonia has been given a share of Aphrodite, and to the whispering touches of the Loves.
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Chorus of Handmaidens
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But for the fugitives I have boding fears of blasts of harm and cruel distress and bloody wars.
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How did they make such a smooth voyage when pursuit followed fast upon their track? Whatever is fated, that will come to pass. The mighty, untrammelled will of Zeus cannot be transgressed.
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Marriage has been the destiny of many women before our time.
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Chorus
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Even so I, indulging my grief in Ionian strains,
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pain my tender face summered by Nile’s sun and my heart unexercised in tears; and I gather the flowers of grief, anxious whether there is any friendly kinsman here to champion our band
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which has fled from the haze-shrouded land.
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Chorus
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But, gods of our race, hear, and regard with favor the cause of righteousness; if you refuse youth
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fulfillment of its arrogant desires, and readily abhor violence, you would be righteous toward marriage. Even for those who flee hard-pressed from war there is an altar,
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a shelter against harm through respect for the powers of heaven.
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Chorus
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Ah Zeus! On account of the poisonous hate of Io vengeance from the gods pursues us.The assets of public debtors and exiles were ascertained and secured at Athens by officers called μαστῆρες.I know
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your consort’s sky-conquering spite; for a stormy sea follows a harsh wind.
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Chorus
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Ah Zeus! On account of the poisonous hate of Io vengeance from the gods pursues us. I know
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your consort’s sky-conquering spite; for a stormy sea follows a harsh wind.
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Chorus
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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.
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Take Justice as your ally, and render judgment for the cause deemed righteous by the gods.
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King
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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,
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if any evil befall, the people should say, You honored aliens and brought ruin upon your own land.
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Chorus
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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.
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When these things are thus equally balanced, why do you fear to act justly?
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King
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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;
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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,
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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?
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Chorus
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Harassed by the sting of the winged herdsman she gains at last the fertile groves sacred to Zeus, that snow-fed pasture assailed
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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.
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Chorus
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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
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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?
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Chorus
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And let no murderous havoc come upon
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the realm to ravage it, by arming Ares—foe to the dance and lute, parent of tears—and the shout of civil strife.
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And may the joyless swarm of diseases settle far from the heads of the inhabitants, and to all the young people may LyceusThe epithet Lyceus, often applied to Apollo, was commonly connected with the belief that he was the destroyer and protector of wolves (λύκοι). As a destructive power he is invoked to ward off enemies (Aesch. Seven 145); as an averter of evil he protects herds, flocks, and the young. According to Pausanias (Paus. 2.19.3) Danaus established a sanctuary in honor of Lyceus at Argos, where, in later times, the most famous of all Apollo’s temples was consecrated to him under the title of Wolf-god.be graciously disposed.
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Chorus
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May Zeus cause the earth to bring forth its tribute of fruit
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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.
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May minstrels sing hymns of praise at the altars; and from pure lips let there proceed the phorminx-loving chant.
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Chorus
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Shriek aloud, with a cry that reaches heaven, strains of supplication to the gods;
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O father, give heed that they are somehow accomplished to my safety and tranquility. Behold deeds of violence with no kind glance in your just eyes!
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Have respect for your suppliants, O Zeus, omnipotent upholder of the land!
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Chorus
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For the males of the race of Aegyptus, intolerable in their wantonness, chase after me,
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a fugitive, with clamorous lewdness and seek to lay hold of me with violence. But yours alone is the beam of the balance, and without you what is accomplished for mortals?
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Chorus
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Alas, father; the help of the sacred images deludes me. Like a spider, he is carrying me seaward step by step—a nightmare, a black nightmare! Oh! Oh!
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Mother Earth, mother Earth, avert his fearful cries! O father Zeus, son of Earth!
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Herald
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I do not fear the native gods, be assured. They did not rear me, nor by their nurture did they bring me to old age.
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Chorus
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He rages close to me, the two-footed serpent. Like some viper he lays hold of me and bites my foot. Alas, alas! Mother Earth, mother Earth,
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avert his fearful cries! O father Zeus, son of Earth!
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A Danaid
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May mighty Zeus defend me from marriage with Aegyptus’ race!
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A Handmaiden
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That would indeed be best.
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A Danaid
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But you would move the immovable.
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A Handmaiden
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And you do not know what the future has in store.
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A Danaid
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How should I scan the mind of Zeus, a sight unfathomable?
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A Handmaiden
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Let the words of your prayer be moderate.
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A Danaid
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What sense of proportion would you now teach me?
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A Handmaiden
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Do not ask too much of the gods.
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Chorus
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But may Zeus grant that it go well with us. For Zeus’ desire is hard to trace: it shines everywhere, even in gloom, together with fortune
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obscure to mortal men.
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Chorus
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Safely it falls, and not upon its back, whatever deed comes to pass at Zeus’ nod; for the pathways of his understanding stretch dark and tangled,
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beyond comprehension.
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Chorus
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Take counsel, and, as is your sacred duty, prove yourself our sacred
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champion. Do not betray the fugitive who has been impiously cast out and driven from afar.
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And see me not ravished from this sanctuary of many gods,
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oh you who hold sovereign power over the land. Recognize men’s wantonness, and guard against wrath.
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Chorus
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Zeus, it was, through endless time, the lord,
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. . . and by the unharming might of his hand, and by his divine breath, she gained rest, and let fall the sorrowing shame of tears.
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And, taking Zeus as her support, according to a true story, she bore a blameless son—
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Chorus
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Throughout 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.
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Chorus
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May the people who control the state guard its privileges free from fear—
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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.
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Chorus
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And may they worship forever the gods who possess the land
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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.
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Chorus of Danaids and Handmaidens
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May sovereign Zeus spare me cruel marriage with a man I hate, that very Zeus who
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mercifully freed Io from pain, restoring her with healing hand by kindly force.
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Chorus of Danaids and Handmaidens
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And may he award victory to the women!
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I praise that which is better than evil, two parts of good mixed with one of bad; and I praise that, through god-given means of deliverance, conflicting rights, in accordance with my prayers, should follow the course of justice. Exeunt omnes
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Chorus
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From their high-towering hopes he hurls mankind to utter destruction; yet he does not marshal any armed violence—
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all that is wrought by the powers divine is free from toil. Seated on his holy throne, unmoved, in mysterious ways he accomplishes his will.
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Chorus
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So let him look upon human outrageousness
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—in what way it shoots up men in their wooing of us, sprouted from thoughts of evil intent,
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having a frenzied purpose as its irresistible spur, and deluded, turning its thoughts to folly.
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Do not see your suppliant dragged, in spite of justice, from the images of the gods,
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like a horse by the bridle, and see rude hands laid upon my fine-woven robes.
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For be assured of this—whichever end you bring to pass, to your children and house
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does it remain to make full payment.The condensed phrase pay equal (measure of) justice, though emphasizing the notion of just retribution for evil, includes that of just reward for good—the act comes back upon the doer (δράσαντι παθεῖν).Consider these just ordinances of God.
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Chorus
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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.
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Chorus
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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.The full force of this majestic and awe-inspiring passage, recalling the solemnity of Isaiah, can be reproduced only by paraphrase. Nearer the original is: He does not, sitting upon his throne by the authority of any, bear a lesser sway delegated by superiors ... But with him the deed is as the word to do swiftly anything that his counselling mind conceives.
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Chorus
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Such piteous strains of woe I utter in my pain, now shrill, now deep, blended with falling tears—Alas, alas!
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groans appropriate to funeral wails; though I live, I chant my own dirge.
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Chorus
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Sacrifices in satisfaction of vows are given freely to the gods when all fares well, if only there be escape from death.
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Alas, alas, perplexing troubles! Where will this wave of trouble bear me away?
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Chorus
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Our oars, indeed, and our timbered ship, bound with yellow ropeUndergirding ropes (ὑποζώματα) to brace a ship’s sides. Cp. l. 441.
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to withstand the sea, sped me on by help of favoring winds, unharmed by all tempests; nor have I reason for complaint. But may the all-seeing Father
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establish a kindly issue in due time—
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Chorus
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And may Zeus’ pure daughter, she who holds securely the sacred wall, willingly, meeting my will, look upon me; and, grieved at our pursuit, come with all her might, a virgin to a virgin’s aid,
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to deliver me—
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Chorus
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Yet, if she will not, we, a dark,
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sun-burned race, with suppliant boughs will invoke the underworld Zeus, Zeus the great host
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of the dead; for if the gods of Olympus hear us not, we will hang ourselves.
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Chorus
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And Zeus shall then be liable to the charge of injustice
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that he hates the child of the heifer, the child whom he himself begat long ago, his very own, and now he holds his face averted from our prayers.
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May he from above hear our call!
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King
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And who was begotten of Epaphus?
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King
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What offspring, then, did Libya have?
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Chorus
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Agenor was her first child born.