HERALD OF AEGYPTUS
Shrill ye and shriek unto what gods ye
may,
Ye shall not leap from out Aegyptus’
bark,
How bitterly soe’er ye wail your
woe.
Alack, alack my wrong!
Stern is thy voice, thy vaunting loud
and strong.
Thy sire, the mighty Nilus, drive thee
hence
Turning to death and doom thy greedy violence!
HERALD OF AEGYPTUS
Swift to the vessel of the double prow,
Go quickly! let none linger, else this
hand
Ruthless will hale you by your tresses
hence.
Alack, O father! from the shrine
Not aid but agony is mine.
As a spider he creeps and he clutches
his prey,
And he hales me away.
A spectre of darkness, of darkness.
Alas and alas! well-a-day!
O Earth, O my mother! O Zeus, thou
king of the earth, and her child!
Turn back, we pray thee, from us his clamour
and threatenings wild!
HERALD OF AEGYPTUS
Peace! I fear not this country’s
deities.
They fostered not my childhood nor mine
age.
Like a snake that is human he comes,
he shudders and
crawls to my side;
As an adder that biteth the foot,
his clutch on
my flesh doth abide.
O Earth, O my mother! O Zeus, thou
king of the earth,
and her child!
Turn back, we pray thee, from us his clamour
and threatenings
wild!
HERALD OF AEGYPTUS
Swift each unto the ship; repine no more,
Or my hand shall not spare to rend your
robe.
O chiefs, O leaders, aid me, or I yield!
HERALD OF AEGYPTUS
Peace! if ye have not ears to hear my
words,
Lo, by these tresses must I hale you hence.
Undone we are, O king! all hope is gone.
HERALD OF AEGYPTUS
Ay, kings enow ye shall behold anon,
Aegyptus’ sons—Ye shall
not want for kings.
[Enter
the KING OF ARGOS.
Sirrah, what dost thou? in what arrogance
Darest thou thus insult Pelasgia’s
realm?
Deemest thou this a woman-hearted town?
Thou art too full of thy barbarian scorn
For us of Grecian blood, and, erring thus,
Thou dost bewray thyself a fool in all!
HERALD OF AEGYPTUS
Say thou wherein my deeds transgress my
right.
First, that thou play’st a stranger’s
part amiss.
