Ah, but I tremble and quake lest again
they should
sail to reclaim!
Alas for the sorrow to come, the blood
and the
carnage of war.
Ah, by whose will was it done that o’er
the wide
ocean they came,
Guided by favouring winds, and wafted
by sail and
by oar?
Peace! for what Fate hath ordained will
surely not
tarry but come;
Wide is the counsel of Zeus, by no man
escaped or
withstood:
Only I Pray that whate’er, in the
end, of this wedlock
he doom,
We as many a maiden of old, may win from
the ill
to the good.[7]
[Footnote: 7: The ambiguity of these two
lines is reproduced from the original. The Semi-Chorus
appear to pray, in one aspiration, that the threatened
wedlock may never take place, and, if it does
take place, may be for weal, not woe.]
Great Zeus, this wedlock turn from me—
Me from the kinsman bridegroom guard!
SEMI-CHORUS
Come what come may, ’tis Fate’s
decree.
Soft is thy word—the doom is
hard.
SEMI-CHORUS
Thou know’st not what the Fates
provide.
How should I scan Zeus’ mighty will,
The depth of counsel undescried?
SEMI-CHORUS
Pray thou no word of omen ill.
What timely warning wouldst thou teach?
SEMI-CHORUS
Beware, nor slight the gods in speech.
Zeus, hold from my body the wedlock detested,
the
bridegroom abhorred!
It was thou, it was thou didst
release
Mine ancestress Io from sorrow: thine
healing it
was that restored,
The touch of thine hand gave
her peace.
SEMI-CHORUS
Be thy will for the cause of the
maidens! of two ills,
the lesser I pray—
The exile that leaveth me pure.
May thy justice have heed to my cause, my prayers
to thy mercy find way!
For the hands of thy saving are sure.
[Exeunt
omnes.
ARGUMENT
