Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1896) v2.djvu/371

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HELEN.
315

I sing, how they stooped them to thraldom's chain
Beneath the Achaian spears.
They were doomed, when from Sparta hied
That bridegroom accursèd, to ride
O'er the foam-blossomed plain, for the Priamids' bane—
O Helen, thou seemest the bride, 1120
And the Love-queen steers!
(Ant. 1)
And Achaians many, by stones down-leaping
And by spear-thrusts sped, are in Hades sleeping;
And in sorrow for these
Was their wives' hair shorn in their widowed bowers:
And the beacon-lights glared on the headland that lowers
O'er Eubœan seas;
So that lone voyager[1] hurled
Many Greeks on Kaphêreus' scaur
And Aegean skerries where wild surf swirled, 1130
When he lit that treachery-star.
And by havenless cliffs hast thou passed[2]
Driven far from thy land by the blast
With thy prize—no prize, but by Hera's device
A cloud-wraith in mid-lists cast
Of the Danaans' war.
(Str. 1)
Who among men dare say that he, exploring
Even to Creation's farthest limit-line,
Ever hath found the God of our adoring,
That which is not God, or the half-divine— 1140

  1. ↑ Nauplius (see note on l. 767) hastily left Troy in a fishing-boat, before the Greek fleet sailed, in order to make his preparations for wrecking it.
  2. ↑ There is no certainty as to exact text of original.
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