Part 16 (1/2)

_Adm._ Where with the gloomy tyrant didst thou fight?

_Herc._ I lay in wait and seized him at the tomb.

_Adm._ But wherefore doth my wife thus speechless stand?

_Herc._ It is not yet permitted[3] that thou hear Her voice addressing thee, till from the G.o.ds {1220} That rule beneath she be unsanctified With hallow'd rites, and the third morn return.

But lead her in; and as thou'rt just in all Besides, Admetus, see thou reverence strangers.

Farewell: I go t' achieve the destined toil For the imperial son of Sthenelus.

_Adm._ Abide with us, and share my friendly hearth.

_Herc._ That time will come again; this demands speed.

_Adm._ Success attend thee: safe may'st thou return.

Now to my citizens I give in charge, {1230} And to each chief, that for this blest event They inst.i.tute the dance; let the steer bleed, And the rich altars, as they pay their vows, Breathe incense to the G.o.ds; for now I rise To better life, and grateful own the blessing.

THE CHORUS, RETIRING:

Our fates the G.o.ds in various shapes dispose: {1236} Heaven sets the crown on many a hopeless cause: That which is looked for Fails in the issue.

To goals unexpected Heav'n points out a pa.s.sage.

And this is the end of the matter.

[1] The quotations are from Potter's Translation, in Routledge's Universal Library, freely altered in parts for the purpose of bringing out changes of metre, etc., in the original. The References are to the numbering of the lines in Potter.

[2] That is, a scene carried on upon the Stage without the presence of the Chorus in the Orchestra,--a very rare effect in Greek Drama.

[3] The fact was that the _Alcestis_ was represented in place of a 'Satyric Drama,' which only allowed two (speaking) personages on the Stage at the same time.

THE CYCLOPS OF EURIPIDES

A SPECIMEN OF THE SATYRIC DRAMA

_Scene_: Sicily, in front of cave of the Cyclops, Polyphemus.

_Prologue_ by Silenus, the rural demi-G.o.d, who recounts his faithful service to Bacchus, and yet the ungrateful G.o.d has let himself and his children fall into this slavery to the horrid Cyclops Polyphemus, where, worst of their many woes, they are debarred from the wine they wors.h.i.+p.

_Parode_: The Chorus of Satyrs driving their goats and lamenting how different this from the merry service of Bacchus.

_Episode I_. Silenus hurries back with the news that a s.h.i.+p is approaching to water in the island: fresh victims for the monster.

_Enter Ulysses and crew_: mutual explanations, all couched in 'burlesque' tone. The mariners have had no food except flesh, and gladly partake milk and fruits of the Satyrs, affording in return to Silenus the long-lost luxury of wine: the scene then going on to paint [with the utmost coa.r.s.eness] the oncoming of drunkenness.

Suddenly _enter Polyphemus_: Ulysses and the crew hide. After some rough bandying between the Monster and the Chorus, the strangers are discovered: and Silenus, to save himself, turns traitor, and tells Polyphemus how they have beaten him because he would not let them steal, also what dire woes they were going to work upon Polyphemus. In spite of their protests Silenus is believed: Ulysses promises, if set free, to erect shrines in Greece for the Cyclops, besides dwelling upon the impiety of attacking innocent strangers: Polyphemus replies that he does not care for shrines, and as for impiety he is independent of Zeus; which gives occasion for a glorification of the life of nature.

They are driven into the cave to be fed on at leisure.

_Choral Ode_: General disgust at the monster.

_Episode II_. Ulysses [_apparently standing at the mouth of the cave_]