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Chorus
On thee I call, Athena mine, at whose birth-throes no kindly goddess lent her aid,
delivered as thou wert by Titan Prometheus from the forehead of Zeus. Come, O lady Victory, come to the Pythian shrine, winging thy way from the gilded chambers of Olympus
455
to the city’s streets, where Phoebus at his altar on the centre of the world brings his oracles to pass beside the dance-encircled tripod;
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come, too, thou daughter of Latona, together come, ye virgin goddesses, fair sisters of Phoebus! And be this your prayer, fair maidens, that the ancient house of Erechtheus
465
may obtain by clear oracles the blessing of children, though late it come.
470
On thee I call, Athena mine, at whose birth-throes no kindly goddess lent her aid,
delivered as thou wert by Titan Prometheus from the forehead of Zeus. Come, O lady Victory, come to the Pythian shrine, winging thy way from the gilded chambers of Olympus
455
to the city’s streets, where Phoebus at his altar on the centre of the world brings his oracles to pass beside the dance-encircled tripod;
460
come, too, thou daughter of Latona, together come, ye virgin goddesses, fair sisters of Phoebus! And be this your prayer, fair maidens, that the ancient house of Erechtheus
465
may obtain by clear oracles the blessing of children, though late it come.
470
Chorus
For this brings to man a settled source of all-surpassing bliss,
even to such as see in their ancestral halls a splendid race of strong young parents blest with offspring, to inherit from their sires
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their wealth in due succession after other children; yea, for they are a defence in time of trouble, and add a charm to weal, affording to their fatherland a saving help in battle.
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Give me before the pomp of wealth or royal marriages the careful nurture of noble children. The childless life I do abhor, and him who thinks it good I blame;
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to a happy life amongst my children, blest with moderate wealth, may I hold fast.
490
For this brings to man a settled source of all-surpassing bliss,
even to such as see in their ancestral halls a splendid race of strong young parents blest with offspring, to inherit from their sires
475
their wealth in due succession after other children; yea, for they are a defence in time of trouble, and add a charm to weal, affording to their fatherland a saving help in battle.
480
Give me before the pomp of wealth or royal marriages the careful nurture of noble children. The childless life I do abhor, and him who thinks it good I blame;
485
to a happy life amongst my children, blest with moderate wealth, may I hold fast.
490
Chorus
Ye haunts of Pan, and rocks hard by the grots of Macrae,
where Agraulos’ daughters three trip it lightly o’er the green grass-lawns before the shrine of Pallas, to the music of the piper’s varied note,
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what time thou, Pan, art piping in those caves of thine, where a maiden once that had a child by Phoebus, unhappy mother! exposed her babe, forced issue of her woful wooing,
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for birds to tear and beasts to rend, a bloody banquet! Never have I seen it told in woven tale or legend that children born to gods by daughters of earth have any share in bliss.
505
Ye haunts of Pan, and rocks hard by the grots of Macrae,
where Agraulos’ daughters three trip it lightly o’er the green grass-lawns before the shrine of Pallas, to the music of the piper’s varied note,
495
what time thou, Pan, art piping in those caves of thine, where a maiden once that had a child by Phoebus, unhappy mother! exposed her babe, forced issue of her woful wooing,
500
for birds to tear and beasts to rend, a bloody banquet! Never have I seen it told in woven tale or legend that children born to gods by daughters of earth have any share in bliss.
505
Ion. Euripides. Edward P. Coleridge (Translator). London. 1906.
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