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Chorus
What wedding-hymn was that which raised its strains to the sound of Libyan flutes, to the music of the dancer’s lyre, and the note of the pipe of reeds?
It was on the day
Pieria
’s lovely-haired choir came over the slopes of
Pelion
to the wedding of Peleus, beating the ground with print of golden sandals at the banquet of the gods,
1040
and hymning in dulcet strains the praise of Thetis and the son of Aeacus, over the Centaurs’ hill, down woods of
Pelion
.
1045
There was the Dardanian boy,
dainty morsel of Zeus’ bed, drawing off the wine he mixed in the depths of golden bowls, Ganymede the Phrygian; while, along the gleaming sand,
1050
the fifty daughters of Nereus graced the marriage with their dancing, circling in a mazy ring.
1055
What wedding-hymn was that which raised its strains to the sound of Libyan flutes, to the music of the dancer’s lyre, and the note of the pipe of reeds?
It was on the day
Pieria
’s lovely-haired choir came over the slopes of
Pelion
to the wedding of Peleus, beating the ground with print of golden sandals at the banquet of the gods,
1040
and hymning in dulcet strains the praise of Thetis and the son of Aeacus, over the Centaurs’ hill, down woods of
Pelion
.
1045
There was the Dardanian boy,
dainty morsel of Zeus’ bed, drawing off the wine he mixed in the depths of golden bowls, Ganymede the Phrygian; while, along the gleaming sand,
1050
the fifty daughters of Nereus graced the marriage with their dancing, circling in a mazy ring.
1055
Chorus
The revel-rout of Centaurs came too, mounted on horses, to the feast of the gods and the mixing-bowl of Bacchus,
leaning on fir-trees, with
1
wreaths of green foliage round their heads; and Chiron cried loudly:
Daughter of Nereus, you shall bear a son, a dazzling light to
Thessaly
; and the prophet,
1060
skilled in arts inspired by Phoebus, gave his name;
for he shall come with an army of Myrmidon spearmen to the famous land of Priam,
1065
to set it in a blaze, his body cased in a suit of golden mail forged by Hephaestus, a gift from his goddess-mother, from Thetis who bore him.
1070
Then the gods shed a blessing on the marriage of the high-born bride, who was first of Nereus’ daughters, and on the wedding of Peleus.
1075
The revel-rout of Centaurs came too, mounted on horses, to the feast of the gods and the mixing-bowl of Bacchus,
leaning on fir-trees, with
1
wreaths of green foliage round their heads; and Chiron cried loudly:
Daughter of Nereus, you shall bear a son, a dazzling light to
Thessaly
; and the prophet,
1060
skilled in arts inspired by Phoebus, gave his name;
for he shall come with an army of Myrmidon spearmen to the famous land of Priam,
1065
to set it in a blaze, his body cased in a suit of golden mail forged by Hephaestus, a gift from his goddess-mother, from Thetis who bore him.
1070
Then the gods shed a blessing on the marriage of the high-born bride, who was first of Nereus’ daughters, and on the wedding of Peleus.
1075
Chorus
But the Argives will crown you,
2
wreathing the lovely tresses of your hair, like a pure, dappled
3
heifer brought from some rocky cave, and staining with blood your human throat;
1080
though you were never reared among the piping and whistling of herdsmen, but at your mother’s side, to be decked as the bride of a son of Inachus.
4
Where now does the face of modesty
1085
or virtue have any strength?
5
seeing that godlessness holds sway, and virtue is neglected by men and thrust behind them,
1090
lawlessness over law prevailing, and mortals no
6
longer making common cause to keep the jealousy of gods from reaching them.
1095
But the Argives will crown you,
2
wreathing the lovely tresses of your hair, like a pure, dappled
3
heifer brought from some rocky cave, and staining with blood your human throat;
1080
though you were never reared among the piping and whistling of herdsmen, but at your mother’s side, to be decked as the bride of a son of Inachus.
4
Where now does the face of modesty
1085
or virtue have any strength?
5
seeing that godlessness holds sway, and virtue is neglected by men and thrust behind them,
1090
lawlessness over law prevailing, and mortals no
6
longer making common cause to keep the jealousy of gods from reaching them.
1095
Iphigenia in Aulis. Euripides. Edward P. Coleridge (Translator). London. 1891.
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