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Deianira
633
What canst thou tell him more ? Alas ! I fear
He'll know too well the love I bear to him.
Would I could be as certain he'd return it ! [Exeunt.
You who on (Eta's craggy summit dwell,
Or from the rock, whence gushing riv'lets flow,
Bathe in the warmer springs below.
You who near the Melian bay
To golden-shafted Diana hymn the lay.
Now haste to string the Ip^e, and tune the vocal shell,
No mournful theme demands your pensive strain,
But such as, kindled by the sacred fire.
The Muses might themselves admire —
A loud and cheerful song. For see.
The son of Jove returns with victory,
And richest spoils reward a life of toil and pain.
Far from his native land he took his way :
For twelve long moons, uncertain of his fate.
Did we lament his exiled state.
What time his anxious wife deplored,
With never-ceasing tears her absent lord ;
But Mars at last hath closed his long laborious day.
Let him from fair Euboea's isle appear.
Let winds and raging seas oppose no more.
But waft him to the wished-for shore.
Th' anointed vest's persuasive charms
Shall bring him soon to Deianira's arms.
Soon shall we see the great the loved Alcides here.
What canst thou tell him more ? Alas ! I fear
He'll know too well the love I bear to him.
Would I could be as certain he'd return it ! [Exeunt.
You who on (Eta's craggy summit dwell,
Or from the rock, whence gushing riv'lets flow,
Bathe in the warmer springs below.
You who near the Melian bay
To golden-shafted Diana hymn the lay.
Now haste to string the Ip^e, and tune the vocal shell,
No mournful theme demands your pensive strain,
But such as, kindled by the sacred fire.
The Muses might themselves admire —
A loud and cheerful song. For see.
The son of Jove returns with victory,
And richest spoils reward a life of toil and pain.
Far from his native land he took his way :
For twelve long moons, uncertain of his fate.
Did we lament his exiled state.
What time his anxious wife deplored,
With never-ceasing tears her absent lord ;
But Mars at last hath closed his long laborious day.
Let him from fair Euboea's isle appear.
Let winds and raging seas oppose no more.
But waft him to the wished-for shore.
Th' anointed vest's persuasive charms
Shall bring him soon to Deianira's arms.
Soon shall we see the great the loved Alcides here.
Trachiniae. Sophocles. Thomas Francklin (Translator). London. 1758–1759.