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596
STRO. 1. Illustrious Salamis, around whose shores
The sea with all its wild waves roars,
Conspicuous rise thy cliffs sublime,
And guard, loved isle, thy happy plains.
Whilst me an irksome length of time
In Ida's marshy vales detains:
Unheeded here a wretched life I lead,
Amidst the flocks that graze the meed;
Year after year rolls slow away,
On me hope beams no cheerful ray;
From misery doom'd no pause to know
But in the dark and dreary realms below.
ANTIS. 1. The noble Ajax now with frenzy fired
(Some god the glowing rage inspired)
Immedicable ills sustains;
And with fresh pangs my heart is rent
By thee amidst embattled plains
To conquest and to glory sent.
With grief th' illustrious hero we survey
To gloomy thadness now a prey;
And all his mighty deeds in war,
Deeds which the highest worth declare,
Are lost, unwelcome to the unkind,
While folly swells the proud Atridæ's mind.
Hoary in her locks of age
And worn with many a rolling year,
With what affliction will his mother hear
Her frentic son's distemper'd rage!
Not in soft notes will she complain,
Like Philomela's pity-moving strain;
But she will give loud griefs to fise,
Lamenting with heart-piercing cries;
And in the anguish of despair
Beat her sad breast, and rend her silver hair.
In the silent shades below
Får better were thy doom to rest,
Than thus to breathe the vital air, opprest
With dire disease and hopeless woe;
Thy train of kind affections lost,
And all thy soul in frenzy's whirlwind tost,
Thou high-born Chief, in martial fame
Surpassing all of Grecian name.
These ills how will thy sire deplore,
Ills to his noble race ne'er known before!
STRO. 1. Illustrious Salamis, around whose shores
The sea with all its wild waves roars,
Conspicuous rise thy cliffs sublime,
And guard, loved isle, thy happy plains.
Whilst me an irksome length of time
In Ida's marshy vales detains:
Unheeded here a wretched life I lead,
Amidst the flocks that graze the meed;
Year after year rolls slow away,
On me hope beams no cheerful ray;
From misery doom'd no pause to know
But in the dark and dreary realms below.
ANTIS. 1. The noble Ajax now with frenzy fired
(Some god the glowing rage inspired)
Immedicable ills sustains;
And with fresh pangs my heart is rent
By thee amidst embattled plains
To conquest and to glory sent.
With grief th' illustrious hero we survey
To gloomy thadness now a prey;
And all his mighty deeds in war,
Deeds which the highest worth declare,
Are lost, unwelcome to the unkind,
While folly swells the proud Atridæ's mind.
Hoary in her locks of age
And worn with many a rolling year,
With what affliction will his mother hear
Her frentic son's distemper'd rage!
Not in soft notes will she complain,
Like Philomela's pity-moving strain;
But she will give loud griefs to fise,
Lamenting with heart-piercing cries;
And in the anguish of despair
Beat her sad breast, and rend her silver hair.
In the silent shades below
Får better were thy doom to rest,
Than thus to breathe the vital air, opprest
With dire disease and hopeless woe;
Thy train of kind affections lost,
And all thy soul in frenzy's whirlwind tost,
Thou high-born Chief, in martial fame
Surpassing all of Grecian name.
These ills how will thy sire deplore,
Ills to his noble race ne'er known before!
Ajax. Sophocles. Robert Potter (Translator). London. 1820.