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Chorus
676
STRO. 1. Such miseries never did mine eyes behold;
675
But fame records from times of old
675
That when Ixion with ambitious love
Assay'd to stain the bed of Jove,
Seized by the Thunderer, on the whirling wheel
Enchain'd, such tortures he was doom'd to feel.
Else not the grief-assaulted ear,
Nor eye inured to scenes of woe,
680
Have known a fate like his severe :
Yet justice aims no vengeful blow;
His hands no deed of baseness stains,
And fraud his virtuous soul disdains.
Alone, exposed on this wild shore,
Hearing the billows round him roar,
685
I marvel how his mournful life he bore.
691
ANTIS. 1. In cheerless solitude these rocks among
With pain he dragg'd his steps along;
No social friend, no partner in his pains
Attentive hears while he complains,
From mutual anguish makes his mutual moan,
690
Re-echoes sigh for sigh, and groan for groan;
None, when his fierce envenom'd wound
Bursts ope, and spouts the boiling gore,
To cull the lenient herb is found
From bounteous nature's balmy store..
But (as a child, its nurse away,
695
With tottering foot attempts to stray)
695
Where best his food he may provide:
His feebly-rolling steps are tried,
Oft as his soul-consuming pains subside.
707
Him not the earth's rich fruits sustain,
Which from her sacred bounty rise;
Nor, food of men, the golden grain,
700
Which toil's inventive care supplies;
Nor aught, save birds that wing th' ethereal height,
If haply his swift shafts arrest their flight.
For ten long years no sparkling bowł
Cheer'd with the grape's rich juice his soul;
But where th' unruffled fount he saw,
705
"He hasted from the joyless stream to draw.
718
A noble youth he now hath found,
Who with his father's virtues glows;
By fortune now his patience crown'd,
He rises greater from his woes.
The bark shall waft him, after these sad hours,
710
To thy loved banks, Sperchius, where their bow'rs
The Melian Nymphs delight to twine;
Where Eta blazed with flames divine,
Whence glorious to the blest abodes
The hero rose a god among the gods.
STRO. 1. Such miseries never did mine eyes behold;
675
But fame records from times of old
675
That when Ixion with ambitious love
Assay'd to stain the bed of Jove,
Seized by the Thunderer, on the whirling wheel
Enchain'd, such tortures he was doom'd to feel.
Else not the grief-assaulted ear,
Nor eye inured to scenes of woe,
680
Have known a fate like his severe :
Yet justice aims no vengeful blow;
His hands no deed of baseness stains,
And fraud his virtuous soul disdains.
Alone, exposed on this wild shore,
Hearing the billows round him roar,
685
I marvel how his mournful life he bore.
ANTIS. 1. In cheerless solitude these rocks among
With pain he dragg'd his steps along;
No social friend, no partner in his pains
Attentive hears while he complains,
From mutual anguish makes his mutual moan,
690
Re-echoes sigh for sigh, and groan for groan;
None, when his fierce envenom'd wound
Bursts ope, and spouts the boiling gore,
To cull the lenient herb is found
From bounteous nature's balmy store..
But (as a child, its nurse away,
695
With tottering foot attempts to stray)
695
Where best his food he may provide:
His feebly-rolling steps are tried,
Oft as his soul-consuming pains subside.
Him not the earth's rich fruits sustain,
Which from her sacred bounty rise;
Nor, food of men, the golden grain,
700
Which toil's inventive care supplies;
Nor aught, save birds that wing th' ethereal height,
If haply his swift shafts arrest their flight.
For ten long years no sparkling bowł
Cheer'd with the grape's rich juice his soul;
But where th' unruffled fount he saw,
705
"He hasted from the joyless stream to draw.
A noble youth he now hath found,
Who with his father's virtues glows;
By fortune now his patience crown'd,
He rises greater from his woes.
The bark shall waft him, after these sad hours,
710
To thy loved banks, Sperchius, where their bow'rs
The Melian Nymphs delight to twine;
Where Eta blazed with flames divine,
Whence glorious to the blest abodes
The hero rose a god among the gods.
Philoctetes. Sophocles. Robert Potter (Translator). London. 1820.