The House of Atreus Part 4

'Tis fairly said: thus speaks a n.o.ble dame, Nor speaks amiss, when truth informs the boast.

[_Exit Clytemnestra._

CHORUS

So has she spoken--be it yours to learn By clear interpreters her specious word.

Turn to me, herald--tell me if anon The second well-loved lord of Argos comes?

Hath Menelaus safely sped with you?

HERALD

Alas--brief boon unto my friends it were, To flatter them, for truth, with falsehoods fair!

CHORUS

Speak joy, if truth be joy, but truth, at worst-- loo plainly, truth and joy are here divorced.

HERALD

The hero and his bark were rapt away Far from the Grecian fleet? 'tis truth I say.

CHORUS

Whether in all men's sight from Ilion borne, Or from the fleet by stress of weather torn?

HERALD

Full on the mark thy shaft of speech doth light, And one short word hath told long woes aright.

CHORUS

But say, what now of him each comrade saith?

What their forebodings, of his life or death?

HERALD

Ask me no more: the truth is known to none, Save the earth-fostering, all-surveying Sun,

CHORUS

Say, by what doom the fleet of Greece was driven?

How rose, how sank the storm, the wrath of heaven?

HERALD

Nay, ill it were to mar with sorrow's tale The day of blissful news. The G.o.ds demand Thanksgiving sundered from solicitude.

If one as herald came with rueful face To say, _The curse has fallen, and the host Gone down to death; and one wide wound has reached The city's heart, and out of many homes Many are cast and consecrate to death, Beneath the double scourge, that Ares loves, The b.l.o.o.d.y pair, the fire and sword of doom_-- If such sore burden weighed upon my tongue, 'Twere fit to speak such words as gladden fiends.

But--coming as he comes who bringeth news Of safe return from toil, and issues fair, To men rejoicing in a weal restored-- Dare I to dash good words with ill, and say How the G.o.ds' anger smote the Greeks in storm?

For fire and sea, that erst held bitter feud, Now swore conspiracy and pledged their faith, Wasting the Argives worn with toil and war.

Night and great horror of the rising wave Came o'er us, and the blasts that blow from Thrace Clashed s.h.i.+p with s.h.i.+p, and some with plunging prow Thro' scudding drifts of spray and raving storm Vanished, as strays by some ill shepherd driven.

And when at length the sun rose bright, we saw Th' Aegaean sea-field flecked with flowers of death, Corpses of Grecian men and shattered hulls.

For us indeed, some G.o.d, as well I deem, No human power, laid hand upon our helm, s.n.a.t.c.hed us or prayed us from the powers of air, And brought our bark thro' all, unharmed in hull: And saving Fortune sat and steered us fair, So that no surge should gulf us deep in brine, Nor grind our keel upon a rocky sh.o.r.e.

So 'scaped we death that lurks beneath the sea, But, under day's white light, mistrustful all Of fortune's smile, we sat and brooded deep, Shepherds forlorn of thoughts that wandered wild, O'er this new woe; for smitten was our host, And lost as ashes scattered from the pyre.

Of whom if any draw his life-breath yet, Be well a.s.sured, he deems of us as dead, As we of him no other fate forebode.

But heaven save all! If Menelaus live, He will not tarry, but will surely come: Therefore if anywhere the high sun's ray Descries him upon earth, preserved by Zeus, Who wills not yet to wipe his race away, Hope still there is that homeward he may wend.

Enough--thou hast the truth unto the end.

CHORUS

Say, from whose lips the presage fell?

Who read the future all too well, And named her, in her natal hour, Helen, the bride with war for dower?

'Twas one of the Invisible, Guiding his tongue with prescient power.

On fleet, and host, and citadel, War, sprung from her, and death did lour, When from the bride-bed's fine-spun veil She to the Zephyr spread her sail.

Strong blew the breeze--the surge closed o'er The cloven track of keel and oar, But while she fled, there drove along, Fast in her wake, a mighty throng-- Athirst for blood, athirst for war, Forward in fell pursuit they sprung, Then leapt on Simois' bank ash.o.r.e, The leafy coppices among-- No rangers, they, of wood and field, But huntsmen of the sword and s.h.i.+eld.

Heaven's jealousy, that works its will, Sped thus on Troy its destined ill, Well named, at once, the Bride and Bane; And loud rang out the bridal strain; But they to whom that song befel Did turn anon to tears again; Zeus tarries, but avenges still The husband's wrong, the household's stain!

He, the hearth's lord, brooks not to see Its outraged hospitality.

Even now, and in far other tone, Troy chants her dirge of mighty moan, _Woe upon Paris, woe and hate!

Who wooed his country's doom for mate_-- This is the burthen of the groan, Wherewith she wails disconsolate The blood, so many of her own Have poured in vain, to fend her fate; Troy! thou hast fed and freed to roam A lion-cub within thy home!

A suckling creature, newly ta'en From mother's teat, still fully fain Of nursing care; and oft caressed, Within the arms, upon the breast, Even as an infant, has it lain; Or fawns and licks, by hunger pressed, The hand that will a.s.suage its pain; In life's young dawn, a well-loved guest, A fondling for the children's play, A joy unto the old and gray.

But waxing time and growth betrays The blood-thirst of the lion-race, And, for the house's fostering care, Unbidden all, it revels there, And b.l.o.o.d.y recompense repays-- Rent flesh of tine, its talons tare: A mighty beast, that slays and slays, And mars with blood the household fair, A G.o.d-sent pest invincible, A minister of fate and h.e.l.l.

Even so to Ilion's city came by stealth A spirit as of windless seas and skies, A gentle phantom-form of joy and wealth, With love's soft arrows speeding from its eyes-- Love's rose, whose thorn doth pierce the soul in subtle wise.

Ah, well-a-day! the bitter bridal-bed, When the fair mischief lay by Paris' side!

What curse on palace and on people sped With her, the Fury sent on Priam's pride, By angered Zeus! what tears of many a widowed bride!

Long, long ago to mortals this was told, How sweet security and blissful state Have curses for their children--so men hold-- And for the man of all-too prosperous fate Springs from a bitter seed some woe insatiate.

Alone, alone, I deem far otherwise; Not bliss nor wealth it is, but impious deed, From which that after-growth of ill doth rise!

Woe springs from wrong, the plant is like the seed-- While Right, in honour's house, doth its own likeness breed.

Some past impiety, some gray old crime, Breeds the young curse, that wantons in our ill, Early or late, when haps th' appointed time-- And out of light brings power of darkness still, A master-fiend, a foe, unseen, invincible;

A pride accursed, that broods upon the race And home in which dark Ate holds her sway-- Sin's child and Woe's, that wears its parents' face; While Right in smoky cribs s.h.i.+nes clear as day, And decks with weal his life, who walks the righteous way.

From gilded halls, that hands polluted raise, Right turns away with proud averted eyes, And of the wealth, men stamp amiss with praise, Heedless, to poorer, holier temples hies, And to Fate's goal guides all, in its appointed wise.

Hail to thee, chief of Atreus' race, Returning proud from Troy subdued!

How shall I greet thy conquering face, How nor a fulsome praise obtrude, Nor stint the meed of grat.i.tude?

For mortal men who fall to ill Take little heed of open truth, But seek unto its semblance still: The show of weeping and of ruth To the forlorn will all men pay, But, of the grief their eyes display, Nought to the heart doth pierce its way.

And, with the joyous, they beguile Their lips unto a feigned smile, And force a joy, unfelt the while; But he who as a shepherd wise Doth know his flock, can ne'er misread Truth in the falsehood of his eyes, Who veils beneath a kindly guise A lukewarm love in deed.

And thou, our leader--when of yore Thou badest Greece go forth to war For Helen's sake--I dare avow That then I held thee not as now; That to my vision thou didst seem Dyed in the hues of disesteem.