The Seven Plays in English Verse Part 58

PHI. O Earth, I die. receive me to thy breast! This pain Subdues me utterly, I cannot stand.

NEO. Methinks he will be fast in slumber soon That head sinks backward, and a clammy sweat Bathes all his limbs, while from his foot hath burst A vein, dark bleeding. Let us leave him, friends, In quietness, till he hath fallen to sleep.

CHORUS Lord of the happiest life, I Sleep, thou that know'st not strife, That know'st not grief, Still wafting sure relief, Come, saviour now!

Thy healing balm is spread Over this pain worn head, Quench not the beam that gives calm to his brow.

Look, O my lord, to thy path, Either to go or to stay How is my thought to proceed?

What is our cause for delay?

Look! Opportunity's power, Fitting the task to the hour, Giveth the race to the swift.

NEO. He hears not. But I see that to have ta'en His bow without him were a bootless gain He must sail with us. So the G.o.d hath said Heaven hath decreed this garland for his head: And to have failed with falsehood were a meed Of shameful soilure for a shameless deed.

CH. G.o.d shall determine the end-- II But for thine answer, friend, Waft soft words low!

All sick men's sleep, we know, Hath open eye; Their quickly ruffling mind Quivers in lightest wind, Sleepless in slumber new danger to spy.

Think, O my lord, of thy path, Secretly look forth afar, What wilt thou do for thy need?

How with the wise wilt thou care?

If toward the nameless thy heart Chooseth this merciful part, Huge are the dangers that drift.

The wind is fair, my son, the wind is fair, The man is dark and helpless, stretched in night.

(O kind, warm sleep that calmest human care!) Powerless of hand and foot and ear and sight, Blind, as one lying in the house of death.

(Think well if here thou utterest timely breath.) This, O my son, is all my thought can find, Best are the toils that without frightening bind.

NEO. Hus.h.!.+ One word more were madness. He revives.

His eye hath motion. He uplifts his head.

PHI. Fair daylight following sleep, and ye, dear friends, Faithful beyond all hope in tending me!

I never could have dreamed that thou, dear youth, Couldst thus have borne my sufferings and stood near So full of pity to relieve my pain.

Not so the worthy generals of the host;-- This princely patience was not theirs to show.

Only thy n.o.ble nature, n.o.bly sprung, Made light of all the trouble, though oppressed With fetid odours and unceasing cries.

And now, since this my plague would seem to yield Some pause and brief forgetfulness of pain, With thine own hand, my son, upraise me here, And set me on my feet, that, when my strength After exhaustion shall return again, We may move sh.o.r.eward and launch forth with speed.

NEO. I feel unhoped-for gladness when I see Thy painless gaze, and hear thy living breath, For thine appearance and surroundings both Were deathlike. But arise! Or, if thou wilt, These men shall raise thee. For they will not shrink From toil which thou and I at once enjoin.

PHI. Right, right, my son! But lift me thine own self, As I am sure thou meanest. Let these be, Lest they be burdened with the noisome smell Before the time. Enough for them to bear The trouble on board.

NEO. I will; stand up, endure!

PHI. Fear not. Old habit will enable me.

NEO. O me!

What shall I do? Now 'tis my turn to exclaim!

PHI. What canst thou mean? What change is here, my son?

NEO. I know not how to s.h.i.+ft the troublous word.

'Tis hopeless.

PHI. What is hopeless? Speak not so, Dear child!

NEO. But so my wretched lot hath fallen.

PHI. Ah! Can it be, the offence of my disease Hath moved thee not to take me now on board?

NEO. All is offence to one who hath forced himself From the true bent to an unbecoming deed.

PHI. Nought misbecoming to thyself or sire Doest thou or speak'st, befriending a good man.

NEO. My baseness will appear. That wrings my soul.

PHI. Not in thy deeds. But for thy words, I fear me!

NEO. O Heaven! Must double vileness then be mine Both shameful silence and most shameful speech?

PHI. Or my discernment is at fault, or thou Mean'st to betray me and make voyage without me.

NEO. Nay, not without thee, there is my distress!

Lest I convey thee to thy bitter grief.

PHI. How? How, dear youth? I do not understand.

NEO. Here I unveil it. Thou art to sail to Troy, To join the chieftains and the Achaean host.

PHI. What do I hear? Ah!

NEO. Grieve not till you learn.

PHI. Learn what? What wilt thou make of me? What mean'st thou?

NEO. First to release thee from this plague, and then With thee to go and take the realm of Troy.

PHI. And is this thine intent?

NEO. 'Tis so ordained Unchangeably. Be not dismayed! 'Tis so.

PHI. Me miserable! I am betrayed, undone!

What guile is here? My bow! give back my bow!

NEO. I may not. Interest, and duty too, Force me to obey commandment.

PHI. O thou fire, Thou terror of the world! Dark instrument Of ever-hateful guile!--What hast thou done?

How thou hast cheated me! Art not ashamed To look on him that sued to thee for shelter?

O heart of stone, thou hast stolen my life away With yonder bow!--Ah, yet I beg of thee, Give it me back, my son, I entreat thee, give!

By all thy father wors.h.i.+pped, rob me not Of life!--Ah me! Now he will speak no more, But turns away, obdurate to retain it.

O ye, my comrades in this wilderness, Rude creatures of the rocks, O promontories, Creeks, precipices of the hills, to you And your familiar presence I complain Of this foul trespa.s.s of Achilles' son.

Sworn to convey me home, to Troy he bears me.

And under pledge of his right hand hath ta'en And holds from me perforce my wondrous bow, The sacred gift of Zeus-born Heracles, Thinking to wave it midst the Achaean host Triumphantly for his. In conquering me He vaunts as of some valorous feat, and knows not He is spoiling a mere corse, an empty dream, The shadow of a vapour. In my strength He ne'er had vanquished me. Even as I am, He could not, but by guile. Now, all forlorn, I am abused, deceived. What must I do?

Nay, give it me. Nay, yet be thy true self!

Thou art silent. I am lost. O misery!