Wherefore for ever on the wings of fear Hovers a vision drear Before my boding heart? a strain, Unbidden and unwelcome, thrills mine ear, Oracular of pain.
Not as of old upon my bosom's throne Sits Confidence, to spurn Such fears, like dreams we know not to discern.
Old, old and grey long since the time has grown, Which saw the linked cables moor The fleet, when erst it came to Ilion's sandy shore;antistrophe 1
And now mine eyes and not another's see Their safe return.
Yet none the less in me The inner spirit sings a boding song, Self-prompted, sings the Furies' strain-And seeks, and seeks in vain, To hope and to be strong!
Ah! to some end of Fate, unseen, unguessed, Are these wild throbbings of my heart and breast-Yea, of some doom they tell-
Each pulse, a knell.
Lief, lief I were, that all To unfulfilment's hidden realm might fall.
strophe 2
Too far, too far our mortal spirits strive, Grasping at utter weal, unsatisfied-Till the fell curse, that dwelleth hard beside, Thrust down the sundering wall. Too fair they blow, The gales that waft our bark on Fortune's tide!
Swiftly we sail, the sooner an to drive Upon the hidden rock, the reef of woe.
Then if the hand of caution warily Sling forth into the sea Part of the freight, lest all should sink below, From the deep death it saves the bark: even so, Doom-laden though it be, once more may rise His household, who is timely wise.
How oft the famine-stricken field Is saved by God's large gift, the new year's yield!
antistrophe 2
But blood of man once spilled, Once at his feet shed forth, and darkening the plain,-Nor chant nor charm can call it back again.
So Zeus hath willed:
Else had he spared the leech Asclepius, skilled To bring man from the dead: the hand divine Did smite himself with death-a warning and a sign-Ah me! if Fate, ordained of old, Held not the will of gods constrained, controlled, Helpless to us-ward, and apart-Swifter than speech my heart Had poured its presage out!
Now, fretting, chafing in the dark of doubt, 'Tis hopeless to unfold Truth, from fear's tangled skein; and, yearning to proclaim Its thought, my soul is prophecy and flame.
(CLYTEMNESTRA comes out of the palace and addresses CASSANDRA, who has remained motionless in her chariot.)CLYTEMNESTRA
Get thee within thou too, Cassandra, go!
For Zeus to thee in gracious mercy grants To share the sprinklings of the lustral bowl, Beside the altar of his guardianship, Slave among many slaves. What, haughty still?
Step from the car; Alcmena's son, 'tis said, Was sold perforce and bore the yoke of old.
Ay, hard it is, but, if such fate befall, 'Tis a fair chance to serve within a home Of ancient wealth and power. An upstart lord, To whom wealth's harvest came beyond his hope, Is as a lion to his slaves, in all Exceeding fierce, immoderate in sway.
Pass in: thou hearest what our ways will be.
LEADER OF THE CHORUS
Clear unto thee, O maid, is her command, But thou-within the toils of Fate thou art-If such thy will, I urge thee to obey;
Yet I misdoubt thou dost nor hear nor heed.
CLYTEMNESTRA
I wot-unless like swallows she doth use Some strange barbarian tongue from oversea-My words must speak persuasion to her soul.
LEADER
Obey: there is no gentler way than this.
Step from the car's high seat and follow her.
CLYTEMNESTRA
Truce to this bootless waiting here without!
I will not stay: beside the central shrine The victims stand, prepared for knife and fire-Offerings from hearts beyond all hope made glad.
Thou-if thou reckest aught of my command, 'Twere well done soon: but if thy sense be shut From these my words, let thy barbarian hand Fulfil by gesture the default of speech.
LEADER
No native is she, thus to read thy words Unaided: like some wild thing of the wood, New-trapped, behold! she shrinks and glares on thee.
CLYTEMNESTRA
'Tis madness and the rule of mind distraught, Since she beheld her city sink in fire, And hither comes, nor brooks the bit, until In foam and blood her wrath be champed away.
See ye to her; unqueenly 'tis for me, Unheeded thus to cast away my words.
(CLYTEMNESTRA enters the palace.)
LEADER
But with me pity sits in anger's place.
Poor maiden, come thou from the car; no way There is but this-take up thy servitude.
CASSANDRA (chanting)
Woe, woe, alas! Earth, Mother Earth! and thou Apollo, Apollo!
LEADER
Peace! shriek not to the bright prophetic god, Who will not brook the suppliance of woe.
CASSANDRA (chanting)
Woe, woe, alas! Earth, Mother Earth! and thou Apollo, Apollo!
LEADER
Hark, with wild curse she calls anew on him, Who stands far off and loathes the voice of wail.
CASSANDRA (chanting)
Apollo, Apollo!
God of all ways, but only Death's to me, Once and again, O thou, Destroyer named, Thou hast destroyed me, thou, my love of old!
LEADER
She grows presageful of her woes to come, Slave tho' she be, instinct with prophecy.
CASSANDRA (chanting)
Apollo, Apollo!
God of all ways, but only Death's to me, O thou Apollo, thou Destroyer named!
What way hast led me, to what evil home?
LEADER
Know'st thou it not? The home of Atreus' race:
Take these my words for sooth and ask no more.
CASSANDRA (chanting)
Home cursed of God! Bear witness unto me, Ye visioned woes within-The blood-stained hands of them that smite their kin-The strangling noose, and, spattered o'er With human blood, the reeking floor!
LEADER
How like a sleuth-hound questing on the track, Keen-scented unto blood and death she hies!
CASSANDRA (chanting)
Ah! can the ghostly guidance fail, Whereby my prophet-soul is onwards led?
Look! for their flesh the spectre-children wail, Their sodden limbs on which their father fed!
LEADER
Long since we knew of thy prophetic fame,-But for those deeds we seek no prophet's tongue-CASSANDRA (chanting)
God! 'tis another crime-
Worse than the storied woe of olden time, Cureless, abhorred, that one is plotting here-A shaming death, for those that should be dear Alas! and far away, in foreign land, He that should help doth stand!
LEADER
I knew th' old tales, the city rings withal-But now thy speech is dark, beyond my ken.
CASSANDRA (chanting)
O wretch, O purpose fell!
The End
