18
ARGONAUTAE
The silent thought, the hand unseen,
The rayless majesty of light
Shed from the splendour of our Queen
Athena! mystery and might;
These worked invisibly to bring
The end of triumph to our King.
Great Jason, wronged by hate of man,
Shall pass the portals of the deep;
Shall seek the waters wide and wan;
Shall pass within the land of sleep;
And there the guardians of the soil
Shall rest at last from pain and toil.
O ruler of the empyréan,
Behold his fervour conquering
The fury of the breed Cadmean,
The dragons of the Theban king;
And arméd men shall spring from earth
In vain to ward the gloomy girth!
But thou, Athena, didst devise
Some end beyond our mortal ken,
Thy soul impenetrably wise
Shines not to us unthinking men,
O guard the warrior band of Greece,
And win for us the Golden Fleece!