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Page 1 of 21906 · PDF PAGE 93
ACTUS PRIMUS 87 JASON. Where is the son of ‘Tyro and Poseidon? MEN. Iolchus’ King has here a dwelling-place. WOMEN. See you the sword shake—and the iron hand Not shaking? The man’s mood is full of wrath. MEN. Peace, foolish! Were it so, we would not see. WOMEN. Ay me! this stranger seems most ominous. JASON, Where is the son of Tyro and Poseidon? MEN. This is the Palace-place of Pelias, Son of Poseidon, of Iolchus King. JASON. Iolchus’ King is here, in very truth. Where is the son of Tyro? MEN. Who art thou? JASON. Know me for Jason and great A…
1906 · PDF PAGE 94
…tebank. SECOND WOMAN. To-day I would not be his concubine For all Iolchus—for all Thessaly ! THIRD WOMAN. I see the same glance seek out Jason now. SECOND WOMAN. Ay, there's a man! What muscles! What fine fire In the quick eye! What vigour and warm strength ! FIRST WOMAN. Yes, in your wishes. But indeed he is A proper man. Away, you ancient egg ! PELIAS. With what audacious foot and impious voice Strides this young man and talks? Let him advance, Trembling at our offended majesty. Who art thou whose rude summons startles us From work of state t…
1906 · PDF PAGE 103
ACTUS SECUNDUS 97 JASON. Nay, brother. is sorrow The voice was: ‘‘ The end '» THESEUS. Ye heard not, O dull-witted! Unto me (Alone of all ye wise) the great voice came, ‘““The Gates of Hell prevail.” shall not in = all CASTOR. I heard, ‘‘ Regret not thy mortality ! Love conquers death !” POLLUX. But I, ‘‘ Regret not thou Thine immortality! Love conquers life !””! ORPHEUS. A partial wisdom to a partial ear. JASON. But what speech came to thee ? ORPHEUS., I heard no voice. ARGUS. What means this? Here’s my labour thrown away, My skill made jest o…
1906 · PDF PAGE 124
118 THE ARGONAUTS _ ACASTUS. What folly masks what wickedness? Speak on! ALCESTIS. I cannot speak. JASON. Speak thou, Medea! MEDEA. The child Hath hewn her sire asunder, seething him In herbs of sacred power. ACASTUS. By thy decree? MEDEA. Nay ! MADNESS. | Safer is it to admit to these Fools—charge the child with lack of fortune ! MEDEA. Yea! I bade her take a waxen shape, carved well To look like the old man ALCESTIS. Nay! nay! the Sire Himself we stole on sleeping —— CHORUS. Hewn apart ! Ai Ai! MEDEA. I said not thus ! ALCESTIS. I am so wild,…
1906 · PDF PAGE 110
104 THE ARGONAUTS CHORUS. In sooth, I have no fear at all—to flee. JASON. Night, likea mist, steals softly from the Kast. The hand of darkness gathers up the folds Of day’s gold garment, and the valleys sink Into slow sadness, though the hills retain That brilliance for a little. CHORUS. Let us go! Methinks that under cover of the night I may escape Aeetes. JASON. If he chase, Our Argo is not battered by rough winds So far but what some fight were possible. MEDEA. [Leads forward ABSYRTUS.] I know a better way than that, my lord. This boy shall …
1906 · PDF PAGE 95
ACTUS PRIMUS 89 JASON. I am of force, I say. I wrestled once From sunrise to sunset with Heracles, Great Heracles! Not till, the full moon rose Availed his might to lay me prone. ware ! Ye weakling knaves ! Be- I am of force, I say. PELIAS. Rebellious youth, the justice of thy cause And force I will admit—where force goes far. But think’st thou wait no wild Erinyes For thee a guest in these my halls, for thee Whose hands are dipped not yet in blood so deep As to have murdered an old man, and him Thy father’s brother? JASON. Justice covers all. …
1906 · PDF PAGE 97
…f Heaven ! Unspoken treasure of the abodes Beyond the lightning levin ! No misery, no despair may pay * The joy to hold thee for a day ! JASON. Athena’s servant recks not much of Ares. PELIAS. Are thine eyes kindled at thought ? the golden JASON. Mine eyes see farther than the Fleece of Gold. PELIAS. What heroes can attain so fair a thing? JASON. I have some friends who would esteem this quest Lightly—a maiden’s pleasure-wandering Through lilied fields a summer’s afternoon. PELIAS. The Gods give strength! I pray them send thee back Safe to this…
1906 · PDF PAGE 99
…st behold The melting mirror of the ocean meet The crystallising concave of the sky? ARGUS. All this shall happen when the work is done. JASON. How many moons, friend fool, before that day? ARGUS. These things are known not even to the Gods, Except the Father only.? HERACLES. Fools must talk. ARGUS. I talk, divulging nothing. HERACLES. I strike thee, Yet act not. ARGUS. Hero, stay that heavy hand! The ship shall sail ere spring. THESEUS. But now you talk More as befits a.workman to a king. 1 The satire is on Matthew xxiv. 36. JASON. Be gentle n…
1906 · PDF PAGE 101
…at ass? ARGUS. The one that wore the lion’s skin ! THESEUS. This fellow were beneath a man’s contempt. ‘?ow should a God-born heed him ? JASON, We are here, ven, to invoke Athena, immolate 1e sacred cock upon her altar-stone, ‘hat She, who sprang in armour from the brain ‘4f the All-Father, may descend to bless ‘ar labours, since delay grows dangerous, ‘ iaply by Her power and subtlety Se please to aid the work, and to perform A prodigy to save us! Mighty Queen, That art the balance and the sword alike In cunning Argus’ brain HERACLES. Ay! Migh…
1906 · PDF PAGE 108
…ir mother of great kings un- born, And mighty chosen of the land of Greece, A tidings of deep bliss is born to you. CHORUS. Tell me that Jason has achieved the quest. MESSENGER. Truth is no handmaid unto happiness. CHORUS. What terror dost thou fill my heart withal ? MEDEA. O timorous heroes! Let the herald speak ! Who meets fear drives her back ; who flees from fear Stumbles; who cares not, sees her not. Speak on ! THE MESSENGER. Terrible bellowings as of angry bulls Broke from the stable as the first swift shaft Of dawn smote into it: and sta…
1906 · PDF PAGE 125
ACTUS QUINTUS 119 JASON. To Corinth! MEDEA. Creon bears The name of favourable to suppliants. ACASTUS. liow virtue tames these tameless ones! To-day I am indeed a man. MEDEA. Thou brainless boy ! Thus, thus, and thus I smite thee on the cheek— Thus, thus I spit upon thy face. Out, dog! SEMICHORUS I. His patience shows as something marvellous. SEMICHORUS 2. Virtue takes insult from the fortuneless. MEDEA. The curse of Ares dog you into Hades! I have my reasons [dowdtfully), ay, my reasons ‘plain ! Going, not forced. CHORUS. Yet going—that is goo…
1906 · PDF PAGE 117
…ay, To where the nenuphar And hidden headlands loom again. Sleeps for her couch. All darkness dreams ‘The thing that is not, only seems. JASON. I know That star upon the serpent’s head Is called the soul of man : That light in shadows subtly shed The glamour of life’s plan. The sea whereon that lotus grows Is thought’s abyss of tears and woes. Leave Sirenusa ! Even Greece Forget ! they are not there! By worship cometh not the Peace, The Silence not by prayer ! Leave the illusions, life and time And death, and seek that star sublime— Until the l…
1906 · PDF PAGE 100
94 THE ARGONAUTS ARGUS. I stand with brows abashed. Thou art the master—build the ship thyself. JASON. Nay, but my knowledge is of mind alone. I cannot so apply it as to build An Argo. ARGUS. Yet I verily believe Such mind must pierce far deeper than these names, Seeking the very nature of the things Thou namest thus so pat. Perchance to thee These logs, nails, bolts, tools, have some life of sense, Some subtle language. say !1 Tell us what they THESEUS. Tis but a giber—leave the churl alone. JASON. Indeed I spake of things I knew not of. ARGUS…
1906 · PDF PAGE 102
96 THE ARGONAUTS JASON, Let us begin: the hour draws on apace. Drive off the demons from the sacrifice ! -ORPHEUS. Let all the demons enter and dwell therein ! My friends, ye are as ignorant as priests ! Let there be silence while the sleeper? wakes ! | O coiled and constricted and chosen ! O tortured and twisted and twined ! Deep spring of my soul deep frozen, The sleep of the truth of the mind ! As a bright snake curled Round the vine of the World ! O sleeper through dawn and through day- light, | O sleeper through dusk and through night ! O …
1906 · PDF PAGE 115
…he billow far and strong On marble coasts: we will not stay ! Dreams lure not those who ply the sail Before, the home! behind, the gale! JASON. Ah ! Iam torn, I am torn! MEDEA, God’s poet, hail ! Help us, Apollo! Light of Sun, awake ! This is the desperate hour. JASON. I have no strength. MEDEA. Beware the third, the awful ecstasy ! ORPHEUS. A higher spell controls a lower song. Listen, they sing! JASON. Joy! Joy! they sing, they sing! LEUCOSIA. O lover, I am lonely here! O lover, I am weeping ! Each pearl of ocean is a tear Let fall while love…
1906 · PDF PAGE 113
…orth in the interlunar air? Imageless mirror-life ! to be Sole between moon and sea. CHORUS. No song can lure us while he sings so well. JASON. But look! I sce entrancing woiman-forms That beckon—fairy-like and not of earth. So, fitter than the bed of this my queen To rest heroic limbs ! ) MEDEA. The wretched one ! Thou knowest that their kiss is death ! JASON. Perhaps. It were their kiss. MEDEA. Are not my kisses sweet? JASON. Listen, they sing. This time the words ring true, Sailing across that blue abyss between. Like young birds winging the…
1906 · PDF PAGE 112
…e Sun himself my lover and my lyre! CHORUS. This song is sweeter than the honeycomb. MEDEA. Nearly as sweet as good friends quarrelling. JASON. Look, friends, methinks I see a silvern shape Like faint mist floating on the farthest sea. MEDEA. I see a barren rock above the tides. JASON. I hear a sound like water whispering. MEDEA. I hear a harsh noise like some ancient crone Muttering curses. JASON. Now [I hear a song. "Tis like some shape of sleep that moans for joy, Some bridal sob of love ! MEDEA. O Son of God ! My poet, swiftly leap the live…
1906 · PDF PAGE 96
…is my breast. Look firmly in my face, . i And slay me. Is there fear writ large and deep In mine old eyes? Or shudderest thou with fear? JASON. More hate than fear. In sooth, I cannot strike. ' PELIAS, A kingis not so slain—except a madman May fall upon him with averted head.? Indeed, I conquer. [Aszde.] Even so, beware! oe Victory ill-nurtured breeds the babe defeat. [Aloud.] Listen, my brother’:s son!- Nay, stoop not so, — Bending ashaméd brows upon the earth ! I am well weary of the world of men. I grow both old and hateful to myself, Most o…
1906 · PDF PAGE 92
THE ARGONAUTS* 1904 ARGONAUTAE. ACTUS PRIMUS. JASON. PELIAS, JASON. Semz-chorus of Lolchian Men. Sewmz-chorus of Lolchian Women. SCENE: The Throne-chamber of KING PELIAS. SEMI-CHORUS OF MEN. THE prophecies are spoken in vain, The auguries vainly cast, Since twenty years of joyous reign In peace are overpast ; And those who cursed our King’s desires Are branded in the brow for liars. SEMI-CHORUS OF WOMEN. We heard the aged prophet speak The doom of woe and fear. We wait with blanched and icy cheek The one-and-twentieth year : For Justice lies, a…
1906 · PDF PAGE 104
…t 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 armed men shall spring from earth In vain to ward the gloomy girth ! But t…