In very deed the thoughts I have about the gods, whenso they come into my mind, do much to soothe its grief, but though I cherish secret hopes of some great guiding will, yet am I at fault when survey the fate and doings of the sons of men; change succeeds to change, and man's life veers and shifts in endless restlessness.
antistrophe 1
Fortune grant me this, I pray, at heaven's hand,-a happy lot in life and a soul from sorrow free; opinions let me hold not too precise nor yet too hollow; but, lightly changing my habits to each morrow as it comes, may I thus attain a life of bliss!
strophe 2
For now no more is my mind free from doubts, unlooked-for sights greet my vision; for lo! I see the morning star of Athens, eye of Hellas, driven by his father's fury to another land. Mourn, ye sands of my native shores, ye oak-groves on the hills, where with his fleet hounds he would hunt the quarry to the death, attending on Dictynna, awful queen.
antistrophe 2
No more will he mount his car drawn by Venetian steeds, filling the course round Limna with the prancing of his trained horses.
Nevermore in his father's house shall he wake the Muse that never slept beneath his lute-strings; no hand will crown the spots where rests the maiden Latona 'mid the boskage deep; nor evermore shall our virgins vie to win thy love, now thou art banished.
epodeWhile I with tears at thy unhappy fate shall endure a lot all undeserved. Ah! hapless mother, in vain didst thou bring forth, it seems. I am angered with the gods; out upon them! O ye linked Graces, why are ye sending from his native land this poor youth, guiltless sufferer, far from his home?
LEADER OF THE CHORUS
But lo! I see a servant of Hippolytus hasting with troubled looks towards the palace.
(A MESSENGER enters.)
MESSENGER
Ladies, where may I find Theseus, king of the country? pray, tell me if ye know; is he within the palace here?
LEADER
Lo! himself approaches from the palace.
(THESEUS enters.)
MESSENGER
Theseus, I am the bearer of troublous tidings to thee and all citizens who dwell in Athens or the bounds of Troezen.
THESEUS
How now? hath some strange calamity o'ertaken these two neighbouring cities?
MESSENGER
In one brief word, Hippolytus is dead. 'Tis true one slender thread still links him to the light of life.
THESEUS
Who slew him? Did some husband come to blows with him, one whose wife, like mine, had suffered brutal violence?
MESSENGER
He perished through those steeds that drew his chariot and through the curses thou didst utter, praying to thy sire, the ocean-king, to slay thy son.
THESEUS
Ye gods and king Poseidon, thou hast proved my parentage by hearkening to my prayer! Say how he perished; how fell the uplifted hand of justice to smite the villain who dishonoured me?
MESSENGER
Hard by the wave-beat shore were we combing out his horses' manes, weeping the while, for one had come to say that Hippolytus was harshly exiled by thee and nevermore would return to set foot in this land.
Then came he, telling the same doleful tale to us upon the beach, and with him was a countless throng of friends who followed after.
At length he stayed his lamentation and spake: "Why weakly rave on this wise? My father's commands must be obeyed. Ho! servants, harness my horses to the chariot; this is no longer now city of mine."Thereupon each one of us bestirred himself, and, ere a man could say 'twas done, we had the horses standing ready at our master's side.
