I praise the Gods for Athens. O sweet Earth,Mother, what joy thy soul has of thy son,Thy life of my dead lord, mine own soul knowsThat knows thee godlike; and what grief should mine,What sorrow should my heart have, who behold1590Thee made so heavenlike happy? This aloneI only of all these blessed, all thy kind,Crave this for blessing to me, that in theirsHave but a part thus bitter; give me tooDeath, and the sight of eyes that meet not mine.And thee too from no godless heart or tongueReproachful, thee too by thy living name,Father divine, merciful God, I call,Spring of my life-springs, fountain of my stream,Pure and poured forth to one great end with thine,1600Sweet head sublime of triumph and these tears,Cephisus, if thou seest as gladly shedThy blood in mine as thine own waves are givenTo do this great land good, to give for loveThe same lips drink and comfort the same hearts,Do thou then, O my father, white-souled God,To thy most pure earth-hallowing heart eterneTake what thou gavest to be given for these,Take thy child to thee; for her time is full,For all she hath borne she hath given, seen all she had1610Flow from her, from her eyes and breasts and handsFlow forth to feed this people; but be thou,Dear God and gracious to all souls alive,Good to thine own seed also; let me sleep,Father; my sleepless darkling day is done,My day of life like night, but slumberless:For all my fresh fair springs, and his that ranIn one stream's bed with mine, are all run outInto the deep of death. The Gods have savedAthens; my blood has bought her at their hand,1620And ye sit safe; be glorious and be gladAs now for all time always, countrymen,And love my dead for ever; but me, me,What shall man give for these so good as death?
I praise the Gods for Athens. O sweet Earth,Mother, what joy thy soul has of thy son,Thy life of my dead lord, mine own soul knowsThat knows thee godlike; and what grief should mine,What sorrow should my heart have, who behold1590Thee made so heavenlike happy? This aloneI only of all these blessed, all thy kind,Crave this for blessing to me, that in theirsHave but a part thus bitter; give me tooDeath, and the sight of eyes that meet not mine.And thee too from no godless heart or tongueReproachful, thee too by thy living name,Father divine, merciful God, I call,Spring of my life-springs, fountain of my stream,Pure and poured forth to one great end with thine,1600Sweet head sublime of triumph and these tears,Cephisus, if thou seest as gladly shedThy blood in mine as thine own waves are givenTo do this great land good, to give for loveThe same lips drink and comfort the same hearts,Do thou then, O my father, white-souled God,To thy most pure earth-hallowing heart eterneTake what thou gavest to be given for these,Take thy child to thee; for her time is full,For all she hath borne she hath given, seen all she had1610Flow from her, from her eyes and breasts and handsFlow forth to feed this people; but be thou,Dear God and gracious to all souls alive,Good to thine own seed also; let me sleep,Father; my sleepless darkling day is done,My day of life like night, but slumberless:For all my fresh fair springs, and his that ranIn one stream's bed with mine, are all run outInto the deep of death. The Gods have savedAthens; my blood has bought her at their hand,1620And ye sit safe; be glorious and be gladAs now for all time always, countrymen,And love my dead for ever; but me, me,What shall man give for these so good as death?
[Str.1.From the cup of my heart I pour through my lips alongThe mingled wine of a joyful and sorrowful song;Wine sweeter than honey and bitterer than blood that is pouredFrom the chalice of gold, from the point of the two-edged sword.For the city redeemed should joy flow forth as a flood,And a dirge make moan for the city polluted with blood.[Ant.1.1630Great praise should the Gods have surely, my country, of thee,Were thy brow but as white as of old for thy sons to see,Were thy hands as bloodless, as blameless thy cheek divine;But a stain on it stands of the life-blood offered for thine.What thanks shall we give that are mixed not and marred with dreadFor the price that has ransomed thine own with thine own child's head?[Str.2.For a taint there cleaves to the people redeemed with blood,And a plague to the blood-red hand.The rain shall not cleanse it, the dew nor the sacred floodThat blesses the glad live land.[Ant.2.1640In the darkness of earth beneath, in the world without sun,The shadows of past things reign;And a cry goes up from the ghost of an ill deed done,And a curse for a virgin slain.
[Str.1.From the cup of my heart I pour through my lips alongThe mingled wine of a joyful and sorrowful song;Wine sweeter than honey and bitterer than blood that is pouredFrom the chalice of gold, from the point of the two-edged sword.For the city redeemed should joy flow forth as a flood,And a dirge make moan for the city polluted with blood.[Ant.1.1630Great praise should the Gods have surely, my country, of thee,Were thy brow but as white as of old for thy sons to see,Were thy hands as bloodless, as blameless thy cheek divine;But a stain on it stands of the life-blood offered for thine.What thanks shall we give that are mixed not and marred with dreadFor the price that has ransomed thine own with thine own child's head?[Str.2.For a taint there cleaves to the people redeemed with blood,And a plague to the blood-red hand.The rain shall not cleanse it, the dew nor the sacred floodThat blesses the glad live land.[Ant.2.1640In the darkness of earth beneath, in the world without sun,The shadows of past things reign;And a cry goes up from the ghost of an ill deed done,And a curse for a virgin slain.
Hear, men that mourn, and woman without mate,Hearken; ye sick of soul with fear, and thouDumb-stricken for thy children; hear ye too,Earth, and the glory of heaven, and winds of the air,And the most holy heart of the deep sea,Late wroth, now full of quiet; hear thou, sun,1650Rolled round with the upper fire of rolling heavenAnd all the stars returning; hills and streams,Springs and fresh fountains, day that seest these deeds.Night that shalt hide not; and thou child of mine,Child of a maiden, by a maid redeemed,Blood-guiltless, though bought back with innocent blood,City mine own; I Pallas bring thee word,I virgin daughter of the most high GodGive all you charge and lay command on allThe word I bring be wasted not; for this1660The Gods have stablished and his soul hath sworn,That time nor earth nor changing sons of manNor waves of generations, nor the windsOf ages risen and fallen that steer their tidesThrough light and dark of birth and lovelier deathFrom storm toward haven inviolable, shall seeSo great a light alive beneath the sunAs the awless eye of Athens; all fame elseShall be to her fame as a shadow in sleepTo this wide noon at waking; men most praised1670In lands most happy for their children foundShall hold as highest of honours given of GodTo be but likened to the least of thine,Thy least of all, my city; thine shall beThe crown of all songs sung, of all deeds doneThine the full flower for all time; in thine handShall time be like a sceptre, and thine headWear worship for a garland; nor one leafShall change or winter cast out of thy crownTill all flowers wither in the world; thine eyes1680Shall first in man's flash lightning liberty,Thy tongue shall first say freedom; thy first handShall loose the thunder terror as a houndTo hunt from sunset to the springs of the sunKings that rose up out of the populous eastTo make their quarry of thee, and shall strewWith multitudinous limbs of myriad herdsThe foodless pastures of the sea, and makeWith wrecks immeasurable and unsummed defeatOne ruin of all their many-folded flocks1690Ill shepherded from Asia; by thy sideShall fight thy son the north wind, and the seaThat was thine enemy shall be sworn thy friendAnd hand be struck in hand of his and thineTo hold faith fast for aye; with thee, though eachMake war on other, wind and sea shall keepPeace, and take truce as brethren for thy sakeLeagued with one spirit and single-hearted strengthTo break thy foes in pieces, who shall meetThe wind's whole soul and might of the main sea1700Full in their face of battle, and becomeA laughter to thee; like a shower of leavesShall their long galleys rank by staggering rankBe dashed adrift on ruin, and in thy sightThe sea deride them, and that lord of the airWho took by violent hand thy child to wifeWith his loud lips bemock them, by his breathSwept out of sight of being; so great a graceShall this day give thee, that makes one in heartWith mine the deep sea's godhead, and his son1710With him that was thine helmsman, king with king,Dead man with dead; such only names as theseShalt thou call royal, take none else or lessTo hold of men in honour; but with meShall these be worshipped as one God, and mixWith mine the might of their mysterious namesIn one same shrine served singly, thence to keepPerpetual guard on Athens; time and change,Masters and lords of all men, shall be madeTo thee that knowest no master and no lord1720Servants; the days that lighten heaven and nightsThat darken shall be ministers of thineTo attend upon thy glory, the great yearsAs light-engraven letters of thy nameWrit by the sun's hand on the front of the earthFor world-beholden witness; such a giftFor one fair chaplet of three lives enwreathedTo hang for ever from thy storied shrine,And this thy steersman fallen with tiller in handTo stand for ever at thy ship's helm seen,1730Shall he that bade their threefold flower be shornAnd laid him low that planted, give thee backIn sign of sweet land reconciled with seaAnd heavenlike earth with heaven; such promise-pledgeI daughter without mother born of GodTo the most woful mother born of manPlight for continual comfort. Hail, and liveBeyond all human hap of mortal doomHappy; for so my sire hath sworn and I.
Hear, men that mourn, and woman without mate,Hearken; ye sick of soul with fear, and thouDumb-stricken for thy children; hear ye too,Earth, and the glory of heaven, and winds of the air,And the most holy heart of the deep sea,Late wroth, now full of quiet; hear thou, sun,1650Rolled round with the upper fire of rolling heavenAnd all the stars returning; hills and streams,Springs and fresh fountains, day that seest these deeds.Night that shalt hide not; and thou child of mine,Child of a maiden, by a maid redeemed,Blood-guiltless, though bought back with innocent blood,City mine own; I Pallas bring thee word,I virgin daughter of the most high GodGive all you charge and lay command on allThe word I bring be wasted not; for this1660The Gods have stablished and his soul hath sworn,That time nor earth nor changing sons of manNor waves of generations, nor the windsOf ages risen and fallen that steer their tidesThrough light and dark of birth and lovelier deathFrom storm toward haven inviolable, shall seeSo great a light alive beneath the sunAs the awless eye of Athens; all fame elseShall be to her fame as a shadow in sleepTo this wide noon at waking; men most praised1670In lands most happy for their children foundShall hold as highest of honours given of GodTo be but likened to the least of thine,Thy least of all, my city; thine shall beThe crown of all songs sung, of all deeds doneThine the full flower for all time; in thine handShall time be like a sceptre, and thine headWear worship for a garland; nor one leafShall change or winter cast out of thy crownTill all flowers wither in the world; thine eyes1680Shall first in man's flash lightning liberty,Thy tongue shall first say freedom; thy first handShall loose the thunder terror as a houndTo hunt from sunset to the springs of the sunKings that rose up out of the populous eastTo make their quarry of thee, and shall strewWith multitudinous limbs of myriad herdsThe foodless pastures of the sea, and makeWith wrecks immeasurable and unsummed defeatOne ruin of all their many-folded flocks1690Ill shepherded from Asia; by thy sideShall fight thy son the north wind, and the seaThat was thine enemy shall be sworn thy friendAnd hand be struck in hand of his and thineTo hold faith fast for aye; with thee, though eachMake war on other, wind and sea shall keepPeace, and take truce as brethren for thy sakeLeagued with one spirit and single-hearted strengthTo break thy foes in pieces, who shall meetThe wind's whole soul and might of the main sea1700Full in their face of battle, and becomeA laughter to thee; like a shower of leavesShall their long galleys rank by staggering rankBe dashed adrift on ruin, and in thy sightThe sea deride them, and that lord of the airWho took by violent hand thy child to wifeWith his loud lips bemock them, by his breathSwept out of sight of being; so great a graceShall this day give thee, that makes one in heartWith mine the deep sea's godhead, and his son1710With him that was thine helmsman, king with king,Dead man with dead; such only names as theseShalt thou call royal, take none else or lessTo hold of men in honour; but with meShall these be worshipped as one God, and mixWith mine the might of their mysterious namesIn one same shrine served singly, thence to keepPerpetual guard on Athens; time and change,Masters and lords of all men, shall be madeTo thee that knowest no master and no lord1720Servants; the days that lighten heaven and nightsThat darken shall be ministers of thineTo attend upon thy glory, the great yearsAs light-engraven letters of thy nameWrit by the sun's hand on the front of the earthFor world-beholden witness; such a giftFor one fair chaplet of three lives enwreathedTo hang for ever from thy storied shrine,And this thy steersman fallen with tiller in handTo stand for ever at thy ship's helm seen,1730Shall he that bade their threefold flower be shornAnd laid him low that planted, give thee backIn sign of sweet land reconciled with seaAnd heavenlike earth with heaven; such promise-pledgeI daughter without mother born of GodTo the most woful mother born of manPlight for continual comfort. Hail, and liveBeyond all human hap of mortal doomHappy; for so my sire hath sworn and I.
O queen Athena, from a heart made whole1740Take as thou givest us blessing; never tearShall stain for shame nor groan untune the songThat as a bird shall spread and fold its wingsHere in thy praise for ever, and fulfilThe whole world's crowning city crowned with theeAs the sun's eye fulfils and crowns with sightThe circling crown of heaven. There is no griefGreat as the joy to be made one in willWith him that is the heart and rule of lifeAnd thee, God born of God; thy name is ours,1750And thy large grace more great than our desire.
O queen Athena, from a heart made whole1740Take as thou givest us blessing; never tearShall stain for shame nor groan untune the songThat as a bird shall spread and fold its wingsHere in thy praise for ever, and fulfilThe whole world's crowning city crowned with theeAs the sun's eye fulfils and crowns with sightThe circling crown of heaven. There is no griefGreat as the joy to be made one in willWith him that is the heart and rule of lifeAnd thee, God born of God; thy name is ours,1750And thy large grace more great than our desire.
From the depth of the springs of my spirit a fountain is poured of thanksgiving,My country, my mother, for thee,That thy dead for their death shall have life in thy sight and a name everlivingAt heart of thy people to be.In the darkness of change on the waters of time they shall turn from afarTo the beam of this dawn for a beacon, the light of these pyres for a star.They shall see thee who love and take comfort, who hate thee shall see and take warning,Our mother that makest us free;And the sons of thine earth shall have help of the waves that made war on their morning,1760And friendship and fame of the sea.
From the depth of the springs of my spirit a fountain is poured of thanksgiving,My country, my mother, for thee,That thy dead for their death shall have life in thy sight and a name everlivingAt heart of thy people to be.In the darkness of change on the waters of time they shall turn from afarTo the beam of this dawn for a beacon, the light of these pyres for a star.They shall see thee who love and take comfort, who hate thee shall see and take warning,Our mother that makest us free;And the sons of thine earth shall have help of the waves that made war on their morning,1760And friendship and fame of the sea.
v. 497-503. Cf. Eurip. Fr.Erechtheus, 46-49.
v. 522-530. Id. 32-40.
v. 778. Æsch.Supp.524-6.
v. 983. Soph. Fr. (Oreithyia) 655.
ὑπέρ τε πόντον πάντ' ἐπ' ἔσχατα χθονὸςνυκτός τε πηγὰς οὐρανοῦ τ' ἀναπτυχὰς,φοίβου παλαιὸν κῆπον.
ὑπέρ τε πόντον πάντ' ἐπ' ἔσχατα χθονὸςνυκτός τε πηγὰς οὐρανοῦ τ' ἀναπτυχὰς,φοίβου παλαιὸν κῆπον.
v. 1163. Æsch. Fr. (Danaides) 38.
ὄμβρος δ' ἀπ' εὐνάεντος οὐρανοῦ πεσὼνἔκυσε γαῖαν.
ὄμβρος δ' ἀπ' εὐνάεντος οὐρανοῦ πεσὼνἔκυσε γαῖαν.
v. 1168. Id.
δενδρῶτις ὥρα δ' ἐκ νοτίζοντος γάμουτέλειός ἐστι
δενδρῶτις ὥρα δ' ἐκ νοτίζοντος γάμουτέλειός ἐστι
v. 1749. 'God born of God.' Soph.Ant.834. θεός τοι καὶ θεογεννής.