Page:Four Plays of Aeschylus (Cookson).djvu/107

The dark oblation of the Dorian spear.
High as are heaped the sands their carcases
Shall be hereafter, even to sons' sons,
A silent witness for whoso hath eyes,
That proud thoughts are not for the worm called man;
For pride in blossom, like an ear of corn,
Swells and grows ripe with ruin reaped in tears.
Ye, when ye see these things and think thereon,
Remember Athens and remember Hellas!
Let none of you, that fortune, which is yours
And which God gave, disdaining, set your hearts
On what ye have not, neither in getting more
Pour out like water vast prosperity.
Zeus is a chastener of froward wills
And he correcteth with a heavy hand.
Wherefore be ye instructors of your lord,
And with well-reasoned admonitions teach him
To have a humbler heart and cast away
The sin of pride, for it offendeth God.
And, Xerxes' dear and venerable Mother,
Return to the palace; bring forth fitting raiment
And go therewith to meet thy son: for all
About him, torn by grief, in tatters hangs
The ravelment of his rich-embroidered robe.
Moreover comfort him with gentle words;
Thee only will he hearken. I go hence
Descending through the darkness of the earth.
Farewell, grave elders; in adversity
Find out the soul's true solace day by day;
Where dead men lie wealth nothing profiteth.

[The Shade of Darius descends into the tomb.