Page:Four Plays of Aeschylus (Cookson).djvu/156

Of earth's vast wheel the massy nave,
The priestess cried 'If thou would'st save
Thy kingdom, get no child.'

But Love was master; he begot
Death for himself and shame,
The son that slew him, witting not,—
King Œdipus his name.
Who eared the womb where he lay hid,
Seed of a curse unborn,
Sowing the sacred field forbid
To reap in blood the corn.
Their bridal torch Erinys fed.
And madness strewed their nuptial bed.

And now, as 'twere a sea of woe
That may not come to rest,
Wave follows after wave; and, lo,
A third with triple crest
That breaks with moaning thunder stored
About the ship of State;
Scarce wall-wide is the weather-board
Stretched betwixt us and Fate;
And I have fears lest Cadmus Town,
Whelmed with its royal house, go down!

Like an old debt unpaid is an ancient curse:
And in the soul's commerce
It comes to audit, hath its settling day:
A heavy reckoning for man to pay
When not one damning entry is passed by.
From deck to keelson there is rummage then
And jettison of wealth of moiling men,
Waxed fat with overmuch prosperity.