To speak abroad, but to veil utterly
In silence still. For by that secret kept,
I 'scape this chain's dishonor, and its woe.
Chorus, 1st Strophe.
Never, oh never,
May Zeus, the all-giver,
Wrestle down from his throne,
In that might of his own,
To antagonize mine!
Never let me delay
To bend on my way
To the gods of the shrine,
Where the altar is full
Of the blood of the bull,
Near the tossing brine
Of Ocean my father.
Nor my sin, be it sped in the word that is said,
But my vow, be it rather
Consummated,
Nor evermore fail, nor evermore pine.
1st Antistrophe.
'Tis sweet to have
Life lengthened out
With hopes that are brave
By the very doubt,
Till the spirit swells bold
With the joys foretold!
But I thrill to behold
Thee, victim doomed,
By the countless cares
And the drear despairs,
