TEXT AND TRANSLATIONS
67
VII
So once again come, Mistress; and releasing
Me from my sadness, give me what I sue for,
Grant me my prayer, and be as heretofore now,
Friend and protectress.
The translation of T. W. Higginson, 1871, is also good, but again it diverges unnecessarily from the original.
I
Beautiful-throned, immortal Aphrodite,
Daughter of Zeus, beguiler, I implore thee
Weigh me not down with weariness and anguish,
O thou most holy!
II
Come to me now if ever thou in kindness
Hearkenest my words—and often hast thou hearkened
Heeding, and coming from the mansions golden
Of thy great Father,
III
Yoking thy chariot—borne by the most lovely
Consecrated birds, with dusky tinted pinions,
Waving swift wings from utmost heights of heaven
Through the mid-ether;
