Chorus: Hail! Priam the blessed we all do proclaim him;
For himself and his kingdom be rules yet below;
Now through the still depths of Elysium's shadows
'Midst calm, happy spirits he seeks the great Hector. 160
Then hail, happy Priam! Hail all who in battle
Have lost life and country, but liberty gained.
ACT II
Talthybius: Alas, 'tis thus the Greeks are ever doomed
To lie impatient of the winds' delay,
Whether on war or homeward journey bent. 165
Chorus: Tell thou the cause of this the Greeks' delay.
What god obstructs the homeward-leading paths?
Talthybius: My soul doth quake, and all my limbs with fear
Do tremble. Scarce is credence given to tales
That do transcend the truth. And yet I swear,
With my own eyes I saw what I relate.
Now with his level rays the morning sun 170
Just grazed the summits of the hills, and day
Had vanquished night; when suddenly the earth,
'Mid rumblings hidden deep and terrible,
To her profoundest depths convulsive rocked.
The tree-tops trembled, and the lofty groves
Gave forth a thunderous sound of crashing boughs;
While down from Ida's rent and rugged slopes 175
The loosened bowlders rolled. And not alone
The earth did quake: behold, the swelling sea
Perceived its own Achilles drawing near,
And spread its waves abroad. Then did the ground
Asunder yawn, revealing mighty caves,
And gave a path from Erebus to earth.
And then the high-heaped sepulcher was rent, 180
From which there sprang Achilles' mighty shade,
In guise as when, in practice for thy fates,
O Troy, he prostrate laid the Thracian arms,
Or slew the son of Neptune, doomed to wear
The swan's white plumes; or when, amidst the ranks
In furious battle raging, he the streams 185
Did choke with corpses of the slain, and Xanthus
