Stasimon 4
[Choral 1]
The evil is no longer escapable;
Chorus
my heart is darkened and trembling; the look-out my father held has brought me ruin. I am undone with terror. Rather would I meet my doom in a noose
785
than suffer the embraces of a man I loathe. Death before that, with Hades for my lord and master!
790
[Choral 2]
Ah that somewhere in the upper air I might find a seat against which the dank clouds turn into snow, or some bare, inaccessible crag,
Chorus
beyond sight, brooding in solitude, beetling, vulture-haunted, to bear witness to my plunge into the depths before I am ever forced into a marriage that would pierce my heart!
795
Thereafter I refuse not to become a booty for dogs and a banquet for the local birds; for death is freedom from misery-loving evils. Come death, death be my doom,
800
before the marriage-bed! How can I yet find some means of escape to deliver me from marriage?
805
[Choral 3]
Shriek aloud, with a cry that reaches heaven, strains of supplication to the gods;
Chorus
O father, give heed that they are somehow accomplished to my safety and tranquility. Behold deeds of violence with no kind glance in your just eyes!
810
Have respect for your suppliants, O Zeus, omnipotent upholder of the land!
815
For the males of the race of Aegyptus, intolerable in their wantonness, chase after me,
a fugitive, with clamorous lewdness and seek to lay hold of me with violence. But yours alone is the beam of the balance, and without you what is accomplished for mortals?
820
