Stasimon 4
[Choral 1]
I am possessed by dreadful fear if truly my long flight has been of no profit. Father, I am consumed with fright.
Danaus
Since the vote of the Argives was final,
be of good cheer, my children; they will fight in your defence, I know this well.
740
Abominable is the lustful race of Aegyptus and insatiate of battle; and you know that all too well.
In ships, stout-timbered and dark-prowed, they have sailed here,
attended by a mighty black host, and in their wrath overtaken us.
745
But they will find here a force with arms well-seasoned by the noonday heat.
Do not leave me forlorn, I implore you, father. A woman abandoned to herself is nothing. There is no Ares in her.
[Choral 2]
They are of evil mind, and guileful of purpose, with impure hearts, thinking no more of altars than carrion birds.
750
Danaus
This would profit us well, my children, should they incur both Heaven’s hate and yours.
Father, no fear of tridents or of things held sacred in the sight of Heaven will ever keep their hands from us.
755
They are overweening, maddened, with unholy rage, shameless dogs that do not respect the gods.
[Choral]
Yet there is a saying that wolves are stronger than dogs; the papyrus-fruit does not conquer the wheat-ear.Distinctive foods mark national differences—the Egyptians are no match for the Argives. Theophrastus, in hisHistory of Plants 4.8, reports that the inhabitants of Egypt chew papyrus, raw, boiled, or roasted.
760
Since they have the tempers of lewd and impious beasts, we must guard against them quickly.
Danaus
A fleet in getting under way is not so speedy,
nor yet in anchoring, when the securing cables must be brought ashore; and even at anchorage shepherds of ships do not feel immediately secure, above all if they have arrived on a harborless coast when the sun is sinking into night.
765
In a cautious pilot night is likely to beget anxiety. Then, too, the disembarking of an army cannot be effected with success before a ship has gained confidence in her moorings. But, for all your terror, remember not to neglect the gods. I will return when I have secured aid. The city will find no fault with a messenger,
770
old in years, but with youth in his heart and on his tongue. Exit
775
[Choral 1]
O land of hills, land of our righteous veneration, what is to be our lot? To what region in the Apian land are we to flee, if anywhere there be some dark hiding-place? Ah that I might become black smoke
Chorus
that draws near to the clouds of Zeus; or, soaring aloft without wings, vanish out of sight like viewless dust and dissolve into nothingness!
780
The evil is no longer escapable;
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