EURIP. TROAD. Love! Love! who, darting down To this our Phrygian town, Didst woo and win the favourites of heaven, Which bound us to the skies, 215 What hopes of shielding tenderness were given! Yet both their earthly kindred scorn, Alike the Thunder's Lord, the early-waking Morn. She, on her silver wings, Gladness to mortals brings, But marks unpitying this deserted shore; Studded with many a star, Hence to her bower her Dardan bridegroom bore; Yet Ilion sinks, the victor's prey, Nor Heaven vouchsafes to aid, nor charms her griefs away! ARGUMENT. IPHIGENIA, having been enticed to Aulis, where she was to be sacrificed, under pretence of being given in marriage to Achilles, on her arrival discovers the deception. The Chorus, in the following Ode, contrast the splendour which attended the bridal of Thetis, with the melancholy fate reserved for Iphigenia. EURIP. IPH. IN AUL. 1025. MERRILY rose the bridal strain, With the pipe of reed, and the wild harp ringing, With the Libyan flute, and the dancer's train, And the bright-haired Muses singing. On the turf elastic treading, Up Pelion's steep with an airy bound Their golden sandals they struck on the ground, On the leaf-crowned hill they stood, The golden goblets crowned the Page, In childhood's rosy age Snatched from the plains of Troy. |