Such was the mighty warning, pealed of yore-Amid good tidings, such the word of fear, What time the fateful eagles hovered o'er The kings, and Calchas read the omen clear.
(In strains like his, once more, Sing woe and well-a-day! but be the issue fair!)strophe 2
Zeus-if to The Unknown That name of many names seem good-Zeus, upon Thee I call.
Thro' the mind's every road I passed, but vain are all, Save that which names thee Zeus, the Highest One, Were it but mine to cast away the load, The weary load, that weighs my spirit down.
antistrophe 2
He that was Lord of old, In full-blown pride of place and valour bold, Hath fallen and is gone, even as an old tale told:
And he that next held sway, By stronger grasp o'erthrown Hath pass'd away!
And whoso now shall bid the triumph-chant arise To Zeus, and Zeus alone, He shall be found the truly wise.
strophe 3
'Tis Zeus alone who shows the perfect way Of knowledge: He hath ruled, Men shall learn wisdom, by affliction schooled.
In visions of the night, like dropping rain, Descend the many memories of pain Before the spirit's sight: through tears and dole Comes wisdom o'er the unwilling soul-A boon, I wot, of all Divinity, That holds its sacred throne in strength, above the sky!
antistrophe 3
And then the elder chief, at whose command The fleet of Greece was manned, Cast on the seer no word of hate, But veered before the sudden breath of Fate-Ah, weary while! for, ere they put forth sail, Did every store, each minish'd vessel, fail, While all the Achaean host At Aulis anchored lay, Looking across to Chalcis and the coast Where refluent waters welter, rock, and sway;strophe 4
And rife with ill delay From northern Strymon blew the thwarting blast-Mother of famine fell, That holds men wand'ring still Far from the haven where they fain would be!-And pitiless did waste Each ship and cable, rotting on the sea, And, doubling with delay each weary hour, Withered with hope deferred th' Achaeans' warlike flower.