No more these melting measures frame;
Bid the chaste muse in Virtue's cause declare,And mark man's lawless bed with shame!
Ungrateful is this Jove-descended lord;
For,his wife's childless bed abhorr'd,Lewdly he courts the embrace of other dames,And with a spurious son his pride inflames.
(An ATTENDANT of CREUSA enters.)
ATTENDANT
Athenian dames,where shall I find our queen,The daughter of Erechtheus?Seeking her,This city have I walked around in vain.
LEADER OF THE CHORUS
And for what cause,my fellow-slave?What means Thy hasty foot?What tidings dost thou bring?
ATTENDANT
We are discover'd;and the rulers here Seek her,that she may die o'erwhelm'd with stones.
LEADER
Ah me!what wouldst thou say?Are our designs Of secret ruin to this youth disclosed?
ATTENDANT
They are;and know,the worst of ills await you.
LEADER
How were our dark devices brought to light?
ATTENDANT
The god,that justice might receive no stain Caused it to triumph o'er defeated wrong.
LEADER
How?as a suppliant,I conjure thee,tell me Of this inform'd,if we must die,more freely Wish we to die than see the light of heaven.
ATTENDANT
Soon as the husband of Creusa left The god's oracular shrine,this new-found son He to the feast,and sacrifice prepared To the high gods,led with him.Xuthus then Went where the hallow'd flame of Bacchus mounts,That on each rock's high point the victim's blood Might flow,a grateful offering for his son Thus recognised,to whom he gave in charge,"Stay thou,and with the artist's expert aid Erect the sheltering tent:my rites perform'd To the kind gods that o'er the genial bed Preside,should I be there detain'd too long,Spread the rich table to my present friends."This said,he led the victims to the rocks.