(Str. 1) Like to thee that maiden bright, Danae, in her brass-bound tower, Once exchanged the glad sunlight For a cell, her bridal bower. And yet she sprang of royal line, My child, like thine, And nursed the seed By her conceived Of Zeus descending in a golden shower. Strange are the ways of Fate, her power Nor wealth, nor arms withstand, nor tower; Nor brass-prowed ships, that breast the sea From Fate can flee. (Ant. 1) Thus Dryas’ child, the rash Edonian King, For words of high disdain Did Bacchus to a rocky dungeon bring, To cool the madness of a fevered brain. His frenzy passed, He learnt at last ’Twas madness gibes against a god to fling. For once he fain had quenched the Maenad’s fire; And of the tuneful Nine provoked the ire. (Str. 2) By the Iron Rocks that guard the double main, On Bosporus’ lone strand, Where stretcheth Salmydessus’ plain In the wild Thracian land, There on his borders Ares witnessed The vengeance by a jealous step-dame ta’en The gore that trickled from a spindle red, The sightless orbits of her step-sons twain. (Ant. 2) Wasting away they mourned their piteous doom, The blasted issue of their mother’s womb. But she her lineage could trace To great Erecththeus’ race; Daughter of Boreas in her sire’s vast caves Reared, where the tempest raves, Swift as his horses o’er the hills she sped; A child of gods; yet she, my child, like thee, By Destiny That knows not death nor age—she too was vanquished. (Enter TEIRESIAS and BOY)

Chorus Monologue from Antigone

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