FullReads

JUNO.
I said so, yes! But wherefore ridicule
Gray hairs? ‘Tis true that they, unlike fair tresses,
Have ne’er been able to ensnare a god!

SEMELE.
Pardon poor thoughtless me! What cause have I
To ridicule gray hairs? Can I suppose
That mine forever fair will grace my neck?
But what was that I heard thee muttering
Between thy teeth? A god?

JUNO. Said I a god?
The deities in truth dwell everywhere!
‘Tis good for earth’s frail children to implore them.
The gods are found where thou art–Semele!
What wouldst thou ask?

SEMELE. Malicious heart! But say
What brings thee to this spot from Epidaurus?
‘Tis not because the gods delight to dwell
near Semele?

JUNO. By Jupiter, naught else!–
What fire was that which mounted to thy cheeks
When I pronounced the name of Jupiter?
Naught else, my daughter! Fearfully the plague
At Epidaurus rages; every blast
Is deadly poison, every breath destroys;
The son his mother burns, his bride the bridegroom;
The funeral piles rear up their flaming heads,
Converting even midnight to bright day,
While howls of anguish ceaseless rend the air;
Full to overflowing is the cup of woe!–
In anger, Zeus looks down on our poor nation;
In vain the victim’s blood is shed, in vain
Before the altar bows the priest his knee;
Deaf is his ear to all our supplications–
Therefore my sorrow-stricken country now
Has sent me here to Cadmus’ regal daughter,
In hopes that I may move her to avert
His anger from us–“Beroe, the nurse,
Has influence,” thus they said, “with Semele,
And Semele with Zeus”–I know no more,
And understand still less what means the saying,
That Semele such influence has with Zeus.

SEMELE. (Eagerly and thoughtlessly.)
The plague shall cease to-morrow! Tell them so
Zeus loves me! Say so! It shall cease to-day!

JUNO. (Starting up in astonishment.)
Ha! Is it true what fame with thousand tongues
Has spread abroad from Ida to Mount Haemus?
Zeus loves thee? Zeus salutes thee in the glory
Wherein the denizens of heaven regard him,
When in Saturnia’s arms he sinks to rest?
Let, O ye gods, my gray hairs now descend
To Orcus’ shades, for I have lived enough!
In godlike splendor Kronos’ mighty son
Comes down to her,–to her, who on this breast
Once suckled–yes! to her–

SEMELE. Oh, Beroe!
In youthful form he came, in lovelier guise
Than they who from Aurora’s lap arise;
Fairer than Hesper, breathing incense dim,–
In floods of ether steeped appeared each limb;
He moved with graceful and majestic motion,
Like silvery billows heaving o’er the ocean,
Or as Hyperion, whose bright shoulders ever
His bow and arrow bear, and clanging quiver;
His robe of light behind him gracefully
Danced in the breeze, his voice breathed melody,
Like crystal streams with silvery murmur falling,
More ravishing than Orpheus’ strains enthralling.

JUNO.
My daughter! Inspiration spurs thee on,
Raising thy heart to flights of Helicon!
If thus in strains of Delphic ecstasy
Ascends the short-lived blissful memory
Of his bright charms,–Oh, how divine must be
His own sweet voice,–his look how heavenly!
But why of that great attribute
Kronion joys in most, be mute,–
The majesty that hurls the thunder,
And tears the fleeting clouds asunder?
Wilt thou say naught of that alone?
Prometheus and Deucalion
May lend the fairest charms of love,
But none can wield the bolt save Jove!
The thunderbolt it is alone
Which he before thy feet laid down
That proves thy right to beauty’s crown.