Direful issue doth impend;
Honour then with holy fear
Thy parents,—household rights revere,
Nor guest-observing ordinance offend.
Strophe IV.
But who unforced, with spirit free 520
Dares to be just, is ne'er unblest;
Whelmed utterly he cannot be:
But for the wretch with lawless breast,
Bold seizer of promiscuous prey,—
I warn you,—he, perforce, his sail
In time shall strike, when troubles him assail,
And breaks his yard-arm, neath the tempest's sway.
Antistrophe IV.
He cries, but mid the whirlpool's roar
None heeds him; for the gods deride,
†Eyeing the boaster, proud no more, 530
Struggling amid the surging tide;
Shorn of his strength he yields to Fate;—
The cape he weathers not, but thrown
On Justice' sunken reef, with precious freight,
He perisheth for aye, unwept, unknown.
[Athena enters at the head of the twelve Areopagites, who take their seats in the orchestra.]
Athena.
Herald, proclaim! Hold back the multitude,
Let Tyrrhene trumpet, filled with mortal breath,
Piercing the welkin with sonorous blast,
Ring out its brazen summons to the crowd:
