Where onset fierce of men
Arrayed for fight shall join
In brazen-throated war;
Or at the Pythian fane,
Or by the torch-lit shores,[1]
Where awful Powers still watch,1050
O'er solemn rites for men of mortal race;
Whose golden key is set upon the lips
Of priests, Eumolpidæ, who tend their shrine.
There, so I deem, will meet
Our Theseus, brave in fight,
And those two sisters, proof
Against all toil and pain,
Will meet on this our land,
With cry, that uttereth all their hearts' desire.
Antistroph. I.
Or else, perchance, they cross
The side that westward slopes
Of yonder snow-crowned height,1060
On to Œatis' lawns,[2]
Speeding on goodly steeds,
Or race of chariots swift;
Yes, they will take their prey,
For terrible our townsmen's strength for war,
And terrible the might of Theseus's sons.
For every horse's curb is gleaming bright,
- ↑ The "torch-lit shores" are those of Eleusis, where night-festivals were held by torch-light to commemorate Demeter's search for Persephone. These two Goddesses are the "awful Powers," the "solemn rites" are the Eleusinian mysteries. The "golden key," as a symbol of silence, was laid by the priests of the house of Eumolpos, upon the lips of the initiated. Here the Eumolpidæ themselves are represented as sworn to secresy.
- ↑ The "snow-crowned height" is probably Mount Geraneia, between Megaris and Corinth. Ægaleos in Attica has been conjectured, but is less suitable.
