| |
EPIMETHEUS. Beautiful apparition! go not hence! | |
| Surely thou art a Goddess, for thy voice | |
| Is a celestial melody, and thy form | |
| Self-poised as if it floated on the air! | |
| |
PANDORA. No Goddess am I, nor of heavenly birth, | 5 |
| But a mere woman fashioned out of clay | |
And mortal as the rest.
EPIMETHEUS. Thy face is fair; | |
| There is a wonder in thine azure eyes | |
| That fascinates me. Thy whole presence seems | |
| A soft desire, a breathing thought of love. | 10 |
| Say, would thy star like Merope’s grow dim | |
If thou shouldst wed beneath thee?
PANDORA. Ask me not; | |
| I cannot answer thee. I only know | |
The Gods have sent me hither.
EPIMETHEUS. I believe, | |
| And thus believing am most fortunate. | 15 |
| It was not Hermes led thee here, but Eros, | |
| And swifter than his arrows were thine eyes | |
| In wounding me. There was no moment’s space | |
| Between my seeing thee and loving thee. | |
| Oh, what a telltale face thou hast! Again | 20 |
| I see the wonder in thy tender eyes. | |
| |
PANDORA. They do but answer to the love in thine, | |
| Yet secretly I wonder thou shouldst love me. | |
Thou knowest me not.
EPIMETHEUS. Perhaps I know thee better | |
| Than had I known thee longer. Yet it seems | 25 |
| That I have always known thee, and but now | |
| Have found thee. Ah, I have been waiting long. | |
| |
PANDORA. How beautiful is this house! The atmosphere | |
| Breathes rest and comfort, and the many chambers | |
Seem full of welcomes.
EPIMETHEUS. They not only seem, | 30 |
| But truly are. This dwelling and its master | |
Belong to thee.
PANDORA. Here let me stay forever! | |
There is a spell upon me.
EPIMETHEUS. Thou thyself | |
| Art the enchantress, and I feel thy power | |
| Envelop me, and wrap my soul and sense | 35 |
In an Elysian dream.
PANDORA. Oh, let me stay. | |
| How beautiful are all things round about me, | |
| Multiplied by the mirrors on the walls! | |
| What treasures hast thou here! Yon oaken chest, | |
| Carven with figures and embossed with gold, | 40 |
| Is wonderful to look upon! What choice | |
| And precious things dost thou keep hidden in it? | |
| |
EPIMETHEUS. I know not. ’T is a mystery.
PANDORA. Hast thou never | |
Lifted the lid?
EPIMETHEUS. The oracle forbids. | |
| Safely concealed there from all mortal eyes | 45 |
| Forever sleeps the secret of the Gods. | |
| Seek not to know what they have hidden from thee, | |
Till they themselves reveal it.
PANDORA. As thou wilt. | |
| |
EPIMETHEUS. Let us go forth from this mysterious place. | |
| The garden walks are pleasant at this hour; | 50 |
| The nightingales among the sheltering boughs | |
| Of populous and many-nested trees | |
| Shall teach me how to woo thee, and shall tell me | |
| By what resistless charms or incantations | |
They won their mates.
PANDORA. Thou dost not need a teacher.They go out. | 55 |
| |
CHORUS OF THE EUMENIDES. What the Immortals | |
| Confide to thy keeping, | |
| Tell unto no man; | |
| Waking or sleeping, | |
| Closed be thy portals | 60 |
| To friend as to foeman. | |
| |
| Silence conceals it; | |
| The word that is spoken | |
| Betrays and reveals it; | |
| By breath or by token | 65 |
| The charm may be broken. | |
| |
| With shafts of their splendors | |
| The Gods unforgiving | |
| Pursue the offenders, | |
| The dead and the living! | 70 |
| Fortune forsakes them, | |
| Nor earth shall abide them, | |
| Nor Tartarus hide them; | |
| Swift wrath overtakes them. | |
| |
| With useless endeavor, | 75 |
| Forever, forever, | |
| Is Sisyphus rolling | |
| His stone up the mountain! | |
| Immersed in the fountain, | |
| Tantalus tastes not | 80 |
| The water that wastes not! | |
| Through ages increasing | |
| The pangs that afflict him, | |
| With motion unceasing | |
| The wheel of Ixion | 85 |
| Shall torture its victim! | |
| |
