SPEECH OF THE CHORUS, IN THE SAME TRAGEDY, TO DISSUADE MEDEA FROM HER PURPOSE OF PUTTING HER CHILDREN TO DEATH, AND FLYING FOR PROTECTION TO ATHENS. O HAGGARD queen! to Athens dost thou guide Thy glowing chariot, steep'd in kindred gore; Or seek to hide thy foul infanticide Where Peace and Mercy dwell for evermore? The land where Truth, pure, precious, and sublime, Woos the deep silence of sequester'd bowers, And warriors, matchless since the first of time, Rear their bright banners o'er unconquer'd towers! Where joyous youth, to Music's mellow strain, Twines in the dance with nymphs for ever fair, While Spring eternal on the lilied plain, Waves amber radiance through the fields of air! The tuneful Nine (so sacred legends tell) [among First waked their heavenly lyre these scenes Still in your greenwood bowers they love to dwell; Still in your vales they swell the choral song! But there the tuneful, chaste, Pierian fair, The guardian nymphs of green Parnassus, now Sprung from Harmonia, while her graceful hair Waved in high auburn o'er her polish'd brow! ANTISTROPHE I. Where silent vales, and glades of green array, The murmuring wreaths of cool Cephisus lave, There, as the muse hath sung, at noon of day, The Queen of Beauty bow'd to taste the wave; And bless'd the stream, and breathed across the land [bowers; The soft sweet gale that fans yon summer And there the sister Loves, a smiling band, Crown'd with the fragrant wreaths of rosy flowers! "And go," she cries, "in yonder valleys rove, With Beauty's torch the solemn scenes illume; Wake in each eye the radiant light of Love, Breathe on each cheek young Passion's tender bloom! Entwine, with myrtle chains, your soft controul, To sway the hearts of Freedom's darling kind! With glowing charms enrapture Wisdom's soul, And mould to grace ethereal Virtue's mind." STROPHE II. The land where Heaven's own hallowed waters play, [good, Where friendship binds the generous and the Say, shall it hail thee from thy frantic way, Unholy woman! with thy hands embrued In thine own children's gore! Oh! ere they bleed, Let Nature's voice thy ruthless heart appall! Pause at the bold, irrevocable deed— The mother strikes-the guiltless babes shall fall! Think what remorse thy maddening thoughts shall sting, When dying pangs their gentle bosoms tear! Where shalt thou sink, when lingering echoes ring The screams of horror in thy tortured ear? No! let thy bosom melt to Pity's cry,— In dust we kneel-by sacred Heaven imploreO! stop thy lifted arm, ere yet they die, Nor dip thy horrid hands in infant gore! ANTISTROPHE II. Say, how shalt thou that barbarous soul assume, Undamp'd by horror at the daring plan? Hast thou a heart to work thy children's doom? Or hands to finish what thy wrath began? When o'er each babe you look a last adieu, And gaze on Innocence that smiles asleep, Shall no fond feeling beat to Nature true, Charm thee to pensive thought—and bid thee weep? When the young suppliants clasp their parent dear, Heave the deep sob, and pour the artless prayer Ay! thou shalt melt; and many a heart-shed tear Gush o'er the harden'd features of despair! Nature shall throb in every tender string,— CHORUS. Hallow'd Earth! with indignation Mark, oh mark, the murderous deed! Radiant eye of wide creation, Watch th' accurs'd infanticide! Yet, ere Colchia's rugged daughter Shall mortal hand, with murder gory, Cause immortal blood to flow? Sun of Heaven!-array'd in glory Rise, forbid, avert the blow! In the vales of placid gladness Let no rueful maniac range; Chase afar the fiend of Madness, Wrest the dagger from Revenge! Say, hast thou, with kind protection, Hast thou, on the troubled ocean, Braved the tempest loud and strong, Where the waves, in wild commotion, Roar Cyanean rocks among? Didst thou roam the paths of danger, Ask not Heaven's commiseration, Perish when thy victims bleed. |