O Zeus! What pity will be shown? what deadly struggle is here at
hand, hurrying thee on o'er thy path of woe, a victim on whom some
fiend is heaping tribulation, by bringing on thy house thy mother's
bloodshed which drives thee raving mad? I weep for thee, for thee
I weep.
Great prosperity abideth not amongst mankind; but some power divine,
shaking it to and fro like the sail of a swift galley, plunges it
deep in the waves of grievous affliction, boisterous and deadly as
the waves of the sea. For what new family am I henceforth to honour
by preference other than that which sprung from a marriage divine,
even from Tantalus?
Behold a king draws near, prince Menelaus! From his magnificence 'tis
plain to see that he is a scion of the race of Tantalus.
All hail! thou that didst sail with a thousand ships to Asia's strand,
and by Heaven's help accomplish all thy heart's desire, making good-fortune
a friend to thyself. (Menelaus and his retinue enter.)
Studies
