Such have I seen in painted semblance erst. Nor may I match the Gorgons' shape with theirs! This, that I plainly saw,Ĭrouched on the altar-steps, a grisly bandīut Gorgons rather nay, that word is weak, Twined as of purpose with a deep close tuft Is as a child's, when age and fear combine.Ībhorredd of heaven and from his hands, whereinĪ sword new-drawn he holds, blood reeked and fell:Ī wand he bears, the olive's topmost bough, With strength unstrung, moving erect no more,īut aiding with my hands my failing feet, Have sped me forth again from Loxias' shrine, Things fell to speak of, fell for eyes to see, She goes into the interior of the temple after a short interval, she returns in great fear. Make this mine entrance fruitful in responseĪnd if there stand without, from Hellas bound,įor the god guides whate'er my tongue proclaims. I call on Pleistus' springs, Poseidon's might,Īnd Zeus most high, the great Accomplisher. Right well I know it, Bromian Bacchus dwells,ĭevising death for Pentheus, whom they rent Wander the feet of lesser gods and there, Where in the hollow cave, the wild birds' haunt, On Pallas, wardress of the fane, and Nymphs

Gives voice to that which Zeus his sire decrees.

Of this their land, with honour gave him home Īnd in his breast Zeus set a prophet's soul,Īnd gave to him this throne, whereon he sits,įourth prophet of the shrine, and, Loxias hight, The stubborn tract that erst was wilderness.Īnd all this folk, and Delphos, chieftain-king There went the children of Hephaestus' seed, The home of ships and thence he passed and came Steered to the port of Pallas' Attic shores, He from the lake and ridge of Delos' isle Phoebus, who in his own bears Phoebe's name. Gave o'er the throne, as birthgift to a god, There sat thereon another child of Earth. Then by her grace, who unconstrained allowed, Second who sat-for so with truth is said. The prophet mother Earth and Themis next, The Scene of the Drama is the Temple of Apollo, at Delphi: afterwards the Temple of Athena, on the Acropolis of Athens, and the adjoining Areopagus.įirst, in this prayer, of all the gods I name

House of furies