DANAUS. Dear children, well and wisely have ye prayed; I bid you now not shudder, though ye hear New and alarming tidings from your sire. From this high place beside the suppliants’ shrine The bark of our pursuers I behold, By divers tokens recognized too well. Lo, the spread canvas and the hides that screen The gunwale; lo, the prow, with painted eyes That seem her onward pathway to descry, Heeding too well the rudder at the stern That rules her, coming for no friendly end. And look, the seamen—all too plain their race— Their dark limbs gleam from out their snow-white garb; Plain too the other barks, a fleet that comes All swift to aid the purpose of the first, That now, with furled sail and with pulse of oars Which smite the wave together, comes aland. But ye, be calm, and, schooled not scared by fear, Confront this chance, be mindful of your trust In these protecting gods. And I will hence, And champions who shall plead your cause aright Will bring unto your side. There come perchance Heralds or envoys, eager to lay hand And drag you captive hence; yet fear them not; Foiled shall they be. Yet well it were for you (If, ere with aid I come, I tarry long), Not by one step this sanctuary to leave. Farewell, fear nought: soon shall the hour be born When he that scorns the gods shall rue his scorn CHORUS. Ah but I shudder, father!—ah, even now, Even as I speak, the swift-winged ships draw nigh! I shudder, I shiver, I perish with fear: Overseas though I fled, Yet nought it avails; my pursuers are near! DANAUS. Children, take heart; they who decreed to aid Thy cause will arm for battle, well I ween. CHORUS. But desperate is Aegyptus’ ravening race, With fight unsated; thou too know’st it well. In their wrath they o’ertake us; the prow is deep-dark In the which they have sped, And dark is the bench and the crew of the bark! DANAUS. Yea but a crew as stout they here shall find, And arms well steeled beneath a noon-day sun. CHORUS. Ah yet, O father, leave us not forlorn! Alone, a maid is nought, a strengthless arm. With guile they pursue me, with counsel malign, And unholy their soul; And as ravens they seize me, unheeding the shrine! DANAUS. Fair will befall us, children, in this chance, If thus in wrath they wrong the gods and you. CHORUS. Alas, nor tridents nor the sanctity Of shrines will drive them, O my sire, from us! Unholy and daring and cursed is their ire, Nor own they control Of the gods, but like jackals they glut their desire! DANAUS. Ay, but _Come wolf, flee jackal_, saith the saw; Nor can the flax-plant overbear the corn. CHORUS. Lustful, accursèd, monstrous is their will As of beasts ravening—’ware we of their power!