Ladies’ Edinburgh Magazine > Volume 5

90 The Ladies Edinburgh Magazine.
©tie to '' KvayKn-
TRANSLATION FROM EURIPIDES.
Sf/y^j eiva.yx.y\; oiiZs!/ laxvii 'jr'^ioi/.
The Chorus address Admetus, who is returning from the burial of
his wife Alcestis. They chant the following ode on the power of
Necessity (or Fate), and try to console him under his loss.—
Alcestis, 984.
While eagerly searching for knowledge,
I've roamed where the Muses sway;
To the airy regions above us
My thoughts have fled away.
I've argued in many discussions.
One truth still pervades my soul.
Necessity's power is dauntless,
And Fate beyond control.
No cures which melodious Orpheus
On Thracian stone engraved,
No drugs which far-darting Apollo
For ^sculapius saved;
No remedies gratefully healing
In mortal's suffering hour,
Can change Necessity's orders,
Nor take man from her power.
This Goddess alone owns no altar,
Where prostrate suppliants fall;
No struggles of victims can move her,
She never heeds their call.
Henceforward, dread mistress, forbid it,
To be my portion to bow
Beneath thy displeasure more lowly,
More grievously than now.
Great Jove, with his nod ever regal,
May sanction his decree;
Permission alone to fulfil it
Is granted him by thee.
By might thou canst shiver in pieces
Calybian iron and steel;
Thy hard, rugged bosom, no pity,
No tender thought can feel.