Parodos
[Choral 1]
with a blazing torch uplifted; who is he? Can this be the warrior Iolaus whose story is told on my broidery, who shares with
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(First) Chorus
the son of Zeus his labours and helps him in the moil?
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(Third) Chorus
Oh! but look at this! a man mounted on a winged horse, killing a fire-breathing monster with three bodies.
[Choral 2]
I am turning my eyes in every direction. Behold the rout of the giants carved on these walls of stone.
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(Fourth) Chorus
Yes, yes, good friends, I am looking.
(Fifth) Chorus
Dost see her standing over Enceladus brandishing her shield with the Gorgon’s head?
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(Sixth) Chorus
I see Pallas, my own goddess.
(Seventh) Chorus
Again, dost see the massy thunderbolt all aflame in the far-darting hands of Zeus?
(Eighth) Chorus
I do; ’tis blasting with its flame Mimas, that deadly foe.
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(Ninth) Chorus
Bromius too, the god of revelry, is slaying another of the sons of Earth with his thyrsus of ivy, never meant for battle.
(First) Chorus
Thou that art stationed by this fane, to thee I do address me,
may we pass the threshold of these vaults, with our fair white feet?
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Ion
Nay, ye must not, stranger ladies.
(Tenth) Chorus
May I ask thee about something I have heard?
Ion
What wouldst thou ask?
(Eleventh) Chorus
Is it really true that the temple of Phoebus stands upon the centre of the world?
Ion
Aye, there it stands with garlands decked and gorgeous all around.
(Twelfth) Chorus
E'en so the legend saith.
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Ion
If ye have offered a sacrificial cake before the shrine and have aught ye wish to ask Phoebus, approach the altar; but enter not the inmost sanctuary, save ye have sacrificed sheep.
(Thirteenth) Chorus
I understand; but we have ho mind to trespass against the god’s law; the pictures here without will amuse us.
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Ion
Feast your eyes on all ye may.
(Fourteenth) Chorus
My mistress gave me leave to see these vaulted chambers.
Ion
Whose handmaids do ye avow yourselves?
(Fifteenth) Chorus
The temple, where Pallas dwells, is the nursing-home of my lords. But lo! here is she of whom thou askest.
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