Stasimon 2
CHOROS.
Who may he have been that named thus wholly with exactitude —
(Was he someone whom we see not, by forecastings of the future
Guiding tongue in happy mood?)
— Her with battle for a bridegroom, on all sides contention-wooed,
Helena? Since — mark the suture! —
685
Ship’s-Hell, Man’s-Hell, City’s-Hell,
From the delicately-pompous curtains that pavilion well,
Forth, by favour of the gale
Of earth-born Zephuros did she sail.
Many shield-bearers, leaders of the pack,
690
Sailed too upon their track,
Theirs who had directed oar,
To Simois’ leaf-luxuriant shore —
For sake of strife all gore!
695
To Ilion Wrath, fulfilling her intent,
This marriage-care — the rightly named so — sent:
700
In after-time, for the tables’ abuse
And that of the hearth-partaker Zeus,
Those who honoured with noisy throat
The honour of the bride, the hymenseal note
705
Which did the kinsfolk then to singing urge.
But, learning a new hymn for that which was,
The ancient city of Priamos
Groans probably a great and general dirge,
The man that miserably marries: —
She who, all the while before,
A life, that was a general dirge
