Fourth Stasimon
CHORUS. Men.Surely the thought of the Gods hath balm in it alway, to win meFar from my griefs; and a thought, deep in the dark of my mind,Clings to a great Understanding. Yet all the spirit within meFaints, when I watch men's deeds matched with the guerdon they find.For Good comes in Evil's traces,And the Evil the Good replaces;And Life, 'mid the changing faces,Wandereth weak and blind.
Women.What wilt thou grant me, O God? Lo, this is the prayer of my travail--Some well-being; and chance not very bitter thereby;Spirit uncrippled by pain; and a mind not deep to unravelTruth unseen, nor yet dark with the brand of a lie.With a veering mood to borrowIts light from every morrow,Fair friends and no deep sorrow,Well could man live and die!
Men.Yet my spirit is no more clean,And the weft of my hope is torn,For the deed of wrong that mine eyes have seen,The lie and the rage and the scorn;A Star among men, yea, a StarThat in Hellas was bright,By a Father's wrath driven farTo the wilds and the night.Oh, alas for the sands of the shore!Alas for the brakes of the hill,Where the wolves shall fear thee no more,And thy cry to Dictynna is still!
Women.No more in the yoke of thy carShall the colts of Enetia fleet;Nor Limna's echoes quiver afarTo the clatter of galloping feet.The sleepless music of old,That leaped in the lyre,Ceaseth now, and is cold,In the halls of thy sire.The bowers are discrowned and unladenWhere Artemis lay on the lea;And the love-dream of many a maidenLost, in the losing of thee.
A Maiden.And I, even I,For thy fall, O Friend,Amid tears and tears,Endure to the endOf the empty years,Of a life run dry.In vain didst thou bear him,Thou Mother forlorn!Ye Gods that did snare him,Lo, I cast in your facesMy hate and my scorn!Ye love-linkèd Graces,(Alas for the day!)Was he naught, then, to you,That ye cast him away,The stainless and true,From the old happy places?
Words in this poem
- guerdon n.
- A reward; requital; recompense; -- used in both a good and a bad sense. [OF. guerdon, guerredon, LL. widerdonum (influenced by L. donum gift, cf. Donation ), fr. OHG. widarl; widar again, against (G. wider wieder) + lon reward, G. lo]
- unseen a.
- Not seen or discovered.
- borrow v. t.
- To receive from another as a loan, with the implied or expressed intention of returning the identical article or its equivalent in kind; -- the opposite of lend. [OE. borwen, AS. borgian, fr. borg, borh, pledge; akin to D. borg, G. borg; prob. fr. root of AS. beorgan to protect. Borough.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
- clatter v. i.
- To make a rattling sound by striking hard bodies together; to make a succession of abrupt, rattling sounds. [AS. cla a rattle, akin to D. klateren to rattle. Cf. Clack.]
- galloping a.
- Going at a gallop; progressing rapidly; as, a galloping horse.
- sleepless a.
- Having no sleep; wakeful.
- sire n.
- A lord, master, or other person in authority. See Sir. [F. sire, originally, an older person. See Sir.]
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
- forlorn a.
- Deserted abandoned; lost. [OE., p.p. of forlesen to lose utterly, AS. forleósan (p.p. forloren); pref. for- + leósan (in comp.) to lose; cf. D. verliezen to lose, G. verlieren, Sw. förlor]
- stainless a.
- Free from stain; immaculate.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Fourth Stasimon is in the public domain. This text is taken from Hippolytus of Euripides, translated into English rhyming verse by Gilbert Murray (Harvard Classics reprint), Project Gutenberg ebook #8418, the Gilbert Murray translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Euripides, Fourth Stasimon, in Hippolytus (1902), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8418, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/euripides-hippolytus/fourth-stasimon.html, id L28794.
Form and metre
Fourth Stasimon is 62 lines in 5 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 -ABABCCCB men · meA · mindB · meA · findB · tracesC · replacesC · facesC · blindB
- 2 -ABAB-CCB women · travailA · therebyB · unravelA · lieB · borrow · morrowC · sorrowC · dieB
- 3 -ABABCDCDEFEF men · cleanA · tornB · seenA · scornB · starC · brightD · farC · nightD · shoreE · hillF · moreE · stillF
- 4 -ABABC-C-DEDE women · carA · fleetB · afarA · feetB · oldC · lyre · coldC · sire · unladenD · leaE · maidenD · theeE
- 5 -ABCBCADEDFEFGHGHF maiden · iA · friendB · tearsC · endB · yearsC · dryA · himD · forlornE · himD · facesF · scornE · gracesF · dayG · youH · awayG · trueH · placesF
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| CHORUS. Men. | 3 | /˘· |
| Surely the thought of the Gods hath balm in it alway, to win me | 16 | /˘·········/˘··· |
| Far from my griefs; and a thought, deep in the dark of my mind, | 14 | ·············· |
| Clings to a great Understanding. Yet all the spirit within me | 15 | ·····˘/˘···/··· |
| Faints, when I watch men's deeds matched with the guerdon they find. | 13 | ·········/˘·· |
| For Good comes in Evil's traces, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| And the Evil the Good replaces; | 9 | ··/˘··˘/˘ |
| And Life, 'mid the changing faces, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Wandereth weak and blind. | 6 | /˘˘··· |
| Women. | 2 | /˘ |
| What wilt thou grant me, O God? Lo, this is the prayer of my travail-- | 16 | ··············˘/ |
| Some well-being; and chance not very bitter thereby; | 12 | ··/···/˘/˘·· |
| Spirit uncrippled by pain; and a mind not deep to unravel | 14 | /··········˘/˘ |
| Truth unseen, nor yet dark with the brand of a lie. | 12 | ·˘/········· |
| With a veering mood to borrow | 8 | ··/˘··/· |
| Its light from every morrow, | 8 | ···/˘˘/˘ |
| Fair friends and no deep sorrow, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Well could man live and die! | 6 | ······ |
| Men. | 1 | · |
| Yet my spirit is no more clean, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| And the weft of my hope is torn, | 8 | ········ |
| For the deed of wrong that mine eyes have seen, | 10 | ·········· |
| The lie and the rage and the scorn; | 8 | ········ |
| A Star among men, yea, a Star | 8 | ········ |
| That in Hellas was bright, | 6 | ······ |
| By a Father's wrath driven far | 8 | ··/˘·/˘· |
| To the wilds and the night. | 6 | ······ |
| Oh, alas for the sands of the shore! | 9 | ·˘/······ |
| Alas for the brakes of the hill, | 8 | ˘/······ |
| Where the wolves shall fear thee no more, | 8 | ········ |
| And thy cry to Dictynna is still! | 9 | ········· |
| Women. | 2 | /˘ |
| No more in the yoke of thy car | 8 | ········ |
| Shall the colts of Enetia fleet; | 8 | ········ |
| Nor Limna's echoes quiver afar | 9 | ···/˘/˘˘/ |
| To the clatter of galloping feet. | 9 | ··/˘·/˘˘· |
| The sleepless music of old, | 7 | ·/˘/˘·· |
| That leaped in the lyre, | 5 | ····· |
| Ceaseth now, and is cold, | 6 | /˘···· |
| In the halls of thy sire. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| The bowers are discrowned and unladen | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Where Artemis lay on the lea; | 8 | ········ |
| And the love-dream of many a maiden | 10 | ·····/˘·/˘ |
| Lost, in the losing of thee. | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| A Maiden. | 3 | ·/˘ |
| And I, even I, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| For thy fall, O Friend, | 5 | ····· |
| Amid tears and tears, | 5 | ˘/··· |
| Endure to the end | 5 | ˘/··· |
| Of the empty years, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Of a life run dry. | 5 | ····· |
| In vain didst thou bear him, | 6 | ······ |
| Thou Mother forlorn! | 5 | ·/˘˘/ |
| Ye Gods that did snare him, | 6 | ······ |
| Lo, I cast in your faces | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| My hate and my scorn! | 5 | ····· |
| Ye love-linkèd Graces, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| (Alas for the day!) | 5 | ˘/··· |
| Was he naught, then, to you, | 6 | ······ |
| That ye cast him away, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| The stainless and true, | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| From the old happy places? | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.