Second Stasimon
CHORUS.Erôs, Erôs, who blindest, tear by tear,Men's eyes with hunger; thou swift Foethat pliestDeep in our hearts joy like an edgèd spear;Come not to me with Evil haunting near,Wrath on the wind, nor jarring of the clearWing's music as thou fliest!There is no shaft that burneth, not in fire,Not in wild stars, far off and flinging fear,As in thine hands the shaft of All Desire,Erôs, Child of the Highest!
In vain, in vain, by old Alpheüs' shoreThe blood of many bulls doth stain the riverAnd all Greece bows on Phoebus' Pythian floor;Yet bring we to the Master of Man no storeThe Keybearer, who standeth at the doorClose-barred, where hideth everThe heart of the shrine. Yea, though he sackman's lifeLike a sacked city, and moveth evermoreGirt with calamity and strange ways of strife,Him have we worshipped never!
There roamed a Steed in Oechalia's wild,A Maid without yoke, without Master,And Love she knew not, that far King's child;But he came, he came, with a song in the night.With fire, with blood; and she strove in flight,A Torrent Spirit, a Maenad white,Faster and vainly faster,Sealed unto Heracles by the Cyprian's Might.Alas, thou Bride of Disaster!
O Mouth of Dirce, O god-built wall,That Dirce's wells run under,Ye know the Cyprian's fleet footfall!Ye saw the heavens around her flare,When she lulled to her sleep that Mother fairOf twy-born Bacchus, and decked her thereThe Bride of the bladed Thunder.For her breath is on all that hath life, and she floats in the air,Bee-like, death-like, a wonder.(During the last lines PHAEDRA has approached the door and is listening.)
Words in this poem
- jarring a.
- Shaking; disturbing; discordant. [See Jar.]
- evermore adv.
- During eternity; always; forever; for an indefinite period; at all times; -- often used substantively with for.
- girt v. t.
- To gird; to encircle; to invest by means of a girdle; to measure the girth of; as, to girt a tree. [From Girt, n., cf. Girth, v.]
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- steed n.
- A horse, especially a spirited horse for state of war; -- used chiefly in poetry or stately prose. [OE. stede, AS. steda a stud-horse, war horse, fr. stod a stud of breeding steeds; akin to G. stute a mare, Icel. stedda, sto, a stud. *163. See Stud of horses.]
- disaster n.
- An unpropitious or baleful aspect of a planet or star; malevolent influence of a heavenly body; hence, an ill portent. [F. désastre; pref. dés- (L. dis-) + astre star, fr. L. astrum; a word of astrological origin. See Aster, Astral, Star.]
- footfall n.
- A setting down of the foot; a footstep; the sound of a footstep.
- flare v. i.
- To burn with an unsteady or waving flame; as, the candle flares. [Cf. Norw. flara to blaze, flame, adorn with tinsel, dial. Sw. flasa upp, and E. flash, or flacker.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Second 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, Second Stasimon, in Hippolytus (1902), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8418, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/euripides-hippolytus/second-stasimon.html, id L28790.
Form and metre
Second Stasimon is 42 lines in 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 79%).
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 -A-BAAABCACB chorus · tearA · foe · pliestB · spearA · nearA · clearA · fliestB · fireC · fearA · desireC · highestB
- 2 A-AAAB-CACB shoreA · river · floorA · storeA · doorA · everB · sack · lifeC · evermoreA · strifeC · neverB
- 3 ABACCCBCB wildA · masterB · childA · nightC · flightC · whiteC · fasterB · mightC · disasterB
- 4 ABACCCBCB- wallA · underB · footfallA · flareC · fairC · thereC · thunderB · airC · wonderB · listening
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. | 2 | /˘ |
| Erôs, Erôs, who blindest, tear by tear, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Men's eyes with hunger; thou swift Foe | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| that pliest | 2 | ·· |
| Deep in our hearts joy like an edgèd spear; | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| Come not to me with Evil haunting near, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Wrath on the wind, nor jarring of the clear | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Wing's music as thou fliest! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| There is no shaft that burneth, not in fire, | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| Not in wild stars, far off and flinging fear, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| As in thine hands the shaft of All Desire, | 11 | ········˘/˘ |
| Erôs, Child of the Highest! | 6 | ····/˘ |
| In vain, in vain, by old Alpheüs' shore | 9 | ········· |
| The blood of many bulls doth stain the river | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| And all Greece bows on Phoebus' Pythian floor; | 11 | ·····/˘/˘˘· |
| Yet bring we to the Master of Man no store | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| The Keybearer, who standeth at the door | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Close-barred, where hideth ever | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| The heart of the shrine. Yea, though he sack | 9 | ········· |
| man's life | 2 | ·· |
| Like a sacked city, and moveth evermore | 11 | ···/˘···/˘· |
| Girt with calamity and strange ways of strife, | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Him have we worshipped never! | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| There roamed a Steed in Oechalia's wild, | 10 | ··˘······· |
| A Maid without yoke, without Master, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| And Love she knew not, that far King's child; | 9 | ········· |
| But he came, he came, with a song in the night. | 11 | ··········· |
| With fire, with blood; and she strove in flight, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| A Torrent Spirit, a Maenad white, | 9 | ·/˘/˘···· |
| Faster and vainly faster, | 7 | /˘·/˘/˘ |
| Sealed unto Heracles by the Cyprian's Might. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Alas, thou Bride of Disaster! | 8 | ˘/···˘/˘ |
| O Mouth of Dirce, O god-built wall, | 8 | ········ |
| That Dirce's wells run under, | 7 | ······· |
| Ye know the Cyprian's fleet footfall! | 9 | ···/˘˘·/· |
| Ye saw the heavens around her flare, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| When she lulled to her sleep that Mother fair | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Of twy-born Bacchus, and decked her there | 10 | ···/˘··˘·· |
| The Bride of the bladed Thunder. | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| For her breath is on all that hath life, and she floats in the air, | 15 | ··············· |
| Bee-like, death-like, a wonder. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| (During the last lines PHAEDRA has approached the door and is listening.) | 16 | /˘······˘/····/˘ |
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