Danaus

High thanks, my children, unto Argos con, And to this folk, as to Olympian gods, Give offerings meet of sacrifice and wine; For saviours are they in good sooth to you. From me they heard, and bitter was their wrath, How those your kinsmen strove to work you wrong, And how of us were thwarted: then to me This company of spearmen did they grant, That honoured I might walk, nor unaware Die by some secret thrust and on this land Bring down the curse of death, that dieth not. Such boons they gave me: it behoves me pay A deeper reverence from a soul sincere. Ye, to the many words of wariness Spoken by me your father, add this word, That, tried by time, our unknown company Be held for honest: over-swift are tongues To slander strangers, over-light is speech To bring pollution on a stranger's name. Therefore I rede you, bring no shame on me Now when man's eye beholds your maiden prime. Lovely is beauty's ripening harvest-field, But ill to guard; and men and beasts, I wot, And birds and creeping things make prey of it. And when the fruit is ripe for love, the voice Of Aphrodite bruiteth it abroad, The while she guards the yet unripened growth. On the fair richness of a maiden's bloom Each passer looks, o'ercome with strong desire, With eyes that waft the wistful dart of love. Then be not such our hap, whose livelong toil Did make our pinnace plough the mighty main: Nor bring we shame upon ourselves, and joy Unto my foes. Behold, a twofold home- One of the king's and one the people's gift- Unbought, 'tis yours to hold,-a gracious boon. Go-but remember ye your sire's behest, And hold your life less dear than chastity.