SELECTIONS IN ENGLISH POETRY
Gazed longingly upon that lovely place, 58o
And some their eager hands already laid
Upon the gangway. Then Medea said :—
'Get back unto the oars, O Minyae,
Nor loiter here, for what have such as we
To do herein, where, 'mid undying trees, 585
Undying watch the wise Hesperides,
And where the while they watch, scarce can a God
Set foot upon the fruit-besprinkled sod
That no snow ever covers ? therefore haste,
Nor yet in wondering your fair lives waste; 59°
For these are as the Gods, nor think of us,
Nor to their eyes can aught be glorious
That son of man can do; would God that I
Could see far off the misty headland lie,
Where we the guilt of blood shall wash away, 595
For I grow weary of the dashing spray,
And ceaseless roll of interwoven seas,
And fain were sitting sneath the whispering trees
In homely places, where the children play, 599
Who change like me, grow old, and die some day.'
She ceased, and little soothly did they grieve,
For all its loveliness, that land to leave,
For now some God has chilled their hardihead,
And in their hearts had set a sacred dread,
They knew not why; but on their oars they hung. .
A little longer as the sisters sung.
*O ye, who to this place have strayed,
That never for man's eyes was made,
Depart in haste, as ye have come,
And bear back to your sea-beat home 610
This memory of the age of gold,
And for your eyes, grown over-bold,
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