SONG OF THE PARCE.

IPHIGENIA.

WITHIN my ears resounds that ancient song,

Forgotten was it, and forgotten gladly,

Song of the Parce, which they shuddering sang,

When Tantalus fell from his golden

seat.

They suffered with their noble friend; indignant

Their bosom was, and terrible their song.

To me and to my sisters, in our youth, The nurse would sing it; and I marked it well.

"The Gods be your terror, Ye children of men!

They hold the dominion

In hands everlasting,

All free to exert it
As listeth their will.

"Let him fear them doubly
Whome'er they've exalted !
On crags and on cloud-piles
The couches are planted
Around the gold tables.

"Dissension arises;
Then tumble the feasters,
Reviled and dishonored,
In gulfs of deep midnight;
And look ever vainly
In fetters of darkness
For judgment that's just.

"But they remain seated
At feasts never failing
Around the gold tables.
They stride at a footstep
From mountain to mountain;
Through jaws of abysses

Steams towards them the breathing
Of suffocate Titans,

Like offerings of incense,
A light-rising vapor.

"They turn the proud masters-
From whole generations
The eye of their blessing;
Nor will in the children,
The once well-beloved,
Still eloquent features
Of ancestor see."

And was embarked to cross to Burgundy;

And in my company, my brother Gloster:

Who from my cabin, tempted me to walk

Upon the hatches: thence we looked toward England,

And cited up a thousand heavy times,

During the wars of York and Lan

caster

That had befallen us. As we paced along

Upon the giddy footing of the hatches,

Methought that Gloster stumbled; and, in falling,

Struck me, that thought to stay him, overboard,

Into the tumbling billows of the main. O heaven! methought what pain it was to drown!

What dreadful noise of water in mine ears!

What sights of ugly death within mine eyes!

Methought I saw a thousand fearful wrecks;

A thousand men, that fishes gnawed upon;

Wedges of gold, great anchors, heaps of pearl,

Inestimable stones, unvalued jewels, All scattered in the bottom of the