92 THE ARGONAUTS
THESEUS.
ARGONAUTAE. | | Good Heracles !
Not all men owe thy strength ——
ACTUS SECUNDUS.
ARGO ARGUS.
— Nay, let him try!
ARGus the son of PHRIXUS, JASON, Take my toy hammer !
HERACLES, CASTOR, POLLUX, THE-
SEUS, ORPHEUS. Chorus of Heroes.
Chorus of Shipbuilders.
SCENE: 472 open place near Lolchus.
CHORUS OF SHIPBUILDERS.
THE sound of the hammer and steel !
The song of the level and line!
The whirr of the whistling wheel !
The ring of the axe on the pine!
The joy of the ended labour,
As the good ship plunges free
By sound of pipe and tabor
To front the sparkling sea !
The mystery-woven spell !
_ The voyage of golden gain!
The free full sails that swell
On the swell of the splendid main !
The song of the axe and the wedge!
The clang of the hammer and chain !
Keen whistle of chisel and edge !
Smooth swish of the sliding plane |
Hail to the honour of toil !
Hail! to the ship flown free !
Hail !.to the golden spoil,
And the glamour of all the sea!
HERACLES.
A good stout song, friend Argus, matching
well
The mighty blows thou strikest: yet me-
thinks
One blow should serve to drive yon nail well
home
Where thou with tenfold stroke—
HERACLES.
I have split the wood !
THESEUS.
Vexation sits tremendous on his brow.
Beware a hero’s fury! Thou art mad,
Argus, to play so dangerous a trick.
ARGUS.
True, Theseus—if he had but hit his thumb !
CASTOR.
Cease this fool’s talk. The moon waits not
the work.
POLLUX.
The sun will sink no later for your pleasure.
On to thy work, man.
THESEUS,
He that traps a lion
And baits him for an hour, and‘lets him go,
Does well to think before he tempt again
The forest paths.
HERACLES.
The wise man wisely thinks
That nothing is but wisdom—and myself
Think strongly that no other thing exists
But strength: so with his subtleties of mind
He baffles me ; and I lift up my club,
And with one blow bespatter his wise brains.
JASON.
Ay, not for nothing did the darkness reign
Those eight-and-forty hours,! O Zeus-begot !
1 Zeus caused a night to extend to this length,
that he might efficiently beget Hercules.