the future. {588}

CHORAL INTERLUDE III

_Evolutions, etc., as usual._

_Strophe I_

O liberal house! with princely state {589}
To many a stranger, many a guest,
Oft hast thou oped thy friendly gate,
Oft spread the hospitable feast.
Beneath thy roof Apollo deign'd to dwell,
Here strung his silver-sounding shell,
And, mixing with thy menial train,
Deigned to be called the shepherd of the plain:
And as he drove his flocks along,
Whether the winding vale they rove,
Or linger in the upland grove,
He tuned the pastoral pipe, or rural song.

_Antistrophe I_

Delighted with his tuneful lay, {601}
No more the savage thirsts for blood;
Amidst the flocks, in harmless play,
Wantons the lynx's spotted brood;
Pleas'd from his lair on Othrys' rugged brow
The lion seeks the vale below:
Whilst to the lyre's melodious sound
The dappled hinds in sportive measures bound;
And as the vocal echo rings,
Lightly their nimble feet they ply,
Leaving their pine-clad forests high,
Charm'd by the sweet notes of his gladdening strings.

_Strophe II_

Hence is thy house, Admetus, graced
With all that plenty's hand bestows;
Near the sweet-streaming current placed,
That from the lake of Boebia flows;
Far towards the shades of night thy wide domain,
Rich-pastured mead and cultured plain,
Extends, to those Molossian meads
Where the sun stations his unharnessed steeds;
And stretching towards his eastern ray,
Where Pelion, rising in his pride,
Frowns o'er th' Aegean's portless tide:
Reaches from sea to sea thy ample sway.

_Antistrophe II_

And thou wilt ope thy gate e'en now, {625}
E'en now wilt thou receive this guest;
Though from thine eye the warm tear flow,
Though sorrow rend thy suffering breast,
Sad tribute to thy wife, who, new in death,
Lamented lies thy roof beneath!
Nature in truth has thus decreed:
The pure soul must bear fruit of reverent deed.
Lo, all the pow'r of wisdom lies
Fix'd in the righteous bosom: hence