Jump to content

Page:Balaustion's adventure- including a transcript from Euripides (IA balaustionsadven01brow).pdf/15

From Wikisource
This page needs to be proofread.
BALAUSTION'S ADVENTURE.
5

No man of you, no woman, child, or slave,But falls their prey, once let them board our boat!"So, furiously our oarsmen rowed and rowed;And when the oars flagged somewhat, dash and dip,As we approached the coast and safety, soThat we could hear behind us plain the threatsAnd curses of the pirate panting upIn one more throe and passion of pursuit,—Seeing our oars flag in the rise and fall,I sprang upon the altar by the mastAnd sang aloft,—some genius prompting me,—That song of ours which saved at Salamis:"O sons of Greeks, go, set your country free,Free your wives, free your children, free the fanesO' the Gods, your fathers founded,—sepulchresThey sleep in! Or save all, or all be lost!"Then, in a frenzy, so the noble oarsChurned the black water white, that well away