Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE DAUGHTERS OF ASOPUS, by CORINNA (6TH CENTURY B.C.)


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE DAUGHTERS OF ASOPUS, by                    
First Line: She shall attend the gods and be
Last Line: So spake the prophet full of grace.
Alternate Author Name(s): Korinna
Subject(s): Daughters


'SHE shall attend the gods and be
Blessed in her felicity.

'Thy daughters all are wedded, three
To Zeus, the lord of everything,
And three are wedded to the King
Poseidon, ruler of the sea,
And two is Phoebus honouring.

'One is the bride of Maia's son,
Good Hermes. So did Love design
With Aphrodite, when they won
The gods to secret union
In thy house with thy daughters nine.

'In time shall they a progeny
Of demigods and heroes breed,
And with a multitudinous seed
Shall keep unending youth -- To me
The oracular tripod spoke its rede.

'This sacred privilege is mine.
My fifty brothers share it not,
For all their strength. It is my lot
To tell of mysteries divine --
I, true Akraiphen -- at the shrine.

'The son of Lato first had planned
That Euonymus should tell
The tripod's mystic oracle.
But Hyrieus cast him from the land.
To Hyrieus next the task befell,

'Son of Poseidon. Time passed by.
Orion came, whose son am I,
And took his own back lawfully.
Now he is dwelling in the sky,
And this high duty fell to me.

'Therefore I tell you what I find
In oracles to help mankind.
Yield, friend, to the Immortals' need
And putting hatred from your mind
Find kinsmen born of heavenly breed.'
So spake the prophet full of grace.





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