merope. - Institutional Repositories

68 MEROPE,
But calm, but unresentful, I endur'd
His offers, coldly heard them, cold repell'd ?
AVhile all this time I bear to linger on
In this blood-delug'd palace, in whose halls
Either a vengeful Fury I should stalk,
C)r else not live at all — but here I haunt,
A pale, unmeaning ghost, powerless to fright
Or harm, and nurse my longing for my son,
A helpless one, I know it: — but the Gods
Have temper'd me e'en thus ; and, in some souls.
Misery, which rouses others, breaks the spring.
And even now, my son, ah me ! my son,
Fain would I fade away, as I have liv'd,
^^''ithout a cry, a struggle, or a blow.
All ^ engeance unattempted, and descend
To the invisible plains, to roam with thee.
Fit denizen, the lampless under-world
But with what eyes should I encounter there
My husband, wandering with his stern compeers,
Amphiaraos, or Mycenae's king.