s such striving;--wealth,
Honor and glory, lengthen'd life, sound health,
Knowledge withal and virtue--possibly.
Farewell!

WAGNER

Farewell! That grieves my heart full sore!
I fear indeed I ne'er shall see thee more.

MEPHISTOPHELES

Now to Peneios forth we wend!
We must not slight our cousin's aid.

(_To the spectators_)

At last, in sooth, we all depend
On creatures we ourselves have made.

* * * * *

ACT THE THIRD

BEFORE THE PALACE OF MENELAUS IN SPARTA

_Enter_ HELENA, _with a chorus of captive Trojan women_
PENTHALIS, _leader of the chorus_

HELENA

The much admired and much upbraided, Helena,
From yonder strand I come, where erst we disembark'd,
Still giddy from the roll of ocean's billowy surge,
Which, through Poseidon's favor and through Euros' might,
On lofty crested backs hither hath wafted us,
From Phrygia's open field, to our ancestral bays.
Yonder King Menelaus, glad of his return,
With his brave men of war, rejoices on the beach.
But oh, thou lofty mansion, bid me welcome home,
Thou, near the steep decline, which Tyndareus, my sire,
From Pallas' hill returning, here hath builded up;
Which also was adorned beyond all Sparta's homes,
What time with Clytemnestra, sister-like, I grew,
With Castor, Pollux, too, playing in joyous sport.
Wings of yon brazen portals, you I also hail!
Through you, ye guest-inviting, hospitable gates,
Hath Menelaus once, from many princes chosen,
Shone radiant on my sight, in nuptial sort arrayed.
Expand to me once more, that I the king's behest
May faithfully discharge, as doth the spouse beseem.
Let me within, and all henceforth behind remain,
That, charged with doom, till now darkly hath round me stormed!
For since, by care untroubled, I these sites forsook,
Seeking Cythera's fane, as sacred wont enjoined,
And by the spoiler there was seized, the Phrygian,
Happened have many things, whereof men far and wide
Are fain to tell, but which not fain to hear is he
Of whom the tale, expanding, hath to fable grown.

CHORUS

Disparage not, oh glorious dame,
Honor'd possession of highest estate!
For sole unto thee is the greatest boon given;
The fame of beauty that all over-towers!
The hero's name before him resounds,
So strides he with pride;
Nathless at once the stubbornest yields
To beauty, the presence which all things subdues.

HELENA

Enough! I with my spouse, ship-borne, have hither sped,
And to h