MNESILOCHUS. What subtle trill, I wonder, is he going to warble to us?
AGATHON. Damsels, with the sacred torch[550] in hand, unite your dance to shouts of joy in honour of the nether goddesses; celebrate the freedom of your country.
CHORUS. To what divinity is your homage addressed? I wish to mingle mine with it.
AGATHON. Oh! Muse! glorify Phoebus with his golden bow, who erected the walls of the city of the Simois.[551]
CHORUS. To thee, oh Phoebus, I dedicate my most beauteous songs; to thee, the sacred victor in the poetical contests.
AGATHON. And praise Artemis too, the maiden huntress, who wanders on the mountains and through the woods....
CHORUS. I, in my turn, celebrate the everlasting happiness of the chaste Artemis, the mighty daughter of Latona!
[550] Demeter is represented wandering, torch in hand, about the universe looking for her lost child Proserpine (Persephone).
Studies
