IDOMENEO

Speranza

Idomeneo, the son of Deucalion,  and grandson of Minos, accompanied the other princes of Greece in the expedition against Troy.

And after the destruction of that city IDOMENEO set sail for Crete.

But they were overtaken by so violent a tempest, that the pilot, and all the persons on hoard the vessel, who were skilled in navigation, believed their shipwreck to he inevitable.

Death was present to every imagination.

Every one thought he saw the abyss open to swallow him.

And every one deplored the misfortune, which (!id not leave him the mom-n- ful hope of that imperfect rest, to which the spirits of the dead are admitted beyond the waters of the Styx, after funeral rites have been paid to the body.

In this situation, Idomeneo lifting up his hands
and his eyes to heaven, and invoking Nettuo, cried
out.

O mighty deity, to whom belong the dominions
of the deep, vouchsafe to hear me in this uttermost
distress!

If thou wilt protect me from the fury of the waves, and restore me in safety to my country, I will offer up to thee the first living object that I see on my return!

In the meantime, Idomeneo’s son hasted to meet him
with all the ardour of filial affection, and pleased
himself with the thought of receiving the first embrace.

Unhappy youth!

He knew not that to hasten to his father was to rush upon destruction.

Idomeneo, escaping the tempest, amved at his port, and
returned thanks to Neptune for having heard his
vow.

But he was soon sensible of the fatal effects it would produce.

A certain presage of misfortune made him repent his indiscretion with the utmost anguish of mind.

He dreaded his arrival among his
people, and thought of meeting those who were most
dear to him with horror !

But Nemesis, a cruel and
inexorable goddess, who is ever vigilant to punish
mankind, and rejoices to hun:ible the mighty and the
proud, impelled him forward with a fatal and invisible hand.

 

He proceeded from the vessel to the
shore.

 

But he had scarce ventured to lift up his eyes,
when he beheld his son.

 

He started back, pale and trembling.

 

He turned his eyes on every side to find
another victim to whom he was less tenderly allied:
but it was too late !

 

His son bpnmg to him, aiul threw his arms around his neck ; but perceived, with astoni^hment, that instead of retuniing his caresses, he stood motionless, and at length burst into tears.

O my father !' said he,

 

what is the cause of
this sorrow ?

 

After so long an absence, art thou grieved to return to thy people, and restore happiness to thy son?

 

In what, alas ! have I offended ?
Thy eves are still turned from me, as if they loathed
or dreaded to behold me !

 

The father, overwhelmed with grief, was not yet able to reply.

But, after
some sighs that struggled in his bosom had burst
away, he cried out —

 

' O Neptune ! what have I promised thee !

 

On what condition hast thou preserved
me from shipwreck !

 

O leave me again to the billows and the rocks !

 

Let me be dashed to pieces, and
swallowed in the deep ; but preserve my son !

 

Cruel
and unrelenting god I let my blood be accepted as
a recompense for his !'

 

He then snatched out his
sword, and attempted to plunge it in his bosom.

 

But
those who stood near him held back his hand ; and
Sophronimo, a hoary prophet, who had long interpreted the will of the gods, assured him that Neptune might be satisfied without the death of his son.

Your vow,' said he, ' was rash and iniquitous.

 

The
gods are not honoured, but offended by cruelty.

Do
not, therefore, add one enormity to another, and
violate the laws of nature to accomplish that vow
which it was a crime to make.

 

Select a hundred
bulls, whiter than snow ; decorate the altar of Nep-
tune with flowers, let these victims be thy blameless
offering, and let a cloud of grateful incense ascend in
honour of the god.'

Idomeneo heard this address in an attitude
of desperation, and withoxit reply ; his eyes sparkled
with fury, his visage became ghastly, his colour
changed every moment, and his whole body shook
with the agony of his mind.

His son was touched
with his distress; and having no wish but to relieve
it —

 

My father, ' said he, ' am I not here ? Delay not
to appease the god to whom thou hast vowed ; nor
bring down his vengeance upon thy head.

 

If thy
life can be redeemed with mine, I will die content:
strike, then, O my father ! and fear not that, at
the approach of death, I should discover a weakness
that is unworthy of thy son!

At this moment Idomeneo, starting from his
posture with the sudden violence of outrageous
phrensy, as if roused by the scourge of the infernal
furies, surprised the vigilance of those who had their
eyes upon him, and plunged his sword in the bosom
of his son.

 

He drew it hastily back.

 

And, while it
was yet warm, made an effort to sheathe it a second
time in his own breast.

 

But in this he was again prevented.

 

The youth, who immediately fell, lay weltering in his blood.

 

His eyes were suffused with the shades of death.

 

He attempted to open them ;
but not being able to bear the light, they were
immediately closed in everlasting darkness.

'"A lily of the field, when its root is cut away by
the plough share, being no longer supported by the
stalk, languishes upon the ground ; and, though it
does not immediately lose all the lustre of its
beauty, yet it is no more nourished by the earth,
nor quickened by a vital principle.

 

Thus fell the
son of Idomeneo, cut down, like a flower, by an
untimely stroke, in the first bloom of his youth.

The father, stupified by excess of grief, knew
neither where he was, nor what he had done, nor
what he ought to do.

 

But walked, with faltering
steps, towards the city, and inquired eagerly for
his child.

In the meantime, the people, who were moved
with compassion for the youth, and with horror at
the cruelty of the father, cried out, that the justice
of the gods had given him up to the furies.

 

Their
rage immediately supplied them with weapons ; one
snatched a stick, others caught up a stone, and dis-
cord infused rancour and malignity into every bnsnnu




Tlie Cretans, however wise, were at this time exas-
piTiited with folly, and renounced their allegiance to
tlieir king.

 

His friends, therefore, as they could no otherwise preserve him from popular fury, conducted liim back to the fleet : where they went on hoard with him, and once more committed themselves to the mercy of the waves.

Idomeneus, as soon as he
recovered from his phrensy, thanked them for having
forced him from a country which he had stamed
with the blood of his son ; and which, therefore, he
could not bear to inhabit.

 

The winds wafted them
to the coast of Hesperia : and they are now forming
a new state in the country of the Salentines.