ἐχθροῖς γέλοιον θαῦμ ̓; ἀναγκαίῳ μόρῳ,
δεσμοῖς τε χαλκέοισιν, ἐξαντλεῖν πόνον,
ἐς τοῦθ ̓ ὑπῆρχε θεόδοτον σθένος τόδε
τὸ σεμνότιμον, θηρὸς οὐ θητὸς λαχὸν
αἴσχιστον ἀξίωμα; τόνδ' ὁρᾶτέ με,
τὸν τοὺς πολίτας τῶν Φιλιστίνων ἄπο
ἐλευθερώσονθ', ἥδε γὰρ Θεοῦ φάτις·
ὁρᾶτε τὸν σωτῆρα, τῆς σωτηρίας
αὐτὸν μάλ ̓ ὑστεροῦντα, χῶν ποτ ̓ ἐκράτει
δοῦλον, ταλαιπωροῦντα συνδούλων μέτα,
τυφλόν τε, Γάζῃ κάτοχον· ἀλλ ̓ οὐ τὸν Θεὸν
ἔστιν παρόντων αἰτιάσασθαι κακῶν,
ὃς πάντ ̓ ἔμελλε θεσπίσας καὶ ὁρᾶν ἐμοί·
αὐτὸς δ ̓ ἐμαυτῷ πημονὰς ἐφείλκυσα
σθένος γὰρ ἦν μοι τόδε παρηγγυημένον
τὸ δ ̓ εὖ μάλ ̓ εἰδὼς οὗπερ ἦν τοῦ σώματος,
τό τ ̓ ἐκβαλεῖν πρόχειρον, ἐκβέβληχ ̓ ὅμως,
δείξας τὰ δῶρα τἀσφαλῶς κεκρυμμένα,
κλαυθμῶν ἕκατι καὶ γυναικείου στόνου.
φρενῶν κέκομμαι, σῶμα δ' ἔῤῥωμαι μόνον.
τί δ ̓ ἄν τις οὖν ἔναιτο τῆς ῥώμης μόνον,
ὄγκῳ πελώρῳ περιπεσὼν ἀνωφελεί,
Of wisdom? vast, unwieldy, burdensome,
Proudly secure, yet liable to fall
By weakest subtleties, not made to rule,
But to subserve where wisdom bears command.
God, when he gave me strength, to shew withal
How slight the gift was, hung it in my hair.
But peace! I must not quarrel with the will
Of highest dispensation, which herein
Haply had ends above my reach to know.
Suffices that to me strength is my bane,
And proves the source of all my miseries;
So many and so huge, that each apart
Would ask a life to wail; but chief of all,
O loss of sight! of thee I most complain!
Blind among enemies, O worse than chains,
Dungeon, or beggary, or decrepit age!
Light, the prime work of God, to me is extinct,
And all her various objects of delight
Annulled, which might in part my grief have eased,
Inferior to the vilest now become
Of man or worm; the vilest here excel me.
σοφίας γ ̓ ἁμαρτων, ἧς ἔδει μάλ ̓ ἐξόχου;
ἐν ᾧπερ ἐδόκουν καὶ μάλ ̓ ἐστηριγμένος,
φαύλοισιν αἰσχρῶς ἐσφάλην σοφίσμασι.
σθένος γὰρ οὔποτ ̓ ἐν βροτοῖς ἄρχειν ἔφυ,
ὑπηρετεῖν δὲ, τῶν σοφῶν ἡγουμένων
πρὸς ταῦθ ̓ ὁ Δαίμων, καὶ διδοὺς τοῖον γέρας,
τὰ δῶρ ̓ ἀπηξίωσε μὴ τιμὴν ἔχειν,
κόμαις ξυνάψας. ἀλλά μοι σιγᾶν πρέπει,
στέργειν τε κρυπτὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ βουλεύματα,
τοῦ πάντα ταμιεύοντος· ἀρκείτω τόδε·
σθένος τόδε ξύμπαντος αἴτιον κακοῦ,
τοῦ σφόδρ ̓ ὑπερβάλλοντος, ὥστε πημάτων
ἕκαστα μηδὲ διαβιοῦν κλαίοντά με
ἅλις δύνασθαι· τοῦτο δ ̓ ἔσθ ̓ ὃ δύρομαι,
τό μοι κάκιστον, ἡ βλάβη τῶν ὀμμάτων.
τυφλὸς παρ ̓ ἐχθροῖς, ἆρα μὴ δεσμῶν πλέω
πέπονθ ̓ ἀσιτίας τε καὶ γήρως τάδε;
τὰ παρὰ Θεοῦ πρωτεῖα, τὴν αὐγὴν λέγω,
ὅλωλ ̓ ἐμοῦ γ ̓ ἕκατι, χὧν ἂν ἄλλοτε
σμικρὸν παρηγόρημα, ποικίλῃ χαρᾷ,
πόνοις ἀπηύρων, ἐκλέλοιπε πανταχοῦ·
κἀγὼ παρ ̓ ἑρπέτ ̓, οὐ γὰρ ἀνθρώπους λέγω,
ἄδοξός εἰμ', ἃ καὶ χαμαιπετῆ βλέπει·
They creep, yet see; I, dark in light, exposed
To daily fraud, contempt, abuse, and wrong,
Within doors, or without, still, as a fool,
In power of others, never in my own;
Scarce half I seem to live, dead more than half.
O dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon,
Irrecoverably dark: total eclipse,
Without all hope of day!
O first created beam, and thou great word,
"Let there be light" and light was over all,
Why am I thus bereaved thy prime decree?
The sun to me is dark,
And silent as the moon,
When she deserts the night,
Hid in her vacant interlunar cave.
Since light so necessary is to life,
And almost life itself-if it be true
That light is in the soul,
She all in every part-why was the sight
To such a tender ball as the eye confined,
So obvious and so easy to be quenched,
And not, as feeling, through all parts diffused,
That she might look at will through every pore?
Then had I not been thus exiled from light,
As in the land of darkness, yet in light,
ἐμοὶ δ ̓ ἀφεγγὲς φέγγος, οὐδ ̓ ἄρ ̓ ὕβρεως
ἀτιμίας τε καὶ δόλων· καθ ̓ ἡμέραν,
οἴκοι, θύραζε, μωρὸς ὡς, ἀφίσταμαι,
ζῶν ὧδ ̓ ἐπ ̓ ἄλλοις, ἡμιθνὴς καν τῷ βίῳ.
μεσσημερία λαμπὰς, φεύ, φεῦ,
πάντως ἐξέλιπ ̓, ἐξέλιπ ̓ ἐλπίς·
φῶς πρωτόγονον καὶ πάνταρχον
τὸ προκηρυχθὲν θεόθεν, φροῦδον·
φροῦδος δ' ἥλιος, ὡς ὅτε δίας
ὄμμα σελήνης ἔξεδρον ἄστρων
ἄντροις ἀλαοῖς ᾤχετ ̓ ἄφωνον,
περιτελλομένων
μηνῶν ἐπὶ καιρὸν ἀμοιβῆς.
ἀλλ ̓ εἴ γε τὸ ζῆν τοῦτ ̓ ἀναγκαῖον τρέφει
κἀντάξιον τὸ φῶς, διηκούσης τὸ πᾶν
ψυχῆς κάτοικον, πρὸς τί τἀν προὔπτῳ τάδε
λελογχε φῶς, εὔβλαπτον, ὀφθαλμῶν ἕδη;
ἔδει γὰρ, εἰ δὴ πάντοσ ̓ αἰσθέσθαι πάρα,
καὶ τοῦ βλέποντος σῶμα πανταχοῦ βλέπειν.
οὐχ ὡς τά γε νῦν ἀνὴρ δ ̓ ἔχει,
περικυκλούσης ἀποκληρωθεὶς,
ὡς ἐν νεκρῶν δώμασιν, αὐγῆς.
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