And o’er their empty nest, in torturing woe,
Pass to and fro,
Borne on their oarlike wings,
Missing the task that brings
Joy with it, send their piercing wail on high,
Apollo, Pan, or Zeus hearing the cry,
Charges th’ Erinnyes, though late,
The penalty decreed by Fate
To visit on the spoilers far or nigh.”
Another doctrine, which we might scarcely expect to discover in paganism, constituted, nevertheless, a part of the Greek religion,—I mean the power of penitence. In all cases, indeed, this would not avail. The laws of nature (πεπρωμένη, fate) would have their course whatever might be the conduct or disposition of man; but in all other cases, tears[[1017]] shed in secret, solemn acts of religion, and deep contrition were supposed to appease the anger of Heaven. Besides, when afflictions fell upon men, they were not necessarily regarded as evils; for by suffering, the soul, they thought, is purified, chastened, endued with wisdom,—