Accusing Zeus

by Brett Rutherford

 

     From Theognis, Elegaic Poems 731-752

 

What kinds of beings, Father Zeus,

look on and laugh as men carouse

in wanton outrage, one on many,<

or many on one unwilling,

counting their sins as bank deposits;

what creatures unblinking nod

with approval at murder and carnage?

 

Titans and foul monsters, assuredly

rejoice in retributions

that roll on and on

up family tree, out branch,

fruit-rot and blossom poisonous —

but not the fair gods of Olympus!

 

Why, if the gods were at their stations,

is not the criminal struck down

by the lightning bolt

of his own foul act? Why curse

the sons of an unjust father,

who, bearing no one ill,

must bear his punishment

many times over? Look on,

O son of Kronos, at towns

where a thief escapes,

and, as a token, another is taken

and punished in his place.

 

Look down, of all the gods,

at the solitary cell

where one man languishes

for his father’s father’s crime.

Why does a just man,

free of transgression,

dreading to even say a word

against his fellows, sink

into subjection and punishment?

 

Does he whisper your name,

Olympian father, bewildered

that the wicked and wealthy lord

whose foot has never crossed

a temple’s threshold, should sit

in a mansion of gold and porphyry,

compiling a list

of his intended victims?

 

Why are the good worn down

to their graves by poverty? Why

is the Good not good enough

to share with those below?