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Friedrich Schiller - The Ring Of Polycrates - A Ballad
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Upon his battlements he stood,
And downward gazed in joyous mood,
    On Samos` Isle, that owned his sway,
"All this is subject to my yoke;"
To Egypt`s monarch thus he spoke,—
    "That I am truly blest, then, say!"

"The immortals` favor thou hast known!
Thy sceptre`s might has overthrown
    All those who once were like to thee.
Yet to avenge them one lives still;
I cannot call thee blest, until
    That dreaded foe has ceased to be."

While to these words the king gave vent,
A herald from Miletus sent,
    Appeared before the tyrant there:
"Lord, let thy incense rise to-day,
And with the laurel branches gay
    Thou well may`st crown thy festive hair!"

"Thy foe has sunk beneath the spear,—
I`m sent to bear the glad news here,
    By thy true marshal Polydore"—
Then from a basin black he takes—
The fearful sight their terror wakes—
    A well-known head, besmeared with gore.

The king with horror stepped aside,
And then with anxious look replied:
    "Thy bliss to fortune ne`er commit.
On faithless waves, bethink thee how
Thy fleet with doubtful fate swims now—
    How soon the storm may scatter it!"

But ere he yet had spoke the word,
A shout of jubilee is heard
    Resounding from the distant strand.
With foreign treasures teeming o`er,
The vessels` mast-rich wood once more
    Returns home to its native land.

The guest then speaks with startled mind:
"Fortune to-day, in truth, seems kind;
    But thou her fickleness shouldst fear:
The Cretan hordes, well skilled, in arms,
Now threaten thee with war`s alarms;
    E`en now they are approaching here."

And, ere the word has `scaped his lips,
A stir is seen amongst the ships,
    And thousand voices "Victory!" cry:
"We are delivered from our foe,
The storm has laid the Cretan low,
    The war is ended, is gone by!"

The shout with horror hears the guest:
"In truth, I must esteem thee blest!
    Yet dread I the decrees of heaven.
The envy of the gods I fear;
To taste of unmixed rapture here
    Is never to a mortal given."

"With me, too, everything succeeds;
In all my sovereign acts and deeds
    The grace of Heaven is ever by;
And yet I had a well-loved heir—
I paid my debt to fortune there—
    God took him hence—I saw him die."

"Wouldst thou from sorrow, then, be free.
Pray to each unseen Deity,
    For thy well-being, grief to send;
The man on whom the Gods bestow
Their gifts with hands that overflow,
    Comes never to a happy end."

"And if the Gods thy prayer resist,
Then to a friend`s instruction list,—
    Invoke thyself adversity;
And what, of all thy treasures bright,
Gives to thy heart the most delight—
    That take and cast thou in the sea!"

Then speaks the other, moved by fear:
"This ring to me is far most dear
    Of all this isle within it knows—
I to the furies pledge it now,
If they will happiness allow"—
    And in the flood the gem he throws.

And with the morrow`s earliest light,
Appeared before the monarch`s sight
    A fisherman, all joyously;
"Lord, I this fish just now have caught,
No net before e`er held the sort;
    And as a gift I bring it thee."

The fish was opened by the cook,
Who suddenly, with wondering look,
    Runs up, and utters these glad sounds:
"Within the fish`s maw, behold,
I`ve found, great lord, thy ring of gold!
    Thy fortune truly knows no bounds!"

The guest with terror turned away:
"I cannot here, then, longer stay,—
    My friend thou canst no longer be!
The gods have willed that thou shouldst die:
Lest I, too, perish, I must fly"—
    He spoke,—and sailed thence hastily.
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