//7 /-"' 
 
 T / ' 
 
 *-c
 
 ^ESCHYLOS
 
 /^ESCHYLOS 
 
 ^^'* IMIJI ' ^" 
 
 TRAGEDIES 
 
 AND 
 
 FRAGMENTS 
 
 Translated by the late 
 
 E. H. PLUMPTRE D.D. 
 
 'Dean of Wells 
 
 WITH NOTES AND 
 RHYMED CHORAL ODES 
 
 IN TWO PARTS 
 
 TON U.S.A. 
 
 D. C. HEATH & CO. PUBLISHERS 
 x 1906
 
 LONDON : 
 
 PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, 
 DUKE STREET, STAMFORD STREET, S.E., AND GREAT WINDMILL STREET, W.
 
 PUBLISHER'S NOTE 
 
 The reception accorded to the pocket edition of 'Dean 
 Plumptre's " 'Dante " has encouraged the publishers to 
 issue in the same format the Dean's masterly translation 
 of the Tragedies of ^Eschylos. 
 
 In preparing the present issue they have followed the 
 carefully revised text of the second edition, and have 
 included the scholarly and suggestive annotations with 
 which the Dean invariably delighted to enrich his work 
 as a translator. 
 
 The seven "Plays, which are all that remain of the 
 seventy or eighty with which ^Eschylos is credited, are 
 presented in their chronological order. "Passages in which 
 the reading or the rendering is more or less conjectural, 
 and in which, accordingly, the aid of the commentator is 
 advisable, are marked by an asterisk ; and passages 
 which are regarded as spurious by editors of authority 
 have been placed in brackets. 
 
 In translating the Choral Odes the 'Dean used such 
 unrhymed metres observing the i trophic and ant is trophic 
 5 
 
 2234577
 
 PUBLISHER'S NOTE 
 
 arrangement as seemed to him most analogous in their 
 general rhythmical effect to those of the original. He 
 added in an appendix, however, for the sake of those who 
 preferred the rhymed form with which they were familiar t 
 a rhymed version of the chief Odes of the Qresteian 
 trilogy. Those in the other dramas did not appear to him 
 to be of equal interest, or to lend themselves with equal 
 facility to a like attempt. The (yreefc text on which the 
 translation is based is, for the most part, that of 2kfr. 
 Paley's edition of 1861. 
 
 A translation was also given of the Fragments which 
 have survived the wreck of the lost plays, so that the 
 work contains all that has been left to us associated 
 with the name of jEschylos. 
 
 In the present edition a chronological outline has been 
 substituted fir the biographical sketch of the poet, who 
 from his daring enlargement of the scope of the drama, 
 the magnificence of his spectacular effects and the 
 splendour of his genius, was rightly honoured as " the 
 Father of Tragedy."
 
 PART I 
 
 Pagt 
 CHRONOLOGICAL OUTLINE OF THE LIFE OF 
 
 jESGHYLOS . . . . . . II 
 
 THE PERSIANS . . . . . . 17 
 
 THE SEVEN WHO FOUGHT AGAINST THEBES . 65 
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND . . . . .113 
 
 THE SUPPLIANTS 161
 
 PART II 
 
 AGAMEMNON ..... . 9 
 
 THE LlBATION-POURERS .... 87 
 
 EUMENIDES ...... 137 
 
 FRAGMENTS ...... 185 
 
 RHYMED CHORUSES 
 
 From Agamemnon .... 191 
 
 The Libation-Pourers . . . 210 
 , , Eumenides . . . . .219
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL OUTLINE OF 
 THE LIFE OF ^ESCHYLOS 
 
 B.C. 
 
 527 Peisislratos died. 
 
 525 Birth at Eleusis, in Attica, of ^Eschylos, son of 
 Euphorion. 
 
 510 Expulsion of the Peisistratidse. Democratic 
 constitution of Cleisthenes. 
 
 Approximate date of incident in the legend 
 that ^schylos was set to watch grapes as they 
 were ripening for the vintage, and fell asleep ; 
 and lo ! as he slept Dionysos appeared to him 
 and bade him give himself to write tragedies for 
 the great festival of the god. And when he 
 awoke, he found himself invested with new 
 powers of thought and utterance, and the work 
 was as easy to him as if he had been trained to 
 it for many years (Pausan, Alt. i. 21, 3). 
 
 500 Birth of Anaxagoras. 
 
 499 ^Eschylos exhibited his first tragedy, in un- 
 successful competition with Pratinas and 
 Choerilos. 
 
 * Cf., the legend of Caedmon, "the Father of English 
 Song." 
 
 II
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL OUTLINE 
 
 B.C. 
 
 The wooden scaffolding broke beneath the 
 crowd of spectators, and the accident led the 
 Athenians to build their first stone theatre for 
 the Dionysiac festivals. 
 
 Partly out of annoyance at his defeat, it is 
 said, and partly in a spirit of adventure, 
 ^Eschylos sailed for Sicily. 
 
 497 Death of Pythagoras (?). 
 
 495 Birth of Sophocles at Colonos. 
 
 491 ^Eschylos at Athens. 
 
 490 The Battle of Marathon. ^Eschylos and his 
 brothers, Kynaegeiros and Ameinias, so dis- 
 tinguished themselves, that the Athenians 
 ordered their heroic deeds to be commemorated 
 in a picture. 
 
 Death of Theognis (?). 
 
 488 Prize awarded to Simonides for an elegy on 
 Marathon. ^Eschylos, piqued, it is said, at his 
 failure in the competition, again departed to 
 Sicily. 
 
 485 Xerxes succeeded Dareios. 
 
 484 ^Eschylos won, in a dramatic contest with 
 Pratinas, Choerilos, and Phrynichos, the first of 
 a series of thirteen successes. 
 Birth of Herodotos. 
 
 480 Athens burnt by Xerxes. 
 
 ^Eschylos fought at Artemisium and Salamis 
 At Salamis his brother Ameinias lost his handj 
 and was awarded the prize of valour. 
 
 Sophocles led the Chorus of Victory. 
 
 Birth of Euripides.
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL OUTLINE 
 
 B.C. 
 
 479 ^Eschylos at the Battle of Platsea. 
 
 477 Commencement of Athenian supremacy. 
 
 473 ^Eschylos carried off the first prize with The 
 Persians (the first of the extant plays), which 
 belonged to a tetralogy that included two 
 tragedies, Phineus and Glaucos, and a satyric 
 drama, Prometheus the Fire-stealer. 
 
 The Persians has the interest of being a con- 
 temporary record of the great sea-fight at 
 Salamis by an eye-witness. 
 
 471 .ffischylos appears to have produced this year 
 his next tetralogy, of which The Seven against 
 Thebes survives. 
 
 The play was directed against the policy of 
 aiming at the supremacy of Athens by attacking 
 other Greek States, and, in brief, maintained 
 the policy of Aristeides as against that of 
 Themistocles. 
 
 Birth of Thucydides. 
 
 468 Sophocles gained his first victory in tragedy 
 with his Triptolemos ; ^Eschylos defeated. 
 
 ^Eschylos charged with impiety, on the ground 
 that he had profaned the Mysteries byintroducing 
 on the stage rites known only to the initiated ; 
 tried and acquitted : departure for Syracuse. 
 
 467 ^Eschylos at the court of Hieron at Syracuse, 
 where he is said to have composed dramas on 
 local legends, such as The Women of JEtna. 
 Death of Simonides. 
 
 461 Ostracism of Kimon ; ascendency of Pericles. 
 13
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL OUTLINE 
 
 B.C. 
 
 460-59 Probable date of The Suppliants, if the play 
 be connected with the alliance between Argos 
 and Athens (B.C. 461), and the war with the 
 Persian forces in Egypt, upon which the 
 Athenians had entered as allies of the Libyan 
 Prince Inaros. (B.C. 460.) 
 
 The date of Prometheus Bound has been re- 
 ferred to B.C. 470 on the strength of a description 
 of ^Etna (vv. 370-380), which is supposed to be a 
 reference to the eruption of B.C. 477. Internal 
 evidence, however, seems to warrant the view 
 that The Suppliants and the Prometheus Bound 
 were separated by only a brief interval of time. 
 
 458 ^Eschylos in Athens. He found new men and 
 new methods ; institutions, held most sacred as 
 the safeguard of Athenian religion, were being 
 criticised and attacked ; the Court of Areiopagos 
 was threatened with abolition under pretence of 
 reform. 
 
 Production of the Oresteian Trilogy (or, 
 rather, tetralogy, as in addition to the Agamemnon, 
 the Libation-pourers, and the Eumenides, there 
 was a satyric drama, Proteus). 
 
 This trilogy was a conservative protest, re- 
 ligious, social, and political, which culminated 
 in the assertion of the divine authority of the 
 Areiopagos. 
 
 Popular feeling was once more excited against 
 the poet, who left Athens never to return, and 
 settled at Gela, in Sicily, under the patronage of 
 Hieron. 
 
 456 Death of ^Eschylos, aged 69. 
 
 An oracle foretold that he was to die by a
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL OUTLINE 
 
 blow from heaven, and according to the legend, 
 an eagle, mistaking the poet's head for a stone 
 as he sat writing, dropped a tortoise on it to 
 break the shell. 
 
 He was buried at Gela, and his epitaph, ascribed 
 to himself, ran : " Beneath this stone lies 
 ^Eschylos, son of Euphorion. At fertile Gela 
 he died. Marathon can tell of his tested man- 
 hood, and the Persians who there felt his 
 mettle." 
 
 He is said to have produced between seventy 
 and eighty plays, of which only seven survive. 
 
 i
 
 THE PERSIANS 
 
 DRAMATIS PERSONS 
 
 ATOSSA Ghost of DAREIOS 
 
 Messenger XERXES 
 
 Chorus of Persian Elders 
 
 ARGUMENT. When Xerxes came to the throne of 
 Persia, remembering how his father Dareios had sotight 
 to subdue the land of the Hellenes, and seeking to avenge 
 the defeat of Datis and, Artaphernes on the field of 
 Marathon, he gathered together a mighty host of all 
 nations under his dominion, and led them against Hellas. 
 And at first he prospered and prevailed, crossed the 
 Hellespont, and defeated the Spartans at Thermopylae, 
 and took the city of A thens, from which the greater part 
 of its citizens had fled. But at last he and his armament 
 met with utter overthrow at Salarnis. Meanwhile Atossa, 
 the mother of Xerxes, with her handmaids and the elders 
 of the Persians, waited anxiously at Susa, where was the 
 palace of the great king, for tidings of her son. 
 
 Note. Within two years after the battle of Salamis, the 
 feeling of natural exultation was met by Phrynichos in a 
 tragedy bearing the title of The Ph&nikians, and having for its 
 subject the defeat of Xerxes. As he had come under the dis- 
 pleasure of the Athenian demos for having brought on the stage 
 the sufferings of their Ionian kinsmen in nis Capture of Miletos, 
 he was apparently anxious to regain his popularity by a 
 " sensation drama of another kind ; and his success seems to 
 
 I 17 B
 
 THE PERSIANS 
 
 have prompted ^Eschylos to a like attempt five years later, B.C. 
 473. The Tetralogy to which the play belonged, and which 
 gained the first prize on its representation, included the two 
 tragedies (unconnected in subject) of Phineus and Glaucos, and 
 the satyric drama of Prometheus the Firestealer. 
 
 The play has, therefore, the interest of being strictly a con- 
 temporary narrative of the battle of Salamis and its immediate 
 consequences, by one who may himself have been present at it, 
 and whose brother Ameinias (Herod, viii. 93) distinguished hirr- 
 self in it by a special act of heroism. As such, making all 
 allowance for the influence of dramatic exigencies, and the 
 tendency to colour history so as to meet the tastes of patriotic 
 Athenians, it may claim, where it differs from the story told by 
 Herodotos, to be a more trustworthy record. And it has, we 
 must remember, the interest of being the only extant drama of 
 its class, the only tragedy the subject of which is not taken from 
 the cycle of heroic myths, but from the national history of the 
 time. Far below the Oresteian Trilogy as it may seem to us as 
 a work of art, having more the character of a spectacle than a 
 poem, it was, we may well believe, unusually successful at the 
 time, and it is said to have been chosen by Hiero for reproduction 
 i n Syracuse after ^Eschylos had settled there under his patron- 
 age. 
 
 18
 
 THE PERSIANS 
 
 SCENE. SUSA, in front of the palace O/XERXES, tJie tomb 
 S/'DAREIOS acetifying the position of the tJymele 
 
 Enter Chorus of Persian Elders. 
 
 We the title bear of Faithful, 1 
 Friends of Persians gone to Hellas, 
 Watchers left of treasure city, 2 
 Gold-abounding, whom, as oldest, 
 Xerxes hath himself appointed, 
 He, the offspring of Dareios, 
 As the warders of his country. 
 And about our king's returning, 
 And our army's, gold-abounding, 
 Over-much, and boding evil, 
 Does my mind within me shudder 
 (For our whole force, Asia's offspring, 
 Now is gone), and for our young chief 
 Sorely frets : nor courier cometh, 
 Nor any horseman, bringing tidings 
 To the city of the Persians. 
 From Ecbatana departing, 
 
 1 "The Faithful," or "trusty," seems to have been a special 
 title of honour given to the veteran councillors of the king 
 (Xenoph. Anab. i. 15), just as that of the "Immortals" was 
 chosen for his body-guard (Herod, vii. 83). 
 
 2 Susa was pre-eminently the treasury of the Persian kings 
 (Herod, v. 49 ; Strabo, xv. p. 731), their favourite residence in 
 spring, as gcbatana in Media was in summer and Babylon in 
 winter. 
 
 '9
 
 THE PERSIANS 
 
 Susa, or the Kissian fortress, 1 
 Forth they sped upon their journey, 
 Some in ships, and some on horses, 
 Some on foot, still onward marching, 
 In their close array presenting 
 Squadrons duly armed for battle : 
 Then Armistres, Artaphernes, 
 Megabazes, and Astaspes, 
 Mighty leaders of the Persians, 
 Kings, and of the great King servants, 1 
 March, the chiefs of mighty army. 
 Archers they and mounted horsemen. 
 Dread to look on, fierce in battle, 
 Artembares proud, on horseback, 
 And Masistres, and Imaeos, 
 Archer famed, and Pharandakes, 
 And the charioteer Sosthanes. 
 Neilos mighty and prolific 
 Sent forth others, Susikanes, 
 Pegastagon, Egypt's offspring, 
 And the chief of sacred Memphis ; 
 Great Arsames, Ariomardos, 
 Ruler of primeval Thebae, 
 And the marshmen, 2 and the rowers, 
 
 1 Kissia was properly the name of the district in which Susa 
 stood ; but here, and in v. 123, it is treated as if it belonged to 
 a separate city. Throughout the play there is, indeed, a lavish 
 use of Persian barbaric names of persons and places, without a 
 very minute regard to historical accuracy. 
 
 2 Here, as in Herodotos and Greek writers generally, the 
 title, " the King," or " the great King," was enough. It could 
 be understood only of the Persian. The latter name had been 
 borne by the kings of Assyria (2 Kings xviii. 28). A little later 
 it passed into the fuller, more boastful form of " The King of 
 kings." 
 
 8 The inhabitants of the Delta of the Nile, especially those of
 
 THE PERSIANS 
 
 Dread, and in their number countless. 
 And there follow crowds of Lydians, 
 Very delicate and stately, 1 
 Who the people of the mainland 
 Rule throughout whom Mitragathes 
 And brave Arkteus, kingly chieftains, 
 Led, from Sardis, gold-abounding, 
 Riding on their many chariots, 
 Three or four a-breast their horses, 
 Sight to look upon all dreadful. 
 And the men of sacred Tm61os 2 
 Rush to place the yoke of bondage 
 On the neck of conquered Hellas. 
 Mardon, Tharabis, spear-anvils, 3 
 And the Mysians, javelin-darting ; 4 
 Babyl6n too, gold-abounding, 
 Sends a mingled cloud, swept onward, 
 
 the marshy districts near the Heracleotic mouth, were famed as 
 supplying the best and bravest soldiers of any part of Egypt. 
 Com p. Thucyd. i. no. 
 
 1 The epithet was applied probably by ^Cschylos to the 
 Lydians properly so called, the barbaric race with whom the 
 Hellenes had little or nothing in common. They, in dress, diet, 
 mode of life, their distaste for the contests of the arena, seemed 
 to the Greeks the very type of effeminacy. The Ionian Greeks, 
 however, were brought under the same influence, and gradually 
 acquired the same character. The suppression of the name cf 
 the lonians in the list of the Persian forces may be noticed as 
 characteristic. The Athenian poet would not bring before an 
 Athenian audience the shame of their Asiatic kinsmen. 
 
 2 Tmolos, sacred as being the mythical birth-place of 
 Dionysos. 
 
 3 " Spear-anvils," sc., meeting the spear of their foes as the 
 anvils wou'd meet it, turning its point, themselves steadfast and 
 immovable. 
 
 4 So Herodotos (vii. 74) in his account of the army of Xerxes 
 describes the Mysians as using for their weapons those darts or 
 "javelins" made by hardening the ends in the fire. 
 
 21
 
 THE PERSIANS 
 
 Both the troops who man the vessels, 
 And the skilled and trustful bowmen ; 
 And the race the sword that beareth, 
 Follows from each clime of Asia, 
 At the great King's dread commandment. 
 These, the bloom of Persia's greatness, 
 Now are gone forth to the battle ; 
 And for these, their mother country, 
 Asia, mourns with mighty yearning ; 
 Wives and mothers faint with trembling 
 Through the hours that slowly linger, 
 Counting each day as it passes. 
 
 STROPHE I 
 
 The king's great host, destroying cities mighty, 
 Hath to the land beyond the sea passed over, 
 Crossing the straits of Athamantid Helle, 1 
 
 On raft by ropes secured, 
 
 And thrown his path, compact of many a vessel, 
 As yoke upon the neck of mighty ocean. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I 
 
 Of populous Asia thus the mighty ruler 
 'Gainst all the land his God-sent host dirccteth 
 In two divisions, both by land and water, 
 
 Trusting the chieftains stern, 
 The men who drive the host to fight, relentless 
 He, sprung from gold-born race, a hero god-like. 2 
 
 1 Helle the daughter of Athamas, from whom the Hellespont 
 took its name. For the description of the pontoons formed by 
 boats, which were moored together with cables and finally 
 covered with faggots, comp. Herod, vii. 36. 
 
 2 "Gold-born," tc., descended from Perseus, the child of 
 Danae, 
 
 22
 
 THE PERSIANS 
 
 STROPHE II 
 Glancing with darkling look, and eyes as of ravening 
 
 dragon, 
 With many a hand, and many a ship, and Syrian chariot 
 
 driving, 1 
 He upon spearmen renowned brings battle ofconquering 
 
 arrows. 2 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II 
 Yea, there is none so tried as, withstanding the flood 
 
 of the mighty, 
 To keep within steadfast bounds that wave of ocean 
 
 resistless ; 
 Hard to fight is the host of the Persians, the people 
 
 stout-hearted. 
 
 MESODE 
 Yet ah ! what mortal can ward the craft of the God 
 
 all-deceiving ? 
 
 *Who, with a nimble foot, of one leap is easily sovereign? 
 For Ate, fawning and kind, at first a mortal be- 
 traying, 10 
 Then in snares and meshes decoys him, 
 Whence one who is but man in vain doth struggle to 
 
 'scape from. 
 
 1 Syrian, either in the vague sense in which it became almost 
 synonymous with Assyrian, or else showing that Syria, properly 
 so called, retained the fame for chariots which it had had at a 
 period as early as the time of the Hebrew Judges (Judg. v. 3). 
 Herodotos (vii. 140) gives an Oracle of Delphi in which the same 
 epithet appears. 
 
 2 The description, though put into the mouth of Persians, is 
 meant to flatter Hellenic pride. The Persians and their army 
 were for the most part light-armed troops only, barbarians 
 equipped with javelins or bows. In the sculptures of Persepolis, 
 as in those of Nineveh and Khorsabad, this mode of warfare is 
 throughout the most conspicuous. They, the Hellenes, were 
 the hoplites, warriors of the spear and the shield, the cuirass and 
 the greaves. 
 
 23
 
 THE PERSIANS 
 
 STROPHE III 
 
 For Fate of old, by the high Gods' decree, 
 Prevailed, and on the Persians laid this task, 
 
 Wars with the crash of towers, 
 And set the surge of horsemen in array, 
 And the fierce sack that lays a city low. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III 
 
 Bnt now they learnt to look on ocean plains, 1 
 The wide sea hoary with the violent blast, 
 
 Waxing o'er confident / 
 
 In cables formed of many a slender strand, 
 And rare device of transport for the host. 
 
 STROPHE IV 
 
 So now my soul is torn, 
 As clad in mourning, in its sore affright, 
 Ah me ! ah me ! for all the Persian host ! 
 
 Lest soon our country learn 
 That Susa's mighty fort is void of men. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE IV 
 
 And through the Kissians' town 
 Shall echo heavy thud of hands on breast. 
 Woe ! woe ! when all the crowd of women speak 
 
 This utterance of great grief, 
 And byssine robes are rent in agony. 
 
 STROPHE V 
 
 For all the horses strong, 
 And host that march on foot, 
 
 1 A touch of Athenian exultation in their life as seamen. To 
 them the sea was almost a home. They were familiar with it 
 from childhood. To the Persians it was new and untried. They 
 had a new lesson to learn, late in the history of the nation, late 
 in the lives of individual soldiers.
 
 THE PERSIANS 
 
 Like swarm of bees, have gone with him who led 13 
 
 The vanguard of the host. 
 
 Crossing the sea-washed, bridge-built promontory 
 That joins the shores of either continent. 1 
 
 ANTISTROPHE V 
 
 And beds with tears are wet 
 
 In grief for husbands gone, 
 And Persian wives are delicate in grief, 
 
 Each yearning for her lord ; 
 
 And each who sent her warrior-spouse to battle 110 
 Now mourns at home in dreary solitude. 
 
 But come, ye Persians now, 
 And sitting in this ancient hall of ours, 
 Let us take thought deep-counselling and wise, 
 
 (Sore need is there of that,) 
 How fareth now the great king Xerxes, he 
 
 Who calls Dareios sire, 
 Bearing the name our father bore of old ? 
 Is it the archers' bow that wins the day ? 
 
 Or does the strength prevail 
 Of iron point that heads the spear's strong shaft ? 
 But lo ! in glory like the face of gods, 
 The mother of my king, my queen, appears : 
 Let us do reverent homage at her feet ; 
 
 Yea, it is meet that all 
 Should speak to her with words of greeting kind. 
 
 Enter ATOSSA in a chariot of state 
 
 Chor. O sovereign queen of Persian wives deep-zoned, 
 Mother of Xerxes, reverend in thine age, 
 
 1 The bridge of boats, with the embankment raised upon it, is 
 thought of as a new headland putting out from the one shove 
 and reaching to the other. 
 
 25
 
 THE PERSIANS 
 
 Wife of Dareios! hail! 
 'Twas thine to join in wedlock with a spouse 
 
 Whom Persians owned as God, 1 
 And of a God thou art the mother too, 
 Unless its ancient Fortune fails our host. 
 
 Atoss. Yes, thus I come, our gold-decked palace 
 
 leaving, 
 
 The bridal bower Dareios with me slept in. 
 Care gnaws my heart, but now I tell you plainly 
 A tale, my friends, which may not leave me fearless, 
 Lest boastful wealth should stumble at the threshold, 
 And with his foot o'erturn the prosperous fortune 
 That great Dareios raised with Heaven's high blessing. 
 And twofold care untold my bosom haunteth : 
 We may not honour wealth that has no warriors, 
 Nor on the poor shines light to strength proportioned ; 
 Wealth without stint we have, yet for our eye wo 
 tremble ; iro 
 
 For as the eye of home I deem a master's presence. 
 Wherefore, ye Persians, aid me now in counsel ; 
 Trusty and old, in you lies hope of wisdom. 
 
 Chor. Queen of our land ! be sure thou need'st not 
 
 utter 
 
 Or thing or word twice o'er, which power may point to ; 
 Thou bid'st us counsel give who fain would serve thee. 
 
 Atoss. Ever with many visions of the night 2 
 
 1 Stress is laid by the Hellenic poet, as in the Agamemnon 
 (v. 895), and in v. 707 of this play, on the tendency of the East 
 to give to its kings the names and the signs of homage which 
 were due only to the Gods. The Hellenes might deify a dead 
 hero, but not a living sovereign. On different grounds the 
 Jews shrank, as in the stories of Nebuchadnezzar and Dareios 
 (Dan. iii. 6), from all such acts. 
 
 2 In the Greek, as in the translation, there is a change of 
 metre, intended apparently to represent the transition from the 
 tone of eager excitement to the ordinary level of discourse. 
 
 26
 
 THE PERSIANS 
 
 Am I encompassed, since my son went forth, 
 
 Leading a mighty host, with aim to sack 
 
 The land of the lonians. But ne'er yet " 
 
 Have I beheld a dream so manifest 
 
 As in the night just past. And this I'll tell thec : 
 
 There stood by me two women in fair robes ; 
 
 And this in Persian garments was arrayed, 
 
 And that in Dorian came before mine eyes ; 
 
 In stature both of tallest, comeliest size ; 
 
 And both of faultless beauty, sisters twain 
 
 Of the same stock. 1 And they twain had their homes, 
 
 One in the Hellenic, one in alien land. 
 
 And these two, as I dreamt I saw, were set lco 
 
 At variance with each other. And my son 
 
 Learnt it, and checked and mollified their wrath, 
 
 And yokes them to his chariot, and his collar 
 
 He places on their necks. And one was proud 
 
 Of that equipment, 2 and in harness gave 
 
 Her mouth obedient ; but the other kicked, 
 
 And tears the chariot's trappings with her hands, 
 
 And rushes off uncurbed, and breaks its yoke 
 
 Asunder. And my son falls low, and then 
 
 His father comes, Dareios, pitying him. 
 
 And lo ! when Xerxes sees him, he his clothes 
 
 Rends round his limbs. These things I say I saw 
 
 In visions of the night ; and when I rose, 
 
 1 With reference either to tli3 mythos that Asia and Europa 
 were both daughters of Okeanos, or to the historical fact that 
 the Asiatic lonians and the Dorians of Europe were both of the 
 same Hellenic stock. The contrast between the long flowing 
 robes of the Asiatic women, and the short, scanty kilt-like dress 
 of those of Sparta must be borne in mind if we would see the 
 picture in its completeness. 
 
 2 Athenian pride is flattered with the thought that they had 
 resisted while the Ionian Greeks had submitted all too willingly 
 to the yoke of the Barbarian.
 
 THE PERSIANS 
 
 And dipped my hands in fountain flowing clear, 1 
 
 I at the altar stood with hand that bore 
 
 Sweet incense, wishing holy chrism to pour 
 
 To the averting Gods whom thus men worship. 
 
 And I beheld an eagle in full flight 
 
 To Phcebos' altar-hearth ; and then, my friends, J1 * 
 
 I stood, struck dumb with fear ; and next I saw 
 
 A kite pursuing, in her winged course, 
 
 And with his claws tearing the eagle's head, 
 
 Which did nought else but crouch and yield itself. 
 
 Such terrors it has been my lot to see, 
 
 And yours to hear : For be ye sure, my son, 
 
 If he succeed, will wonder-worthy prove ; 
 
 But if he fail, still irresponsible 
 
 He to the people, and in either case, 
 
 He, should he but return, is sovereign still. 2 
 
 Char. We neither wish, O Lady, thee to frighten 
 O'ermuch with what we say, nor yet encourage : 
 But thou, the Gods adoring with entreaties, 
 If thou hast seen aught ill, bid them avert it, 
 And that all good things may receive fulfilment 
 For thee, thy children, and thy friends and country. 2 
 And next 'tis meet libations due to offer 
 To Earth and to the dead. And ask thy husband, 
 Dareios, whom thou say'st by night thou sawest, 
 With kindly mood from 'neath the Earth to send thee 
 Good things to light for thee and for thine offspring, 
 While adverse things shall fade away in darkness. 
 
 1 Lustrations of this kind, besides their general significance in 
 cleansing from defilement, had a special force as charms to turn 
 aside dangers threatened by foreboding dreams. Comp. 
 Aristoph. Frogs, v. 1264 ; Persius, Sat. ii. 16. 
 
 2 The political bearing of the passage as contrasting this 
 characteristic of the despotism of Persia with the strict account 
 to which all Athenian generals were subject, is, of course, 
 unmistakable. 
 
 28
 
 THE PERSIANS 
 
 Such things do I, a self-taught seer, advise thee 
 In kindly mood, and any way we reckon 
 That good will come to thee from out these omens. 
 Atoss. Well, with kind heart, hast thou, as first 
 
 expounder, 
 
 Out of my dreams brought out a welcome meaning 
 For me, and for my sons ; and thy good wishes, 
 May they receive fulfilment ! And this also, 
 As thou dost bid, we to the Gods will offer 
 And to our friends below, when we go homeward. 
 But first, my friends, I wish to hear of Athens, 
 Where in the world do men report it standeth I 1 
 Chor. Far to the West, where sets our king the 
 
 Sun-God. 
 
 Atoss. Was it. this city my son wished to capture ? 
 Chor. Aye, then would Hellas to our king be 
 
 subject. 
 
 Atoss. And have they any multitude of soldiers? 
 Chor. A mighty host, that wrought the Medcs 
 
 much mischief. 
 Atoss. And what besides ? Have they too wealth 
 
 sufficing ? 
 Chor. A fount of silver have they, their land's 
 
 treasure. 2 
 
 Atoss. Have they a host in archers' skill excelling ? 
 Ckor. Not so, they wield the spear and shield and 
 bucklers. 3 
 
 1 The question, which seems to have rankled in the minds of 
 the Athenians, is recorded as an historical fact, and put into the 
 mouth of Dareios by Harodotos (v. 101). He had asked it on 
 hearing that Sardis had been attacked and burnt by them. 
 
 2 The words point to the silver mines of Laureion, which bad 
 been worked under Peisistratos, and of which this is the first 
 mention in Greek literature. 
 
 3 Once more the contrast between the Greek hoplite and the 
 light-armed archers of the invaders is dwelt upon. The next 
 
 29
 
 THE PERSIANS 
 
 Atoss. What shepherd rules and lords it o'er their 
 
 people ? 
 Ckor. Of no man are they called the slaves of 
 
 subjects. 
 
 Atoss. How then can they sustain a foe invading ? 
 Ckor. So that they spoiled Dareios' goodly army. 
 Atoss. Dread news is thine for sires of those who 're 
 
 marching. 
 Cher. Nay, but I think thou soon wilt know the 
 
 whole truth ; 
 
 This running one may know is that of Persian :* 
 For good or evil some clear news he bringeth. 
 
 Enter Messenger 
 
 Mess. O cities of the whole wide land of Asia ! 
 O soil of Persia, haven of great wealth ! 
 How at one stroke is brought to nothingness 
 Our great prosperity, and all the flower 
 Of Persia's strength is fallen ! Woe is me ! 
 'Tis ill to be the first to bring ill news ; 
 Yet needs must I the whole woe tell, ye Persians : 
 All our barbaric mighty host is lost. 2 
 
 STROPHE I 
 
 Ckor. O piteous, piteous woe ! 
 O strange and dread event ! 
 
 answer of the Chorus dwells upon the deeper contrast, then 
 prominent in the minds of all Athenians, between their demo- 
 cratic freedom and the despotism of Persia. Comp. Herod, 
 v. 78. 
 
 1 The system of postal communications by means of couriers 
 which Dareios had organised had made their speed in running 
 proverbial (Herod, vii. 97). 
 
 a With the characteristic contempt of a Greek for other 
 races, ^Eschylos makes the Persians speak of themselves 
 throughout as 'barbarians,' ' barbaric.' 
 30
 
 1HE PERSIANS 
 
 Weep, O ye Persians, hearing this great grief ! 
 
 Mess. Yea, all things there are ruined utterly ; 
 And I myself beyond all hopes behold 
 The light of day at home. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I 
 
 Chor. O'er-long doth life appear 
 
 To me, bowed down with years, 
 On hearing this unlooked-for misery. 
 
 Mess. And I, indeed, being present and not hearing 
 The tales of others, can report, ye Persians, 
 What ills were brought to pass. 
 
 STROPHE II 
 
 Chor. Alas, alas ! in vain 
 
 The many-weaponed and commingled host s:o 
 
 Went from the land of Asia to invade 
 The soil divine of Hellas. 
 
 Mess. Full of the dead, slain foully, are the coasts 
 Of Salamis, and all the neighbouring shore. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II 
 
 Chor. Alas, alas ! sea-tossed 
 The bodies of our friends, and much disstained : 
 Thou say'st that they are drifted to and fro 
 *In far out-floating garments. 1 
 
 Mess. E'en so ; our bows availed not, but the host 
 Has perished, conquered by the clash of ships. 
 
 STROPHE III 
 
 Chor. Wail, raise a bitter cry 28 
 
 And full of woe, for those who died in fight. 
 
 1 Perhaps ' ' On planks that floated onward," 
 or " On land and sea far spreading." 
 3*
 
 THE PERSIANS 
 
 How every way the Gods have wrought out ill, 
 Ah me ! ah me, our army all destroyed. 
 
 Mess. O name of Salamis that most I loathe ! 
 Ah, how I groan, remembering Athens too ! 
 
 ANTJSTROPHE III 
 
 Ckor. Yea, to her enemies 
 Athens may well be hateful, and our minds 
 Remember how full many a Persian wife 
 She, for no cause, made widows and bereaved. 
 
 Atoss. Long time I have been silent in my \voc, 
 Crushed down with grief; for this calamity 
 Exceeds all power to tell the woe, or ask. 
 Yet still we mortals needs must bear the griefs 
 The Gods send on us. Clearly tell thy tale, 
 Unfolding the whole mischief, even though 
 Thou groan'st at evils, who there is not dead, 
 And which of our chief captains we must mourn, 
 And who, being set in office o'er the host, 
 Left by their death their office desolate. 
 
 Mess. Xerxes still lives and sees the light of day. 
 
 Atoss. To my house, then, great light thy words 
 have brought, 
 
 Bright dawn of morning after murky night. 
 
 Mess. Artembares, the lord of myriad horse, 
 On the hard flinty coasts of the Sileni 
 Is now being dashed ; and valiant Dadakes, 
 Captain of thousands, smitten with the spear, 
 Leapt wildly from his ship. And Tenagon, 
 Best of the true old Bactrians, haunts the soil 
 Of Aias' isle ; Lilaios, Arsames, 
 And with them too Argestes, there defeated, 
 Hard by the island where the doves abound, 1 
 
 i Possibly Salamis itself, as famed for the doves which were 
 reared there as sacied to Aphrodite, but possibly also one of the 
 3*
 
 THE PERSIANS 
 
 Beat here and there upon the rocky shore. 
 
 [And from the springs of Neilos, ^Egypt's stream, 
 
 Arkteus, Adeues, Pheresseues too, 
 
 These with Pharnuchos in one ship were lost j] 
 
 Matallos, Chrysa-born, the captain bold 
 
 Of myriads, leader he of swarthy horse 
 
 Some thrice ten thousand strong, has fallen low, 
 
 His red beard, hanging all its shaggy length, 
 
 Deep dyed with blood, and purpled all his skin. 
 
 Arabian Magos, Bactrian Artames, 
 
 They perished, settlers in a land full rough. 
 
 [Amistris and Amphistreus, guiding well 
 
 The spear of many a conflict, and the noble 
 
 Ariomardos, leaving bitter grief 
 
 For Sardis ; and the Mysian Seisames.] 
 
 With twelve score ships and ten came Tharybis ; 
 
 Lyrnasan he in birth, once fair in form, 
 
 He lies, poor wretch, a death inglorious dying : 
 
 And, first in valour proved, Syennesis, 
 
 Kilikian satrap, who, for one man, gave 
 
 Most trouble to his foes, and nobly died. 
 
 Of leaders such as these I mention make, 
 
 And out of many evils tell but few. 
 
 Atoss. Woe, woe ! I hear the very worst of ills, 
 Shame to the Persians, cause of bitter wail ; 
 But tell me, going o'er the ground again, 
 How great the number of the Hellenes' navy, 
 That they presumed with Persia's armament 
 To wage their warfare in the clash of ships. 
 
 Mess. As far as numbers went, be sure the ships 
 Of Persia had the better, for the Hellenes m 
 
 Had, as their total, ships but fifteen score, 
 
 smaller islands in the Saronic gulf, which the epithet would be 
 enough to designate for an Athenian audience. The ' ' coasts of 
 the Sileni " in v. 305 are identified by scholiasts with Salamis.
 
 THE PERSIANS 
 
 And other ten selected as reserve. 1 
 And Xerxes (well I know it) had a thousand 
 Which he commanded those that most excelled 2 
 In speed were twice five score and seven in number ; 
 So stands the account. Deem'st thou our forces less 
 In that encounter ? Nay, some Power above 
 Destroyed our host, and pressed the balance down 
 With most unequal fortune, and the Gods 
 Preserve the city of the Goddess Pallas. 
 
 Atoss, Is the Athenians' city then unsacked ? 
 
 Meis. Their men are left, and that is bulwark strong. 3 
 
 Atoss. Next tell me how the fight of ships began. 
 Who led the attack ? Were those Hellenes the first, 
 Or vvas't my son, exulting in his strength ? 
 
 Mess. The author of the mischief, O my mistress, 
 Was some foul fiend or Power on evil bent ; 
 For lo ! a Hellene from the Athenian host 4 
 Came to thy son, to Xerxes, and spake thus, 
 That should the shadow of the dark night come, 
 The Hellenes would not wait him, but would leap * 
 Into their rowers' benches, here and there, 
 And save their lives in secret, hasty flight. 
 
 1 Perhaps " And ten of these selected as reserve." 
 
 2 As regards the number of the Persian ships, 1000 of average, 
 and 207 of special swiftness. ^Eschylos agrees with Herodotos, 
 who gives the total of 1207. The latter, however, reckons the 
 Greek ships not at 310, but 378 (vii. 89, viii. 48). 
 
 3 The fact that Athens had actually been taken, and its chief 
 buildings plundered and laid waste, was, of course, not a pleas- 
 ant one for the poet to dwell on. It could hardly, however, be 
 entirely passed over, and this is the one allusion to it. In the 
 truest sense it was still "unsacked : " it had not lost its most 
 effective defence, its most precious treasure. 
 
 4 As the story is told by Herodotos (vii. 75), this was Sikinnos, 
 the slave of Themistocles, and the stratagem was the device of 
 that commander to save the Greeks from the disgrace and ruin 
 of a sauw quipeitt flight in all directions, 
 
 34
 
 THE PERSIANS 
 
 And he forthwith, this hearing, knowing not 
 
 The Hellene's guile, nor yet the Gods' great wrath, 
 
 Gives this command to all his admirals, 
 
 Soon as the sun should cease to burn the earth 
 
 With his bright rays, and darkness thick invade 
 
 The firmament of heaven, to set their ships 
 
 In three-fold lines, to hinder all escape, 
 
 And guard the billowy straits, and others place 
 
 In circuit round about the isle of Aias : 
 
 For if the Hellenes 'scaped an evil doom, 
 
 And found a way of secret, hasty flight, 
 
 It was ordained that all should lose their heads. 1 
 
 Such things he spake from soul o'erwrought with pride, 
 
 For he knew not what fate the Gods would send ; 
 
 And they, not mutinous, but prompt to serve, 
 
 Then made their supper ready, and each sailor 
 
 Fastened his oar around true-fitting thole ; 
 
 And when the sunlight vanished, and the night 
 
 Had come, then each man, master of an oar, 
 
 Went to his ship, and all men bearing arms, 
 
 And through the long ships rank cheered loud to rank ; 
 
 And so they sail, as 'twas appointed each, 
 
 And all night long the captains of the fleet 
 
 Kept their men working, rowing to and fro ; 
 
 Night then came on, and the Hellenic host 
 
 In no wise sought to take to secret flight. 
 
 And when day, bright to look on with white steeds, 
 
 O'erspread the earth, then rose from the Hellenes 3l>0 
 
 Loud chant of cry of battle, and forthwith 
 
 Echo gave answer from each island rock ; 
 
 And terror then on all the Persians fell, 
 
 Of fond hopes disappointed. Not in flight 
 
 1 The Greeks never beheaded their criminals, and the punish 
 ment is mentioned as being specially characteristic of the bar- 
 baric Persians. 
 
 35
 
 THE PERSIANS 
 
 The Hellenes then their solemn paeans sang i 
 
 But with brave spirit hasting on to battle. 
 
 With martial sound the trumpet fired those ranks ; 
 
 And straight with sweep of oars that flew through foam, 
 
 They smote the loud waves at the boatswain's call ; 
 
 And swiftly all were manifest to sight. 
 
 Then first their right wing moved in order meet ;* 
 
 Next the whole line its forward course began, 
 
 And all at once we heard a mighty shout, 
 
 " O sons of Hellenes, forward, free your country ; 
 
 Free too your wives, your children, and the shrines 
 
 Built to your fathers' Gods, and holy tombs 
 
 Your ancestors now rest in. Now the fight 
 
 Is for our all." And on our side indeed 
 
 Arose in answer din of Persian speech, 
 
 And time to wait was over ; ship on ship 
 
 Dashed its bronze-pointed beak, and first a barque 
 
 Of Hellas did the encounter fierce begin, 2 
 
 And from Phoenikian vessel crashes off 
 
 Her carved prow. And each against his neighbour 
 
 Steers his own ship : and first the mighty flood 
 
 Of Persian host held out. But when the ships 
 
 Were crowded in the straits, 3 nor could they give 
 
 Help to each other, they with mutual shocks, 
 
 With beaks of bronze went crushing each the other, 
 
 Shivering their rowers' benches. And the ships 
 
 Of Hellas, with manoeuvring not unskilful, 
 
 1 The ^ginetans and Megarians, according to the account 
 preserved by Diodoros (xi. 18), or the Lacedaemonians, accord- 
 ing to Herodotos (viii. 65). 
 
 2 This may be meant to refer to the achievements of Ameinias 
 of Pallene, who appears in the traditional life of CEschylos as 
 his youngest brother. 
 
 3 Sc. , in Herod, viii. 60, the strait between Salamis and the 
 mainland. 
 
 36
 
 THE PERSIANS 
 
 Charged circling round them. And the hulls of ships 4W 
 
 Floated capsized, nor could the sea be seen, 
 
 Strown, as it was, with wrecks and carcases ; 
 
 And all the shores and rocks were full of corpses. 
 
 And every ship was wildly rowed in fight, 
 
 All that composed the Persian armament. 
 
 And they, as men spear tunnies, 1 or a haul 
 
 Of other fishes, with the shafts of oars, 
 
 Or spars of wrecks went smiting, cleaving down ; 
 
 And bitter groans and wailings overspread 
 
 The wide sea-waves, till eye of swarthy night 
 
 Bade it all cease : and for the mass of ills, 
 
 Not, though my tale should run for ten full days, 
 
 Could I in full recount them. Be assured 
 
 That never yet so great a multitude 
 
 Died in a single day as died in this. 
 
 Atoss. Ah, me ! Great then the sea of ills that breaks 
 On Persia and the whole barbaric host. 
 
 Mess. Be sure our evil fate is but half o'er : 
 On this has supervened such bulk of woe, 
 As more than twice to outweigh what I've told. <10 
 
 Atoss. And yet what fortune could beworse than this? 
 Say, what is this disaster which thou tell'st, 
 That turns the scale to greater evils still ? 
 
 Mess. Those Persians that were in the bloom of life, 
 Bravest in heart and noblest in their blood, 
 And by the king himself deemed worthiest trust, 
 Basely and by most shameful death have died. 
 
 Atoss. Ah ! woe is me, my friends, for our ill fate ! 
 What was the death by which thou say'st they perished ? 
 
 1 Tunny-fishing has always been prominent in the occupations 
 on the Mediterranean coasts, and the sailors who formed so 
 large a part of every Athenian audience would be familiar with 
 the process here described, of striking or harpooning them. 
 Aristophanes ( Wasps, 1087) coins (or uses) the word ' ' to tunny " 
 (evwo.fr) to express the act. Comp. Herod, i. 63,
 
 THE PERSIANS 
 
 Mess. There is an isle that lies off Salamis, 1 
 Small, with bad anchorage for ships, where Pan, 43 
 Pan the dance-loving, haunts the sea-washed coast. 
 There Xerxes sends these men, that when their foes, 
 Being wrecked, should to the islands safely swim, 
 They might with ease destroy th' Hellenic host, 
 And save their friends from out the deep sea's paths ; 
 But ill the future guessing : for when God 
 Gave the Hellenes the glory of the battle, 
 In that same hour, with arms well wrought in bronze 
 Shielding their bodies, from their ships they leapt, 
 And the whole isle encircled, so that we 
 Were sore distressed, 2 and knew not where to turn ; 
 For here men's hands hurled many a stone at them ; 
 And there the arrows from the archer's bow 
 Smote and destroyed them ; and with one great rush, 
 At last advancing, they upon them dash 
 And smite, and hew the limbs of these poor wretches, 
 Till they each foe had utterly destroyed. 
 [And Xerxes when he saw how deep the ill, 3 
 Groaned out aloud, for he had ta'en his seat, 
 With clear, wide view of all the army round, 
 On a high cliff hard by the open sea ; 
 And tearing then his robes with bitter cry, 
 
 1 Sc, , Psyttaleia, lying between Salamis and the mainland. 
 Pausanias (i. 36-82) describes it in his time as having no artistic 
 shrine or statue, but full everywhere of roughly carved images of 
 Pan, to whom the island was sacred. It lay just opposite the 
 entrance to the Peiraeos. The connexion of Pan with Salamis 
 and its adjacent islands seems implied in Sophocles, Aias, 695. 
 
 2 The manoeuvre was, we learn from Herodotos (viii. 95), the 
 work of Aristeides, the personal friend of ^Eschylos, and the 
 statesman with whose policy he had most sympathy. 
 
 3 The lines are noted as probably a spurious addition, by a 
 weaker hand, to the text, as introducing surplusage, as incon- 
 sistent with Herodotos, and as faulty in their metrical structure. 
 
 38
 
 THE PERSIANS 
 
 And giving orders to his troops on shore, 
 
 He sends them off in foul retreat. This grief 
 
 'Tis thine to mourn besides the former ills.] 
 
 Atoss. O hateful Power, how thou of all their hopes 
 Hast robbed the Persians ! Bitter doom my son 
 Devised for glorious Athens, nor did they, 
 The invading host who fell at Marathon, 
 Suffice ; but my son, counting it his task 
 To exact requital for it, brought on him 
 So great a crowd of sorrows. But I pray, 
 As to those ships that have this fate escaped, 
 Where did'st thou leave them ? Can'st thou clearly tell I 
 
 Mess. The captains of the vessels that were left, 
 With a fair wind, but not in meet array, 
 Took flight : and all the remnant of the army 
 Fell in Bceotia some for stress of thirst 
 About the fountain clear, and some of us, 
 Panting for breath, cross to the Phokians' land, 
 The soil of Doris, and the Melian gulf, 
 Where fair Spercheios waters all the plains 
 With kindly flood, and then the Achaean fields <9 
 And city of the Thessali received us, 
 Famished for lack of food j 1 and many died 
 Of thirst and hunger, for both ills we bore ; 
 And then to the Magnetian land we came, 
 And that of Macedonians, to the stream 
 Of Axios, and Bolbe's reed-grown marsh, 
 And Mount Pangaios and the Edonian land. 
 And on that night God sent a mighty frost, 
 Unwonted at that season, sealing up 
 The whole course of the Strymon's pure, clear flood ; a 
 
 i So Herodotos (viii. 115) describes them as driven by hun- 
 ger to eat even grass and leaves. 
 
 ^2 No trace of this passage over the frozen Strymon appears 
 
 in* Herodotos, who leaves the reader to imagine that it was 
 
 39
 
 THE PERSIANS 
 
 And they who erst had deemed the Gods as nought, ^ 
 
 Then prayed with hot entreaties, worshipping 
 
 Both earth and heaven. And after that the host 
 
 Ceased from its instant calling on the Gods, 
 
 It crosses o'er the glassy, frozen stream ; 
 
 And whosoe'er set forth before the rays 
 
 Of the bright God were shed abroad, was saved ; 
 
 For soon the glorious sun with burning blaze 
 
 Reached the mid-stream and warmed it with its flame, 
 
 And they, confused, each on the other fell. 
 
 Blest then was he whose soul most speedily 
 
 Breathed out its life. And those who yet survived 
 
 And gained deliverance, crossing with great toil 6l 
 
 And many a pang through Thrake, now are come, 
 
 Escaped from perils, no great number they, 
 
 To this our sacred land, and so it groans, 
 
 This city of the Persians, missing much 
 
 Our country's dear-loved youth. Too true my tale, 
 
 And many things I from my speech omit, 
 
 Ills which the Persians suffer at God's hand. 
 
 Chor. O Power resistless, with what weight of woe 
 On all the Persian race have thy feet leapt ! 
 
 At oss. Ah ! woe is me for that our army lost ! 
 
 vision of the night that cam'st in dreams, 
 Too clearly did'st thou show me of these ills ! 
 
 But ye (to Chorus) did judge them far too carelessly ; 
 Yet since your counsel pointed to that course, 
 
 1 to the Gods will first my prayer address. 
 And then with gifts to Earth and to the Dead, 
 Bringing the chrism from my store, I'll come. 
 
 crossed, as before, by a bridge. It is hardly, indeed, consistent 
 with dramatic probability that the courier should have remained 
 to watch the whole retreat of the defeated army ; and on this and 
 other grounds, the latter part of the speech has been rejected by 
 some critics as a later addition, 
 40
 
 THE PERSIANS 
 
 For our past ills, 1 know, 'tis all too late, 
 But for the future, I may hope, will dawn 
 A better fortune ! But 'tis now your part 
 In these our present ills, in counsel faithful 
 To commune with the Faithful ; and my son, 
 Should he come here before me, comfort him, 
 And home escort him, lest he add fresh ill 
 To all these evils that we suffer now. [Exit 
 
 , Chor. Zeus our king, who now to nothing 
 
 Bring'st the army of the Persians, 
 
 Multitudinous, much boasting ; 
 
 And with gloomy woe hast shrouded 
 
 Both Ecbatana and Susa ; 
 
 Many maidens now are tearing 
 
 With their tender hands their mantles, M0 
 
 And with tear-floods wet their bosoms, 
 
 In the common grief partaking ; 
 
 And the brides of Persian warriors, 
 
 Dainty even in their wailing, 
 
 Longing for their new-wed husbands, 
 
 Reft of bridal couch luxurious, 
 
 With its coverlet so dainty, 
 
 Losing joy of wanton youth-time, 
 
 Mourn in never-sated wailings. 
 
 And I too in fullest measure 
 
 Raise again meet cry of sorrow, 
 
 Weeping for the loved and lost ones. 
 
 STROPHE I 
 
 For now the land of Asia mourneth sore, 65 
 
 Left desolate of men, 
 'Twas Xerxes led them forth, woe ! woe ! 
 'Twas Xerxes lost them all, woe ! woe ! 
 'Twas Xerxes who with evil counsels sped 
 Their course in sea-borne barques. 
 4'
 
 THE PERSIANS 
 
 Why was Dareios erst so free from harm, 
 
 First bowman of the state, 
 The leader whom the men of Susa loved, 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I 
 
 While those who fought as soldiers or at sea, 
 
 These ships, dark-hulled, well-rowed, 
 Their own ships bore them on, woe ! woe ! 
 Their own ships lost them all, woe ! woe ! 
 Their own ships, in the crash of ruin urged, 
 
 And by Ionian hands? 1 
 
 The king himself, we hear, but hardly 'scapes, 
 Through Thrake's wide-spread steppes, 
 And paths o'er which the tempests wildly sweep. 
 
 STROPHE II 
 
 And they who perished first, ah me ! 
 
 Perforce unburied left, alas ! 
 
 Are scattered round Kychreia's shore, 2 woe ! woe ! 
 Lament, mourn sore, and raise a bitter cry, 
 
 Grievous, the sky to pierce, woe ! woe ! 
 And let thy mourning voice uplift its strain 
 
 Of loud and full lament. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II 
 
 Torn by the whirling flood, ah me ! 
 
 Their carcases are gnawed, alas ! 
 
 By the dumb brood of stainless sea, woe ! woe ! m 
 And each house mourneth for its vanished lord ; 
 
 And childless sires, woe ! woe ! 
 Mourning in age o'er griefs the Gods have sent, 
 
 Now hear their utter loss. 
 
 * The lonians, not of the Asiatic Ionia, but of Attica. 
 3 Kychreia, the archaic name of Salamis. 
 42
 
 THE PERSIANS 
 
 STROPHE III 
 
 And throughout all Asia's borders 
 None now own the sway of Persia, 
 Nor bring any more their tribute, 
 Owning sway of sovereign master. 
 Low upon the Earth, laid prostrate, 
 Is the strength of our great monarch 
 
 ANTISTKOPHE III 
 
 No more need men keep in silence 
 Tongues fast bound : for now the people 
 May with freedom speak at pleasure ; 
 For the yoke of power is broken ; 
 And blood-stained in all its meadows 
 Holds the sea-washed isle of Aias 
 What was once the host of Persia. 
 
 Re-enter ATOSSA 
 
 Atoss. Whoe'er, my friends, is vexed in troublous 
 times, m 
 
 Knows that when once a tide of woe sets in, 
 A man is wont to fear in everything ; 
 But when Fate flows on smoothly, then to trust 
 That the same Fate will ever send fair gales. 
 So now all these disasters from the Gods 
 Seem in mine eyes filled full of fear and dread, 
 And in mine ears rings cry unpaeanlike, 
 So great a dread of all has seized my soul : 
 And therefore now, without or chariot's state 
 Or wonted pomp, have I thus issued forth 
 From out my palace, to my son's sire bringing 
 Libations loving, gifts propitiatory, 
 Meet for the dead ; milk pure and white from cow 
 Unblemished, and bright honey that distils 
 43
 
 THE PERSIANS 
 
 From the flower-working bee, and water drawn 
 
 From virgin fountain, and the draught unmarred 
 
 From mother wild, bright child of ancient vine; 
 
 And here too of the tree that evermore 
 
 Keeps its fresh life in foliage, the pale olive, 
 
 Is the sweet-smelling fruit, and twrned wreaths 
 
 Of flowers, the children of all-bearing earth. 1 62 
 
 But ye, my friends, o'er these libations poured 
 
 In honour of the dead, chant forth your hymns, 
 
 And call upon Dareios as a God : 
 
 While I will send unto the Gods below 
 
 These votive offerings which the earth shall drink. 
 
 [Goes to the tomb <J/"DAREIOS in the centre 
 
 of the stage 
 Chor. O royal lady, honoured of the Persians, 
 
 Do thou libations pour 
 To the dark chambers of the dead below ; 
 
 And we with hymns will pray 
 The Powers that act as escorts of the dead 
 To give us kindly help beneath the earth. 
 But oh, ye holy Ones in darkness dwelling, * 30 
 
 Hermes and Earth, and thou, the Lord of Hell, 
 
 Send from beneath a soul 
 
 Up to the light of earth ; 
 For should he know a cure for these our ills, 
 He, he alone of men, their end may tell. 
 
 STROPHE I 
 
 Doth he, the blest one hear, 
 The king, like Gods in power, 
 
 1 The ritual described is Hellenic rather than Persian, and 
 takes its place (Soph. Electr. 836 ; Eurip. Ifhig. Taur. 583 ; 
 Homer, //. xxiii. 219) as showing what offerings were employed 
 to soothe or call up the spirits of the dead. Comp. Pliny, Hist. 
 Nat. xxx. 
 
 44
 
 THE PERSIANS 
 
 Hear me, as I send forth 
 My cries in barbarous speech* 
 Yet very clear to him, 
 Sad, 'varied, broken cries 
 So as to tell aloud 
 Our troubles terrible ? 
 Ah, doth he hear below ? 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I 
 
 But thou, O Earth, and ye, 
 The other Lords of those 
 Beneath the grave that dwell ; 
 Grant that the godlike one 
 May come from out your home, 
 The Persians' mighty God, 
 In Susa's palace born ; 
 Send him, I pray you, up, 
 The like of whom the soil 
 Of Persia never hid. 
 
 STROPHE II 
 
 Dear was our chief, and dear to us his tomb, 
 
 For dear the life it hides ; 
 Aidoneus, O Aidoneus, send him forth, 
 Thou who dost lead the dead to Earth again, 
 *Yea, send Dareios. . . . What a king was he ! 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II 
 
 For never did he in war's bloody woe 
 
 Lose all his warrior-host, 
 
 But Heaven-taught Counsellor the Persians called him, 
 And Heaven-taught Counsellor in truth he proved, 
 Since he still ruled his hosts of subjects well.
 
 THE PERSIANS 
 
 STROPHE III 
 
 Monarch, O ancient monarch, come, oh, come, 
 Come to the summit of sepulchral mound, cm 
 
 Lifting thy foot encased 
 
 In slipper saffron-dyed, 
 
 And giving to our view 
 
 Thy royal tiara's crest : l 
 Speak, O Dareios, faultless father, speak. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III 
 
 Yea, come, that thou, O Lord, may'st hear the woes, 
 Woes new and strange, our lord has now endured ; 
 
 For on us now has fallen 
 
 A dark and Stygian mist, 
 
 Since all the armed youth 
 
 Has perished utterly-; 
 Speak, O Dareios, faultless father, speak. 
 
 EPODE 
 
 O thou, whose death thy friends 
 
 Bewail with many tears, 
 
 *Why thus, O Lord of lords, 
 *In double error of wild frenzy bom, 
 
 Have all our triremes good 
 
 Been lost to this our land, 
 Ships that are ships no more, yea, ships no more ? 
 
 The Ghost S^DAREIOS appears on the summit of the 
 mound 
 
 Dar. O faithful of the Faithful, ye who were 
 Companions of my youth, ye Persian elders, 
 
 1 The description obviously gives the state dress of the Persian 
 kings. They alone wore the tiara erect. Xen. Kyrop, viii. 3, 13. 
 46
 
 THE PERSIANS 
 
 What troubles is't my country toils beneath ? 
 
 The whole plain groans, cut up and furrowed o'er, 1 
 
 And I, beholding now my queen beloved 
 
 Standing hard by my sepulchre, feared much, 
 
 And her libations graciously received ; 
 
 But ye wail loud near this my sepulchre, 
 
 And shouting shrill with cries that raise the dead, 
 
 Ye call me with your plaints. No easy task 
 
 Is it to come, for this cause above all, 
 
 That the great Gods who reign below are apter 
 
 To seize men than release : yet natheless I, 
 
 Being great in power among them, now am come. 
 
 Be quick then, that none blame me as too late ; 2 
 
 What new dire evils on the Persians weigh f 
 
 Chor. I fear to look on thee, 
 
 Fear before thee to speak, 
 With all the awe of thee I felt of old. 
 
 Dar. But since I came by thy complaints persuaded, 
 From below rising, spin no lengthened tale ; 
 But shortly, clearly speak, and tell thy story, 
 And leave awhile thine awe and fear of me. 
 
 Cher., I dread thy wish to grant, 
 
 *I dread to say thee nay, 3 
 Saying things that it is hard for friends to speak. 
 
 Dar. Nay, then, since that old dreadof thineprevents 
 thee, 
 
 1 Either that he has felt the measured tread of the mourners 
 round his tomb, as they went wailing round and round, or that 
 he has heard the rush of armies, and seen the plain tracked by 
 chariot-wheels, and comes, not knowing all these things, to learn 
 what it means. 
 
 2 The words point to the widespread belief that when the 
 souls of the dead were permitted to return to the earth, it was 
 with strict limitations as to the time of their leave of absence. 
 
 8 Perhaps " I dread to speak the truth." 
 47
 
 THE PERSIANS 
 
 Do thou [to ATOSSA], the ancient partner of my bed, ** 
 My noble queen, from these thy plaints and meanings 
 Cease, and say something clearly. Human sorrows 
 May well on mortals fall ; for many evils, 
 Some on the sea, and some on dry land also, 
 Happen to men if life be far prolonged. 
 
 Atoss. O thou, who in the fate of fair good fortune 
 Excelled'st all men, who, while yet thou sawest 
 The sun's bright rays, did'st lead a life all blessed, 
 Admired, yea, worshipped as a God by Persians, 
 Now, too, I count thee blest in that thou died'st 
 Before thou saw'st the depth of these our evils. 
 For now, Dareios, thou shalt hear a story 
 Full, yet in briefest moment. Utter ruin, 
 To sum up all, is come upon the Persians. 
 
 Dar. How so ? Hath plague or discord seized my 
 country ? 
 
 Atoss. Not so, but all the host is lost near Athens. 
 
 Dar. What son of mine led that host hither, tell me ? l 
 
 Atoss. Xerxes o'er-hasty, emptying all the mainland. 
 
 Dar. Made he this mad attempt by land or water ? 
 
 Atoss. By both ; two lines there were of two great 
 armies. 
 
 Dar. How did so great a host effect its passage ? 
 
 Atoss. He bridged the straits of Helle, and found 
 transit. 
 
 Dar. Did he prevail to close the mighty Bosporos ? 
 
 Atoss. So was it ; yet some God, it may be, helped 
 him. 
 
 Dar. Alas ! some great God came and stole his 
 wisdom. 
 
 Atoss. Yea, the end shows what evil he accomplished. 
 
 1 According to Herodotos (vii. 225) two brothers of Xerxes 
 fell at Thermopylae.
 
 THE PERSIANS 
 
 Dar. And how have they fared, that ye thus bewail 
 
 them ? 
 Atoss. The naval host, o'ercome, wrecked all the 
 
 land-force. 
 Dar. What ! Is the whole host by the spear laid 
 
 prostrate ? 
 
 Atoss. For this doth Susa's city mourn her losses. 
 Dar. Alas, for that brave force and mighty army ! 
 Atoss. The Bactrians all are lost, not old men merely. 
 Dar. Poor fool ! how he hath lost his host's fresh 
 
 vigour 
 
 Atoss. Xerxes, they say, alone, with but few 
 others .... 73 
 
 Dar. What is his end, and where ? Is there no safety ? 
 
 Atoss. Was glad to gain the bridge that joins two 
 mainlands. 
 
 Dar. And has he reached this mainland ? Is that 
 certain ? 
 
 Atoss. Yea, the report holds good. Hereisnodiscord. 1 
 
 Dar. Ah me ! Full swift the oracles' fulfilment ! 
 And on my son hath Zeus their end directed. 
 I hoped the Gods would work them out more slowly ; 
 But when man hastens, God too with him worketh. 
 And now for all my friends a fount of evils 
 Seems to be found. And this my son, not knowing, 74 
 In youth's rash mood, hath wrought ; for he did purpose 
 To curb the sacred Hellespont with fetters, 
 As though it were his slave, and sought to alter 
 The stream of God, the Bosporos, full-flowing, 
 And his well-hammered chains around it casting, 
 Prevailed to make his mighty host a highway ; 
 And though a mortal, thought, with no good counsel, 
 
 1 As Herodotos (viii. 117) tells the story, the bridge had been 
 broken by the tempest before Xerxes reached it. 
 
 i 49 P
 
 THE PERSIANS ( 
 
 To master all the Gods, yea, e'en Poseidon. 
 Nay, was not my poor son oppressed with madness ? 
 And much I fear lest all my heaped-up treasure 
 Become the spoil and prey of the first comer. 
 
 Atoss. Such things the o'er-hasty Xerxes learns from 
 
 others, 
 
 By intercourse with men of evil counsel ;* 
 Who say that thou great wealth for thy son gained'st 
 By thy spear's might, while he with coward spirit 
 Does his spear-work indoors, and nothing addeth 
 Unto his father's glory. Such reproaches 
 Hearing full oft from men of evil counsel, 
 He planned this expedition against Hellas. 
 
 Dar. Thus then a deed portentous hath been wrought, 
 Ever to be remembered, such as ne'er 
 Falling on Susa made it desolate, 
 Since Zeus our king ordained this dignity, 
 That one man should be lord of Asia's plains. 
 Where feed her thousand flocks, and hold the rod 76 
 Of sovran guidance : for the Median first 2 
 Ruled o'er the host, and then his son in turn 
 Finished the work, for reason steered his soul ; 
 And Kyros came as third, full richly blest, 
 And ruled, and gained great peace for all his friends ; 
 And he won o'er the Lydians and the Phrygians, 
 
 1 Probably M.irdonios and Ononiacritos the Athenian sooth- 
 sayer are referred to, who, according to Herodotos (vii. 6, via. 
 99) were the chief instigators of the expedition. 
 
 2 Astyages, the father-in-law of Kyaxares and grandfather of 
 Kyros. In this case ^Eschylos must be supposed to accept 
 Xenophon's statement that Kyaxares succeeded to Astyages. 
 Possibly, however, the Median may be Kyaxares I., the father 
 of Astyages, and so the succession here would harmonise with 
 that of Herodotos. The whole succession must be looked on as 
 embodying the loose, floating notions of the Athenians as to the 
 history of their great enemy, rather than as the result of inquiry.
 
 THE PERSIANS 
 
 And conquered all the wide Ionian land ;* 
 
 For such his wisdom, he provoked not God. 
 
 And Kyros' son came fourth, and ruled the host ; 
 
 And Mardos fifth held sway, his country's shame,"' 7ro 
 
 Shame to the ancient throne ; and him with guile 
 
 Artaphrenes 3 the brave smote down, close leagued 
 
 With men, his friends, to whom the work was given. 
 
 [Sixth, Maraphis and seventh Artaphrenes,] 
 
 And I obtained this post that I desired, 
 
 And with a mighty host great victories won. 
 
 Yet no such evil brought I on the state ; 
 
 But my son Xerxes, young, thinks like a youth, 
 
 And all my solemn charge remembers not ; 
 
 For know this well, my old companions true, ISO 
 
 That none of us who swayed the realm of old, 
 
 Did e'er appear as working ills like these. 
 
 Chor. What then, O King Dareios ? To what end 
 Lead'st thou thy speech ? And how, in this our plight, 
 Could we, the Persian people, prosper best ? 
 
 Dar. If ye no more attack the Hellenes' land, 
 E'en though the Median host outnumbers theirs. 
 To them the very land is true ally. 
 
 Chor. What meanest thou ? How fights the land 
 for them ? 
 
 Dar. *It slays with famine those vast multitudes. 7lf0 
 
 1 Stress is laid on the violence to which the Asiatic lonians 
 had succumbed, and their resistance to which distinguished 
 them from the Lydians or Phrygians, whose submission had 
 been voluntary. 
 
 2 Mardos. Under this name we recognise the Pseudo-Smerdis 
 of Herodotos (iii. 67), who, by restoring the dominion of the 
 Median Magi, the caste to which he himself belonged, brought 
 shame upon the Persians. 
 
 3 Possibly another form of Intaphernes, who appears in 
 Herodotos (iii. 70) as one of the seven conspirators against the 
 Magian Pseudo-Smerdis. 
 
 5
 
 Cher. We then a host, select, compact, will raise". 
 
 Dar. Nay, e'en the host which now in Hellas stays 1 
 Will ne'er return in peace and safety home. 
 
 Char. How say'st thou ? Does not all the barbarous 
 
 host 
 Cross from Europa o'er the straits of Helle ? 
 
 Dar. But few of many ; if 'tis meet for one 
 Who looks upon the things already done 
 To trust the oracles of Gods ; for they, 
 Not these or those, but all, are brought to pass : 
 If this be so, then, resting on vain hopes, 2 
 He leaves a chosen portion of his host : 
 And they abide where, watering all the plain, 
 Asopos pours his fertilising stream 
 Dear to Boeotian land ; and there of ills 
 The topmost crown awaits them, penalty 
 Of wanton outrage and of godless thoughts ; 
 For they to Hellas coming, held not back 
 In awe from plundering sculptured forms of Gods* 
 And burning down their temples ; and laid low 
 Are altars, and the shrines of Gods o'erthrown, 
 E'en from their base. They therefore having wrought 
 Deeds evil, now are suffering, and will suffer 
 Evil not less, and not as yet is seen 
 
 1 The force of 300,000 men left in Greece under Mardonios 
 (Herod, viii. 113), afterwards defeated at Plataea. 
 
 2 Comp. the speech of Mardonios urging his plan on Xerxes 
 (Herod, viii. 100). 
 
 * This was of course a popular topic with the Athenians, 
 whose own temples had been outraged. But other sanctuaries 
 also, the temples at Delphi and Abae, had shared the same fate, 
 and these sins against the Gods of Hellas were naturally con- 
 nected in the thoughts of the Greeks with the subsequent 
 disasters of the Persians. In Egypt these outrages had an 
 iconoclastic character. In Athens they were a retaliation for 
 the destruction of the temple at Sardis (Herod, v. 102). 
 5*
 
 THE PERSIANS 
 
 *E'en the bare groundwork of the ills, but still 
 They grow up to completeness. Such a stream 
 Of blood and slaughter soon shall flow from them 
 By Dorian spear upon Platasan ground, 1 
 And heaps of corpses shall to children's children, 
 Though speechless, witness to the eyes of men 
 That mortal man should not wax overproud ; 
 For wanton pride from blossom grows to fruit, 
 The full corn in the ear, of utter woe, 
 And reaps a tear-fraught harvest. Seeing then, 
 Such recompense of these things, cherish well 
 The memory of Athens and of Hellas ; 
 Let no man in his scorn of present fortune, 
 And thirst for other, mar his good estate ; 
 Zeus is the avenger of o'er-lofty thoughts, 
 A terrible controller. Therefore now, 
 Since voice of God bids him be wise of heart, 
 Admonish him with counsel true and good 
 To cease his daring sacrilegious pride ; 
 And thou, O Xerxes' mother, old and dear, 
 Go to thy home, and taking what apparel 
 Is fitting, go to meet thy son ; for all 
 The costly robes around his limbs are torn 
 To rags and shreds in griefs wild agony. 
 But do thou gently soothe his soul with words ; 
 For he to thee alone will deign to hearken ; 
 But I must leave the earth for darkness deep : 
 And ye, old men, farewell, although in woe, 
 And give your soul its daily bread of joy ; 
 For to the dead no profit bringeth wealth. 
 
 [Exit, disappearing in the earth. 
 
 * The reference to the prominent part taken by the Pelopon- 
 nesian forces in the battle of Plataeae is probably due to the 
 political sympathies of the dramatist. 
 53
 
 THE PERSIANS 
 
 Chor. I shudder as I hear the many woes 
 Both past and present that on Persians fall. wo 
 
 Atoss. [O God, how many evils fall on me ! l 
 And yet this one woe biteth more than all, 
 Hearing my son's shame in the rags of robes 
 That clothe his limbs. But I will go and take 
 A fit adornment from my house, and try 
 To meet my son. We will not in his troubles 
 Basely abandon him whom most we love.] 
 
 STROPHE I 
 
 Chor. Ah me ! a glorious and a blessed life 
 
 Had we as subjects once, 
 When our old king, Dareios, ruled the land, 
 Meeting all wants, dispassionate, supreme, 
 
 A monarch like a God. 
 
 ANTISTROPIIE I 
 
 For first we showed the world our noble hosts ; 
 
 And laws of tower-like strength 
 Directed all things ; and our backward march 
 After our wars unhurt, unsuffering led 
 
 Our prospering armies home. 
 
 STROPHE II 
 
 How many towns he took, 
 Not crossing Halys' stream 2 
 Nor issuing from his home, 
 
 1 The speech of Atossa is rejected by Paley, on internal 
 grounds, as spurious. 
 
 8 Apparently an allusion to the oracle given to Croesos, that he, 
 if he crossed the Halys, should destroy a great kingdom. 
 54
 
 THE PERSIANS 
 
 There where in Strymon's sea, 
 The Acheloian Isles 1 
 Lie near the coasts of Thrakian colonies. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II 
 
 And those that lie outside the ^Egasan main, 
 
 The cities girt with towers, 
 
 They hearkened to our king ; 
 
 And those who boast their site 
 
 By Helle's full, wide stream, 
 Propontis with its bays, and mouth of Pontos broad. 87 
 
 STROPHE III 
 
 And all the isles that lie 
 Facing the headland jutting in the sea, 8 
 
 Close bound to this our coast ; 
 Lesbos, and Samos with its olive groves ; 
 
 Chios and Paros too ; 
 Naxos and Myconos, and Andros too 
 
 On Tenos bordering. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III 
 
 And so he ruled the isles 
 That lie midway between the continents, 
 
 Lemnos, and Icaros, 
 Rhodos and Cnidos and the Kyprian towns, 
 
 1 The name originally given to the Echinades, a group of 
 islands at the mouth of the Achelobs, was applied generically 
 to all islands lying near the mouth of all great rivers, and here, 
 probably, includes Imbros, Thasos.and Samothrake. 
 
 2 The geography is somewhat obscure, but the words seem 
 to refer to the portion of the islands that are named as opposite 
 (in a southerly direction) to the promontory of the Troad. 
 
 55
 
 THE PERSIANS 
 
 Paphos and Soli famed, 
 And with them Salamis, 
 Whose parent city now our groans doth cause ; T 
 
 EPODE 
 
 And many a wealthy town and populous, 
 Of Hellenes in the Ionian region dwelling, 
 
 He by his counsel ruled ; 
 His was the unconquered strength of warrior host, 
 
 Allies of mingled race. 
 
 And now, beyond all doubt, 
 In strife of war defeated utterly, 
 
 We find this high estate 
 
 Through wrath of God o'erturned, K0 
 
 And we are smitten low, 
 
 By bitter loss at sea. 
 
 Enter XERXES in kingly apparel, but with his robes rent, 
 with Attendants. 
 
 Xer. Oh, miserable me ! 
 
 Who this dark hateful doom 
 
 That I expected least 
 
 Have met with as my lot, 
 
 With what stern mood and fierce 
 
 Towards the Persian race 
 
 Is God's hand laid on us ! 
 
 What woe will come on me ? 
 
 Gone is my strength of limb, 
 
 As I these elders see. 
 
 Ah, would to Heaven, O Zeus, 
 
 That with the men who fell 
 
 1 Salamis in Kypros had been colonised by Teukros, tbe son 
 of Aias, and had received its name in remembrance of the bland 
 in the Saronic Gulf. 
 
 56
 
 THE PERSIANS 
 
 Death's doom had covered me ! 
 Ckor. Ah, woe, O King, woe ! woe ! 
 
 For the army brave in fight, 
 
 And our goodly Persian name, 
 
 And the fair array of men, 
 
 Whom God hath now cut off ! 
 
 And the land bewails its youth 
 
 Who for our Xerxes fell, 
 
 For him whose deeds have filled 
 
 *Hades with Persian souls ; 
 
 For many heroes now 
 
 *Are Hades-travellers, 
 
 Our country's chosen flower, 
 
 Mighty with darts and bow ; 
 
 *For lo ! the myriad mass 
 
 Of men has perished quite. 
 
 Woe, woe for our fair fame ! 
 
 And Asia's land, O King, 
 Is terribly, most terribly, o'erthrown. 
 Xer. I then, oh misery ! 
 
 Have to my curse been proved 
 Sore evil to my country and my race. 
 
 Chor. Yea, and on thy return 
 I will lift up my voice in wailing loud, 
 
 Cry of sore-troubled thought, 
 
 As of a mourner born 
 
 In Mariandynian land, 1 ro 
 
 Lament of many tears. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I 
 
 Xer. Yea, utter ye a wail 
 
 Dreary and full of grief; 
 
 i The Mariandynoi, a Paphlagonian tribe, conspicuous for their 
 orgiastic worship of Adonis, had become proverbial for the 
 wildness of their plaintive dirges. 
 57
 
 THE PERSIANS 
 
 For lo ! the face of Fate 
 Against me now is turned. 
 Ckor. Yea, I will raise a cry 
 Dreary and full of grief, 
 Giving this tribute due 
 To all the people's woes, 
 And all our loss at sea, 
 Troubles of this our State 
 That mourneth for her sons ; 
 Yea, I will wail full sore, 
 With flood of bitter tears. 
 
 STROPHE II 
 
 Xer. For Ares, he whose might 
 Was in our ships' array, 
 Giving victory to our foes, 
 Has in lonians, yea, 
 lonians, found his match, 
 And from the dark sea's plain, 
 And that ill-omened shore, 
 Has a fell harvest reaped. 
 Chor. Yea, wail, search out the whole ; 
 Where are our other friends ? 
 Where thy companions true, 
 Such as Pharandakes, 
 Susas, Pelagon, Fsammis, Dotamas, 
 Agdabatas, Susiskanes, 
 From Ecbatana who started ? 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II 
 
 Xer. I left them low in death, 
 Falling from Tyrian ship, 
 On Salaminian shores, 
 Beating now here, now there, 
 On the hard rock-girt coast. 
 58
 
 THE PERSIANS 
 
 Chor. Ah, where Pharnuchos then, 
 And Ariomardos brave ? 
 And where Sevalkes king, 
 Lilaeos proud of race, 
 Memphis and Tharybis, 
 Masistras, and Artembares, 
 Hystaechmas \ This I ask. 
 
 STROPHE III 
 
 Xer. Woe ! woe is me ! 
 
 They have looked on at Athens' ancient towers, 
 Her hated towers, ah me ! 
 All, as by one fell stroke, 
 Unhappy in their fate 
 Lie gasping on the shore. 
 Ckor. And he, thy faithful Eye, 1 
 Who told the Persian host, 
 Myriads on myriads o'er, 2 
 Alpistos, son and heir 
 Of Batanochos old 
 
 * 
 
 And the son of brave Sesames, 
 Son himself of Megabates ? 
 Parthos, and the great CEbares, 
 Did'st thou leave them, did'st thou leave them ? 
 Ah, woe ! ah, woe is me, 
 For those unhappy ones ! 
 Thou to the Persians brave 
 Tellest of ills on ills. 
 
 * The name seems to have been an official title for some 
 Inspector-General of the Army. Comp. Aristoph. Acharn. v. 92. 
 
 2 As in the account which Herodotos gives (vii. 60) of the way 
 in which the army of Xerxes was numbered, sc. t by enclosing 
 10,000 men in a given space, and then filling it again and again 
 till the whole army had passed through. 
 59
 
 THE PERSIANS 
 
 ANTISTROPHB III 
 Xer. Ah, thou dost wake in me 
 
 The memory of the spell of yearning love 
 
 For comrades brave and true, 
 Telling of cursed ills, 
 Yea, cursed, hateful doom ; 
 And lo, within my frame 
 My heart cries out, cries out. 
 
 Cior. Yea, another too we long for, 
 Xanthes, captain often thousand 
 Mardian warriors, and Anchares 
 Arian born, and great Arsakes 
 And Diaexis, lords of horsemen, 
 Kigdagatas and Lythimnas, 
 Tolmos, longing for the battle : 
 *Much I marvel, much I marvel, 1 
 For they come not, as the rear-guard 
 Of thy tent on chariot mounted. 8 
 
 STROPHE IV 
 
 Xer. Gone those rulers of the army. 
 
 Chor. Gone are they in death inglorious. 
 
 Xer. Ah woe ! ah woe ! Alas ! alas ! 
 
 Chor. Ah ! the Gods have sent upon us 
 111 we never thought to look on, 
 Eminent above all others ; 
 Ne'er hath Ate seen its equal. 
 
 1 Another reading gives 
 
 " They are buried, they are buried." 
 
 2 Perhaps referring to the waggon-chariots in which the rider 
 reclines at ease, either protected b) a canopy, or, as in the 
 Assyrian sculptures and perhaps in the East generally, over- 
 shadowed by a large umbrella which an eunuch holds over 
 him. 
 
 60
 
 THE PERSIANS 
 
 ANTISTROPHE IV 
 
 Smitten we by many sorrows, 88 
 
 Such as come on men but seldom. 
 Chor. Smitten we, 'tis all too certain. . . . 
 Xer. Fresh woes ! fresh woes ! ah me ! 
 Chor, Now with adverse turn of fortune, 
 
 With Ionian seamen meeting, 
 
 Fails in war the race of Persians. 
 
 STROPHE V 
 
 Xer. Too true. Yea I and that vast host of mine 
 
 Are smitten down. 
 Chor. Too true 'the Persians' majesty and might 
 
 Have perished utterly. 
 
 Xer. See'st thou this remnant of my armament ? 
 Chor. I see it, yea, I see. 100 
 
 Xer. (jointing to his quiver.} Dost see thou that 
 
 which arrows wont to hold ? . . . 
 Chor. What speak'st thou of as saved ? 
 Xer. This treasure-store for darts. 
 Chor. Few, few of many left ! 
 Xer. Thus we all helpers lack. 
 Chor. Ionian soldiers flee not from the spear. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE V 
 
 Xer. Yea, very brave are they, and I have seen 
 
 Unlooked-for woe. 
 Chor. Wilt tell of squadron of our sea-borne ships 
 
 Defeated utterly ? 
 
 Xer. I tore my robes at this calamity. 
 Chor. Ah me, ah me, ah me i 101 
 
 Xer. Ay, more than all ' ah me's ' ! 
 Chor. Two-fold and three-fold ills ! 
 Xer. Grievous to us but joy, 
 
 Great joy, to all our foes ! 
 61
 
 THE PERSIANS 
 
 Chor. Lopped off is all our strength. 
 Xer. Stripped bare of escort I ! 
 Ckor. Yea, by sore loss at sea 
 Disastrous to thy friend*. 
 
 STROPHE VI 
 
 Xer. Weep for our sorrow, weep, 
 
 Yea, go ye to the house. 
 Ckor. Woe for our griefs, woe, woe ! 
 Xer. Cry out an echoing cry. 
 Chor. Ill gift of ills on ills. 1M 
 
 Xer. Weep on in wailing chant. 
 Chor. Oh! ah! Oh! ah! 
 Xer. Grievous our bitter woes. 
 Chor. Ah me, I mourn them sore. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE VI 
 
 Xer. Ply, ply your hands and groan ; 
 
 Yea, for my sake bewail. 
 Chor. I weep in bitter grief. 
 Xer. Cry out an echoing cry. 
 Chor. Yea, we may raise our voice, 
 
 O Lord and King, in wail. 
 Xer. Raise now shrill cry of woe. 
 Chor. Ah me ! Ah ! Woe is me ! w 
 
 Xer. Yea, with it mingle dark. . . . 
 Chor. And bitter, grievous blows. 
 
 STROPHE VII 
 
 Xer. Yea, beat thy breast, and cry 
 
 After the Mysian type. 
 Ckor. Oh, misery ! oh, misery ! 
 Xer. Yea, tear the white hair off thy flowing beard.
 
 THE PERSIANS 
 
 Chor. Yea; with clenched hands, with clenched 
 
 hands, I say, 
 In very piteous guise. 
 Xer. Cry out, cry out aloud. 
 Chor. That also will I do. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE VII 
 
 Xer. And with thy fingers tear 
 
 Thy bosom's folded robe. 
 
 Chor. Oh, misery ! oh, misery ! 10i 
 
 Xer. Yea, tear thy hair in wailing for our host. 
 Ckor. Yea, with clenched hands, I say, with clenched 
 hands, 
 
 In very piteous guise. 
 Xer. Be thine eyes wet with tears. 
 Ckor. Behold the tears stream down. 
 
 EPODE 
 
 Xer. Raise a re-echoing cry. 
 
 Chor. Ah woe ! ah woe ! 
 
 Xer. Go to thy home with wailing loud and long. 
 
 Chor. O land of Persia, full of lamentations ! 
 
 Xer. Through the town raise your cries. 
 
 Chor. We raise them, yea, we raise. 1C5 
 
 Xer. Wail, wail, ye men that walked so daintily. 
 
 Chor. O land of Persia, full of lamentations ! 
 
 Woe; woe! 
 
 Xer. Alas for those who in the triremes perished ! 
 Chor. With broken cries of woe will I escort thee. 
 \Exeunt in procession, wailing, and 
 rending their robes.
 
 THE SEVEN WHO FOUGHT 
 AGAINST THEBES 
 
 DRAMATIS PERSONS 
 
 ETEOCLES ISMENE 
 Scout ANTIGONE 
 
 Herald Chorus of Thcban Maident 
 
 ARGUMENT. When (Edipus king of Thebes dis- 
 covered that he had unknowingly been the murderer of 
 his father, and had lived in incest with his mother, he 
 blinded himself. And his two sons, Eteocles and 
 Polyneikes, wishing to banish the remembrance of these 
 horrors from the eyes of men, at first kept him in confine- 
 ment. And he, being wroth with them, prayed that they 
 might divide their inheritance with the sword. And they, 
 in fear lest the prayer should be accomplished, agreed to 
 reign in turn, each for a year, and Eteocles, as the elder 
 of the two, took the first turn. But when at the end of 
 the year Polyneikes came to ask for the kingdom, Eteocles 
 refused to give way, and sent him away empty. So 
 Polyneikes went to Argos and married the daughter of 
 Adrastos the king of that country, and gathered together 
 a great army under six great captains, himself going as 
 the seventh, and led it against Thebes. And so they 
 compassed it about, and at each of the seven gates of the 
 city was stationed one of tfo divisions of the army. 
 
 Note. The Seven against Thebes appears to have been pro- 
 duced B.C. 472, the year after The Persians. 
 * 65 s
 
 i H T 
 
 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES 
 
 SCENE. THEBZS in front of the Acrof-dis 
 
 Enter ETEOCLES, and crowd of Theban Citizens. 
 
 Eteoc. Ye citizens of Cadmos, it behoves 
 That one who standeth at the stern of State 
 Guiding the helm, with eyes unclosed in sleep, 
 Should speak the things that meet occasion's need. 
 For should we prosper, God gets all the praise : 
 But if (which God forbid !) disaster falls, 
 Eteocles, much blame on one head falling, 
 Would find his name the by-word of the State, 1 
 Sung in the slanderous ballads of the town ; 
 Yes, and with groanings, which may Zeus the Averter, 
 True to his name, from us Cadmeians turn ! 
 But now 'tis meet for all, both him who fails 
 Of full-grown age, and him advanced in years, 
 Ye; boasting still a stalwart strength of frame, 
 And each in life's full prime, as it is fit, 
 The State to succour and the altars here 
 Of these our country's Gods, that never more 
 Their votive honours cease, to help our sons, 
 And Earth, our dearest mother and kind nurse ; 
 For she, when young ye crept her kindly plain, 
 Bearing the whole charge of your nourishment, 
 
 1 Probably directed against the tendency of the Athenians, as 
 shown in their treatment of Miltiades, and later in that of 
 ThukydHes, to punish their unsuccessful generals, "pour enccu- 
 rager les out res." 
 
 67
 
 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES 
 
 Reared you as denizens that bear the shield, 
 
 That ye should trusty prove in this her need. w 
 
 And now thus far God turns the scale for us ; 
 
 For unto us, beleaguered these long days, 
 
 War doth in most things with God's help speed well, 
 
 But now, as saith the seer, the augur skilled, 1 
 
 Watching with ear and mind, apart from fire, 
 
 The birds oracular with mind unerring, 
 
 He, lord and master of these prophet-arts, 
 
 Says that the great attack of the Achasans 
 
 This very night is talked of, and their plots 
 
 Devised against the town. But ye, haste all 
 
 Unto the walls and gateways of the forts ; 
 
 Rush ye full-armed, and fill the outer space, 
 
 And stand upon the platforms of the towers, 
 
 And at the entrance of the gates abiding 
 
 Be of good cheer, nor fear ye overmuch 
 
 The host of aliens. Well will God work all. 
 
 And I have sent my scouts and watchers forth, 
 
 And trust their errand is no fruitless one. 
 
 I shall not, hearing them, be caught with guile. 
 
 [Exeunt Citizens. 
 
 Enter one of the Scouts. 
 
 Mess. King of Cadmeians, great Eteocles, 
 I from the army come with tidings clear, 
 And am myself eye-witness of its acts ; 
 For seven brave warriors, leading armed bands, 
 Cutting a bull's throat o'er a black-rimmed shield, 
 And dipping in the bull's blood with their hands, 
 Swore before Ares, Enyo, 2 murderous Fear, 
 
 1 Teiresias, as in Sophocles (Antig. v. 1005), sitting, though 
 blind ,and listening, as the birds flit by him, and the flames burn 
 steadily or fitfully ; a various reading gives "apart from sight." 
 
 2 Enyo, the goddess of war, and companion of Ares. 
 
 68
 
 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES 
 
 That they would bring destruction on our town, 
 And trample under foot the tower of Cadmos, 
 Or dying, with their own blood stain our soil ; 
 And they memorials for their sires at home 
 Placed with their hands upon Adrastos' car, 1 BC 
 
 Weeping, but no wail uttering with their lips, 
 For courage iron-hearted breathed out fire 
 In manliness unconquered, as when lions 
 Flash battle from their eyeballs. And report 
 Of these things does not linger on the way. 
 I left them casting lots, that each might take, 
 As the lot fell, his station at the gate. 
 Wherefore do thou our city's chosen ones 
 Array with speed at entrance of the gates ; 
 For near already is the Argive host, 
 Marching through clouds of dust, and whitening 
 foam * 
 
 Spots all the plain with drops from horses' mouths. 
 And thou, as prudent helmsman of the ship, 
 Guard thou our fortress ere the blasts of Arcs 
 Swoop on it wildly ; for there comes the roar 
 Of the land-wave of armies. And do thou 
 Seize for these things the swiftest tide and time ; 
 And I, in all that cdmes, will keep my eye 
 As faithful sentry ; so through speech full clear, 
 Thou, knowing all things yonder, shah be safe. 
 
 [Exit. 
 
 Eteoc. O Zeus and Earth, and all ye guardian Gods ! 
 Thou Curse and strong Erinnys of my sire ! 70 
 
 Destroy ye not my city root and branch, 
 
 1 Amphiaraos the seer had prophesied that Adrastos alone 
 should return home in safety. On his car, therefore, the other 
 chieftains hung the clasps, or locks of hair, or other memorials 
 which in the event of their death were to be taken to 
 their parents. 
 
 69
 
 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES 
 
 With sore destruction smitten, one whose voice 
 
 Is that of Hellas, nor our hearths and homes ;* 
 
 Grant that they never hold in yoke of bondage 
 
 Our country free, and town of Cadmos named ; 
 
 But be ye our defence. I deem I speak 
 
 Of what concerns us both ; for still 'tis true, 
 
 A prosperous city honours well the Gods. [Exit 
 
 Enter Cfarus of Theban Maidens in solemn proctiuca 
 as suppliants 
 
 Ckor. I in wild terror utter cries of woe ; 
 An army leaves its camp and is let loose : 
 Hither the vanguard of the horsemen flows, 
 
 And the thick cloud of dust, 
 
 That suddenly is seen, 
 
 Dumb herald, yet full clear, 
 
 Constrains me to believe ; 
 And smitten with the horses' hoofs, the plain 
 Of this my country rings with noise of war ; 
 
 It floats and echoes round, 
 Like voice of mountain torrent dashing down 
 
 Resistless in its might. 
 
 Ah Gods ! Ah Goddesses ! 
 
 Ward off the coming woe. 
 With battle-shout that rises o'er the walls, 
 
 The host whose shields are white * * 
 
 1 The Hellenic feeling, such as the Platseans appealed to in 
 the Peloponnesian \var (Thuc. iii. 58, 59), that it was nob'e and 
 right for Hellenes to destroy a city of the barbarians, but that 
 they should spare one belonging to a people of their own stock. 
 
 2 The characteristic feature of the Argive soldiers was, that 
 they bore a shield painted white (comp. Sophocles, Aniig. v. 
 114). The leaders alone appear to have embellished this with 
 devices and mottoes. 
 
 70
 
 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES 
 
 Marches in full array against our city. 
 
 Who then, of all the Gods 
 Or Goddesses, will come to help and save ? 
 Say, shall I fall before the shrines of Gods f 
 
 O blessed Ones firm fixed ! 
 'Tis time to clasp your sacred images. 
 Why linger we in wailing overmuch ? 
 Hear ye, or hear ye not, the din of shields ? 
 
 When, if not now, shall we 
 Engage in prayer with peplos and with boughs? 1 
 I hear a mighty sound ; it is the din 10 
 
 Not of a single spear. 
 O Ares ! ancient guardian of our land ! 
 What wilt thou do ? Wilt thou betray thy land ? 
 
 O God of golden casque, 
 Look on our city, yea, with favour look, 
 
 The city thou did'st love. 
 And ye, ye Gods who o'er the city rule, 
 
 Come all of you, come all. 
 Behold the band of maidens suppliant, 
 
 In fear of bondage foul ; ., 
 
 For now around the town 
 The wave of warriors bearing sloped crests, 
 With blasts of Ares rushing, hoarsely sounds : 
 But thou, O Zens ! true father of us all, 
 Ward off, ward off our capture by the foe. 
 
 STROPHE I 
 
 For Argives now surround the town of Cadmos, 
 And dread of Ares' weapons falls on us ; 
 And, bound to horses' mouths, 
 
 I In solemn supplications, the litanies of the ancient world, 
 especially in those to Pallas, the suppliants carried with them in 
 procession the shawl or peplos of the Goddess, and with it 
 7
 
 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES 
 
 The bits and curbs ring music as of death ; 
 And seven chief rulers of the mighty host, 
 With warriors' arms, at each of seven tall gates, 
 
 Spear-armed and harnessed all, 
 
 Stand, having cast their lots. 
 
 MESODE 
 
 And thou, O Zeus-born power in war delighting, 1M 
 O Pallas ! be our city's saviour now ; 
 
 And Thou who curb'st the steed, 
 
 Great King of Ocean's waves, 
 Poseidon, with thy trident fish-spear armed, 1 
 Give respite from our troubles, respite give ! 
 And Thou, O Ares, guard the town that takes 
 
 Its name from Cadmos old, 2 
 
 Watch o'er it visibly. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I 
 
 And thou, O Kypris, of our race the mother, 
 Ward off these ills, for we are thine by blood : 
 
 To thee in many a prayer, 
 With voice that calls upon the Gods we cry, 
 And unto thee draw near as suppliants : 
 
 enwrapt her statue. To carry boughs of trees in the hands was 
 one of the uniform, probably indispensable, accompaniments of 
 such processions. 
 
 1 The words recall our thoughts to the original use of the tri- 
 dent, which became afterwards a symbol of Poseidon, as 
 employed by the sailors of Hellas to spear or harpoon the 
 larger fish of the Archipelago. Comp. Pers v. 426, where the 
 slaughter of a defeated army is compared to tunny-fishing. 
 
 2 Cadmos, probably "the man from the East," the Phoenikian 
 who had founded Thebes, and sown the dragon's seed, and 
 taught men a Semitic alphabet for the non-Semitic speech oi 
 Hellas. 
 
 7*
 
 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES 
 
 And Thou, Lykeian king, Lykeian be, 1 
 
 Foe of our hated foes, 
 
 For this our wailing cry ; 
 And Thou, O child of Leto, Artemis, 
 
 Make ready now thy bow. 
 
 STROPHE II 
 
 Ah ! ah ! I hear a din of chariot wheels 
 
 Around the city walls ; 
 
 O Hera great and dread ! 
 The heavy axles of the chariots groan, 
 
 O Artemis beloved ! 
 And the air maddens with the clash of spears ; 
 
 What must our city bear ? 
 
 What now shall come on us ? 
 
 When will God give the end ? 
 
 AXTISTROPHE II 
 
 Ah ! ah ! a voice of stones is falling fast 
 
 On battlements attacked; 2 
 
 O Lord, Apollo loved, 
 A din of bronze-bound shields is in the gates ; 
 
 And oh ! that Zeus may give li0 
 
 A faultless issue of this war we wage ! 
 
 And Thou, O blessed queen, 
 
 As Guardian Onca known, 3 
 
 Save thy seven-gated seat. 
 
 1 Worthy of his name as the Wolf-destroyer, mighty to des- 
 troy his foes. 
 
 2 Possibly "from battlements attacked." In the primitive 
 sieges of Greek warfare stones were used as missiles alike by 
 besieged and besiegers. 
 
 3 The name of Onca belonged especially to the Theban wor- 
 ship of Pallas, and was said to have been of Phcenikian origin, 
 
 73
 
 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES 
 
 STROPHE III 
 
 And ye, all-working Gods, 
 
 Of either sex divine, 
 
 Protectors of our towers, 
 Give not our city, captured by the spear, 
 
 To host of alien speech. 1 
 
 Hear ye our maidens ; hear, 
 As is most meet, our prayers with outstretched hands. 
 
 ANTISTROPIIE III 
 
 O all ye loving Powers, 
 
 Compass our State to save ; 
 
 Show how that State ye love ; 
 Think on our public votive offerings, 
 
 And as ye think, oh, help : 
 
 Be mindful ye, I pray, 
 Of all our city's rites of sacrifice. 
 
 Re-enter ETEOCLES 
 
 Eteoc. (to the Chorus) I ask you, O ye brood intoler- 
 able, 
 
 Is this course best and safest for our city ? 
 Will it give heart to our beleaguered host, 
 That ye before the forms of guardian Gods 
 Should wail and howl, ye loathed of the wise ; 2 
 
 introduced by Cadmos. There seems, however, to have been a 
 town Onkse in Bceotia, with which the name was doubtless 
 connected. 
 
 1 "Alien," on account of the difference of dialect between the 
 speech of Argos and that of Bceotia, though both were Hellenic. 
 
 2 The vehemence with which Eteocles reproves the wild 
 frenzied wailing of the Chorus may be taken as an element of 
 the higher culture showing itself in Athenian life, which led 
 
 7+
 
 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES 
 
 Ne'er be it mine, in ill estate or good, 
 
 To dwell together with the race of women ; 
 
 For when they rule, their daring bars approach, 
 
 And when they fear, alike to house and State 
 
 Comes greater ill : and now with these your rushings 
 
 Hither and thither, ye have troubled sore 
 
 Our subjects with a coward want of heart ; 
 
 And do your best for those our foes without ; 
 
 And we are harassed by ourselves within. 
 
 This comes to one who dwells with womankind. 
 
 And if there be that will not own my sway, 
 
 Or man or woman in their prime, or those 
 
 Who can be classed with neither, they shall take 
 
 Their trial for their life, nor shall they 'scape 
 
 The fate of stoning. Things outdoors are still 
 
 The man's to look to : let not woman counsel. 
 
 Stay thou within, and do no mischief more. 
 
 Hear'st thou, or no ? or speak I to the deaf I 
 
 STROPHE I 
 
 Ckor. Dear son of CEdipus, lw 
 
 I shuddered as I heard the din, the din 
 
 Of many a chariot's noise, 
 When on the axles creaked the whirling wheels, 
 
 *And when I heard the sound 
 *Of fire-wrought curbs within the horses' mouths. 
 
 Etfoc. What then ? Did ever yet the sailor flee 
 From stern to stem, and find deliverance so, 
 While his ship laboured in the ocean's wave J 1 
 
 Solon to restrain such lamentations by special laws (Plutarch, 
 Solon, c. 20). Here, too, we note in JEschylos an echo of the 
 teaching of Epimenicles. 
 
 1 As now the sailor of the Mediterranean turns to the image 
 of his patron saint, so of old he ran in his distress to the figure 
 75
 
 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I 
 
 Char. Nay, to the ancient forms 
 Of mighty Powers I rushed, as trusting Gods ; 
 
 And when behind the gates 
 Was heard the crash of fierce and pelting storm, ^ 
 
 Then was it, in my fear, 
 I prayed the Blessed Ones to guard our city. 
 
 Eteoc. Pray that our towns hold out 'gainst spear of 
 
 foes. 1 
 
 Chor. Do not the Gods grant these things ? 
 Eteoc. Nay the Gods, 
 
 So say they, leave the captured city's walls. 3 
 
 STROPHE II 
 
 Chor. Ah ! never in my life 
 May all this goodly company of Gods 
 
 Depart ; nor may I see 
 
 This city scene of rushings to and fro, S1 
 
 *And hostile army burning it with fire ! 
 
 Eteoc. Nay, call not on the Gods with counsel base ; 
 Obedience is the mother of success, 
 Child strong to save. 'Tis thus the saying runs. 
 
 of his God upon the p/ow of his ship (often, as in Acts xxviii. 
 ii, that of the Dioscuri], and called to it for deliverance (conip. 
 Jonah i. 8). 
 
 1 Eteocles seems to wish for a short, plain prayer for deliver- 
 ance, instead of the cries and supplications and vain repetitions 
 of the Chorus. 
 
 2 The thought thus expressed was, that the Gods, yielding to 
 the mightier law of destiny, or in their wrath at the guilt of men, 
 left the city before its capture. The feeling was all but universal. 
 Its two representative instances are found in Virgil, .^fi/i. 351 
 
 " Excessere omnes adytis arisque relictis 
 
 Di quibus imperium hoc steterat ; " 
 
 and the narrative given alike by Tacitus (Hist. v. 13), and 
 Josephus (Bell. Jud. vi. 5, 3), that the cry "Let us depart hence," 
 was heard at midnight through the courts of the Temple, before 
 the destruction of Jerusalem. 
 
 76
 
 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II 
 
 Char. True Is it ; but the Gods 
 Have yet a mightier power, and oftentimes, 
 
 In pressure of sore ill, 
 It raises one perplexed from direst woe, 
 When dark clouds gather thickly o'er his eyes. 
 
 Eteoc. 'Tis work of men to offer sacrifice 
 And victims to the Gods, when foes press hard ; ** 
 Thine to be dumb and keep within the house. 
 
 STROPHE III 
 
 Chor. 'Tis through the Gods we live 
 In city unsubdued, and that our towers 
 Ward off the multitude of jealous foes. 
 
 What Power will grudge us this ? 
 
 Eteoc. I grudge not your devotion to the Gods ; 
 But lest you make my citizens faint-hearted 
 Be tranquil, nor to fear's excess give way. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III 
 
 Chor. Hearing but now a din 
 Strange, wildly mingled, I with shrinking fear 
 Here to our city's high Acropolis, 
 
 Time-hallowed spot, have come. 
 Eteoc. Nay, if ye hear of wounded men or dying, 
 Bear them not swiftly off with wailing loud ; 
 *For blood of men is Ares' chosen food. 1 
 
 Chor. Hark ! now I hear the panting of the steeds. 
 Eteoc. Clear though thou hear, yet hear not over- 
 much. 
 
 Chor. Lo ! from its depths the fortress groans, 
 beleaguered. 
 
 1 Sc. . Blood must be shed in war. Ares would not be Ares 
 without it. It is better to take it as it comes. 
 77
 
 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES 
 
 Eteoc. It is enough that I provide for this. 
 
 Ckor. I fear : the din increases at the gates. 
 
 Eteoc, Be still, say nought of these things in the city. 
 
 Ckor. O holy Band I 1 desert ye not our towers. Mt 
 
 Eteoc. A curse fall on thee ! wilt thou not be still 2 
 
 Ckor. Gods of my city, from the slave's lot save me ! 
 
 Eteoc. 'Tis thou enslav'st thyself and all thy city. 
 
 Ckor. Oh, turn thy darts, great Zeus, against our 
 foes! 
 
 Eteoc. Oh, Zeus, \vhat race of women thou hast 
 given us ! 
 
 Ckor. A sorry race, like men whose city falls. 
 
 Eteoc. What ? Cling to these statues, yet speak 
 words of ill ? 
 
 Ckor. Fear hurries on my tongue in want of courage. 
 
 Eteoc. Could'st thou but grant one small boon at 
 my prayer ! 
 
 Ckor. Speak it out quickly, and I soon shall know. 
 
 Eteoc. Be still, poor fool, and frighten not thy friends. 
 
 Ckor. Still am I, and with others bear our fate. 
 
 Eteoc. These words of thine I much prefer to those : 
 And further, though no longer at the shrines, 
 Pray thou for victory, that the Gods fight with us. 
 And when my prayers thou hearest, then do thou 
 Raise a loud, welcome, holy pasan-shout, 
 The Hellenes' wonted cry at sacrifice ; 
 So cheer thy friends, and check their fear of foes ; 
 And I unto our country's guardian Gods, 
 Who hold the plain or watch the agora, 
 The springs of Dirke, and Ismenos' stream ; 
 If things go well, and this our city's saved, 
 I vow that staining with the blood of sheep 
 
 1 Sc., the company of Gods, Pallas, Hera and the others whom 
 the Chorus had invoked. 
 
 73
 
 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES 
 
 The altar-hearths of Gods, or slaying bulls, 
 
 We'll fix our trophies, and our foemen's robes 
 
 On the spear's point on consecrated walls, 
 
 Before the shrines I'll hang. 1 Pray thou this prayer, 
 
 Not weakly wailing, nor with vain wild sobs, 
 
 For no whit more thou'lt 'scape thy destined lot : 2TO 
 
 And I six warriors, with myself as seventh, 
 
 Against our foes in full state like their own, 
 
 Will station at the seven gates' entrances, 
 
 Ere hurrying heralds and swift-rushing words 
 
 Come and inflame them in the stress of need. [Exit 
 
 STROPHE I 
 
 Chor. My heart is full of care and knows not sleep, 
 
 By panic fear o'ercome ; 
 
 And troubles throng my soul, 
 
 And set a-glow my dread 
 Of the great host encamped around our walls, 
 
 As when a trembling dove 
 
 Fears, for her callow brood, 
 The snakes that come, ill mates for her soft nest ; 
 
 For some upon our towers 
 March in full strength of mingled multitude ; 
 
 And what will me befall ? 
 And others on our men on either hand 
 
 Hurl rugged blocks of stone. 
 In every way, ye Zeus-born Gods, defend 
 
 The city and the host 
 
 That Cadmos claim as sire. 
 
 1 Reference to this custom, which has passed from Pagan 
 temples into Christian churches, is found in the Agamemnon, v. 
 562. It was connected, of course, with the general practice of 
 offering as ex votos any personal ornaments or clothing as a token 
 of thanksgiving for special mercies. 
 79
 
 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I 
 What better land will ye receive for this, 
 
 If ye to foes resign 
 
 This rich and fertile clime, 
 
 And that Dirkasan stream, 
 Goodliest of founts by great Poseidon sent, 
 
 Who circleth earth, or those 
 
 Who Tethys parent call r 1 30 
 
 And therefore, O ye Gods that guard our city, 
 
 Sending on those xvithout 
 Our towers a woe that robs men of their life, 
 
 And makes them lose their shield, 
 Gain glory for these countrymen of mine ; 
 
 And take your standing-ground, 
 As saviours of the city, firm and true, 
 
 In answer to our cry 
 
 Of wailing and of prayer. 
 
 STROPHE II 
 
 For sad it were to hurl to Hades dark 
 
 A city of old fame, S1 
 
 The spoil and prey of war, 
 With foulest shame in dust and ashes laid, 
 By an Achaean foe at God's decree ; 
 And that our women, old and young alike, 
 
 Be dragged away, ah me ! 
 
 Like horses, by their hair 
 
 Their robes torn off from them. 
 And lo, the city wails, made desolate, 
 
 While with confused cry s=0 
 
 The wretched prisoners meet doom worse than death. 
 
 Ah, at this grievous fate 
 
 I shudder ere it comes. 
 
 * Rivers and streams as the children of Tethys and Okeanos. 
 So
 
 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES 
 ANTISTROPHE II 
 
 And piteous 'tis for those whose youth is fresh 
 
 Before the rites that cull 
 
 Their fair and first-ripe fruit, 
 To take a hateful journey from their homes. 
 Nay, but I say the dead far better fare 
 Than these, for when a city is subdued 
 
 It bears full many an ill. 
 
 This man takes prisoner that, 
 
 Or slays, or burns with fire ; 
 And all the city is defiled with smoke, 
 
 And Ares fans the flame 
 In wildest rage, and laying many low, 
 
 Tramples with foot unclean 
 
 On all men sacred hold. 
 
 STROPHE III 
 
 And hollow din is heard throughout the town, 
 
 Hemmed in by net of towers ; 
 And man by man is slaughtered with the spear, 
 
 And cries of bleeding babes, 
 
 Of children at the breast, 
 
 Are heard in piteous wail, 
 And rapine, sister of the plunderer's rush, 
 
 Spoiler with spoiler meets, 
 And empty-handed empty-handed calls, 
 
 Wishing for share of gain, 
 Both eager for a portion no whit less, 
 
 For more than equal lot 
 With what they deem the others' hands have found. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III 
 
 And all earth's fruits cast wildly on the ground, a 
 
 Meeting the cheerless eye 
 i 81 r
 
 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES 
 
 Of frugal housewives, give them pain of heart ; 
 
 And many a gift of earth 
 
 In formless heaps is whirled 
 
 In waves of nothingness ; 
 And the young maidens know a sorow new ; 
 
 For now the foe prevails, 
 And gains rich prize of wretched captive's bed ; 
 
 And now their only hope 
 Is that the night of death will come at last, 
 
 Their truest, best ally, 
 To rescue them from sorrow fraught with tears. 
 
 Enter ETEOCLES, followed by his Chief Captains, 
 and by the Scout 
 
 Semi-Ckor. A. The army scout, so deem I, brings 
 
 to us, 
 
 Dear friends, some tidings new, with quickest speed 
 Plying the nimble axles of his feet. 
 
 Semi-Chor. B. Yea, the king's self, the son of 
 
 GEdipus, 
 
 Is nigh to hear the scout's exact report ; 
 And haste denies him too an even step. 
 
 Mess. I knowing well, will our foes' state report, J7 
 How each his lot hath stationed at the gates. 
 At those of Prcetos, Tydeus thunders loud, 
 And him the prophet suffers not to cross 
 Ismenos' fords, the victims boding ill. 1 
 And Tydeus, raging eager for the fight, 
 Shouts like a serpent in its noon-tide scream, 
 
 1 Here, as in v. 571, Tydeus appears as the real leader of the 
 expedition, who had persuaded Adrastos and the other chiefs to 
 join in it, and Amphiaraos, the prophet, the son of CEcleus, as 
 having all along foreseen its disastrous issue. The account of the 
 expedition in the (Edipus at Colonos (1300-1330) may be com- 
 pared with this.
 
 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES 
 
 And on the prophet, CEcleus' son, heaps shame, 
 
 That he, in coward fear, doth crouch and fawn 
 
 Before the doom and peril of the fight. 
 
 And with such speech he shakes his triple crest, 
 
 O'ershadowing all his helm, and 'neath his shield 3SO 
 
 Bells wrought in bronze ring out their chimes offerer ; 
 
 And on his shield he bears this proud device, 
 
 A firmament enchased, all bright with stars ; T 
 
 And in the midst the full moon's glittering orb, 
 
 Sovran of stars and eye of Night, shines forth. 
 
 And thus exulting in o'er boastful arms, 
 
 By the stream's bank he shouts in lust of war, 
 
 [E'en as a war-horse panting in his strength 
 
 Against the curb that galls him, who at sound 
 
 Of trumpet's clang chafes hotly.] Whom wilt thou 
 
 Set against him ? Who is there strong enough 
 
 When the bolts yield, to guard the Prcetan gates ? m 
 
 Eteoc. No fear have I of any man's array ; 
 Devices have no power to pierce or wound, 
 And crest and bells bite not without a spear ; 
 And for this picture of the heavens at night, 
 Of which thou tellest, glittering on his shield, 
 *Perchance his madness may a prophet prove ; 
 For if night fall upon his dying eyes, 
 Then for the man who bears that boastful sign 
 It may right well be all too truly named, <0 
 
 And his own pride shall prophet be of ill. 
 And against Tydeus, to defend the gates, 
 I'll set this valiant son of Astacos ; 
 
 1 The legend of the Medusa's head on the shield of Athena 
 shows the practice of thus decorating shields to have been of remote 
 date. In Homer it does not appear as common, and the account 
 given of the shield of Achilles lays stress upon the work of the 
 artist (Hephaestos) who wrought the shield in relief, not, as here 
 upon painted insignia. They were obviously common in the 
 time of /Eschylos. 
 
 83
 
 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES 
 
 Noble is he, and honouring well the throne 
 
 Of Reverence, and hating vaunting speech, 
 
 Slow to all baseness, unattuned to ill : 
 
 And of the dragon-race that Ares spared 1 
 
 He as a scion grows, a native true, 
 
 E'en Melanippos ; Ares soon will test 
 
 His valour in the hazard of the die : 
 
 And kindred Justice sends him forth to war, 
 
 For her that bore him foeman's spear to check. 41 
 
 STROPHE I 
 
 Chor. May the Gods grant my champion good 
 success ! 
 
 For justly he goes forth 
 
 For this our State to fight ; 
 
 But yet I quake with fear 
 To see the deaths of those who die for friends. 
 
 Mess. Yea, may the Gods give good success to him ! 
 The Electran gates have fallen to Capaneus, 
 A second giant, taller far than he 
 Just named, with boast above a mortal's bounds ; 
 And dread his threats against our towers (O Fortune, 42 
 Turn them aside !) for whether God doth will, 
 Or willeth not, he says that he will sack 2 
 The city, nor shall e'en the wrath of Zeus, 
 On the plain swooping, turn him from his will ; 
 And the dread lightnings and hot thunderbolts 
 He likens to the heat of noon-day sun. 
 
 1 The older families of Thebes boasted that they sprang from 
 the survivors of theSparti, who, sprung from the Dragon's teeth, 
 waged deadly war against each other, till all but five were slain. 
 The later settlers, who were said to have come with Cadmos, 
 stood to these as the " greater " to the " lesser gentes " at Rome. 
 
 8 So in the Antigone of Sophocles (v. 134), Capaneus appears 
 as the special representative of boastful, reckless impiety. 
 84
 
 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES 
 
 And his device, the naked form of one 
 Who bears a torch ; and bright the blaze shines forth 
 And in gold characters he speaks the words, 
 "THE CITY I WILL BURN." Against this man 
 Send forth . . . but who will meet him in the 
 fight ? 4M 
 
 Who, without fear, await this warrior proud ? 
 
 Eteoc. Herein, too, profit upon profit comes ; 
 And 'gainst the vain and boastful thoughts of men, 
 Their tongue itself is found accuser true. 
 Threatening, equipped for work is Capaneus, 
 Scorning the Gods : and giving speech full play, 
 And in wild joy, though mortal, vents at Zeus, 
 High in the heavens, loud-spoken foaming words. 
 And well I trust on him shall rightly come 
 Fire-bearing thunder, nothing likened then 
 To heat of noon-day sun. And so 'gainst him, 41 
 Though very bold of speech, a man is set 
 Of fiery temper, Polyphontes strong, 
 A trusty bulwark, by the loving grace 
 Of guardian Artemis 1 and other Gods. 
 Describe another, placed at other gates. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I 
 
 Chor. A curse on him who 'gainst our city boasts ! 
 May thunder smite him down 45 
 
 Before he force his way 
 Into my home, and drive 
 Me from my maiden bower with haughty spear ? 
 
 Mess. And now I'll tell of him who by the gates 
 Stands next ; for to Eteocles, as third, 
 To march his cohort to Nei'stian gates, 
 
 1 Artemis, as one of the special Deities to whom Thebes was 
 consecrated, 
 
 85
 
 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES 
 
 Leaped the third lot from upturned brazen helm : 
 
 And he his mares, in head-gear snorting, whirls, 
 
 Full eager at the gates to fall and die ; 
 
 Their whistling nozzles of barbaric mode, 
 
 Are filled with loud blast of the panting nostrils. 1 
 
 In no poor fashion is his shield devised ; 
 
 A full-armed warrior climbs a ladder's rungs, 
 
 And mounts his foeman's towers as bent to sack ; 
 
 And he too cries, in words of written speech, 
 
 That "Nor E'EN ARES FROM THE TOWERS SHALL DRIVE 
 
 HIM." 
 
 Send thou against him some defender true, 
 To ward the yoke of bondage from our State. 
 
 Eteoc. Such would I send now ; by good luck indeed 
 He has been sent, his vaunting in his deeds, 
 Megareus, Creon's son, who claims descent 
 From those as Sparti known, and not by noise 
 Of neighings loud of warlike steeds dismayed, 
 Will he the gates abandon, but in death 
 Will pay our land his nurture's debt in full, 2 
 Or taking two men, and a town to boot, 
 (That on the shield,) will deck his father's house 
 With those his trophies. Of another tell 
 The bragging tale, nor grudge thy words to me. 
 
 7?b 100 Jlflis^ e/f , tfiiti r.n 3-v 
 STROPHE II 
 
 Chor. Him I wish good success, 
 O guardian of my home, and for his foes 
 All ill success I pray ; 
 
 1 Apparently an Asiatic invention, to increase the terror of an 
 attack of war-chariots. 
 
 3 The phrase and thought were almost proverbial in Athens. 
 Men, as citizens, were thought of as fed at a common table, 
 bound to contribute their gifts to the common stock. When 
 86
 
 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES 
 
 And since against our land their haughty words 
 With maddened soul they speak, 
 May Zeus, the sovran judge, 
 With fiery, hot displeasure look on them ! 
 
 Mess. Another stands as fourth at gates hard by, 
 Onca-Athena's, with a shout of war, 
 Hippomedon's great form and massive limbs ; 
 And as he whirled his orb, his vast shield's disk, 
 I shuddered ; yea, no idle words I speak. 
 No cheap and common draughtsman sure was he 
 Who wrought this cunning ensign on his shield : 
 Typhon emitting from his lips hot blast 
 Of darkling smoke, the flickering twin of fire : 
 And round the belly of the hollow shield 
 A rim was made with wreaths of twisted snakes. *"> 
 And he too shouts his war-cry, and in frenzy, 
 As man possessed by Ares, hastes to battle, 
 Like Thyiad, darting terror from his eyes. 1 
 'Gainst such a hero's might we well may guard ; 
 Already at the gates men brag of rout. 
 
 Eteot. First, the great Onca-Pallas, dwelling nigh 
 Our city's gates, and hating man's bold pride, 
 Shall ward him from her nestlings like a snake 
 Of venom dread ; and next Hyperbios, 
 The stalwart son of CEnops, has been chosen, B0 
 
 A hero 'gainst this hero, willing found 
 To try his destiny at Fortune's hest. 
 No fault has he in form, or heart, or arms ; 
 And Hermes with good reason pairs them off; 
 For man with man will fight as enemy, 
 
 they offered up their lives in battle, they were giving, as Pericles 
 says (Thucyd. ii. 43), their noblest "contribution," paying in 
 full their subscription to the society of which they were members. 
 
 1 Thyiad, another name for the Maenads, the frenzied atten- 
 dants on Dionysos. 
 
 8?
 
 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES 
 
 And on their shields they'll bring opposing Gods ; 
 For this man beareth Typhon, breathing fire, 
 And on Hyperbios' shield sits father Zeus, 
 Full firm, with burning thunderbolt in hand ; 
 And never yet has man seen Zeus, I trow, 
 O'ercome. Such then the favour of the Gods, 1 
 We with the winners, they with losers are : l 
 Good reason then the rivals so should fare, 
 If Zeus than Typhon stronger be in fight, 
 And to Hyperbios Zeus will saviour prove, 
 As that device upon his shield presents him. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II 
 
 Chor. Now do I trust that he 
 Who bears upon his shield the hated form 
 
 Of Power whom Earth doth shroud, 
 Antagonist to Zeus, unloved by men 
 
 And by the ageless Gods, 
 
 Before those gates of ours 
 To his own hurt may dash his haughty head. 
 
 Mess. So may it be ! And now the fifth I tell, 
 Who the fifth gates, the Northern, occupies, 
 Hard by Amphion's tomb, the son of Zeus ; 
 And by his spear he swears, (which he is bold 
 To honour more than God or his own eyes,) 
 That he will sack the fort of the Cadmeians 
 With that spear's might. So speaks the offspring fair 
 Of mother mountain-bred, a stripling hero ; 
 And the soft down is creeping o'er his cheeks, 
 Youth's growth, and hair that floweth full and thick ; 
 
 1 Sc., in the legends of Typhon. not he, but Zeus, had proved 
 the conqueror. The warrior, therefore, who chose Typhon for 
 his badge was identifying himself with the losing, not the win- 
 ning side. 
 
 88
 
 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES 
 
 And he with soul, not maiden's like his name, 1 
 But stern, with flashing eye, is standing there. 
 Nor stands he at the gate without a vaunt ; 
 For on his brass-wr jught buckler, strong defence, 
 Full-orbed, his body guarding, he the shame 
 Of this our city bears, the ravenous Sphinx, 
 With rivets fixed, all burnished and embossed ; 2 
 And under her she holdeth a Cadmeian, 
 That so on him most arrows might be shot. 
 No chance that he will fight a peddling fight, 
 Nor shame the long, long journey he hath come, 
 Parthenopseos, in Arcadia born : 
 This man did Argos welcome as a guest, 
 And now he pays her for her goodly rearing, 
 And threatens these our towers with . . . God avert it ! 
 Eteoc. Should the Gods give them what they plan 
 
 'gainst us, 
 
 Then they, with those their godless boastings high, 
 Would perish shamefully and utterly. 
 And for this man of Arcady thou tell'st of, 
 We have a man who boasts not, but his hand 
 Sees the right thing to do ; Actor, of him 
 I named but now the brother, who no tongue 
 Divorced from deeds will ever let within 
 Our gates, to spread and multiply our ills, 
 Nor him who bears upon his foeman's shield 
 The image of the hateful venomed beast ; 
 But she without shall blame him as he tries 
 
 1 The name, as we are told in v. 542, is Parthenopaeos, the 
 maiden-faced. 
 
 2 The Sphinx, besides its general character as an emblem of 
 terror, had, of course, a special meaning as directed to the 
 Thebans. The warrior who bore it threatened to renew the old 
 days when the monster whom CEdipus had overcome had laid 
 waste their city. 
 
 89
 
 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES 
 
 To take her in, when she beneath our walls 
 Gets sorely bruised and battered. 1 And herein, 
 If the Gods will, I prophet true shall prove. 
 
 STROPHE III 
 
 Chor. Thy words thrill through my breast ; 
 
 My hair stands all on end, 
 
 To hear the boastings great 
 
 Of those who speak great things M0 
 
 Unholy. May the Gods 
 
 Destroy them in our land ! 
 Mess. A sixth I tell of, one of noblest mood, 
 Amphiaraos, seer and warrior famed ; 
 He, stationed at the Homoloian gates, 
 Reproves the mighty Tydeus with sharp words 
 As ' murderer,' and ' troubler of the State,' 2 
 * To Argos teacher of all direst ills, 
 Erinnys' sumpnour,' 3 'murder's minister,' 
 Whose counsels led Adrastos to these ills. 
 *And at thy brother Polyneikes glancing 
 With eyes uplifted for his father's fate, 
 And ending, twice he syllabled his name,* 
 And called him, and thus speaketh with his lips : 
 
 1 Sc. , the Sphinx on his shield will not be allowed to enter the 
 city. It will only serve as a mark, attracting men to attack both 
 it and the warrior who bears it. 
 
 2 The quarrel between Tydeus and the seer Amphiaraos had 
 been already touched upon. 
 
 3 I have used the old English word to express a term of like 
 technical use in Athenian law processes. As the " sumpnour " 
 called witnesses or parties to a suit into court, so Tydeus had 
 summoned the Erinnys to do her work of destruction. 
 
 4 Sc., so pronounced his name as to emphasise the signifi- 
 cance of its two component parts, as indicating that he who bore 
 it was a man of much contention. 
 
 90
 
 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES 
 
 " A goodly deed, and pleasant to the Gods, 
 
 Noble for after age to hear and tell, 
 
 Thy father's city and thy country's Gods 
 
 To waste through might of mercenary host ! 
 
 And how shall Justice stay thy mother's tears . ?1 BSO 
 
 And how, when conquered, shall thy fatherland, 
 
 Laid waste, become a true ally to thee ? 
 
 As for myself, I shall that land make rich, 2 
 
 A prophet buried in a foeman's soil : 
 
 To arms ! I look for no inglorious death." 
 
 So spake the prophet, bearing full-orbed shield 
 
 Wrought all of bronze, no ensign on that orb. 
 
 He wishes to be just, and not to seem, 3 
 
 Reaping full harvest from his soul's deep furrows, 
 
 Whence ever new and noble counsels spring. 
 
 I bid thee send defenders wise and brave 
 
 Against him. Dread is he who fears the Gods. 
 
 Eteoc. Fie on the chance that brings the righteous 
 
 man 
 Close-mated with the ungodly ! In all deeds 
 
 1 The words are obscure, but seem to refer to the badge of 
 Polyneikes, the figure of Justice described in v. 643 as on bis 
 shield. How shall that Justice, the seer asks, console Jocas>ta for 
 her son's death? Another rendering gives, 
 
 'And how shall Justice quench a mother's life?" 
 the "mother" being the country against which Polyneikes 
 wars. 
 
 2 The words had a twofold fulfilment (i) in the burial of 
 Ainphiaraos, in the Theban soil ; and (2) in the honour which 
 accrued to Thebes after his death, through the fame of the 
 oracle at his shrine. 
 
 3 The passage cannot be passed over without noticing the old 
 tradition (Plutarch, Aristeid. c. 3), that when the actor uttered 
 these words, he and the whole audience looked to Aristeides. 
 surnamed the Just, as recognising that the words were true of 
 him as they were of no one else. " Best," instead of "just," is, 
 however, a very old various reading. 
 
 91
 
 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES 
 
 Nought is there worse than evil fellowship, 
 
 A crop men should not reap. Death still is found 
 
 The harvest of the field of frenzied pride ; 
 
 For either hath the godly man embarked 
 
 With sailors hot in insolence and guile, 1 
 
 And perished with the race the Gods did loathe ; 60 
 
 Or just himself, with citizens who wrong 
 
 The stranger and are heedless of the Gods, 
 
 Falling most justly in the self-same snare, 
 
 By God's scourge smitten, shares the common doom. 
 
 And thus this seer I speak of, CEcleus' son, 
 
 Righteous, and wise, and good, and reverent, 
 
 A mighty prophet, mingling with the godless 
 
 *And men full bold of speech in reason's spite, 
 
 Who take long march to reach a far-off city, 2 
 
 If Zeus so will, shall be hurled down with them. 61 
 
 And he, I trow, shall not draw nigh the gates, 
 
 Not through faint-heart or any vice of mood, 
 
 But well he knows this war shall bring his death, 
 
 If any fruit is found in Loxias' words ; 
 
 And He or holds his speech or speaks in season. 
 
 Yet against him the hero Lasthenes, 
 
 A foe of strangers, at the gates we'll set ; 
 
 Old in his mind, his body in its prime, 
 
 His eye swift-footed, and his hand not slow 
 
 To grasp the spear from 'neath the shield laid bare : 8 6I 
 
 Yet 'tis by God's gift men must win success. 
 
 1 If the former reference to Arhteides be admitted, we can 
 scarcely avoid seeing in this passage an allusion to Themistocles, 
 as one with whose reckless and democratic policy it was danger- 
 ous for the more conservative leader to associate himself. 
 
 2 The far-off city, not of Thebes, but of Hades. In the legend 
 of Thebes, the earth opened and swallowed up Amphiaraos, as 
 in 583- 
 
 3 The short spear was usually carried under the shelter of the 
 shield ; when brought into action it was, of course, laid bare. 
 
 9*
 
 ANTISTROPHE III 
 
 Cbor. Hear, O ye Gods ! our prayers, 
 
 Our just entreaties grant, 
 
 That so our State be blest. 
 
 Turn ye the toils of war 
 
 Upon the invading host. 
 
 Outside the walls may Zeus 
 
 With thunder smite them low ! 
 Mess. The seventh chief then who at the seventh 
 
 gate stands, 
 
 Thine own, own brother, I will speak of now, 
 What curses on our State he pours, and prays 
 That he the towers ascending, and proclaimed 
 By herald's voice to all the territory, 
 And shouting out the captor's psean-cry, 
 May so fight with thee, slay, and with thee die ; 
 Or driving thee alive, who did'st him wrong, 
 May on thee a vengeance wreak like in kind. 
 So clamours he, and bids his father's Gods, 
 His country's guardians, look upon his prayers, ' 
 [And grant them all. So Polyneikes prays.] 
 And he a new and well-wrought shield doth bear, 
 And twofold sign upon it riveted ; 
 For there a woman with a stately tread 
 Leads one who seems a warrior wrought in gold : 
 Justice she calls herself, and thus she speaks : 
 " I WILL BRING BACK THIS MAN, AND HE SHALL HAVE 
 THE CITY AND HIS FATHER'S DWELLING-PLACE." 
 Such are the signs and mottoes of those men ; 
 And thou, know well whom thou dost mean to send : 
 So thou shalt never blame my heraldings ; 
 And thou thyself know how to steer the State. 
 
 Eteoc. O frenzy-stricken, hated sore of Gods ! 65 
 O woe-fraught race (my race !) of CEdipus ! 
 Ah me ! my father's curse is now fulfilled ; 
 93
 
 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES 
 
 But neither is it meet to weep or wail, 
 
 Lest cry more grievous on the issue come. 
 
 Of Polyneikes, name and omen true, 
 
 We soon shall know what way his badge shall end, 
 
 Whether his gold-wrought letters shall restore him, 
 
 His shield's great swelling words with frenzied soul. 
 
 An if great Justice, Zeus's virgin child, 
 
 Ruled o'er his words and acts, this might have been ; C6a 
 
 But neither when he left his mother's womb, 
 
 Nor in his youth, nor yet in ripening age, 
 
 Nor when his beard was gathered on his chin, 
 
 Did Justice count him meet for fellowship ; 
 
 Nor do I think that she befriends him now 
 
 In this great outrage on his father's land. 
 
 Yea, justly Justice would as falsely named 
 
 Be known, if she with one all-daring joined. 
 
 In this I trust, and I myself will face him : 
 
 Who else could claim a greater right than I ? 
 
 Brother with brother fighting, king with king, 
 
 And foe with foe, I'll stand. Come, quickly fetch 
 
 My greaves that guard against the spear and stones. 
 
 Chor. Nay, dearest friend, thou son of (Edipus, 
 Be ye not like to him with that ill name. 
 It is enough Cadmeian men should fight 
 Against the Argives. That blood may be cleansed ; 
 But death so murderous of two brothers born, 
 This is pollution that will ne'er wax old. 
 
 Eteoc. If a man must bear evil, let him still 
 Be without shame sole profit that in death. 
 [No glory comes of base and evil deeds]. 
 
 Chor, What dost thou crave, my son ? Let no ill 
 
 fate, 
 
 Frenzied and hot for war, 
 Carry thee headlong on ; 
 Check the first onset of an evil lust. 
 94
 
 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES 
 
 Eteac. Since God so hotly urges on the matter, 
 Let all of Laios* race whom Phcebos hates, 
 Drift with the breeze upon Cokytos' wave. 
 Chr. An over-fierce and passionate desire 
 Stirs thee and pricks thee on 
 To work an evil deed 
 
 Of guilt of blood thy hand should never shed. fcl 
 
 Eteoc. Nay, my dear father's curse, in full-grown hate, 
 Dwells on dry eyes that cannot shed a tear, 
 And speaks of gain before the after-doom. 
 
 Chor. But be not thou urged on. The coward's name 
 Shall not be thine, for thou 
 Hast ordered well thy life. 
 Dark-robed Erinnys enters not the house, 
 When at men's hands the Gods 
 Accept their sacrifice. 
 
 Eteoc. As for the Gods, they scorned us long ago, 
 And smile but on the offering of our deaths ; 70 
 
 What boots it then on death's doom still to fawn ? 
 Ctor. Nay do it now, while yet 'tis in thy power ; l 
 Perchance may fortune shift 
 With tardy change of mood, 
 And come with spirit less implacable : 
 At present fierce and hot 
 She waxeth in her rage. 
 
 Eteoc. Yea, fierce and hot the Curse of CEdipus ; 
 And all too true the visions of the night, 
 My father's treasured store distributing. 
 
 Ckor. Yield to us women, though thou lov'st us not. 
 Eteoc. Speak then what may be done, and be not 
 
 long. 
 
 Cfar. Tread not the path that to the seventh gate 
 leads. 
 
 Perhaps "since death is at nigh hand. 
 95
 
 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES 
 
 Eteoc. Thou shalt not blunt my sharpened edge with 
 
 words. 
 
 Chor. And yet God loves the victory that submits. 1 
 Eteoc. That word a warrior must not tolerate, 
 Chor. Dost thou then haste thy brother's blood to 
 
 shed ? 
 
 Eteoc. If the Gods grant it, he shall not 'scape harm. 
 \Exeunt ETEOCLES, Scout, and Captains 
 
 STROPHE I 
 
 Chor. I fear her might who doth this whole house 
 wreck, 
 
 The Goddess unlike Gods, 
 The prophetess of evil all too true, 
 The Erinnys of thy father's imprecations, 
 
 Lest she fulfil the curse, 
 
 O'er-wrathful, frenzy-fraught, 
 
 The curse of CEdipus, 
 
 Laying his children low. 
 
 This Strife doth urge them on. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I 
 
 And now a stranger doth divide the lots, 
 The Chalyb, 2 from the Skythians emigrant, 
 The stern distributor of heaped-up wealth, 
 The iron that hath assigned them just so much 
 
 1 The Chorus means that if Eteocles would allow himself to 
 be overcome in this contest of his wishes with their prayers the 
 Gods would honour that defeat as if it were indted a victory. 
 He makes answer that the very thought of being overcome im- 
 plied in the word "defeat" in anything is one which the true 
 wan ior cannot bear. 
 
 2 The "Chalyb stranger" is the sword, thought of as taking 
 its name from the Skythian tribe of the Chalybes, between 
 Colchis and Armenia, and passing through the Thrakians into 
 Greece. 
 
 96
 
 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES _- 
 
 Of land as theirs, no more, 
 
 As may suffice for them 
 
 As grave when they shall fall, 
 
 Without or part or lot 
 
 In the broad-spreading plains. 
 
 STROPHE II 
 
 And when the hands of each 
 The other's blood have shed, 
 And the earth's dust shall drink 
 The black and clotted gore, 
 Who then can purify ? 
 Who cleanse thee from the guilt ? 
 Ah me ! O sorrows new, 
 That mingle with the old woes of our house ! 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II 
 I tell the ancient tale 
 Of sin that brought swift doom ; 71 
 
 Till the third age it waits, 
 Since Laios, heeding not 
 Apollo's oracle, 
 
 (Though spoken thrice to him 
 In Pythia's central shrine,) 
 That dying childless, he should save the State. 
 
 STROPHE III 
 
 But he by those he loved full rashly swayed, 
 Doom for himself begat, 
 His murderer QEdipus, 
 Who dared to sow in field 
 Unholy, whence he sprang, 
 A root of blood-flecked woe. 
 Madness together brought 
 Bridegroom and bride accursed 
 i 97
 
 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES 
 ANTISTROPHE III 
 
 And now the sea of evil pours its flood : 
 This falling, others rise, 
 As with a triple crest, 
 Which round the State's stern roars : 
 And but a bulwark slight, 
 A tower's poor breadth, defends ; :c 
 
 And lest the city fall 
 With its two kings I fear-. 
 
 STROPHE IV 
 
 *And that atonement of the ancient curse 
 
 Receives fulfilment now ; l 
 *And when they come, the evils pass not by. 
 E'en so the wealth of sea-adventurers, 
 
 When heaped up in excess, 
 
 Leads but to cargo from the stern thrown out 
 
 ANTISTROPHE IV 
 
 For whom of mortals did the Gods so praise, 
 
 And fellow-worshippers, 
 
 *And race of those who feed their flocks and herds : 
 As much as then they honoured CEdipus, 
 
 Who from our country's bounds 
 Had driven the monster, murderess of men ? 
 
 1 The two brothers, i.e., are set at one again, but it is not in 
 the bonds of friendship, but in those of death. 
 
 2 The image meets us again in Agam. 980. Here the thought 
 is, that a man too prosperous is like a ship too heavily freighted. 
 He must part with a portion of his possession in order to save 
 the rest. Not to part with them leads, when the storm rages, 
 to an enforced abandonment and utter loss. 
 
 * Another reading gives 
 
 "And race of those who crowd the Agora." 
 98
 
 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES 
 
 STROPHE V 
 
 And when too late he knew, 
 Ah, miserable man ! his wedlock dire, 
 
 Vexed sore with that dread shame, 
 
 With heart to madness driven, 
 
 He wrought a two-fold ill, 
 And with the hand that smote his father's life 
 *Blinded the eyes that might his sons have seen. 
 
 ANTISTKOPHE V 
 
 And with a mind provoked 
 By nurture scant, he at his sons did hurl 1 
 
 His curses dire and dark, 
 
 (Ah, bitter curses those !) 
 
 That they with spear in hand 
 Should one day share their father's wealth ; and I 
 Fear now lest swift Erinnys should fulfil them. 
 
 Enter Messenger 
 
 Mess. Be of good cheer, ye maidens, mother-reared ; 
 Our city has escaped the yoke of bondage, 
 The boasts of mighty men are fallen low, 
 And this our city in calm waters floats, 
 And, though by waves lashed, springs not any leak. 
 Our fortress still holds out, and we did guard 
 The gates with champions who redeemed their pledge. 
 In the six gateways almost all goes well ; 
 But the seventh gate did King Apollo choose, 2 
 
 1 This seems to have been one form of the legends as to the 
 cause of the curse which CEdipus had launched upon his sons, 
 An alternative rendering is 
 
 And with a mind enraged 
 
 At thought of what they were whom he had reared, 
 He at his sons did hurl 
 His curses dire and dark. 
 
 8 Sc., when Eteocles fell, Apollo took his place at the seventh 
 gate, and turned the tide of war in favour of the Thebans. 
 99
 
 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES 
 
 Seventh mighty chief, avenging Laios' want 
 Of counsel on the sons of CEdipus. 
 
 Chor. What new disaster happens to our city P 1 8M 
 Mess. The city's saved, but both the royal brothers, . . . 
 Chor. Who ? and what of them ? I'm distraught 
 
 with fear. 
 
 Mess. Be calm, and hear : the sons of CEdipus, .... 
 Chor. Oh wretched me ! a prophet I of ill ! 
 Mess. Slain by each other, earth has drunk their 
 
 blood. 
 
 Chor. Came they to that ? 'Tis dire ; yet tell it me. 
 Mess. Too true, by brother's hand our chiefs are slain. 
 Chor. What, did the brother's hands the brother lay ? 
 Mess. No doubt is there that they are laid in dust. 
 Chor. Thus was there then a common fate for be th ? 
 Mess. *Yea, it lays low the whole ill-fated race. 
 Chor. These things give cause for gladness and for 
 tears, 81 
 
 Seeing that our city prospers, and our lords, 
 The generals twain, with well-wrought Skythian steel, 
 Have shared between them all their store of goods, 
 And now shall have their portion in a grave, 
 Borne on, as spake their father's grievous curse. 8 
 
 Mess. [The city's saved, but of the brother-kings 
 The earth has drunk the blood, each slain by each.] 
 Chor. Great Zeus ! and ye, O Gods ! 
 Guardians of this our town, 
 Who save in very deed 
 The towers of Cadmos old, 82 
 
 1 I follow in this dialogue the arrangement which Paley 
 adopts from Hermann. 
 
 2 There seems an intentional ambiguity. They are "borne 
 on," but it is as the corpses of the dead are borne to the 
 sepulchre. 
 
 100
 
 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES 
 
 Shall I rejoice and shout 
 
 Over the happy chance 
 
 That frees our State from harm ; 
 
 Or weep that ill-starred pair, 
 The war-chiefs, childless and most miserable, 
 
 Who, true to that ill name 
 Of Polyneikes, died in impious mood, 
 
 Contending overmuch I 
 
 STROPHE 
 
 Oh dark, and all too true 
 That curse of CEdipus and all his race, 1 
 An evil chill is falling on my heart, 
 
 And, like a Thyiad wild, 
 Over his grave I sing a dirge of grief, 
 Hearing the dead have died by evil fate, 
 
 Each in foul bloodshed steeped ; 
 Ah me ! Ill-omened is the spear's accord.* 
 
 ANTISTROPHE 
 
 It hath wrought out its end, 
 
 And hath not failed, that prayer the father poured ; 
 And Laios' reckless counsels work till now : 
 
 I fear me for the State ; 
 
 The oracles have not yet lost their edge ; $4 
 
 O men of many sorrows, ye have wrought 
 
 This deed incredible ; 
 
 1 Not here the curse uttered by CEdipus, but that which 
 rested on him and all his kin. There is possibly an allusion to 
 the curse which Pelops is said to have uttered against Laios 
 when he stole his son Chrysippos. Comp. v. 837. 
 
 2 As in v. 763 we read of the brothers as made one in death, 
 so now of the concord which is wrought out by conflict, the 
 concord, i.e., of the grave. 
 
 101
 
 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES 
 
 Not now in word come woes most lamentable. 
 
 \_As the Chorus are spluking, the bodies <?/" ETEOCLKS 
 and POLYNEIKES are brought in solemn procession 
 by Theban Citizens 
 
 EPODK 
 
 Yea, it is all too clear, 
 
 The herald's tale of woe comes full in sight ; 
 Twofold our cares, twin evils born of pride, 
 
 Murderous, with double doom, 
 Wrought unto full completeness all these ills. 
 
 What shall I say I What else 
 
 Are they than woes that make this house their home 1 
 But oh ! my friends, ply, ply with swift, strong gale, 
 That even stroke of hands upon your head, 1 85 
 
 In funeral order, such as evermore 
 
 O'er Acheron sends on 
 
 That bark of State, dark-rigged, accursed its voyage, 
 Which nor Apollo visits nor the sun, 2 
 
 On to the shore unseen, 
 
 The resting-place of all. 
 [ISMENE and ANTIGONE are seen approaching in 
 
 mourning garments^ followed by a procession of 
 
 women wailing and lamenting 
 For see, they come to bitter deed called forth, 
 Ismene and the maid Antigone, 
 
 To wail their brothers' fall ; 
 
 With little doubt I deem, 
 
 1 The Chorus are called on to change their character, and to 
 pnss from the attitude of suppliants, with outstretched arms, to 
 that of mourners at a funeral, beating on their breasts. But, 
 perhaps the call is addressed to the mourners who are seen ap- 
 proaching with Ismene and Antigone. 
 
 2 The thought is drawn from the theoris or pilgrim-ship, 
 which went with snow-white sails, and accompanied by joyful 
 paeans, on a solemn mission from Athens to Delos. In contrast 
 
 102
 
 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES 
 
 That they will pour from fond, deep-bosomed breasts 
 
 A worthy strain of grief: 
 
 But it is meet that we, 
 
 Before we hear their cry, M0 
 
 Should utter the harsh hymn Erinnys loves, 
 
 And sing to Hades dark 
 
 The Pasan of distress. 
 
 ye, most evil-fated in your kin, 
 
 Of all who guard their robes with maiden's band, 
 
 1 weep and wail, and feigning know I none, 
 
 That I should fail to speak 
 My sorrow from my heart. 
 
 STROPHE I 
 
 Semi-Chor. A. Alas ! alas ! 
 Men of stern mood, who would not list to friends, 
 
 Unwearied in all ills, I7 
 
 Seizing your father's house, O wretched ones 
 
 With the spear's murderous point. 
 Semi-Chor. < B. Yea, wretched they who found a 
 
 wretched doom, 
 With havoc of the house. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I 
 
 Semi-Chor. A. Alas ! alas ! 
 Ye who laid low the ancient walls of home, 
 
 On sovereignty, ill won, 
 
 Your eyes have looked, and ye at last are brought 
 To concord by the sword. 
 
 with this type of joy, ^Eschylos draws the picture of the boat of 
 Charon, which passes over the gloomy pool accompanied by the 
 sighs and gestures of bitter lamentation. So, in the old Attic 
 legend, the ship that annually carried seven youths and maidens 
 to the Minotaur of Crete was conspicuous for its black sails. 
 103
 
 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES 
 
 Semi-Chor. B. Yea, of a truth, the curse of CEdipus 8SO 
 Erinnys dread fulfils. 
 
 STROPHE II 
 
 Semi-Chor. A. Yea, smitten through the heart, 
 Smitten through sides where flowed the blood of 
 
 brothers. 
 
 Ah me ! ye doomed of God ! 
 Ah me ! the curses dire 
 Of deaths ye met with each at other's hands ! 
 
 Semi-Chor. B. Thou tell'st of men death-smitten 
 
 through and through, 
 Both in their homes and lives, 
 With wrath beyond all speech, :o 
 
 And doom of discord fell, 
 That sprang from out the curse their father spake. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II 
 
 Semi-Chor. A. Yea, through the city runs 
 A wailing cry. The high towers wail aloud ; 
 Wails all the plain that loves her heroes well ; 
 And to their children's sons 
 The wealth will go for which 
 
 The strife of those ill-starred ones brought forth death. 
 Semi-Chor. B. Quick to resent, they shared their 
 
 fortune so, 
 
 That each like portion won ; 
 *Nor can their friends regard 
 Their umpire without blame ; 
 Nor is our voice in thanks to Ares raised. 
 
 STROPHE III 
 
 Semi-Chor. A. By the sword smitten low, 
 Thus are they now ; 
 By the sword smitten low, 
 104
 
 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES 
 
 There wait them . . . Nay, 
 
 Doth one perchance ask what ? 
 Shares in their old ancestral sepulchres. 
 
 Semi-Chor. B. *The sorrow of the house is borne 
 to them 
 
 By my heart-rending wail. 
 
 Mine own the cries I pour ; 
 
 Mine own the woes I weep, 
 Bitter and joyless, shedding truest tears 
 From heart that faileth, even as they fall, 
 
 For these two kingly chiefs. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III 
 
 Semi-Chor. A. Yes ; one may say of them, 
 That wretched pair, 
 That they much ill have wrought 
 To their own host ; 
 Yea, and to alien ranks 
 Of many nations fallen in the fray. 
 
 Semi-Chor. B. Ah ! miserable she who bare those 
 
 twain, 
 
 'Bove all of women born 
 Who boast a mother's name ! 
 Taking her son, her own, 
 As spouse, she bare these children, and they 
 
 both, 
 
 By mutual slaughter and by brothers' hands, 
 Have found their end in death. 
 
 STROPHE IV 
 Semi-Chor. A. Yes ; of the same womb born, and 
 
 doomed both, 
 
 *Not as friends part, they fell, 
 In strife to madness pushed 
 In this their quarrel's end. 
 105
 
 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES 
 
 Semi-Cber. B. The quarrel now is hushed, 
 And in the ensanguined earth their lives are blent ; 83 
 
 Full near in blood are they. 
 
 Stern umpire of their strifes 
 Has been the stranger from beyond the sea, 1 
 Fresh from the furnace, keen and sharpened steel. 
 
 Stern, too, is Ares found, 
 
 Distributing their goods, 
 Making their father's curses all too true. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE IV 
 
 Semi-Chor. A. At last they have their share, ah, 
 
 wretched ones ! 
 
 Of burdens sent from God. wo 
 
 And now beneath them lies 
 
 A boundless wealth of earth. 
 
 Semi-Ckor. B. O ye who your own race 
 Have made to burgeon out with many woes ! 
 Over the end at last 
 The brood of Curses raise 
 Their shrill, sharp cry of lamentation loud, 
 The race being put to flight of utmost rout, 
 And Ate's trophy stands, 
 Where in the gates they fell ; 
 And Fate, now both are conquered, rests at last. * ;0 
 
 Enter ANTIGONE and ISMENE, followed by mourning 
 maidens 2 
 
 Ant. Thou wast smitten, and thou smotest. 
 
 Ism. Thou did'st slaughter, and wast slaughtered. 
 
 1 The "Chalyb," or iron sword, which the Hellenes had 
 imported from the Skythians. Comp. w. 70. 86. 
 
 3 The lyrical, operative character of Greek tragedies has to be 
 borne in mind as we read passages like that which follows. They 
 106
 
 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES 
 
 Ant. Thou with spear to death did'st smite him. 
 Ism. Thou with spear to death wast smitten. 
 Ant. Oh, the woe of all your labours ! 
 Ism. Oh, the woe of all ye suffered ! 
 Ant. Pour the cry of lamentation. 
 Ism. Pour the tears of bitter weeping. 
 Ant. There in death thou liest prostrate. 
 Ism. Having wrought a great destruction. 
 
 STROPHE 
 
 Ant. Ah ! my mind is crazed with wailing. 
 Ism. Yea, my heart within me groaneth. 
 Ant. Thou for whom the city weepeth ! 
 Ism. Thou too, doomed to all ill-fortune ! 
 Ant. By a loved hand thou hast perished. 
 Ism. And a loved form thou hast slaughtered. 
 Ant. Double woes are ours to tell of. 
 Ism. Double woes too ours to look on. 
 Ant. *Twofold sorrows from near kindred. 
 Ism. *Sisters we by brothers standing. 
 Ant. Terrible are they to tell of. 
 Ism. Terrible are they to look on. 
 Chor. Ah me, thou Destiny, 
 Giver of evil gifts, and working woe, 
 
 were not meant to be read. Uttered in a passionate recitative, 
 accompanied by expressive action, they probably formed a very 
 effective element in the actual representation of the tragedy. We 
 may look on it as the only extant specimen of the kind of wail- 
 ing which was characteristic of Eastern burials, and which was 
 slowly passing away in Greece under the influence of a higher 
 culture. The early fondness of ^Eschylos for a finale of this 
 nature is seen also in The Persians, and in a more solemn and 
 subdued form, in the Eumenides. The feeling that there was 
 something barbaric in these untoward displays of grief, showed 
 itself alike in the legislation of Solon, and the eloquence of 
 Pericles. 
 
 107
 
 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES 
 
 And thou dread spectral form of CEdipus, 
 And swarth Erinnys too, 
 A mighty one art thou. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE 
 
 Ant. Ah me ! ah me ! woes dread to look on . 
 
 Ism. Ye showed to me, returned from exile. 
 
 Ant. Not, when he had slain, returned he. 
 
 Ism. Nay, he, saved from exile, perished. 
 
 Ant. Yea, I trow too well, he perished. 
 
 Ism. And his brother, too, he murdered. 
 
 Ant. Woeful, piteous, are those brothers ! 
 
 Ism. Woeful, piteous, all they suffered ! 
 
 Ant. Woes of kindred wrath enkindling ! 
 
 Ism. Saturate with threefold horrors ! 
 
 Ant. Terrible are they to tell of. 
 
 Ism. Terrible are they to look on. 
 
 Chor. Ah me, thou Destiny, 
 Giver of evil gifts, and stern of soul, 
 And thou dread spectral form of CEdipus, 
 And swarth Erinnys too, 
 A mighty one art thou. 
 
 EPODE 
 
 Ant. Thou, then, by full trial knowest . . . 
 Ism. Thou, too, no whit later learning. . . . 
 Ant. When thou cam'st back to this city. 1 . 
 Ism. Rival to our chief in warfare. 
 Ant. Woe, alas ! for all our troubles ! 
 Ism. Woe, alas ! for all our evils ! 
 Ant. Evils fallen on our houses ! 
 
 Here, and perhaps throughout, we must think of Antigone 
 as addressing and looking on the corpse of Polyneikes, Ismene 
 on that of Eteocles. 
 
 108
 
 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES 
 
 Ism. Evils fallen on our country ! 
 Ant. And on me before all others. . . . 
 
 Ism. And to me the future waiting. ... 100 
 
 Ant. Woe for those two brothers luckless ! 
 Ism. King Eteocles, our leader ! 
 Ant. Oh, before all others wretched ! 
 Ism. ..... 
 
 Ant. Ah, by Ate frenzy-stricken ! 
 Ism. Ah, where now shall they be buried ? 
 Ant. There where grave is highest honour. 
 Ism. Ah, the woe my father wedded ! 
 
 Enter a Herald 
 
 Her. 'Tis mine the judgment and decrees to 
 
 publish 
 
 Of this Cadmeian city's counsellors : 
 It is decreed Eteocles to honour, 
 For his goodwill towards this land of ours, 
 With seemly burial, such as friend may claim ; 
 For warding off our foes he courted death ; 
 Pure as regards his country's holy things, 
 Blameless he died where death the young beseems ; 
 This then I'm ordered to proclaim of him. 
 But for his brother's, Polyneikes' corpse, 
 To cast it out unburied, prey for dogs, 
 As working havoc on Cadmeian land, 
 Unless some God had hindered by the spear 
 Of this our prince ; l and he, though, dead, shall gain 102 
 The curse of all his father's Gods, whom he 
 
 [Pointing to POLYNEIKES 
 With alien host dishonouring, sought to take 
 Our city. Him by ravenous birds interred 
 
 1 Perhaps 
 
 ' ' Unless some God had stood against the spear 
 This chief did wield. " 
 
 109
 
 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES 
 
 Ingloriously, they sentence to receive 
 
 His full deserts ; and none may take in hand 
 
 To heap up there a tomb, nor honour him 
 
 With shrill-voiced wailings ; but he still must lie, 
 
 Without the meed of burial by his friends. 
 
 So do the high Cadmeian powers decree. 
 
 Ant. And I those rulers of Cadmeians tell, 1 ltao 
 That if no other care to bury him, 
 I will inter him, facing all the risk, 
 Burying my brother : nor am I ashamed 
 To thwart the State in rank disloyalty ; 
 Strange power there is in ties of blood, that we, 
 Born of woe-laden mother, sire ill-starred, 
 Are bound by : therefore of thy full free-will, 
 Share thou, my soul, in woes he did not will, 
 Thou living, he being dead, with sister's heart. 
 And this I say, no wolves with ravening maw, 
 Shall tear his flesh No ! no ! let none think that ! 
 For tomb and burial I will scheme for him, 104 
 
 Though I be but weak woman, bringing earth 
 Within my byssine raiment's fold, and so 
 Myself will bury him ; let no man think 
 (I say't again) aught else. Take heart, my soul ! 
 There shall not fail the means effectual. 
 
 Her. I bid thee not defy the State in this. 
 
 Ant. I bid thee not proclaim vain words to me. 
 
 Her. Stern is the people now, with victory flushed. 
 
 Ant. Stern let them be, he shall not tombless lie. 
 
 Her. And wilt thou honour whom the State doth 
 loathe ? 
 
 1 The speech of the Antigone becomes the starting-point, in 
 the hands of Sophocles, of the noblest of his tragedies. 1 he 
 denial of burial, it will be remembered, was looked on as not 
 merely an indignity and outrage against the feelings of the 
 living, but as depriving the souls of the dead of all rest and 
 peace. As such it was the punishment of parricides and traitors.
 
 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES 
 
 Ant. *Yea, from the Gods he gets an honour 
 due. 1 luw 
 
 Her. It was not so till he this land attacked. 
 
 Ant. He, suffering evil, evil would repay. 
 
 Her. Not against one his arms were turned, but all. 
 
 Ant. Strife is the last of Gods to end disputes : 
 Him I will bury ; talk no more of it. 
 
 Her. Choose for thyself then, I forbid the deed. 
 
 Chor. Alas ! alas ! alas ! 
 
 Ye haughty boasters, race-destroying, 
 
 Now Fates and now Erinnyes, smiting 
 
 The sons of CEdipus, ye slew them, 
 
 With a root-and-branch destruction. 
 
 What shall I then do, what suffer ? 
 
 What shall I devise in counsel ? 
 
 How should I dare nor to weep thee, 
 
 Nor escort thee to the burial ? 
 
 But I tremble and I shrink from 
 
 All the terrors which they threatened, 
 
 They who are my fellow-townsmen. 
 
 Many mourners thou (looking to the bier oj 
 
 ETEOCLES) shalt meet with ; 
 But he, lost one, unlamented, 
 With his sister's wailing only 
 Passeth. Who with this complieth ? 
 
 Semi-Chor. A. Let the city doom or not doom 
 Those who weep for Polyneikes ; 
 
 1 The words are obscure enough, the point lying, it may be, 
 in their ambiguity. Antigone here, as in the tragedy of 
 Sophocles, pleads that the Gods have pardoned ; they still com- 
 mand and love the reverence for the dead, which she is about to 
 show. The herald catches up her words and takes them in 
 another sense, as though all the honour he had met with from 
 the Gods had been defeat, and death, and shame, as the reward 
 of his sacrilege. Another rendering, however, gives 
 
 "Yes, so the Gods have done with honouring him." 
 in
 
 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES 
 
 We will go, and we will bury, 
 Maidens we in sad procession ; 
 For the woe to all is common, 
 And our State with voice uncertain, 
 Of the claims of Right and Justice ; 
 Hither, thither, shifts its praises. 
 Semi-C/:or. ( B. We will thus, our chief attending, 
 Speak, as speaks the State, our praises : 
 Of the claims of Right and Justice ;* 
 For next those the Blessed Rulers, 
 And the strength of Zeus, he chiefly 
 Saved the city of Cadmeians 
 From the doom of fell destruction, 
 From the doom of whelming utter, 
 In the flood of alien warriors. 
 
 \JLxeunt ANTIGONE and Semi-Chorus A., fol- 
 lowing the corpse of POLYNEIKES ; ISMENE 
 and Semi-Chorus B. that O/"ETEOCLES. 
 
 1 The words are probably a protest against the changeable 
 ness of the Athenian demos, as seen especially in their treatment 
 of Aristeides.
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND 
 
 DRAMATIS PERSONS 
 
 PROMETHEUS HERMES 
 
 OKEANOS STRENGTH 
 
 HEPHJESTOS FORCE 
 
 Chorus of Ocean Nymphs 
 
 ARGUMENT. In the old time, when Cronos was 
 sovereign of the Gods, Zeus, whom he had begotten, rose 
 up against him, and the Gods were divided in their coun- 
 sels, some, the Titans chiefly, siding with the father, and 
 some with the son. And Prometheus, the son of Earth or 
 Themis, though one of the Titans, supported Zeus, as did 
 also Okeanos, and by his counsels Zeus obtained the 
 victory, and Cronos was chained in Tartaros, and the 
 Titans buried under mountains, or kept in bonds in 
 Hades. And then Prometheus, seeing the miseries of the 
 race of men, of whom Zeus took little heed, stole the fire 
 which till then had belonged to none but Hepheestos and 
 was used only for the Gods, and gave it to mankind, and 
 taught them many arts whereby their wretchedness was 
 lessened. But Zeui> being wroth with Prometheus for 
 this deed, sent Hepheestos, with his two helpers, Strength 
 and Force, to fetter him to a rock on Caucasos. 
 
 A nd in yet another story was the cruelty of the Gods 
 made known. For Zeus loved lo, the daughter of I nachos, 
 
 I 113 H
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND 
 
 king of Argos, and she was haunted by visions oj the 
 night, telling her of his passion, and she told her father 
 thereof. And Inachos, sending to the God at Delphi, 
 was told to drive lo forth from her home. And Zeus 
 gave her the horns of a cow, and Hera, who hated her 
 because she was dear to Zeus, sent with her a gadfly that 
 stung her, and gave her no rest, and drove her over many 
 lands. 
 
 Note. The play is believed to have been the second of a 
 Trilogy, of which the first was Prometheus Hie Fire-giver, and 
 the third Prometheus Unbound,
 
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND 
 
 SCENE. SKYTHIA, on the heightt of Caucasos. The Euxlne 
 seen in the distance 
 
 Enter HEPHJESTOS, STRENGTH, and FORCE, leading 
 PROMETHEUS in chains 1 
 
 Strength. Lo ! to a plain, earth's boundary remote, 
 We now are come, the tract as Skythian known, 
 A desert inaccessible : and now, 
 Hephaestos, it is thine to do the hests 
 The Father gave thee, to these lofty crags 
 To bind this crafty trickster fast in chains 
 Of adamantine bonds that none can break ; 
 For he thy choice flower stealing, the bright glory 
 Of fire that all arts spring from, hath bestowed it 
 On mortal men. And so for fault like this 
 He now must pay the Gods due penalty, 
 That he may learn to bear the sovereign rule 10 
 
 Of Zeus, and cease from his philanthropy. 
 
 Heph. O Strength, and thou, O Force, the hest of 
 Zeus, 
 
 1 The scene seems at first an exception to the early conven- 
 tional rule, which forbade the introduction of a third actor on the 
 Greek stage. But it has been noticed that (i) Force does m t 
 speak, and (2) Prometheus does not speak till Strength and 
 Force have retired, and that it is therefore probable that trm 
 whole work of nailing is done on a lay figure or effigy of sonw 
 kind, and that one of the two who had before taken part in the 
 dialogue then speaks behind it in the character of Prometheus. 
 So the same actor must have appeared in succession as Okeanos, 
 Io, and Htrmes. 
 
 "5
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND 
 
 As far as touches you, attains its end, 
 
 And nothing hinders. Yet my courage fails 
 
 To bind a God of mine own kin by force 
 
 To this bare rock where tempests wildly sweep ; 
 
 And yet I needs must muster courage for it : 
 
 'Tis no slight thing the Father's words to scorn. 
 
 thou of Themis [to PROMETHEUS] wise in counsel 
 
 son, 
 Full deep of purpose, lo ! against my will, 1 
 
 1 fetter thee against thy will with bonds 
 
 Of bronze that none can loose, to this lone height, * 
 
 Where thou shalt know nor voice nor face of man, 
 
 But scorching in the hot blaze of the sun, 
 
 Shalt lose thy skin's fair beauty. Thou shalt long 
 
 For starry-mantled night to hide day's sheen, 
 
 For sun to melt the rime of early dawn ; 
 
 And evermore the weight of present ill 
 
 Shall wear thee down. Unborn as yet is he 
 
 Who shall release thee : this the fate thou gain'st 
 
 As due reward for thy philanthropy. 
 
 For thou, a God not fearing wrath of Gods, 
 
 In thy transgression gav'st their power to men ; 
 
 And therefore on this rock of little ease 
 
 Thou still shalt keep thy watch, nor lying down, 
 
 Nor knowing sleep, nor ever bending knee ; 
 
 And many groans and waitings profitless 
 
 Thy lips shall utter ; for the mind of Zeus 
 
 1 Prometheus (Forethought] is the son of Themis (Right) the 
 second occupant of the Pythian Oracle (Eutnen. v. 2). His 
 sympathy with man leads him to impart the gift which raised 
 them out of savage animal life, and for this Zeus, who 
 appears throughout the play as a bard taskmaster, sentences 
 him to fetters. Hephaestps, from whom this fire had been stolen, 
 has a touch of pity for him. Strength, who comes as the servant, 
 not of Hephasstos, but of Zeus himself, acts, as such, with 
 merciless cruelty. 
 
 116
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND 
 
 Remains inexorable. \ Who holds a power 
 But newly gained 1 is ever stern of mood. j 
 
 Strength. Let be ! Why linger in this idle pity ? 
 Why dost not hate a God to Gods a foe, 
 Who gave thy choicest prize to mortal men ? 
 
 Heph. Strange is the power of kin and intercourse. 2 
 Strength. I own it ; yet to slight the Father's 
 
 words, 
 
 How may that be ? Is not that fear the worse ? 
 Heph. Still art thou ruthless, full of savagery. 
 Strength. There is no help in weeping over him : 
 Spend not thy toil on things that profit not. 
 Heph. O handicraft to me intolerable ! 
 Strength. Why loath'st thou it I Of these thy 
 
 present griefs 
 That craft of thine is not one whit the cause. 
 
 Heph. And yet I would some other had that skill. 
 Strength. *A11 things bring toil except for Gods to 
 
 reign ; 3 
 
 For none but Zeus can boast of freedom true. 
 Heph. Too well I see the proof, and gainsay not. 
 Strength. Wilt thou not speed to fix the chains on 
 
 him, 
 Lest He, the Father, see thee loitering here ? 
 
 Heph. Well, here the handcuffs thou may'st see 
 
 prepared. 
 Strength. In thine hands take him. Then with all 
 
 thy might 
 
 Strike with thine hammer ; nail him to the rocks. 
 Heph. The work goes on, I ween, and not in vain. 
 
 1 The generalised statement refers to Zeus, as having but 
 recently expelled Cronos from his throne in Heaven. 
 
 2 Hephaestos, as the great fire-worker, had taught Prometheus 
 to use the fire which he afterwards bestowed on men. 
 
 8 Perhaps, "All might is ours except o'er Gods to rule." 
 "7
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND 
 
 Strength. Strike harder, rivet, give no whit of ease: 
 A wondrous knack has he to find resource, 
 Even where all might seem to baffle him. 
 
 Heph. Lo ! this his arm is fixed inextricably. 
 
 Strength. Now rivet thou this other fast, that he 
 May learn, though sharp, that he than Zeus is duller. 
 
 lleph. No one but he could justly blame my work. 
 
 Strength. Now drive the stern jaw of the adamant 
 
 wedge 
 Right through his chest with all the strength thou hast. 
 
 Heph. Ah me ! Prometheus, for thy woes I groan. 
 
 Strength. Again, thou'rt loth, and for the foes of Zeus 
 Thou groanest : take good heed to it lest thou 
 Ere long with cause thyself commiserate. 
 
 Heph. Thou see'st a sight unsightly to our eyes. 
 
 Strength. I see this man obtaining his deserts : 70 
 Nay, cast thy breast-chains round about his ribs. 
 
 Heph. I must needs do it. Spare thine o'er much 
 
 bidding ; 
 Go thou below and rivet both his legs. 1 
 
 Strength. Nay, I will bid thee, urge thee to thy work. 
 
 Heph. There, it is done, and that with no long toil. 
 
 Strength. Now with thy full power fix the galling 
 
 fetters : 
 Thou hast a stern o'erlooker of thy work. 
 
 Heph. Thy tongue but utters words that match thy 
 form. 2 
 
 Strength. Choose thou the melting mood ; but 
 
 chide not me 
 For my self-will and wrath and ruthlessness. 
 
 1 The words indicate that the effigy of Prometheus, now 
 nailed to the rock, was, as being that of a Titan, of colossal size. 
 
 2 The touch is characteristic as showing that here, as in the 
 Eumenides, ^Eschylos relied on the horribleness of the masks, 
 as part of the machinery of his plays. 
 
 1*8
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND 
 
 Heph. Now let us go, his limbs are bound in chains. 
 Strength, Here then wax proud, and stealing what 
 
 belongs 
 
 To the Gods, to mortals give it. What can they 
 Avail to rescue thee from these thy woes ? 
 Falsely the Gods have given thee thy name, 
 Prometheus, Forethought ; forethought thou dost 
 
 need 
 To free thyself from this rare handiwork. 
 
 [ExeufttHzpHJESTos, STRENGTH, <?^FORCE, 
 
 leaving PROMKTHEUS on the rock 
 Prom. 1 Thou firmament of God, and swift-winged 
 
 winds, 
 
 Ye springs of rivers, and of ocean waves 
 That smile innumerous ! Mother of us all, * 
 
 Earth, and Sun's all-seeing eye, behold, 
 
 1 pray, what I a God from Gods endure. 
 
 Behold in what foul case 
 
 I for ten thousand years 
 
 Shall struggle in my woe, 
 
 In these unseemly chains. 
 Such doom the new-made Monarch of the Blest 
 
 Hath now devised for me. 
 Woe, woe ! The present and the oncoming pang 
 
 I wail, as I search out 
 The place and hour when end of all these ills 
 
 Shall dawn on me at last. 30 
 
 What say I ? All too clearly I foresee 
 The things that come, and nought of pain shall be 
 
 1 The silence of Prometheus up to this point was partly, as 
 has been said, consequent on the conventional laws of the Greek 
 drama, but it is also a touch of supreme insight into the heroic 
 temper. In the presence of his torturers, the Ti'an will not 
 utter even a groan. Wtrn they are gone, he appeals to the 
 sympathy of Nature. 
 
 119
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND 
 
 By me unlooked-for ; but I needs must bear 
 
 My destiny as best I may, knowing well 
 
 The might resistless of Necessity. 
 
 And neither may I speak of this my fate, 
 
 Nor hold my peace. For I, poor I, through giving 
 
 Great gifts to mortal men, am prisoner made 
 
 In these fast fetters ; yea, in fennel stalk 1 
 
 I snatched the hidden spring of stolen fire, 
 
 Which is to men a teacher of all arts, 
 
 Their chief resource. And now this penalty 
 
 Of that offence I pay, fast riveted 
 
 In chains beneath the open firmament. 
 
 Ha ! ha ! What now ? 
 What sound, what odour floats invisibly?* 
 Is it of God or man, or blending both ? 
 And has one come to this remotest rock 
 To look upon my woes ? Or what wills he ? 
 Behold me bound, a God to evil doomed, 
 
 The foe of Zeus, and held 
 
 In hatred by all Gods 
 
 Who tread the courts of Zeus : 
 
 And this for my great love, 
 
 ' The legend is from Hesiod ( Theogon., v. 567). The fennel, 
 or narthex, seems to have been a large umbelliferous plant, 
 with a large stem filled with a sort of pith, which was used 
 when dry as tinder. Stalks were carried as wands (the thyrsi] 
 by the men and women who joined in Bacchanalian processions. 
 In modern botany, the name is given to the plant which pro- 
 duces Asafcetida, and the stem of which, from its resinous 
 character, would burn freely, and so connect itself with the 
 Promethean myth. On the other hand, the Narthex Asafcetida 
 is found at present only in Persia, Afghanistan, and the 
 Punjaub. 
 
 2 The ocean nymphs, like other divine ones, would be 
 anointed with ambrosial unguents, and the odour would be 
 wafted before them by the rustling of their wings. This too we 
 may think of as part of the ' ' stage effects " of the play.
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND 
 
 Too great, for mortal men. 
 Ah me ! what rustling sounds 
 Hear I of birds not far ? 
 With the light whirr of wings 
 The air re-echoeth : 
 All that draws nigh to me is cause of fear. 1 
 
 Enter Chorus of Ocean Nymphs, with tcings, 
 floating in the air ~ 
 
 Chor. Nay, fear thou nought : in love 
 
 All our array of wings 
 
 In eager race hath come 
 To this high peak, full hardly gaining o'er 
 
 Our Father's mind and will ; 
 And the swift-rushing breezes bore me on : 
 For lo ! the echoing sound of blows on iron 
 Pierced to our cave's recess, and put to flight 
 
 My shamefast modesty, 
 And I in unshod haste, on winged car, 
 
 To thee rushed hitherward. 
 Prom. Ah me ! ah me ! 
 Offspring of Tethys blest with many a child, 
 Daughters of Old Okeanos that rolls 
 Round all the earth with never-sleeping stream, 
 
 Behold ye me, and see 
 
 With what chains fettered fast, 
 I on the topmost crags of this ravine 
 Shall keep my sentry-post unenviable. 
 
 1 The words are not those of a vague terror only. The 
 sufferer knows that his tormentor is to come to him before long 
 on wings, and therefore the sound as of the flight of birds is full 
 of terrors. 
 
 a By the same stage mechanism the Chorus remains in the 
 air till verse 280, when, at the request of Prometheus, they 
 alight. 
 
 121
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND 
 
 Chor. I see it, O Prometheus, and a mist 
 Of fear and full of tears comes o'er mine eyes, 
 
 Thy frame beholding thus, 
 
 Writhing on these high rocks 1!0 
 
 In adamantine ills. 
 New pilots now o'er high Olympos rule, 
 
 And with new-fashioned laws 
 
 Zeus reigns, down-trampling right, 
 And all the ancient powers He sweeps away. 
 
 Prom. Ah! would that 'neath the Earth, 'neath 
 
 Hades too, 
 
 Home of the dead, far down to Tartaros lfl 
 
 Unfathomable He in fetters fast 
 
 In wrath had hurled me down : 
 
 So neither had a God 
 Nor any other mocked at these my woes ; 
 But now, the wretched plaything of the winds, 
 1 suffer ills at which my foes rejoice. 
 Chor. Nay, which of all the Gods 
 Is so hard-hearted as to joy in this ? 
 Who, Zeus excepted, doth not pity thee 
 
 In these thine ills ? But He, 
 
 Ruthless, with soul unbent, 
 
 Subdues the heavenly host, nor will He cease 1 1:0 
 
 Until his heart be satiate with power, 
 Or some one seize with subtle stratagem 
 The sovran might that so resistless seemed. 
 
 Prom. Nay, of a truth, though put to evil shame, 
 
 1 Here, as throughout the play, the poet puts into the mouth 
 of his dramatis persona words which must have seemed to the 
 devouter Athenians sacrilegious enough to call for an indictment 
 before the Areiopagos. But the final play of the Trilogy came, 
 we may believe, as the Eumenides did in its turn, as a reconcilia- 
 tion of the conflicting thoughts that rise in men's minds out of 
 ihe seciiMig anomalies of the worM. 
 
 122
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND 
 
 In massive fetters bound, 
 
 The Ruler of the Gods 
 Shall yet have need of me, yes, e'en of me, 
 
 To tell the counsel new 
 
 That seeks to strip from him 
 His sceptre and his might of sovereignty. 
 
 In vain will He with words 
 
 Or suasion's honeyed charms 
 
 Soothe me, nor will I tell 
 
 Through fear of his stern threats, 
 
 Ere He shall set me free 
 
 From these my bonds, and make, 
 
 Of his own choice, amends 
 
 For all these outrages. 
 Cbor. Full rash art thou, and yield'st 
 In not a jot to bitterest form of woe ; 
 Thou art o'er-free and reckless in thy speech : 
 
 But piercing fear hath stirred 
 
 My inmost soul to strife ; 
 For I fear greatly touching thy distress, 
 As to what haven of these woes of thine 
 Thou now must steer : the son of Cronos hath 
 
 A stubborn mood and heart inexorable. 
 Prom. I know that Zeus is hard, 
 And keeps the Right supremely to himself; 
 
 But then, I trow, He'll be 
 
 Full pliant in his will, 
 
 When He is thus crushed down. 
 
 Then, calming down his mood 
 
 Of hard and bitter wrath, 
 
 He'll hasten unto me, 
 
 As I to him shall haste, so 
 
 For friendship and for peace. 
 Cbor. Hide it not from us, tell us all the tale : 
 For what offence Zeus, having seized thee thus, 
 123
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND 
 
 So wantonly and bitterly insults thee : 
 If the tale hurt thee not, inform thou us. 
 
 Prom. Painful are these things to me e'en to speak : 
 Painful is silence ; everywhere is woe. 
 For when the high Gods fell on mood of wrath, 
 And hot debate of mutual strife was stirred, 
 Some wishing to hurl Cronos from his throne, 
 That Zeus, forsooth, might reign ; while others strove, 
 Eager that Zeus might never rule the Gods : suo 
 
 Then I, full strongly seeking to persuade 
 The Titans, yea, the sons of Heaven and Earth, 
 Failed of my purpose. Scorning subtle arts, 
 With counsels violent, they thought that they 
 By force would gain full easy mastery. 
 But then not once or twice my mother Themis 
 And Earth, one form though bearing many names, 1 
 Had prophesied the future, how 'twould run, 
 That not by strength nor yet by violence, 
 But guile, should those who prospered gain the day. 
 And when in my words I this counsel gave, 
 They deigned not e'en to glance at it at all. 
 And then of all that offered, it seemed best 
 To join my mother, and of mine own will, 
 Not against his will, take my side with Zeus, 
 And by my counsels, mine, the dark deep pit 
 Of Tartaros the ancient Cronos holds, 
 Himself and his allies. Thus profiting 
 By me, the mighty ruler of the Gods 
 Repays me with these evil penalties : 
 For somehow this disease in sovereignty 
 
 l The words leave it uncertain whether Themis is identified 
 with Earth, or, as in the Eumenides (v. 2) distinguished from 
 her. The Titans as a class, then, children of Okeanos and 
 Chth&n (another name for Land or Earth), are the kindred 
 rather than the brothers of Prometheus. 
 124
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND 
 
 Inheres, of never trusting to one's friends. 1 
 
 And since ye ask me under what pretence 
 
 He thus maltreats me, I will show it you : 
 
 For soon as He upon his father's throne 
 
 Had sat secure, forthwith to divers Gods 
 
 He divers gifts distributed, and his realm 
 
 Began to order. But of mortal men 
 
 He took no heed, but purposed utterly r: " 
 
 To crush their race and plant another new ; 
 
 And, I excepted, none dared cross his will ; 
 
 But I did dare, and mortal men I freed 
 
 From passing on to Hades thunder-stricken ; 
 
 And therefore am I bound beneath these woe?, 
 
 Dreadful to suffer, pitiable to see : 
 
 And I, who in my pity thought of men 
 
 More than myself, have not been worthy deemed 
 
 To gain like favour, but all ruthlessly 
 
 I thus am chained, foul shame this sight to Zeus. 
 
 Chor. Iron-hearted must he be and made of rock 25 
 Who is not moved, Prometheus, by thy woes : 
 Fain could I wish I ne'er had seen such things, 
 And, seeing them, am wounded to the heart. 
 
 Prom. Yea, I am piteous for my friends to see. 
 
 Chor. Did'st thou not go to farther lengths than this ? 
 
 Prom. I made men cease from contemplating death. 2 
 
 Chor. What medicine did'st thou find for that disease I 
 
 1 The generalising words here, as in v. 35, appeal to the 
 Athenian hatred of all that was represented by the words tyrant 
 and tyranny. 
 
 3 The state described is that of men who "through fear of 
 death are all their lifetime subject to bondage." That state, the 
 parent of all superstition, fostered the slavish awe in which Zeus 
 delighted. Prometheus, representing the active intellect of man, 
 bestows new powers, new interests, new hopes, which at last 
 divert them from that fear.
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND 
 
 Prom. Blind hopes I gave to live and dwell with 
 them. 
 
 Chor. Great service that thou did'st for mortal men ! 
 
 Prom. And more than that, I gave them fire, yes I. ^ 
 
 Chor. Do short-lived men the flaming fire possess? 
 
 Trow. Yea, and full many an art they'll learn from it. 
 
 Chor. And is it then on charges such as these 
 That Zeus maltreats thee, and no respite gives 
 Of many woes ? And has thy pain no end ? 
 
 Prom. End there is none, except as pleases Him. 
 
 Chor. How shall it please ? What hope hast thou ? 
 
 See'st not 
 
 That thou hast sinned ? Yet to say how thou sinned'st 
 Gives me no pleasure, and is pain to thee. 
 Well ! let us leave these things, and, if we may, 
 Seek out some means to 'scape from this thy woe. 2ro 
 
 "Prom. 'Tis a light thing for one who has his foot 
 Beyond the reach of evil to exhort 
 And counsel him who suffers. This to me 
 Was all well known. Yea, willing, willingly 
 I sinned, nor will deny it. Helping men, 
 I for myself found trouble : yet I thought not 
 That I with such dread penalties as these 
 Should wither here on these high-towering crags, 
 Lighting on this lone hill and neighbourless. 
 Wherefore wail not for these my present woes, 
 But, drawing nigh, my coming fortunes hear, 
 That ye may learn the whole tale to the end. 
 Nay, hearken, hearken ; show your sympathy 
 With him who suffers now. 'Tis thus that woe, 
 Wandering, now falls on this one, now on that. 
 
 Chor. Not to unwilling hearers hast thou uttered, 
 
 Prometheus, thy request, 
 And now with nimble foot abounding 
 My swiftly rushing car, 
 126
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND 
 
 And the pure aether, path of birds of heaven, 
 I will draw near this rough and rocky land, 
 
 For much do I desire 
 To hear this tale, full measure, of thy woes. 
 
 Enter OKEANOS, on a car drawn by a winged gryphon 
 
 Okean. Lo, I come to thee, Prometheus, 
 
 Reaching goal of distant journey, 1 
 
 Guiding this my winged courser 
 
 By my will, without a bridle ; 
 
 And thy sorrows move my pity. 
 
 Force, in part, I deem, of kindred 
 
 Leads me on, nor know I any, 
 
 Whom, apart from kin, I honour 
 
 More than thee, in fuller measure. 
 
 This thou shalt own true and earnest : 
 
 I deal not in glozing speeches. 
 
 Come then, tell me how to help thee ; 
 
 Ne'er shalt thou say that one more friendly 
 
 Is found than unto thee is Okean. 
 Prom. Let be. What boots it ? Thou then too art 
 
 come 
 
 To gaze upon my sufferings. How did'st dare 
 Leaving the stream that bears thy name, and caves 
 Hewn in the living rock, this land to visit, 
 Mother of iron ? What then, art thou come 
 To gaze upon my fall and offer pity ? 
 Behold this sight : see here the friend of Zeus, 
 Who helped to seat him in his sovereignty, 
 With what foul outrage I am crushed by him ! 
 
 Okean. I see, Prometheus, and I wish to give thee 
 
 1 The home of Okeanos was in the far west, at the boundary 
 of the great stream surrounding the whole world, from which Us 
 took his name. 
 
 1*7
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND 
 
 My best advice, all subtle though thou be. 
 Know thou thyself, 1 and fit thy soul to moods 
 To thee full new. New king the Gods have now ; 
 But if thou utter words thus rough and sharp, 
 Perchance, though sitting far away on high, 
 Zeus yet may hear thee, and his present wrath 
 Seem to thee but as child's play of distress. 
 Nay, thou poor sufferer, quit the rage thou hast, 
 And seek a remedy for these thine ills. 
 A tale thrice-told, perchance I seem to speak : 
 Lo ! this, Prometheus, is the punishment 
 Of thine o'er lofty speech, nor art thou yet 
 Humbled, nor yieldest to thy miseries, 
 And fain would'st add fresh evils unto these. 
 But thou, if thou wilt take me as thy teacher, 
 Wilt not kick out against the pricks ; 2 seeing well 
 A monarch reigns who gives account to none. 
 And now I go, and will an effort make, 
 If I, perchance, may free thee from thy woes ; 
 Be still then, hush thy petulance of speech, 
 Or knowest thou not, o'er-clever as thou art, 
 That idle tongues must still their forfeit pay ? 
 
 Prom. I envy thee, seeing thou art free from blame 
 Though thou shared'st all, and in my cause wast bold ; 3 
 Nay, let me be, nor trouble thou thyself; 
 Thou wilt not, canst not soothe Him ; very hard 
 Is He of soothing. Look to it thyself, 
 Lest thou some mischief meet with in the way. 
 
 1 One of the sayings of the Seven Sages, already recognised 
 and quoted as a familiar proverb. 
 
 2 See note on Agam. 1602. 
 
 3 In the mythos, Okeanos had given his daughter Hesione in 
 marriage to Prometheus after the theft of fire, and thus had 
 identified himself with his transgression. 
 
 til
 
 Okean. It is thy wont thy neighbours' minds to 
 
 school 
 
 Far better than thine own. From deeds, not words, 
 I draw my proof. But do not draw me back 
 When I am hasting on, for lo, I deem, 
 I deem that Zeus will grant this boon to me, 
 That I should free thee from these woes of thine. 
 Prom, I thank thee much, yea, ne'er will ceate to 
 
 thank ; 
 
 For thou no whit of zeal dost lack ; yet take, 
 I pray, no trouble for me ; all in vain 
 Thy trouble, nothing helping, e'en if thou ^ 
 
 Should'st care to take the trouble. Nay, be still ; 
 Keep out of harm's way ; sufferer though I be, 
 I would not therefore wish to give my woes 
 A wider range o'er others. No, not so : 
 For lo ! my mind is wearied with the grief 
 Of that my kinsman Atlas, 1 who doth stand 
 In the far West, supporting on his shoulders 
 The pillars of the earth and heaven, a burden 
 His arms can ill but hold : I pity too 
 The giant dweller of Kilikian caves, sco 
 
 Dread portent, with his hundred hands, subdued 
 
 1 In the Theogoi y of Hesiod (v. 509), Prometheus and Atlas 
 appear as the sons ut' two sisters. As other Titans were thought 
 of as buried under volcanoes, so this one was identified with the 
 mountain which had been seen by travellers to Western Africa, 
 or in the seas beyond it, rising like a column to support the 
 vault of heaven. In Herodotos (iv. 174) and all later writers, 
 the name is given to the chain of mountains in Lybia, as being 
 the ' ' pillar of the firmament ; " but Humboldt and others identify 
 it with the lonely peak of Teneriffe, as seen by Phcenikian or 
 Hellenic voyagers. Teneriffe, too, like most of the other Titan 
 mountains, was at one time volcanic. Homer (Odyss. i. 53) 
 represents him as holding the pillars which separate heaven 
 from earth ; Hesiod ( Theogon. v. 517) as himself standing near 
 the Hesperides (this too points to Teneriffe), sustaining the 
 heavens with his head and shoulders. 
 
 i 129 I
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND 
 
 By force, the mighty Typhon, 1 who arose 
 
 'Gainst all the Gods, with sharp and dreadful jaws 
 
 Hissing out slaughter, and from out his eyes 
 
 There flashed the terrible brightness as of one 
 
 Who would lay low the sovereignty of Zeus. 
 
 But the unsleeping dart of Zeus came on him, 
 
 Down-swooping thunderbolt that breathes out flame, 
 
 Which from his lofty boastings startled him, 
 
 For he i' the heart was struck, to ashes burnt, 
 
 His strength all thunder-shattered ; and he lies 
 
 A helpless, powerless carcase, near the strait 
 
 Of the great sea, fast pressed beneath the roots 
 
 Of ancient JEtnz, where on highest peak 
 
 Hephaestos sits and smites his iron red-hot, 
 
 From whence hereafter streams of fire shall burst, 2 
 
 Devouring with fierce jaws the golden plains 
 
 Of fruitful, fair Sikelia. Such the wrath 
 
 That Typhon shall belch forth with bursts of storm, 
 
 Hot, breathing fire, and unapproachable, 
 
 Though burnt and charred by thunderbolts of Zeus. 3 
 
 Not inexperienced art thou, nor dost need 
 
 My teaching : save thyself, as thou know'st how ; 
 
 And I will drink my fortune to the dregs, 
 
 Till from his wrath the mind of Zeus shall rest. 3 
 
 1 The volcanic character of the whole of Asia Minor, and the 
 liability to earthquakes which has marked nearly every p<--i iod of 
 its history, led nu-n to connect it also wiih the traditions of ihe 
 Titans, some accordingly placing the home of Typhon in 
 Phryt;ia, some near Sardis, some, as here, in Kiiikia. Hesiod 
 (T'^eogon. v. 820) describes Typhon (or Tvphoeus) as a S'-rpt^nf- 
 monster hissing out fire; Pindar (Pyih. i. 30, viii. 21) as i>;ng 
 with his head and breast crushed beneath the weight of .3ii.a, 
 and bis feet extending to Cumae. 
 
 2 The words point probably loan eruption, then fresh in i.ieu's 
 memories, which had happened B.C. 476. 
 
 8 By some editors this speech from " No, not so," to " thou 
 Imow'st how," is assigned to Okeanos. 
 130
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND 
 
 Okean. Know'st thou not this, Prometheus, even thb, 
 Of wrath's disease wise words the healers are ? 
 
 Prom. Yea, could one soothe the troubled heart in 
 
 time, 
 Nor seek by force to tame the soul's proud flesh. 
 
 Okean. But in due forethought with bold daring 
 
 blent, 
 What mischief see'st thou lurking? Tell me this. 3M 
 
 Prom. Toil bootless, and simplicity full fond. 
 
 Okean. Let me, I pray, that sickness suffer, since 
 'Tis best being wise to have not wisdom's show. 
 
 Prom. Nay, but this error shall be deemed as mine. 
 
 Okean. Thy word then clearly sends me home at 
 once. 
 
 Prom. Yea, lest thy pity for me make a foe. . . . 
 
 Okean. What ! of that new king on his mighty throne ? 
 
 Prom. Look to it, lest his heart be vexed with thee. 
 
 Okean. Thy fate, Prometheus, teaches me that lesson. 
 
 from. Away, withdraw ! keep thou the mind thou 
 hast. * 
 
 Okean. Thou urgest me who am in act to haste ; 
 For this my bird four-footed flaps with wings 
 The clear path of the aether ; and full fain 
 Would he bend knee in his own stall at home. '[Exit 
 
 STROPHE I 
 
 Chor. I grieve, Prometheus, for thy dreary fate, 
 
 Shedding from tender eyes 
 
 The dew of plenteous tears ; 
 With streams, as when the watery south wind blows, 
 
 My cheek is wet ; * 1Q 
 
 For lo ! these things are all unenviable, 
 And Zeus, by his own laws his sway maintaining, 
 
 Shows to the elder Gods 
 
 A mood of haughtiness.
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND 
 ANTISTROPHE I 
 
 And all the country echoeth with the moan, 
 
 And poureth many a tear 
 
 For that magnific power 
 Of ancient days far-seen that thou did'st share 
 
 With those of one blood sprung ; 
 And all the mortal men who hold the plain 
 Of holy Asia as their land of sojourn, 
 
 They grieve in sympathy 
 
 For thy woes lamentable. 
 
 STROPHE II 
 
 And they, the maiden band who find their home 
 
 On distant Colchian coasts, 
 
 Fearless of fight, 1 
 Or Skythian horde in earth's remotest clime, 
 
 By far Maeotic lake ; 2 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II 
 
 *And warlike glory of Arabia's tribes,* 
 
 Who nigh to Caucasos 
 
 In rock-fort dwell, 
 An army fearful, with sharp-pointed spear 
 
 Raging in war's array. 
 
 1 These are, of course, the Amazons, who were believed to 
 have come through Thrake Irom the Tauric Cher?onesos, and 
 had left traces of their name and habits in the Attic traditions of 
 Theseus. 
 
 3 Beyond the plains of Skythia, and the lake Maeotis (the sea 
 of Azov) there would be the great river Okeanos, which was 
 believed to flow round the earth. 
 
 * Sarmatia has been conjectured instead of Arabia. No Greek 
 author sanctions the extension of the latter name to so remote a 
 region as that north of the Caspian.
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND 
 STROPHE III 
 
 One other Titan only have I seen, 
 
 One other of the Gods, 
 Thus bound in woes of adamantine strength 
 
 Atlas, who ever groans 
 Beneath the burden of a crushing might, 
 
 The out-spread vault of heaven. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III 
 
 And lo ! the ocean billows murmur loud * 19 
 
 In one accord with him ; l 
 The sea-depths groan, and Hades' swarthy pit 
 
 Re-echoeth the sound, 
 And fountains of clear rivers, as they flow, 
 
 Bewail his bitter griefs. 
 
 Prom. Think not it is through pride or stiff self-will 
 That I am silent. But my heart is worn, 
 Self-contemplating, as I see myself 
 Thus outraged. Yet what other hand than mine 
 Gave these young Gods in fulness all their gifts ? 
 But these I speak not of; for I should tell 
 To you that know them. But those woes of men, 2 45 
 List ye to them, how they, before as babes, 
 By me were roused to reason, taught to think ; 
 And this I say, not finding fault with men, 
 But showing my good-will in all I gave. 
 
 1 The Greek leaves the object of the sympathy undefined, but 
 it seems better to refer it to that which Atlas receives from the 
 waste of waters around, and the dark world beneath, than to the 
 pity shown to Prometheus. This has already been dwelt on in 
 line 421. 
 
 2 The passage that follows has for modern palaeontologists the 
 interest of coinciding with their views as to the progress of human 
 society, and the condition of mankind during what has been 
 called the "Stone" period. Comp. Lucretius, v, 955-984. 
 
 '33
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND 
 
 For first, though seeing, all in vain they saw, 
 And hearing, heard not rightly. But, like forms 
 Of phantom-dreams, throughout their life's whole 
 
 length 
 
 They muddled all at random ; did not know 
 Houses of brick that catch the sunlight's warmth, 
 Nor yet the work of carpentry. They dwelt 
 In hollowed holes, like swarms of tiny ants, 
 In sunless depths of caverns ; and they had 
 No certain signs of winter, nor of spring 
 Flower-laden, nor of summer with her fruits ; 
 But without counsel fared their whole life long, 
 Until I showed the risings of the stars, 
 And settings hard to recognise. 1 And I 
 Found Number for them, chief device of all, 
 *Groupings of letters, Memory's handmaid that, 
 And mother of the Muses. 2 And I first 
 Bound in the yoke wild steeds, submissive made 
 Or to the collar or men's limbs, that so 
 They might in man's place bear his greatest toils ; 
 And horses trained to love the rein I yoked 
 To chariots, glory of wealth's pride of state ; s 
 Nor was it any one but I that found 
 Sea-crossing, canvas-winged cars of ships: 
 Such rare designs inventing (wretched me !) 
 
 1 Comp. Mr. Blakesley's note on Herod, ii. 4, as showing that 
 here there was the greater risk of faulty observation. 
 
 8 Another reading gives perhaps a better sense 
 
 " Memory, handmaid true 
 And mother of the Muses." 
 
 ' In Greece, as throughout the East, the ox was used for all 
 agricultural labours, the horse by the noble and the rich, either 
 in war chariots, or stattly processions, or in chariot races in the 
 great games.
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND 
 
 For mortal men, I yet have no device 
 
 By which to free myself from this my woe. 1 
 
 Chor. Foul shame thou sufferest : of thy sense be- 
 reaved, 48 
 Thou errest greatly : and, like leech unskilled, 
 Thou losest heart when smitten with disease, 
 And know'st not how to find the remedies 
 Wherewith to heal thine own soul's sicknesses. 
 
 Prom. Hearing what yet remains thou'lt wonder more, 
 What arts and what resources I devised : 
 And this the chief: if any one fell ill, 
 There was no help for him, nor healing food, 
 Nor unguent, nor yet potion ; but for want 
 Of drugs they wasted, till I showed to them 
 The blendings of all mild medicaments, 2 
 Wherewith they ward the attacks of sickness sore. 
 I gave them many modes of prophecy ; 3 
 And I first taught them what dreams needs must prove 
 True visions, and made known the ominous sounds 
 Full hard to know ; and tokens by the way, 
 And flights of taloned birds I clearly marked, 
 Those on the right propitious to mankind, 
 
 1 Compare with this the account of the inventions of Palamedes 
 in Sophocles, Fragm. 379. 
 
 8 Here we can recognise the knowledge of one who had studied 
 in the schools of Pythagoras, or had at any rate picked up their 
 terminology. A more immediate connexion may perhaps be 
 traced with the influence of Epimenides, who was said to have 
 spent many years in searching out the healing virtues of plants, 
 and to have written books about them. 
 
 * The lines that follow form almost a manual of the art of 
 divination as then practised. The "ominous sounds" include 
 chance words, strange cries, any unexpected utterance that con- 
 nected itself with men's fears for the future. The flights of birds 
 were watched by the diviner as he faced the north, and so the 
 region on the right hand was that of the sunrise, light, blessed* 
 ness ; on the left there were darkness and gloom and death. 
 '35
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND 
 
 And those sinister, and what form of life 
 
 They each maintain, and what their enmities 
 
 Each with the other, and their loves and friendships ; 60 
 
 And of the inward parts the plumpness smooth. 
 
 And with what colour they the Gods would please, 
 
 And the streaked comeliness of gall and liver : 
 
 And with burnt limbs enwrapt in fat, and chine, 
 
 I led men on to art full difficult : 
 
 And I gave eyes to omens drawn from fire, 
 
 Till then dim-visioned. So far then for this. 
 
 And 'neath the earth the hidden boons for men, 
 
 Bronze, iron, silver, gold, who else could say 
 
 That he, ere I did, found them ? None, I know, 
 
 Unless he fain would babble idle words. 
 
 In one short word, then, learn the truth condensed, 
 
 Allarts of mortals from Prometheus spring. 
 
 Chor. Nay, be not thou to men so over-kind, 
 While thou thyself art in sore evil case ; 
 For I am sanguine that thou too, released 
 From bonds, shalt be as strong as Zeus himself. 
 
 Prom, It is not thus that Fate's decree is fixed ; 
 But I, long crushed with twice ten thousand woes 5JO 
 And bitter pains, shall then escape my bonds ; 
 Art is far weaker than Necessity. 
 
 Chor. Who guides the helm, then, of Necessity ? 
 
 Prom. Fates triple-formed, Errinyes unforgetting. 
 
 Chor. Is Zeus, then, weaker in his might than these ? 
 
 Prom. Not even He can 'scape the thing decreed. 
 
 Chor. What is decreed for Zeus but still to reign ? 
 
 Prom. Thou may'st no further learn, ask thou no 
 more. 
 
 Cbor. 'Tis doubtless some dread secret which thou 
 hidest. 
 
 Prom. Of other theme make mention, for the time M0 
 Is not yet come to utter this, but still 
 136
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND 
 
 It must be hidden to the uttermost ; 
 
 For by thus keeping it it is that I 
 
 Escape my bondage foul, and these my pains. 
 
 STROPHE I 
 
 Chor. Ah ! ne'er may Zeus the Lord, 
 Whose sovran sway rules all, 
 His strength in conflict set 
 Against my feeble will ! 
 Nor may I fail to serve 
 The Gods with holy feast 
 Of whole burnt-offerings, 
 Where the stream ever flows 
 That bears my father's name, 
 The great Okeanos ! 
 Nor may I sin in speech ! 
 May this grace more and more 
 Sink deep into my soul 
 And never fade away ! 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I 
 
 Sweet is it in strong hope 
 To spend long years of life, 
 With bright and cheering joy 
 Our heart's thoughts nourishing. 
 I shudder, seeing thee 
 Thus vexed and harassed sore 
 By twice ten thousand woes ; 
 For thou in pride of heart, 
 Having no fear of Zeus, 
 In thine own obstinacy, 
 Dost show for mortal men, 
 Prometheus, love o'ermuch. 
 '37
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND 
 
 STROPHE II 
 
 See how that boon, dear friends, 
 
 For thee is bootless found. 
 
 Say, where is any help ? 
 
 What aid from mortals comes ? 
 Hast thou not seen this brief and powerless life, 
 Fleeting as dreams, with which man's purblind race 
 
 Is fast in fetters bound ? 
 
 Never shall counsels vain 
 
 Of mortal men break through 
 
 The harmony of Zeus. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II 
 
 This lesson have I learnt 
 Beholding thy sad fate, 
 Prometheus ! Other strains 
 Come back upon my mind, 
 When I sang wedding hymns around thy bath, 
 And at thy bridal bed, when thou did'st take 
 In wedlock's holy bands 
 One of the same sire born, 
 Our own Hesione, 
 Persuading her with gifts 
 As wife to share thy couch. 
 
 Enter lo in form like a fair woman with a heifer's 
 horns? followed by the Spectre O 
 
 lo. What land is this ? What people ? Whom 
 shall I 
 
 1 So lo was represented, we are told, by Greek sculptors 
 (Herod, ii. 41), as Isis was by those of Egypt. The points of 
 contact between the myth of lo and that of Prometheus, as 
 adopted, or perhaps developed, by ^Eschylos are (i) that from 
 her the destined deliverer of the chained Titan is to come ; (2) 
 that both were suffering from the cruelty of Zeus ; (3) that the 
 '38
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND 
 
 Say that I see thus vexed 
 
 With bit and curb of rock ? 
 
 For what offence dost thou 
 
 Bear fatal punishment ? 
 
 Tell me to what far land 
 
 I've wandered here in woe. 
 
 Ah me ! ah me ! 
 Again the gadfly stings me miserable. 
 
 Spectre of Argos, thou, the earth-born onc- 
 
 Ah, keep him off, O Earth ! 
 I fear to look upon that herdsman dread, 
 
 Him with ten thousand eyes : 
 Ah lo ! he cometh with his crafty look, 
 Whom Earth refuses even dead to hold ; * 
 
 But coming from beneith 
 
 He hunts me miserable, 
 And drives me famished o'er the sea-beach sand. 
 
 STROPHE 
 
 And still his waxened reed-pipe soundeth clear 
 
 A soft and slumberous strain ; 
 
 O heavens ! O ye Gods ! 
 
 Whither do these long wanderings lead me on ? 
 For what offence, O son of Cronos, what, 
 
 wanderings of lo gave scope for the wild tales of far countries 
 on which the imagination of the Athenians fed greedily. But, 
 as the Suppliants may serve to show, the story itself had a strange 
 fascination for him. In the birth of Epaphos, and lo's reltasc 
 trom her frenzy, he saw, it may be, a reconciliation of what bad 
 se< mod hard to reconcile, a solution of the problems of the 
 \w rid, like in kind to that which was shadowed forth in the lost 
 Prof etketis Unbound. 
 
 1 Argos had been slain by Hermes, and his eyes transferred by 
 Hrra to the tail of the peacock, and that bird was hencelorth 
 sacrf d to her. 
 
 '39
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND 
 
 Hast thou thus bound me fast 
 In these great miseries ? 
 
 Ah me ! ah me ! 
 
 And why with terror of the gadfly's sting 
 Dost thou thus vex me, frenzied in my soul ? 
 Burn me with fire, or bury me in earth, 
 Or to wild sea-beasts give me as a prey : 
 Nay, grudge me not, O King, 
 An answer to my prayers : 
 
 Enough my many-wandered wanderings 
 Have exercised my soul, 
 Nor have I power to learn 
 How to avert the woe. 
 ( To Prometheus.') Hear'st thou the voice of maiden 
 
 crowned with horns ? 
 
 Trom. Surely I heard the maid by gadfly driven, 
 Daughter of Inachos, who warmed the heart 
 Of Zeus with love, and now through Hera's hate 
 Is tried, perforce, with wanderings over-long ? 
 
 ANTISTROPHE 
 
 lo. How is it that thou speak'st my father's name ? 
 
 Tell me, the suffering one, 61 
 
 Who art thou, who, poor wretch, 
 Who thus so truly nam'st me miserable, 
 
 And tell'st the plague from Heaven, 
 
 Which with its haunting stings 
 
 Wears me to death ? Ah woe ! 
 And I with famished and unseemly bounds 
 Rush madly, driven by Hera's jealous craft. 
 Ah, who of all that suffer, born to woe, 
 Have trouble like the pain that I endure I 
 
 But thou, make clear to me, 
 
 What yet for me remains, 
 140
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND 
 
 What remedy, what healing for my pangs* 
 Show me, if thou dost know : 
 Speak out and tell to me, 
 The maid by wanderings vexed. 
 
 Prom. I will say plainly all thou seek'st to know ; 
 Not in dark tangled riddles, but plain speech, 
 As it is meet that friends to friends should speak ; 
 Thou see'st Prometheus who gave fire to men. 
 
 lo. O thou to men as benefactor known, 
 Why, poor Prometheus, sufferest thou this pain ? 
 
 Prom. I have but now mine own woes ceased to wail. 
 
 lo. Wilt thou not then bestow this boon on me I 
 
 Prom. Say what thou seek'st, for I will tell thee all. 
 
 lo. Tell me, who fettered thee in this ravine ? 
 
 Prom. The counsel was of Zeus, the hand Hephaestos'. 
 
 lo. Of \vhat offence dost thou the forfeit pay ? 
 
 Prom. Thus much alone am I content to tell. 
 
 lo. Tell me, at least, besides, what end shall come fr!tf 
 To my drear wanderings ; when the time shall be. 
 
 Prom. Not to know this is better than to know. 
 
 lo. Nay, hide not from me what I have to bear. 
 
 Prom. It is not that I grudge the boon to thee. 
 
 lo. Why then delayest thou to tell the whole ? 
 
 Prom. Not from ill will, but loth to vex thy soul. 
 
 lo. Nay, care thou not beyond what pleases me. 
 
 Prom. If thou desire it I must speak. Hear then. 
 
 Chor. Not yet though ; grant me share of pleasure too. 
 Let us first ask the tale of her great woe, 6M 
 
 While she unfolds her life's consuming chances ; 
 Her future sufferings let her learn from thee. 
 
 Prom. 'Tis thy work, lo, to grant these their wish, 
 On other grounds and as thy father's kin : * 
 
 1 Inachos the father of lo (identified with the Argive river of 
 the same name), was, like all rivers, a son of Okeanos, and 
 therefore brother to the nymphs who had come to see Prometheus. 
 141
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND 
 
 For to bewail and moan one's evil chance, 
 Here where one trusts to gain a pitying tear 
 From those who hear, this is not labour lost. 
 lo. I know not how to disobey your wish ; 
 So ye shall learn the whole that ye desire 
 In speech full clear. And yet I blush to tell M0 
 
 The storm that came from God, and brought the loss 
 Of maiden face, what way it seized on me. 
 For nightly visions coming evermore 
 Into my virgin bower, sought to woo me 
 With glozing words. " O virgin greatly blest, 
 Why art thou still a virgin when thou might'st 
 Attain to highest wedlock ? For with dart 
 Of passion for thee Zeus doth glow, and fain 
 Would make thee his. And thou, O child, spurn not 
 The bed of Zeus, but go to Lerna's field, o;o 
 
 Where feed thy father's flocks and herds, 
 That so the eye of Zeus may find repose 
 From this his craving." With such visions I 
 Was haunted every evening, till I dared 
 To tell my father all these dreams of night, 
 And he to Pytho and Dodona sent 
 Full many to consult the Gods, that he, 
 Might learn what deeds and words would please Heaven's 
 
 lords. 
 
 /And they came bringing speech of oracles "\ 
 
 \ Shot with dark sayings, dim and hard to know. 68 
 At last a clear word came to Inachos 
 Charging him plainly, and commanding him 
 To thrust me from my country and my home, 
 To stray at large 1 to utmost bounds of earth ; 
 
 1 The words used have an almost technical meaning as applied 
 to animals that were consecrated to the service of a God, and set 
 free to wander where they liked. The fate of lo, as at once 
 devoted to Zeus and animalised in form, was thus shadowed forth 
 in the veiy language of the Oracle.
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND 
 
 And, should he gainsay, that the fiery bolt 
 
 Of Zeus should come and sweep away his race. 
 
 And he, by Loxias' oracles induced, 
 
 Thrust me, against his will, against mine too, 
 
 And drove me from my home ; but spite of all, 
 
 The curb of Zeus constrained him this to do. 
 
 And then forthwith my face and mind were changed ; 
 
 And horned, as ye see me, stung to the quick 
 
 By biting gadfly, I with maddened leap 
 
 Rushed to Kerchneia's fair and limpid stream, 
 
 And fount of Lerna. 1 And a giant herdsman, 
 
 Argos, full rough of temper, followed me, 
 
 With many an eye beholding, on my track : 
 
 And him a sudden and unlooked-for doom 
 
 Deprived of life. And I, by gadfly stung, 
 
 By scourge from Heaven am driven from land to land. 70 
 
 What has been done thou hearest. And if thou 
 
 Can'st tell what yet remains of woe, declare it ; 
 
 Nor in thy pity soothe me with false words ; 
 
 For hollow words, I deem, are worst of ills, j 
 
 Chor. Away, away, let be : 
 
 Ne'er thought I that such tales 
 Would ever, ever come unto mine ears ; 
 Nor that such terrors, woes and outrages, 
 
 Hard to look on, hard to bear, 71 
 
 Would chill my soul with sharp goad, double-edged. 
 
 Ah fate ! Ah fate ! 
 I shudder, seeing lo's fortune strange. 
 
 Prom. Thou art too quick in groaning, full of fear : 
 Wait thou a while until thou hear the rest. 
 
 Chor. Speak thou and tell. Unto the sick 'tis sweet 
 Clearly to know what yet remains of pain. 
 
 1 Lerna was the lake near the mouth of the Inachos, close to 
 the sea. K-rchneia may perhaps be identified with the Keu- 
 chrcae, the haven of Korinth in later geographies.
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND 
 
 Prom. Your former wish ye gained full easily. 
 Your first desire was to learn of her rzo 
 
 The tale she tells of her own sufferings ; 
 Now therefore hear the woes that yet remain 
 For this poor maid to bear at Hera's hands. 
 And thou, O child of Inachos ! take heed 
 To these my words, that thou may'st hear the goal 
 Of all thy wanderings. First then, turning hence 
 Towards the sunrise, tread the untilled plains, 
 And thou shalt reach the Skythian nomads, those l 
 Who on smooth-rolling waggons dwell aloft 
 In wicker houses, with far-darting bows 
 Duly equipped. Approach thou not to these, 
 But trending round the coasts on which the surf 
 Beats with loud murmurs, 2 traverse thou that clime. 
 On the left hand there dwell the Chalybes, 3 
 Who work in iron. Of these do thou beware, 
 For fierce are they and most inhospitable ; 
 And thou wilt reach the river fierce and strong, 
 True to its name. 4 This seek not thou to cross, 
 For it is hard to ford, until thou come 
 To Caucasos itself, of all high hills 
 The highest, where a river pours its strength 
 
 1 The wicker huts used by Skythian or Thrakian nomads (the 
 Calmucks of modern geographers) are described by Heiodotos 
 (iv. 46) and are still in use. 
 
 2 Sc., the N.E. boundary of the Euxine, where spurs of the 
 Caucasos ridge approach the sea. 
 
 8 The Chalybes are placed by geographers to the south of 
 Colchis. The description of the text indicates a locality farther 
 to the north. 
 
 4 Probably the Araxes, which the Greeks would connect with 
 a word conveying the idea of a torrent dashing on the rocks. 
 The description seems to imply a river flowing into the Euxine 
 from the Caucasos, and the condition is fulfilled by the Hypanis 
 or Kantian. 
 
 44
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND 
 
 From the high peaks themselves. And thou must 
 
 cross 
 
 T40 
 
 Those summits near the stars, must onward go 
 
 Towards the south, where thou shalt find the host 
 
 Of the Amazons, hating men, whose home 
 
 Shall one day be around Thermodon's bank, 
 
 By Themiskyra, 1 where the ravenous jaws 
 
 Of Salmydessos ope upon the sea, 
 
 Treacherous to sailors, stepdame stern to ships. 2 
 
 And they with right good-will shall be thy guides ; 
 
 And thou, hard by a broad pool's narrow gates, 
 
 Wilt pass to the Kimmerian isthmus. Leaving 
 
 This boldly, thou must cross Masotic channel ; 3 T5G 
 
 And there shall be great fame 'mong mortal men 
 
 Of this thy journey, and the Bosporos * 
 
 Shall take its name from thee. And Europe's plain 
 
 Then quitting, thou shalt gain the Asian coast. 
 
 Doth not the all-ruling monarch of the Gods 
 
 Seem all ways cruel ? For, although a God, 
 
 He, seeking to embrace this mortal maid, 
 
 Imposed these wanderings on her. Thou hast found, 
 
 1 When the Amazons appear in contact with Greek history, 
 they are found in Thrace. But they had come from the coast of 
 Pontos, and near the mouth of the Thermodon ( Thermeh). The 
 words of Prometheus point to yet earlier migrations from the 
 East. 
 
 2 Here, as in Soph. Antig. (970) the name Salmydessos repre- 
 sents the rockbound, havenless coast from the promontory of 
 Thynias to the entrance of the Bosporos, which had given to the 
 Black Sea its earlier name of Axenos, the "inhospitable." 
 
 8 The track is here in some confusion. From the Amazons 
 south of the Caucasos, lo is to find her way to the Tauric Cher- 
 sonese (the Crimea) and the Kimmerian Bosporos, which flows 
 into the Sea of Azov, and so to return to Asia. 
 
 4 Here, as in a hundred other instances, a false etymology his 
 become the parent of a myth. The name Bosporos is probably 
 Asiatic not Greek, and has an entirely different signification.
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND 
 
 O maiden ! bitter suitor for thy hand ; 
 
 For great as are the ills thou now hast heard, 
 
 Know that as yet not e'en the prelude's known. rco 
 
 lo. Ah woe ! woe ! woe ! 
 
 Prom. Again thou groan'st and criest. What wilt do 
 When thou shalt learn the evils yet to come ? 
 
 Chor. What ! are there troubles still to come for her ? 
 
 Prom. Yea, stormy sea of woe most lamentable. 
 
 lo. What gain is it to live ? Why cast I not 
 Myself at once from this high precipice, 
 And, dashed to earth, be free from all my woes ? 
 Far better were it once for all to die 
 Than all one's days to suffer pain and grief. 
 
 Prom. My struggles then full hardly thou would'st 
 
 bear, 
 
 For whom there is no destiny of death ; 
 For that might bring a respite from my woes : 
 But now there is no limit to my pangs 
 Till Zeus be hurled out from his sovereignty. 
 
 h. What ! shall Zeus e'er be hurled from his high 
 state ? 
 
 Prom. Thou would'st rejoice, I trow, to see that fall. 
 
 lo. How should I not, when Zeus so foully 
 wrongs me? 
 
 Prom. That this is so thou now may'st hear from me. 
 
 lo. Who then shall rob him of his sceptred sway ? 78 
 
 Prom. Himself shall do it by his own rash plans. 
 
 lo. But how ? Tell this, unless it bringeth harm. 
 
 "Prom. He shall wed one for whom one day he'll grieve. 
 
 lo. Heaven-born or mortal ? Tell, if tell thou may'st. 
 
 Prom. Why ask'st thou who ? I may not tell thee that. 
 
 lo. Shall his bride hurl him from his throne of might ? 
 
 Prom. Yea ; she shall bear child mightier than his 
 sire. 
 
 lo. Has he no way to turn aside that doom ? 
 146
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND 
 
 "Prom. No, none ; unless I from my bonds be loosed. 1 
 
 lo. Who then shall loose thee 'gainst the will of 
 Zeus ? 7W 
 
 Prom. It must be one of thy posterity. 
 
 lo. What, shall a child of mine free thee from ills ? 
 
 Prom. Yea, the third generation after ten. 3 
 
 lo. No more thine oracles are clear to me. 
 
 *Prom. Nay, seek not thou thine own drear fate to 
 know. 
 
 lo. Do not, a boon presenting, then withdraw it. 
 
 Prom. Of two alternatives, I'll give thee choice. 
 
 lo. Tell me of what, then give me leave to choose. 
 
 "Prom. I give it then. Choose, or that I should tell 
 Thy woes to come, or who shall set me free. 
 
 Chor. Of these be willing one request to grant 
 To her, and one to me ; ncr scorn my words : 
 Tell her what yet of wanderings she must bear, 
 And me who shall release thee. This I crave. 
 
 Prom. Since ye are eager, I will not refuse 
 To utter fully all that ye desire. 
 Thee, lo, first I'll tell thy wanderings wild, 
 Thou, write it in the tablets of thy mind. 
 When thou shah cross the straits, of continents 
 The boundary, 1 take thou the onward path 
 On to the fiery-hued and sun-tracked East. 8i 
 
 1 The lines refer to the story that Zeus loved Thetis the 
 daughter of Nereus, and followed her to Caucasos, but abstained 
 from marriage with her because Prometheus warned him that 
 the child born of that union should overthrow his father. Here 
 the future is used of what was still contingent only. In the lost 
 play of the Trilogy the myth was possibly brought to its conclu- 
 sion and connected with the release of Prometheus. 
 
 2 Heracles, whose genealogy was traced through Alcmena, 
 Perseus, Danae, Danaosand seven other names, to Epaphos and lo. 
 
 8 Probably the Kimmerian Bosporos. The Tanais or Phasis 
 has, however, been conjectured. 
 
 47
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND 
 
 [And first of all, to frozen Northern blasts 
 
 Thou'lt come, and there beware the rushing whirl, 
 
 Lest it should come upon thee suddenly, 
 
 And sweep thee onward with the cloud-rack wild ;] l 
 
 Crossing the sea-surf till thou come at last 
 
 Unto Kisthene's Gorgoneian plains, 
 
 Where dwell the grey-haired virgin Phorkides,* 
 
 Three, swan-shaped, with one eye between them all 
 
 And but one tooth ; whom nor the sun beholds 
 
 With radiant beams, nor yet the moon by night : 
 
 And near them are their winged sisters three, 
 
 The Gorgons, serpent-tressed, and hating men, 
 
 Whom mortal wight may not behold and live. 
 
 *Such is one ill I bid thee guard against ; 
 
 Now hear another monstrous sight : Beware 
 
 The sharp-beaked hounds of Zeus that never bark, 1 
 
 The Gryphons, and the one-eyed, mounted host 
 
 Of Arimaspians, who around the stream 
 
 That flows o'er gold, the ford of Pluto, dwell : 4 ' 
 
 1 The history of the passage in brackets is curious enough to 
 call for a note. They are not in any extant MS. , but they are 
 found in a passage quoted by Galen (v. p. 454), as from the Pro- 
 metheus Bound, and are inserted here by Mr. Paley. 
 
 8 Kisthene belongs to the geography of legend, lying some- 
 where on the shore of the great ocean-river in Lybia or ^Ethiopia, 
 at the end of the world, a great mountain in the far West, 
 beyond the Hesperides, the dwelling-place, as here, of the 
 Gorgons, the daughters of Phorkys. Those first-named are the 
 Graiae. 
 
 3 Here, like the " winged hound " of v. 1043, for the eagles 
 that are the messengers of Zeus. 
 
 * We are carried back again from the fabled West to the 
 fabled East. The Arimaspians, with one eye, and the Grypes 
 or Gryphons (the griffins of mediaeval heraldry), quadrupeds 
 with the wings and beaks of eagles, were placed by most writers 
 (Herod, iv. 13, 27) in the north of Europe, in or beyond the 
 terra incognita of Skythia. The mention of the "ford of 
 Pluto" and ^Ethiopia, however, may possibly imply (if we 
 148
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND 
 
 Draw not them nigh to them. But distant land 
 
 Thou shalt approach, the swarthy tribes who dwell 
 
 By the sun's fountain, 1 ^Ethiopia's stream : 
 
 By its banks wend thy way until thou come 
 
 To that great fall where from the Bybline hills 3U 
 
 The Neilos pours its pure and holy flood ; 
 
 And it shall guide thee to Neilotic land, 
 
 Three-angled, where, O lo, 'tis decreed 
 
 For thee and for thy progeny to found 
 
 A far-off colony. And if of this 
 
 Aught seem to thee as stammering speech obscure, 
 
 Ask yet again and learn it thoroughly : 
 
 Far more of leisure have I than I like. 
 
 Chor. If thou hast aught to add, aught left untold 
 Of her sore-wasting wanderings, speak it out ; 
 But if thou hast said all, then grant to us 
 The boon we asked. Thou dost not, sure, forget it. 
 
 Prom. The whole course of her journeying she 
 
 hath heard, 
 
 And that she know she hath not heard in vain 
 I will tell out what troubles she hath borne 
 Before she came here, giving her sure proof 
 Of these my words. The greater bulk of things 
 I will pass o'er, and to the very goal 
 
 identify it, as Mr. Paley does, with the Tartessos of Spain, or 
 Boetis Guadalquivir) that ./Eschylos followed another legend 
 which placed them in the West. There is possibly a parono- 
 masia between Pluto, the God of Hades, and Plutos, the ideal 
 God of riches. 
 
 1 The name was applied by later writers (Quintus Curtius, 
 iv. 7, 22 ; Lucretius, vi. 848) to the fountain in the temple of 
 Jupiter Ammon in the great Oasis. The " river ^Ethiops may 
 be purely imaginary, but it may also suggest the possibility of 
 some vague knowledge of the Niger, or more probably of the 
 Nile itself in the upper regions of its course. The " Bybline 
 hills " carry the name Byblos, which we only read of as belonging 
 to a town in the Delta, to the Second Cataract. 
 149
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND 
 
 Of all thy wanderings go. For when thou cam'st 
 
 To the Molossian plains, and by the grove 1 
 
 Of lofty-ridged Dodona, and the shrine 
 
 Oracular of Zeus Thesprotian, 
 
 And the strange portent of the talking oaks, 
 
 By which full clearly, not in riddle dark, 
 
 Thou wast addressed as noble spouse of Zeus, 
 
 If aught of pleasure such things give to thee, 
 
 Thence strung to frenzy, thou did'st rush along 
 
 The sea-coast's path to Rhea's mighty gulf, 2 
 
 In backward way from whence thou now art vexed, 
 
 And for all time to come that reach of sea, 
 
 Know well, from thee Ionian shall be called, 
 
 To all men record of thy journeyings. 
 
 These then are tokens to thee that my mind 
 
 Sees somewhat more than that is manifest. 
 
 What follows (to the Chorus] I will speak to you and 
 
 her 
 
 In common, on the track of former words 
 Returning once again. A city stands, 
 Canobos, at its country's furthest bound, 
 Hard by the mouth and silt-bank of the Nile ; 
 There Zeus shall give thee back thy mind again, 3 
 With hand that works no terror touching thce, - 
 Touch only and thou then shalt bear a child 
 Of Zeus begotten, Epaphos, " Touch-born," 
 Swarthy of hue, whose lot shall be to reap 
 
 1 Comp. Sophocles, Trachin., T. 1168. 
 
 2 The Adriatic or Ionian Gulf. 
 
 8 In the Suppliants, Zeus is said to have soothed her, and 
 restored her to her human consciousness by his " divine breath- 
 ings." The thought underlying the legend may be taken cither 
 as a distortion of some primitive tradition, or as one of the 
 " unconscious prophecies ' of heathenism. The deliverer is not 
 to be born after the common manner of men, and is to have a 
 divine as well as a human parentage. 
 150
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND 
 
 The whole plain watered by the broad-streamed Neilos : 
 And in the generation fifth from him 
 A household numbering fifty shall return 
 Against their will to Argos, in their flight 
 From wedlock with their cousins. 1 And they too, 
 (Kites but a little space behind the doves) 
 With eager hopes pursuing marriage rites 
 Beyond pursuit shall come ; and God shall grudge 
 To give up their sweet bodies. And the land 
 Pelasgian 1 shall receive them, when by stroke 
 Of woman's murderous hand these men shall lie 
 Smitten to death by daring deed of night : 8!0 
 
 For every bride shall take her husband's life, 
 And dip in blood the sharp two-edged sword 
 (So to my foes may Kypris show herself!) 3 
 Yet one of that fair band shall love persuade 
 Her husband not to slaughter, and her will 
 Shall lose its edge ; and she shall make her choice 
 Rather as weak than murderous to be known. 
 And she at Argos shall a royal seed 
 Bring forth (long speech 'twould take to tell this 
 clear) * 
 
 Famed for his arrows, who shall set me free 4 
 From these my woes. Such was the oracle 
 Mine ancient mother Themis, Titan-born, 
 
 * See the argument of the Suppliants, who, as the daughters 
 of Danaos, descended from Epaphos, are here referred to. The 
 passage is noticeable as showing that the theme of that tragedy 
 was already present to the poet's thoughts. 
 
 3 Argos. So in the Suppliants, Pelasgos is the mythical king 
 of the Apian land who receives them. 
 
 3 Hypermnoestra, who spared Lynceus, and by him became 
 the mother of Abas and a ine of Argive kings. 
 
 4 Heracles, who came to Caucasos, and with his arrows slew 
 the eagle that devoured Prometheus.
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND 
 
 Gave to me ; but the manner and the means,- 
 That needs a lengthy tale to tell the whole, 
 And thou can'st nothing gain by learning it. 
 
 lo. Eleleu! Oh, Eleleu! 1 
 The throbbing pain inflames me, and the mood 
 
 Of frenzy-smitten rage ; 
 
 The gadfly's pointed sting, 
 
 Not forged with fire, attacks, 
 And my heart beats against my breast with fear. 00 
 
 Mine eyes whirl round and round : 
 
 Out of my course I'm borne 
 By the wild spirit of fierce agony, 
 
 And cannot curb my lips, 
 And turbid speech at random dashes on 
 Upon the waves of dread calamity. 
 
 STROPHE I 
 
 Chor. Wise, very wise was he 
 Who first in thought conceived this maxim sage, 
 
 And spread it with his speech, 2 
 That the best wedlock is with equals found, 
 And that a craftsman, born to work with hands, 
 
 Should not desire to wed 
 Or with the soft luxurious heirs of wealth, 
 Or with the race that boast their lineage high. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I 
 
 Oh ne'er, oh ne'er, dread Fates, 
 May ye behold me as the bride of Zeus, 
 The partner of his couch, 
 
 1 The word is simply an interjection of pain, but one so charac- 
 teristic that I have thought it better to reproduce it than to give 
 any English equivalent. 
 
 8 The maxim, " Marry with a woman thine equal," was as- 
 cribed to Pittacos. 
 
 '5*
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND 
 
 Nor may I wed with any heaven-born spouse ! 
 For I shrink back, beholding lo's lot 
 
 Of loveless maidenhood, 
 Consumed and smitten low exceedingly 
 By the wild wanderings from great Hera sent ! 
 
 STROPHE II 
 
 To me, when wedlock is on equal terms, 
 
 It gives no cause to fear : 
 Ne'er may the love of any of the Gods, 
 
 The strong Gods, look on me 
 
 With glance I cannot 'scape ! 
 
 ANTISTROPHK II 
 
 That fate is war that none can war against, 
 
 Source of resourceless ill ; 
 Nor know I what might then become of me : 
 
 I see not how to 'scape 
 
 The counsel deep of Zeus. 
 
 Prom. Yea, of a truth shall Zeus, though stiff of will, 
 Be brought full low. Such bed of wedlock now 
 Is he preparing, one to cast him forth y30 
 
 In darkness from his sovereignty and throne. 
 And then the curse his father Cronos spake 
 Shall have its dread completion, even that 
 He uttered when he left his ancient throne ; 
 And from these troubles no one of the Gods 
 But me can clearly show the way to 'scape. 
 I know the time and manner : therefore now 
 Let him sit fearless, in his peals on high 
 Putting his trust, and shaking in his hands 
 His darts fire-breathing. Nought shall they avail 
 To hinder him from falling shamefully 84 
 
 A fall intolerable. Such a combatant 
 '53
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND 
 
 He arms against himself, a marvel dread, 
 Who shall a fire discover mightier far 
 Than the red levin, and a sound more dread 
 Than roaring of the thunder, and shall shiver 
 That plague sea-born that causeth earth to quake, 
 The trident, weapon of Poseidon's strength : 
 And stumbling on this evil, he shall learn 
 How far apart a king's lot from a slave's. 
 
 Char. What thou dost wish thou mutterest against 
 Zeus. 
 
 Prom. Things that shall be, and things I wish, I 
 speak. * M 
 
 Chor. And must we look for one to master Zeus ? 
 
 Prom. Yea, troubles herder far than these are his. 
 
 Chor. Art not afraid to vent such words as these ? 
 
 Prom. What can I fear whose fate is not to die ? 
 
 Chor. But He may send a on thee worse pain than 
 this. 
 
 Prom. So let Him do : nought finds me unprepared. 
 
 Chor. Wisdom is theirs who Adrasteia worship. 1 
 
 Prom. Worship then, praise and flatter him that 
 
 rules ; 
 
 My care for Zeus is nought, and less than nought : 
 Let Him act, let Him rule this little while, " co 
 
 E'en as He will ; for long He shall not rule 
 Over the Gods. But lo ! I see at hand 
 The courier of the Gods, the minister 
 Of our new sovereign. Doubtless he has come 
 To bring me tidings of some new device. 
 
 1 The Euheraerisra of later scholiasts derived the name from 
 a king Adrastos, who was said to have been the first to build a 
 temple to Nemesis, and so the power thus worshipped was 
 called after his name. A better etymology leads us to see in it 
 the idea of the " inevitable " law of retribution working unseen 
 by men, and independently even of the arbitrary will of the 
 Gods, and bringing destruction upon the proud and haughty.
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND 
 
 Enter HERMES 
 
 Herm. Thee do I speak to, thee, the teacher wise, 
 The bitterly o'er-bitter, who 'gainst Gods 
 Hast sinned in giving gifts to short-lived men 
 J speak to thee, the filcher of bright fire. 
 The Father bids thee say what marriage thou 
 Dost vaunt, and who shall hurl Him from his might ; 
 And this too not in dark mysterious speech, 
 But tell each point out clearly. Give me not, 
 Prometheus, task of double journey. Zeus 
 Thou see'st, is not with such words appeased. 
 
 Prom. Stately of utterance, full of haughtiness 
 Thy speech, as fits a messenger of Gods. 
 Ye yet are young in your new rule, and think 
 To dwell in painless towers. Have I not 
 Seen two great rulers driven forth from thence r 1 
 And now the third, who reigneth, I shall see 
 In basest, quickest fall. Seem I to thee 
 To shrink and quail before these new-made Gods ? 
 Far, very far from that am I. But thou, 
 Track once again the path by which thou earnest ; 
 Thou shalt learn nought of what thou askest me. 
 
 Herm. It was by such self-will as this before 
 That thou did'st bring these sufferings on thyself. 
 
 Prom. I for my part, be sure, would never change 
 My evil state for that thy bondslave's lot. 
 
 Herm. To be the bondslave of this rock, I trow, 
 Is better than to be Zeus' trusty herald ! <J9 
 
 Prom. So it is meet the insulter to insult. 
 
 Herm. Thou waxest proud, 'twould seem, of this 
 thy doom. 
 
 Prom. Wax proud ! God grant that I may see my foes 
 Thus waxing proud, and thee among the rest ! 
 
 1 Comp. Agam. 162-6. 
 
 *S5
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND 
 
 Herm, Dost blame me then for thy calamities ? 
 
 Prom. In one short sentence all the Gods I hate, 
 Who my good turns with evil turns repay. 
 
 Herm. Thy words prove thee with no slight madness 
 plagued. 
 
 Prom. If to hate foes be madness, mad I am. 
 
 Herm. Not one could bear thee wert thou pros- 
 perous. 
 
 Prom. Ah me ! 
 
 Herm. That word is all unknown to Zeus. 
 
 Prom. Time waxing old can many a lesson teach. 
 
 Herm. Yet thou at least hast not true wisdom learnt. 
 
 Prom. I had not else addressed a slave like thee. 
 
 Herm. Thou wilt say nought the Father asks, 
 'twould seem. 
 
 Prom. Fine debt I owe him, favour to repay. 
 
 Herm. Me as a boy thou scornest then, forsooth. 
 
 Prom. And art thou not a boy, and sillier far, 
 If that thou thinkest to learn aught from me \ 
 There is no torture nor device by which loie 
 
 Zeus can impel me to disclose these things 
 Before these bonds that outrage me be loosed. 
 Let then the blazing levin-flash be hurled ; 
 With white-winged snow-storm and with earth-born 
 
 thunders 
 
 Let Him disturb and trouble all that is ; 
 Nought of these things shall force me to declare 
 Whose hand shall drive him from his sovereignty. 
 
 Herm. See if thou findest any help in this. 
 
 Prom. Long since all this I've seen, and formed my 
 plans. 
 
 Herm. O fool, take heart, take heart at last in time, 
 To form right thoughts for these thy present woes. 
 
 Prom. Like one who soothes a wave, thy speech in 
 vain 
 
 156
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND 
 
 Vexes my soul. But deem not thou that I, 
 
 Fearing the will of Zeus, shall e'er become 
 
 As womanised in mind, or shall entreat 
 
 Him whom I greatly loathe, with upturned hand, 
 
 In woman's fashion, from these bonds of mine 
 
 To set me free. Far, far am I from that. 
 
 Herm. It seems that I, saying much, shall speak in 
 
 vain; 
 
 For thou in nought by prayers art pacified, 
 Or softened in thy heart, but like a colt 
 Fresh harnessed, thou dost champ thy bit, and strive, 
 And fight against the reins. Yet thou art stiff 
 In weak device ; for self-will, by itself, 
 In one who is not wise, is kss than nought. 
 Look to it, if thou disobey my words, 
 How great a storm and triple wave of ills, 1 
 Not to be 'scaped, shall come on thee ; for first, 
 With thunder and the levin's blazing flash 
 The Father this ravine of rock shall crush, 
 And shall thy carcase hide, and stern embrace 
 Of stony arms shall keep thee in thy place. 
 And having traversed space of time full long, 
 Thou shalt come back to light, and then his hound, 
 The winged hound of Zeus, the ravening eagle, 
 Shall greedily make banquet of thy flesh, 
 Coming all day an uninvited guest, 
 And glut himself upon thy liver dark. 
 And of that anguish look not for the end, 
 Before some God shall come to bear thy woes, 
 And will to pass to Hades' sunless realm, 
 
 i Either a mere epithet of intensity, as in our "thrice blest," 
 or rising from the supposed fact that every third wave was larger 
 and more impetuous than the others, like tixfluctus decumanus 
 of the Latins, or from the sequence of three great waves which 
 some have noted as a common phenomenon in storms. 
 '57
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND 
 
 And the dark cloudy depths of Tartaros. 1 iaM 
 
 Wherefore take heed. No feigned boast is this, 
 
 But spoken all too truly ; for the lips 
 
 Of Zeus know not to speak a lying speech, 
 
 But will perform each single word. And thou, 
 
 Search well, be wise, nor think that self-willed pride 
 
 Shall ever better prove than counsel good. 
 
 Chor. To us doth Hermes seem to utter words 
 Not out of season ; for he bids thee quit 
 Thy self-willed pride and seek for counsel good. 
 Hearken thou to him. To the wise of soul 
 It is foul shame to sin persistently. 1(m 
 
 Prom. To me who knew it all 
 
 He hath this message borne ; 
 
 And that a foe from foes 
 
 Should suffer is not strange. 
 
 Therefore on me be hurled 
 
 The sharp-edged wreath of fire ; 
 
 And let heaven's vault be stirred 
 
 With thunder and the blasts 
 
 Of fiercest winds ; and Earth 
 
 From its foundations strong, 
 
 E'en to its deepest roots, 
 
 Let storm-wind make to rock ; 
 
 And let the Ocean wave, 
 
 With wild and foaming surge, 
 
 Be heaped up to the paths t070 
 
 Where move the stars of heaven ; 
 
 And to dark Tartaros 
 
 Let Him my carcase hurl, 
 
 1 Here again we have a strange shadowing forth of the mystery 
 of Atonement, and what we have learnt to call "vicarious*' 
 satisfaction. In the later legend, Cheiron, suffering from the 
 agony of his wounds, resigns his immortality, and submits to 
 die in place of the ever-living death to which Prometheus was 
 doomed. 
 
 158
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND 
 
 With mighty blasts of force : 
 Yet me He shall not slay. 
 
 Herm. Such words and thoughts from one 
 Brain-stricken one may hear. 
 What space divides his state 
 From frenzy ? What repose 
 Hath he from maddened rage ? 
 But ye who pitying stand 
 And share his bitter griefs, 
 Quickly from hence depart, 
 Lest the relentless roar 
 Of thunder stun your soul. 
 
 Chor. With other words attempt 
 To counsel and persuade, 
 And I will hear : for now 
 Thou hast this word thrust in 
 That we may never bear. 
 How dost thou bid me train 
 My soul to baseness vile \ 
 With him I will endure 
 Whatever is decreed. 
 Traitors I've learnt to hate, 
 Nor is there any plague 
 That more than this I loathe. 
 
 Herm. Nay then, remember ye 
 What now I say, nor blame 
 Your fortune : never say 
 That Zeus hath cast you down 
 To evil not foreseen. 
 Not so ; ye cast yourselves : 
 For now with open eyes, 
 Not taken unawares, 
 In Ate's endless net 
 Ye shall entangled be 
 By folly of your own.
 
 PROMETHEUS BOUND 
 
 ause, and then flashes of lightning and 
 peals of thunder 1 
 
 Prom. Yea, now in very deed, 
 No more in word alone, 
 The earth shakes to and fro, 
 And the loud thunder's voice 
 Bellows hard by, and blaze 
 The flashing levin-fires ; 
 And tempests whirl the dust, 
 And gusts of all wild winds 
 On one another leap, 
 In wild conflicting blasts, 
 And sky with sea is blent : 
 Such is the storm from Zeus im 
 
 That comes as working fear, 
 In terrors manifest. 
 O Mother venerable ! 
 O ^Ether ! rolling round 
 The common light of all, 
 See'st thou what wrongs I bear ? 
 
 1 It is noticeable that both ^Eschylos and Sophocles have left 
 us tragedies which end in a thunderstorm as an element of effect. 
 But the contrast between the Prometheus and the CEdipus at 
 Colonos as to the impression left in the one case of serene recon- 
 ciliation, and in the other of violent antagonism, is hardly less 
 striking than the resemblance in the outward phenomena whicn 
 are cermnon to the two. 
 
 169
 
 THE SUPPLIANTS 
 
 DRAMATIS PERSONS 
 
 DANAOS PELASGOS, 
 
 Herald Chorus of the daughters of DANAOS 
 
 ARGUMENT. When lo, after many wanderings, had 
 found refuge in Egypt, and having been touched by Zeus, 
 had given birth to Epaphos, it came to pass that he and 
 his descendants ruled over the region of Canopos, r.ear one 
 of the seven mouths of Neilos, And in the fifth genera- 
 tion there were two brothers, Danaos and SEgyptos, the 
 sons of Belos, and the former had fifty daughters and the 
 latter fifty sons, and JEgyptos sought the daughters of 
 Danaos in marriage for his sons. And they, looking on 
 the marriage as unholy, and hating those who wooed 
 them, took flight and came to Argos, where Pelasgos then 
 ruled as king, as to the land whence lo, from whom they 
 sprang, had come. And thither the sons of JEgyptos 
 followed them in hot pursuit. 
 
 161
 
 THE SUPPLIANTS 
 
 SCENE. Argns, the entrance of the gates. Statues o/~Zr.uj, 
 ARTEMIS, and other Gods, placed against the -walls 
 
 Enter Chorus of the Daughters of DANAOS,' /// the dress 
 of Egyptian women, with the bougks oj suppliants in 
 their hands, and filets of white wool twisted round 
 them, chanting as they move in procession to take up 
 their position round the thymele 
 
 Zeus, the God of Suppliants, kindly 
 
 Look on this our band of wanderers, 
 
 That from banks at mouths of Neilos, 
 
 Banks of finest sand, departed!* 
 
 Yea, we left the region sacred, 
 
 Grassy plain on Syria's borders, 1 
 
 Not for guilt of blood to exile 
 
 By our Country's edict sentenced, 
 
 But with free choice, loathing wedlock, 
 
 Fleeing marriage-rites unholy 
 
 With the children of ^Egyptos. lfl 
 
 And our father Danaos, ruler, 
 
 Chief of council, chief of squadrons, 
 
 1 The daughters of Danaos are always represented as fifty in 
 number. It seems probable, however, that the vocal chorus was 
 limited to twelve, the others appearing as mutes. 
 
 2 The alluvial deposit of the Delta. 
 
 3 Syria is used obviously with a certain geographical vague- 
 ness, as including all that we know as Palestine, and the wilder- 
 ness to the south of it, and so as conterminous with Egypt.
 
 THE SUPPLIANTS 
 
 Playing moves on fortune's draught-board, 1 
 
 Chose what seemed the best of evils, 
 
 Through the salt sea-waves to hasten, 
 
 Steering to the land of Argos, 
 
 Whence our race has risen to greatness ; 
 
 Sprung, so boasts it, from the heifer 
 
 Whom the stinging gadfly harassed, 
 
 By the touch of Zeus love-breathing: 3 
 
 And to what land more propitious 
 
 Could we come than this before us, * 
 
 Holding in our hand the branches 
 
 Suppliant, wreathed with white wool fillets ? 
 
 O State ! O land ! O water gleaming ! 
 
 Ye the high Gods, ye the awful, 
 
 In the dark the graves still guarding ; 
 
 Thou too with them, Zeus Preserver, 1 
 
 Guardian of the just man's dwelling, 
 
 Welcome with the breath of pity, 
 
 Pity as from these shores wafted, 
 
 Us poor women who are suppliants. 
 
 And that swarm of men that follow, 
 
 Haughty offspring of ^Egyptos, 
 
 Ere they set their foot among you 
 
 On this silt-strown shore, 4 oh, send them 
 
 i Elsewhere in ^Eschylos (Agam. 33, Fr. 132) we trace 
 allusion to games played with dice. Here we have a reference 
 to one, the details of which are not accurately known to us, but 
 which seems to have been analogous to draughts or chess. 
 
 a See the whole story, given as in prophecy, in the Prometheus, 
 v. 865-880. 
 
 3 The invocation is addressed (i) to the Olympian Gods in 
 the brightness of heaven ; (2) to the Chthonian deities in the 
 darkness below the earth ; (3) to Zeus, the preserver, as the 
 supreme Lord of both. 
 
 4 An Athenian audience would probably recognise in this a 
 description, of the swampy meadows near the coast of Lerna. 
 
 164
 
 THE SUPPLIANTS 
 
 Seaward in their ship swift-rowing ; 
 There, with whirlwind tempest-driven, 
 There, with lightning and with thunder, 
 There, with blasts that bring the storm-rain, 
 May they in the fierce sea perish, 
 Ere they, cousin-brides possessing, 
 Rest on marriage-beds reluctant, 
 Which the voice of right denies them ! 
 
 STROPHE I 
 
 And now I call on him, the Zeus-sprung steer, 1 
 Our true protector, far beyond the sea, 
 Child of the heifer-foundress of our line, 
 
 Who cropped the flowery mead, 
 Born of the breath, and named from touch of Zeus. 
 
 *And lo ! the destined time 
 
 *Wrought fully with the name, 
 And she brought forth the " Touch-born," Epaphos. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I 
 
 And now invoking him in grassy fields, M 
 
 Where erst his mother strayed, to dwellers here 
 Telling the tale of all her woes of old, 
 
 I surest pledge shall give ; 
 And others, strange beyond all fancy's dream, 
 
 Shall yet perchance be found ; 
 
 And in due course of time 
 Shall men know clearly all our history. 
 
 The descendants of To had come to the very spot where the 
 tragic history of their ancestors had had its origin. 
 
 1 The invocation passes on to Epaphos, as a guardian deity 
 able and willing to succour his afflicted children. 
 165
 
 THE SUPPLIANTS 
 
 STROPHE II 
 
 And if some augur of the land be near, 
 
 Hearing our piteous cry, 
 
 Sure he will deem he hears 
 
 The voice of Tereus' bride, 1 
 
 Piteous and sad of soul, 
 The nightingale sore harassed by the kite. M 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II 
 
 *For she, driven back from wonted haunts and streams,* 
 
 Mourns with a strange new plaint 
 
 The home that she has lost, 
 
 And wails her son's sad doom, 
 
 How he at her hand died, 
 Meeting with evil wrath unmotherly ; 
 
 STROPHE III 
 
 E'en so do I, to wailing all o'er-given, 
 
 In plaintive music of Ionian mood, 3 
 
 *Vex the soft cheek on Neilos' banks that bloomed, 
 
 And heart that bursts in tears, 
 And pluck the flowers of lamentations loud, 
 
 Not without fear of friends, 
 
 *Lest none should care to help 
 This flight of mine from that mist-shrouded shore. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III 
 
 But, O ye Gods ancestral ! hear my prayer, 
 Look well upon the justice of our cause, 
 
 1 Philomela. See the tale as given in the notes to Agam. 1113. 
 
 2 " Streams," as flowing through the shady solitude of the 
 groves which the nightingale frequented. 
 
 3 "Ionian," as soft and elegiac, in contrast with the jnore 
 military character of Dorian music. 
 
 1 66
 
 THE SUPPLIANTS 
 
 Nor grant to youth to gain its full desire 
 
 Against the laws of right, 
 But with prompt hate of lust, our marriage bless. 
 
 *Even for those who come 
 
 As fugitive? in war 
 The altar serves as shield that Gods regard. 
 
 STROPHE IV 
 
 May God good issue give ! 1 
 And yet the will of Zeus is hard to scan : 
 
 Through all it brightly gleams, 
 E'en though in darkness and the gloom of chance 
 
 For us poor mortals wrapt. 
 
 ANTISTROPHK IV 
 
 Safe, by no fall tripped up, 
 The full-wrought deed decreed by brow of Zeus ; 
 
 For dark with shadows stretch 
 The pathways of the counsels of his heart, 
 
 And difficult to see. 
 
 STROPHE V 
 
 And from high-towering hopes He hurleth down 
 To utter doom the heir of mortal birth ; 
 
 Yet sets He in array 
 
 No forces violent ; 
 All that Gods work is effortless and calm : 
 
 Seated on holiest throne, 
 
 Thence, though we know not how, 
 
 He works His perfect will. 
 
 1 In the Greek the paronomasia turns upon the supposed 
 etymological connection between ei> 5 and riflifci. I have here, 
 as elsewhere, attempted an analogous rather than identical 
 jeu de mot. 
 
 167
 
 THE SUPPLIANTS 
 
 ANTISTROPHE V 
 
 Ah, let him look on frail man's wanton pride, 
 With which the old stock burgeons out anew, 
 
 By love for me constrained, 
 
 In counsels ill and rash, 
 And in its frenzied, passionate resolve 
 
 Finds goad it cannot shun ; 
 
 But in deceived hopes, 
 
 Shall know, too late, its woe. 
 
 STROPHE VI 
 
 Such bitter griefs, lamenting, I recount, 
 
 With cries shrill, tearful, deep, 
 
 (Ah woe ! ah woe !) 
 
 That strike the ear with mourner's woe-fraught cry. 
 Though yet alive, I wail mine obsequies ; 
 
 Thee, Apian sea-girt bluff, 1 
 
 I greet (our alien speech 
 
 Thou knowest well, O land,) 
 
 And ofttimes fall, with rendings passionate, 
 On robe of linen and Sidonian veil. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE VI 
 
 But to the Gods, for all things prospering well, 
 
 When death is kept aloof, 
 
 Gifts votive come of right. 
 
 Ah woe ! Ah woe ! 
 Oh, troubles dark, and hard to understand ! 
 
 1 The Greek word which I have translated " bluff" was one 
 not familiar to Attic ears, and was believed to be of Kyrenean 
 origin. ^Eschylos accordingly puts it into the lips of the 
 daughters of Danaos, as characteristic more or less of the 
 " alien speech " of the land from which they came. 
 168
 
 THE SUPPLIANTS 
 
 Ah, whither will these waters carry me ? 
 
 Thee, Apian sea-girt bluff", 12 
 
 I greet (our alien speech 
 
 Thou knowest well, O land,) 
 And ofttimes fall, with rendings passionate, 
 On robe of linen and Sidonian veil. 
 
 STROPHE VII 
 
 The oar indeed and dwelling, timber-wrought, 
 With sails of canvas, 'gainst the salt sea proof 
 
 Brought me with favouring gales, 
 
 By stormy wind unvexed ; 
 Nor have I cause for murmur. Issues good 
 May He, the all-seeing Father, grant, that I, 1JO 
 
 Great seed of Mother dread, 
 In time may 'scape, still maiden undefiled, 
 
 My suitor's marriage-bed. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE VII 
 
 And with a will that meets my will may She, 
 The unstained child of Zeus, on me look down, 
 
 *Our Artemis, who guards 
 
 The consecrated walls ; 
 
 And with all strength, though hunted down, uncaught, 
 May She, the Virgin, me a virgin free, 14 
 
 Great seed of Mother dread, 
 That I may 'scape, still maiden undefiled, 
 
 My suitor's marriage-bed. 
 
 STROPHE VIII 
 
 But if this may not be, 
 We, of swarth sun-burnt race, 
 169
 
 THE SUPPLIANTS 
 
 Will with our suppliant branches go to him, 
 
 Zeus, sovereign of the dead, 1 
 The Lord that welcomes all that come to him, 
 
 Dying by twisted noose 
 If we the grace of Gods Olympian miss. 
 By thine ire, Zeus, 'gainst lo virulent, 
 
 The Gods' wrath seeks us out, 
 
 And I know well the woe 
 Comes from thy queen who reigns in heaven victorious ; 
 
 For after stormy wind 
 
 The tempest needs must rage. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE VIII 
 
 And then shall Zeus to words 
 
 Unseemly be exposed, 
 Having the heifer's offspring put to shame, 
 
 Whom he himself begat, 
 And now his face averting from our prayers : 
 
 Ah, may he hear on high, 
 Yea, pitying look and hear propitiously ! 
 Ey thine ire, Zeus, 'gainst lo virulent, 
 
 The Gods' wrath seeks us out, 
 
 And I know well the woe 
 Comes from thy queen, who reigns in heaven victorious ; 
 
 For after stormy wind 
 
 The tempest needs must rage, 
 Danaos. My children, we need wisdom ; lo! ye came 
 With me, your father wise and old and true, 
 As guardian of your voyage. Now ashore, 
 With forethought true I bid you keep my words, 
 
 r 1 So in v. 235 Danaos speaks of the "second Zeus" who sits 
 as Judge in Hades. The feeling to which the Chorus gives 
 utterance is that of 
 
 " Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo." 
 170
 
 THE SUPPLIANTS 
 
 As in a tablet-book recording them : 
 
 I see a dust, an army's voiceless herald, 
 
 Nor are the axles silent as they turn ; 
 
 And I descry a host that bear the shield, 
 
 And those that hurl the javelin, marching on 
 
 With horses and with curved battle-cars. 
 
 Perchance they are the princes of this land, 
 
 Come on the watch, as having news of us ; 
 
 But whether one in kindly mood, or hot 
 
 With anger fierce, leads on this great arr^y, 
 
 It is, my children, best on all accounts 
 
 To take your stand hard by this hill of Gods 
 
 Who rule o'er conflicts. 1 Better far than towers 
 
 Are altars, yea, a shield impenetrable. 
 
 But with all speed approach the shrine of Zeus, 
 
 The God of mercy, in your left hand holding 
 
 The suppliants' boughs wool-wreathed, in solemn guise, 2 
 
 And greet our hosts as it is meet for us, 
 
 Coming as strangers, with all duteous words 
 
 Kindly and holy, telling them your tale 
 
 Of this your flight, unstained by guilt of blood ; 
 
 And with your speech, let mood not over-bold, 
 
 Nor vain nor wanton, shine from modest brow 
 
 And calm, clear eye. And be not prompt to speak, 
 
 Nor full of words ; the race that dwellcth here 
 
 Of this is very jealous : s and be mindful 
 
 Much to concede ; a fugitive thou art, 
 
 1 Some mound dedicated to the Gods, with one or more altars 
 and statues of the Gods on it, is on the stage, and the supplian's 
 are told to take up their places there. The Gods of conflict who 
 are named below, Zeus, Apollo. Poseidon, presided generally 
 over the three great games of Greece. Hermes is added to the 
 list. 
 
 2 Comp. Libation-Pourers, 1024, Eumen. 44. 
 
 8 The Argives are supposed to share the love of brevity which 
 we commonly connect with their neighbours the Laconians.
 
 THE SUPPLIANTS 
 
 A stranger and in want, and 'tis not meet 
 
 That those in low estate high words should speak. 
 
 Chor. My father, to the prudent prudently ^ 
 
 Thou speakest, and my task shall be to keep 
 Thy goodly precepts. Zeus, our sire, look on us ! 
 
 Dan. Yea, may He look with favourable eye! 
 
 Chor. I fain would take my seat not far from thee. 
 \Chorus moves to the altar not far Jrom 
 DANAOS 
 
 Dan. Delay not then ; success go with your plan. 
 
 Chor. Zeus, pity us with sorrow all but crushed ! 
 
 Dan. If He be willing, all shall turn out well. 
 
 Chor. ..... 
 
 Dan. Invoke ye now the mighty bird of Zeus. 1 
 
 Chor. We call the sun's bright rays to succour us. 
 
 Dau. Apollo too, the holy, in that He, J1 
 
 A God, has tasted exile from high heaven. 1 
 
 Chor. Knowing that fate, He well may feel for men. 
 
 Dan. So may He feel, and look on us benignly ! 
 
 Chor. Whom of the Gods shall I besides invoke ? 
 
 Dan. I see this trident here, a God's great symbol.* 
 
 Chor. Well hath He brought us, well may He receive ! 
 
 Dan. Here too is Hermes, 4 as the Hellenes know him. 
 
 1 The " mighty bird of Zeus " seems here, from the answer of 
 the Chorus, to mean not the "eagle" but the "sun," wlrch 
 roused men from their sleep as the cock did, so that "cock- 
 crow" and "sunrise" were synonymous. It is, in any case, 
 striking that Zeus, rather than Apollo, appears as the Sun-God. 
 
 2 The words refer to the myth of Apollo's banishment from 
 heaven and servitude under Admetos. 
 
 3 In the Acropolis at Athens the impress of a trident was sern 
 on the rock, and was believed to commemorate the time wi en 
 Poseidon had claimed it as his own by setting up his weapon 
 there. Something of the same kind seems here to be supposed 
 to exist at Argos, where a like legend prevailed. 
 
 4 The Hellenic Hermes is distinguished from his Egyptian 
 counterpart, Thoth, as being different in form and accessories. 
 
 17*
 
 THE SUPPLIANTS 
 
 Chor. To us, as free, let Him good herald prove. 
 
 Dan. Yea, and the common shrine of all these Gods 
 Adore ye, and in holy precincts sit, 
 Like swarms of doves in fear of kites your kinsmen, " a 
 Foes of our blood, polluters of our race. 
 How can bird prey on bird and yet be pure ? 
 And how can he be pure who seeks in marriage 
 Unwilling bride from father too unwilling ? 
 Nay, not in Hades' self, shall he, vain fool, 
 Though dead, 'scape sentence, doing deeds like this ; 
 For there, as men relate, a second Zeus 1 
 Judges men's evil deeds, and to the dead 
 Assigns their last great penalties. Look up, 
 And take your station here, that this your cause 
 May win its way to a victorious end. 
 
 Enter the KING on his chariot, followed by Attendants 
 
 King. Whence comes this crowd, this non-Hellenic 
 band, -" 
 
 In robes and raiment of barbaric fashion 
 So gorgeously attired, whom now we speak to ? 
 This woman's dress is not of Argive mode, 
 Nor from the climes of Hellas. How ye dared, 
 Without a herald even or protector, 
 Yea, and devoid of guides too, to come hither 
 Thus boldly, is to me most wonderful. 
 And yet these boughs, as is the suppliant's wont, 
 Are set by you before the Gods of conflicts : 
 By this alone will Hellas guess aright. 
 Much more indeed we might have else conjectured, 24 
 Were there no voice to tell me on the spot. 
 
 Chor. Not false this speech of thine about our garb ; 
 
 1 A possible reference to the Egyptian Osiris, as lord or judge 
 of Hades. Comp. v. 145. 
 
 73
 
 THE SUPPLIANTS 
 
 But shall I greet thee as a citizen, 
 
 Or bearing Hermes' rod, or city ruling? 1 
 
 King. Nay, for that matter, answer thou and speak 
 Without alarm. Palaechthon's son am I, 
 Earth-born, the king of this Pelasgic land ; 
 And named from me, their king, 2 as well might be, 
 The race Pelasgic reaps our country's fruits ; 
 *And all the land through which the Strymon pours -' 
 Its pure, clear waters to the West I rule; 
 And as the limits of my realm I mark 
 The land of the Perrhasbi, and the climes 
 Near the Pasonians, on the farther side 
 Of Pindos, and the Dodonaean heights; 3 
 And the sea's waters form its bounds. O'er all 
 Within these coasts I govern ; and this plain, 
 The Apian land, itself has gained its name 
 Long since from one who as a healer lived ; * 
 For Apis, coming from Naupactian land 
 That lies beyond the straits, Apollo's son, 
 Prophet and healer, frees this land of ours 
 From man-destroying monsters, which the soil, 
 Polluted with the guilt of blood of old, 
 By anger of the Gods, brought forth, fierce plagues, 
 
 1 "Shall I," the Chorus asks, "speak to you as a piivatj 
 citizen, or as a herald, or as a king ?" 
 
 2 It would appear from this that the king himself bore the 
 name Pelasgos. In some versions of the story he is so designated 
 
 * The lines contain a tradition of the wide extent of the o'd 
 Pelasgic rule, including Thessalia, or the Pelasgic Argos, between 
 the mouths of Peneus and Pindos, Perrhaebia, Dodona, and 
 finally the Apian land or Peloponnesos. 
 
 * The true meaning of the word " Apian," as applied to tl a 
 Peloponnesos, seems to have been "distant." Here the myth 
 is followed which represented it as connected with Apis the sou 
 of Telchin (son of Apollo, in the sense of being a physician- 
 prophet), who had freed the land from monsters. 
 
 174
 
 THE SUPPLIANTS 
 
 The dragon-brood's dread, unblest company ; 
 And Apis, having for this Argive land 
 Duly wrought out his saving surgery, 
 Gained his reward, remembered in our prayers ; 
 And thou, this witness having at my hands, 
 May'st tell thy race at once, and further speak ; 
 Yet lengthened speech our city loveth not. 
 
 Chor. Full shortand clear our tale. We boast that -.ve 
 Are Argives in descent, the children true 
 Of the fair, fruitful heifer. And all this 
 Will I by what I speak show firm and true. 
 
 King. Nay, strangers, v/hat ye tell is past belief 
 For me to hear, that ye from Argos spring ; 
 For ye to Libyan women are most like, 1 
 And nowise to our native maidens here. 
 Such race might Neilos breed, and Kyprian mould, 
 Like yours, is stamped by skilled artificers 
 On women's features ; and I hear that those 
 Of India travel upon camels borne, 
 Swift as the horse, yet trained as sumpter-mules, 
 E'en those who as the ^Ethiops' neighbours dwell. 
 And had ye borne the bow, I should have guessed, 
 Undoubting, ye were of th' Amazon's tribe, 
 Man-hating, flesh-devouring. Taught by you, 
 I might the better know how this can be, 
 That your descent and birth from Argos come. 
 
 . Chor. They tell of one who bore the temple-keys 
 Of Hera, lo, in this Argive land. 
 
 King. So was't indeed, and wide the fame prevails : 
 And was it said that Zeus a mortal loved ? 
 
 Chor. And that embrace was not from Hera hid. 
 
 1 The description would seem to indicate (i) that thedaughter 
 of Danaos appeared on the stage as of swarthy complexion ; and 
 (2) that Indians, Ethiopians, Kyprians, and Amazons, were all 
 thought of as in this respect alike. 
 17S
 
 THE SUPPLIANTS 
 
 King. What end had then these strifes of sovereign 
 
 Ones ? 
 
 Chor. The Argive goddess made the maid a heifer. 
 King. Did Zeus that fair-horned heifer still 
 
 approach ? 
 
 Chor. So say they, fashioned like a wooing steer. 
 King. How acted then the mighty spouse of Zeus ? 
 Chor. She o'er the heifer set a guard all-seeing. 
 King. What i herdsman strange, all-seeing, speak'st 
 
 thou of? 
 Chor. Argos, the earth-born, him whom Hermes 
 
 slew. 80 
 
 King. What else then wrought she on the ill-starred 
 
 heifer ? 
 Chor. She sent a stinging gadfly to torment her. 
 
 [Those who near Neilos dwell an <zstros call it.] 
 King. Did she then drive her from her country far ? 
 Chor. All that thou say'st agrees well with our talc. 
 King. And did she to Canobos go, and Memphis ? 
 Chor. Zeus with his touch, an offspring then begets. 
 King. What Zeus-born calf that heifer claims as 
 
 mother ? 
 Chor. *He from that touch which freed named Epa- 
 
 phos. 31 
 
 King. [What offspring then did Epaphos beget?} 1 
 Chor. Libya, that gains her fame from greatest land. 
 King. What other offspring, born of her, dost tell of I 
 Chor. Sire of my sire here, Belos, with two sons. 
 King. Tell me then now the name of yonder sage. 
 Chor. Danaos, whose brother boasts of fifty sons. 
 King. Tell me his name, too, with ungrudging 
 
 speech. 
 
 l The line is conjectural, but some question of this kind is 
 implied in the answer of the Chorus. 
 176
 
 THE SUPPLIANTS 
 
 Chor, ^Egyptos : knowing now our ancient stock, 
 Take heed thou bid thine Argive suppliants rise. 
 
 King. Ye seem, indeed, to make your ancient claim 
 To this our country good : but how came ye 
 To leave your father's house ? What chance con- 
 strained you ? 
 
 Chor. O king of the Pelasgi, manifold 
 Are ills of mortals, and thou could'st not find 
 The self-same form of evil anywhere. 
 Who would have said that this unlooked-for flight 
 Would bring to Argos race once native here, 
 Driving them forth in hate of wedlock's couch ? 
 
 King. What seek'st thou then of these the Gods of 
 
 conflicts, 
 
 Holding your wool-wreathed branches newly-plucked ? 
 
 Chor. That I serve not ^Egyptos' sons as slave. 
 
 King. Speak'st thou of some old feud, or breach of 
 
 right ? * 
 
 Chor. Nay, who'd find fault with master that one 
 
 loved ? 
 
 King. Yet thus it is that mortals grow in strength. 1 
 Chor. True ; when men fail, 'tis easy to desert 
 
 them. 
 
 King. How then to you may I act reverently ? 
 Chor. Yield us not up unto ^Egyptos' sons. 
 King. Hard boon thou ask'st,to wage so strange a war. 
 Chor. Nay, Justice champions those who fight with 
 
 her. 
 
 King. Yes, if her hand was in it from the first. 
 Chor. Yet reverence thou the state-ship's stern thus 
 wreathed. 2 
 
 1 By sacrificing personal likings to schemes of ambition, men 
 and women contract marriages which increase their power. 
 
 2 The Gods of conflict are the pilots of the ship of the State. 
 The altar dedicated to them is as its stern : the garlands and 
 
 f 177 M
 
 THE SUPPLIANTS 
 
 King. I tremble as I see these seat* thus shad- 
 owed. * 
 
 STROPHB I 
 
 Cfcr. Dread is the wrath of Zeus, the God of sup- 
 pliants : 
 
 Son of Palaechthon, hear ; 
 Hear, O Pelasgic king, with kindly heart. 
 Behold me suppliant, exile, wanderer, 
 *Like heifer chased by wolves 
 Upon the lofty crags, 
 Where, trusting in her strength, 
 She lifteth up her voice 
 And to the shepherd tells her tale of grief. 
 
 King. I see, o'ershadovved with the new-plucked 
 
 boughs, 
 
 *Bent low, a band these Gods of conflict own ; 
 And may our dealings with these home-sprung stran- 
 gers 
 Be without peril, nor let strife arise 
 To this our country for unlooked-for chance 
 And unprovided ! This our State wants not. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I 
 
 Ckor. Yea, may that Law that guards the suppliant's 
 
 right 
 
 Free this our flight from harm, 
 Law, sprung from Zeus, supreme Apportioner, 
 But thou, [to the Kivg^\ though old, from me, though 
 
 younger, learn : 
 If thou a suppliant pity 
 Thou ne'er shall penury know, 
 So long as Gods receive 
 
 wands of suppliants which adorn it are as the decorations of the 
 Tcssels. 
 
 178
 
 THE SUPPLIANTS 
 
 Within their sacred shrines 
 Gifts at the hands of worshipper unstained. 
 
 King. It is not at my hearth ye suppliant sit ; 
 But if the State be as a whole defiled, m 
 
 Be it the people's task to work the cure. 
 I cannot pledge my promise to you first 
 Ere I hare counselled with my citizens. 1 
 
 STXOPHE II 
 
 Chor. Thou art the State yea, thou the common- 
 wealth, 
 
 Chief lord whom none may judge ; 
 Tis thine to rule the country's altar-hearth, 
 With the sole vote of thy prevailing nod ; 
 And thou on throne of state, 
 Sole-sceptred in thy sway, 
 Bringest each matter to its destined end ; 
 
 Shun thou the curse of guilt. 
 
 King. Upon my foes rest that dread curse of guilt ! 2TO 
 Yet without harm I cannot succour you, 
 Nor gives it pleasure to reject your prayers. 
 In a sore strait am I ; fear fills my soul 
 To take the chance, to do or not to do. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II 
 CAor. Look thou on Him who looks on all from 
 
 heaven, 
 
 Guardian of suffering men 
 Who, worn with toil, unto their neighbours come 
 
 1 Some editors have seen in this an attempt to enlist the con- 
 stitutional sympathies of an Athenian audience in favour of the 
 Argive king, who will not act without consulting his assembly. 
 There seems more reason to think that the aim of the dramatist 
 was in precisely the opposite direction, and that the words 
 which follow set forth his admiration for the king who can act, 
 as compared with one who is tied and hampered by restrictions. 
 '79
 
 THE SUPPLIANTS 
 
 As suppliants, and receive not justice due: 
 
 For these the wrath of Zeus, 
 
 Zeus, the true suppliant's God, 
 Abides, by wail of sufferer unappeased. 8SO 
 
 King. Yet if ^Egyptos' sons have claim on thoe 
 By their State's law, asserting that they come 
 As next of kin, who dare oppose their right ? 
 Thou must needs plead that by thy laws at home 
 They over thee have no authority. 1 
 
 STROPHE III 
 
 Chor. Ah ! may I ne'er be captive to the might 
 
 Of males ! Where'er the stars 
 Are seen in heaven, I track my way in flight, 
 As refuge from a marriage that I hate. 
 
 But thou, make Right thy friend, 
 And honour what the Gods count pure and true. 89 
 
 King. Hard is the judgment : choose not me as judge. 
 But, as I said before, I may not act 
 Without the people, sovereign though 1 be, 
 Lest the crowd say, should aught fall out amiss, 
 " In honouring strangers, thou the State did'st ruin." 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III 
 
 Chor. Zeus, the great God of kindred, in these things 
 Watches o'er both of us, 
 
 1 By an Attic law, analogous in principle to that of the Jews, 
 (Num. xxxvi. 8; i Chron. xxiii. 22), heiresses were absolutely 
 bound to marry their next of kin, if he claimed his right. The 
 king at once asserts this as the law which was primd facie 
 applicable to the case, and declares himself ready to surrender 
 it if the petitioners can show thai their own municipal law is on 
 the other side. He will not thrust his country's customs upon 
 foreigners, who can prove that they live under a different rule, 
 but in the absence of evidence must act on the law which h$ 
 is bound officially to recognise. 
 
 1 80
 
 Holding an equal scale, and fitly giving 
 To the base evil, to the righteous blessing. 
 
 Why, when these things are set 
 In even balance, fear'st thou to do right ? 
 
 King. Deep thought we need that brings deliverance, 
 That, like a diver, mine eye too may plunge 
 Clear-seeing to the depths, not wine-bedrenched, 
 That these things may be harmless to the State, 
 And to ourselves may issue favourably : 
 That neither may the strife make you its prey, 
 Nor that we give you up, who thus are set 
 Near holy seat of Gods, and so bring in 
 To dwell with us the Avenger terrible, 
 God that destroyeth, who not e'en in Hades uo 
 
 Gives freedom to the dead. Say, think ye not 
 That there is need of counsel strong to save ? 
 
 STROPHE I 
 
 Char. Take heed to it, and be 
 Friend to the stranger wholly faithful found ; 
 
 Desert not thou the poor, 
 Driven from afar by godless violence. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I 
 
 See me not dragged away, 
 O thou that rul'st the land ! from seat of Gods : 
 
 Know thou men's winton pride, 42 
 
 And guard thyself against the wrath of Zeus. 
 
 STROPHE II 
 
 Endure not thou to see thy suppliant, 
 
 Despite of law, torn off, 
 As horses by their frontlets, from the forms 
 
 Of sculptured deities, 
 181
 
 THE SUPPLIANTS 
 
 Nor yet the outrage of their wanton hands, 
 Seizing these broidered robes. 
 
 ANTISTROPHK II 
 
 For know thou well, whichever course thou take, 
 
 Thy sons and all thy house 
 *Must pay in war the debt that Justice claims, 
 
 Proportionate in kind. 43 
 
 Lay well to heart these edicts, wise and true, 
 
 Given by great Zeus himself. 
 King. Well then have I thought o'er it. To this 
 
 point 
 
 Our ship's course drives. Fierce war we needs must risk 
 Either with these (fainting to the Gods) or those. Set 
 
 fast and firm 
 
 Is this as is the ship tight wedged in stocks ; 
 And without trouble there's no issue out. 
 For wealth indeed, were our homes spoiled of that, 
 There might come other, thanks to Zeus the Giver, 
 More than the loss, and filling up the freight ; ** 
 And if the tongue should aim its adverse darts, 
 Baleful and over-stimulant of wrath, 
 There might be words those words to heal and soothe. 
 But how to blot the guilt of kindred blood, 
 This needs a great atonement many victims 
 Falling to many Gods to heal the woe. 
 *I take my part, and turn aside from strife ; 
 And I far rather would be ignorant 
 Than wise, forecasting evil. May the end, 
 Against my judgment, show itself as good ! 
 
 Chor. Hear, then, the last of all our pleas for pity. 
 King . I hear ; speak on. It shall not 'scape my 
 heed. 
 
 Chor. Girdles I have, and zones that bind my robes. 
 King. Such things are fitting for a woman's state. 
 iSz
 
 THE SUPPLIANTS 
 
 Chor. With these then, know, as good and rare de- 
 vice .... 
 
 King. Nay, speak. What word is this thou'lt utter 
 now ? 
 
 Ckor. Unless thou giv'st our band thy plighted 
 word .... 
 
 King. What wilt thou do with this device of girdles ? 
 
 Chor. With tablets new these sculptures we'll adorn. 
 
 King . Thou speak'st a riddle. Make thy meaning 
 plain. 
 
 Chor. Upon these Gods we'll hang ourselves at once. 
 
 King. I hear a word which pierces to the heart. 49 
 
 Chor. Thou see'st our meaning. Eyes full clear 
 I've given. 
 
 King. Lo then ! in many ways sore troubles come. 
 A host of evils rushes like a flood ; 
 A sea of woe none traverse, fathomless, 
 This have I entered ; haven there is none. 
 For if I fail to do this work for you, 
 Thou tellest of defilement unsurpassed ;* 
 And if for thee against ^Egyptos' sons, 
 Thy kindred, I before my city's walls 
 In conflict stand, how can there fail to be 
 A bitter loss, to stain the earth with blood 4ro 
 
 Of man for woman's sake ? And yet I needs 
 Must fear the wrath of Zeus, the suppliant's God ; 
 That dread is mightiest with the sons of men. 
 Thou, then, O aged father of these maidens ! 
 Taking forthwith these branches in thine arms, 
 Lay them on other altars of the Gods 
 Our country worships, that the citizens 
 May all behold this token of thy coming, 
 
 1 Sc., the pollution which the statues of the Gods would 
 contract if they carried into execution their threat of suicide. 
 183
 
 THE SUPPLIANTS 
 
 And about me let no rash speech be dropped ; 
 For 'tis a people prompt to blame their rulers. 
 And then perchance some one beholding them, 4Sfl 
 And pitying, may wax wrathful 'gainst the outrage 
 Of that male troop, and with more kindly will 
 The people look on you ; for evermore 
 Men all wish well unto the weaker side. 
 
 Dan. This boon is counted by us of great price, 
 To find a patron proved so merciful. 
 And thou, send with us guides to lead us on, 
 And tell us how before their shrines to find 
 The altars of the Gods that guard the State, 
 *And holy places columned round about ; 
 And safety for us, as the town we traverse. 
 Not of like fashion is our features' stamp ; 
 For Neilos rears not race like Inachos. 1 
 Take heed lest rashness lead to bloodshed here ; 
 Ere now, unknowing, men have slain their friends. 
 King (to Attendants). Go then, my men ; full well 
 
 the stranger speaks ; 
 
 And lead him where the city's altars stand, 
 The seats of Gods ; and see ye talk not much 
 To passers-by as ye this traveller lead, 
 A suppliant at the altar-hearth of Gods. 
 
 [Exeunt DANAOS and Attendants 
 Chor. Thou speak'st to him ; and may he go as 
 
 bidden ! 
 
 But what shall I do ? What hope giv'st thou me ? 
 King. Leave here those boughs, the token of your 
 
 grief. **> 
 
 Chor, Lo ! here I leave them at thy beck and 
 
 word. 
 
 1 Inachos, the river-God of Argos, and aa such contrasted 
 with Neilos. 
 
 184
 
 THE SUPPLIANTS 
 
 King. Now turn thy steps towards this open lawn. 
 Chor. What shelter gives a lawn unconsecrate ? l 
 Xing. We will not yield thee up to birds of prey. 
 Chor. Nay, but to foes far worse than fiercest 
 
 dragons. 
 King. Good words should come from those who 
 
 good have heard. 
 
 Chor. No wonder they wax hot whom fear en- 
 thrals. 
 
 King. But dread is still for rulers all unmeet. 
 Chor. Do thou then cheer our soul by words and 
 
 deeds. 
 
 King. Nay, no long time thy sire will leave thee 
 lorn ; 6i 
 
 And I, all people of the land convening, 
 Will the great mass persuade to kindly words ; 
 And I will teach thy father what to say. 
 Wherefore remain and ask our country's Gods, 
 With suppliant prayers, to grant thy soul's desire, 
 And I will go in furtherance of thy wish : 
 Sweet Suasion follow us, and Fortune good ! [Exit 
 
 STROPHE I 
 
 Char. O King of kings ! and blest 
 
 Above all blessed ones, 
 And Power most mighty of the mightiest ! 
 
 O Zeus, of high estate ! BM 
 
 Hear thou and grant our prayer I 
 Drive thou far off the wantonness of men, 
 
 The pride thou hatest sore, 
 
 l i.e., " Unconsecrate," marked out by no barriers, accessible 
 to all, and therefore seeming to offer but little prospect of a safe 
 asylum. The place described seems to have been an open piece 
 of tvirf rather than a grove of trees. 
 185
 
 THE SUPPLIANTS 
 
 And in the pool of darkling purple hue 
 
 Plunge thou the woe that comes in swarthy barque. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I 
 
 Look on the women's cause ; 
 
 Recall the ancient tale, 
 Of one whom Thou did'st love in time of old. 
 
 The mother of our race : 
 
 Remember it, O Thou 
 Who did'st on lo lay thy mystic touch. 
 
 We boast that we are come 
 
 Of consecrated land the habitants, ^ 
 
 And from this land by lineage high descended. 
 
 STROPHE II 
 
 Now to the ancient track, 
 
 Our mother's, I have passed, 
 The flowery meadow-land where she was watched, 
 
 The pastures of the herd, 
 Whence lo, by the stinging gadfly driven, 
 
 Flees, of her sense bereft, 
 Passing through many tribes of mortal men ; 
 
 And then by Fate's decree 
 
 Crossing the billowy straits, 
 On either side she leaves a continent. 1 
 
 ANTISTROPHK II 
 
 Now through the Asian land 
 She hastens o'er and o'er, 
 Right through the Phrygian fields where feed the 
 
 Hocks; 
 And passes Teuthras' fort, 
 
 1 Comp. the narrative as given in Promethttti Bound, w. 660, 
 et sea. 
 
 186
 
 THE SUPPLIANTS 
 
 Owned by the Mysians, 1 and the Lydian plains ; 
 
 And o'er Kilikian hills, 
 And those of far Pamphylia rushing on, 
 
 By ever-flowing streams, 
 
 On to the deep, rich lands, 
 And Aphrodite's home in wheat o'erflowing. 1 
 
 STROPHE III 
 
 And so she cometh, as that herdsman winged K0 
 
 Pierces with sharpest sting, 
 To holy plain all forms of life sustaining, 
 
 Fields that are fed from snows, 8 
 Which Typhon's monstrous strength has traversed, 4 
 
 And unto Neilos' streams, 
 
 By sickly taint untouched, 5 
 Still maddened with her toil of ignominy, 
 By torturing stings driven on, great Hera's frenzied 
 slave. 
 
 1 Teuthras' fort, or Teuthrarra, is described by Strabo (xii. 
 p. 571) as lying between the Hellespont and Mount Sipylos, in 
 Magnesia. 
 
 8 Kypros, as dedicated to the worship of Aphrodite, and 
 famous for its wine, and oil, and corn. 
 
 The question, what caused the mysterious exceptional 
 inundations of the Nile, occupied, as we see from Herodotos 
 (ii. c. 19-27), the minds of the Greeks. Of the four theories 
 which the historian discusses, ./Eschylos adopts that which 
 referred it to the melting of the snows on the mountains of 
 central Africa. 
 
 4 Typhon, the mythical embodiment of the power of evil, was 
 fabled to have wandered over Egypt, seeking the body of Osiris. 
 Isis, to baffle him, placed coffins in all parts of Egypt, all empty 
 but the one which contained the body. 
 
 8 The fame of the Nile for the purity of its water, after the 
 earthy matter held in solution had been deposited, seems to 
 have been as great in the earliest periods of its history as it is 
 now. 
 
 187
 
 THE SUPPLIANTS 
 
 ANTISTlr>PHE III 
 
 And those who then the lands inhabited, 
 
 Quivered with pallid fear, 
 That filled their soul at that unwonted marvel, 
 
 Seeing that monstrous shape, 
 
 The human joined with brute, 
 Half heifer, and half form of woman fair : l 
 
 And sore amazed were they. 
 
 Who was it then that soothed 
 Poor lo, wandering in her sore affright, 
 Driven on, and ever on, by gadfly's maddening sting ? 
 
 STROPHE IV 
 
 Zeus, Lord of endless time 
 [Was seen All-working then ;] 
 
 He, even He, for by his sovereign might 
 
 That works no ill, was she from evil freed ; 
 And by his breath divine 
 
 She findeth rest, and weeps in floods of tears 
 Her sorrowing shame away ; 
 And with new burden big, 
 Not falsely ' Zeus-born ' named, 
 
 She bare a son that grew in faultless growth, 
 
 ANTISTROPHE IV 
 
 Prosperous through long, long years ; 
 And so the whole land shouts with one accord, 
 " Lo, a race sprung from him, the Lord of life, 
 
 In very deed, Zeus-born ! 
 
 1 lo was represented as a woman with a heifer's head, and 
 was probably a symbolic representation of the moon, with her 
 crescent horns. Sometimes the transformation is described 
 (at in v. 294) in words which imply a more thorough change. 
 188
 
 THE SUPPLIANTS 
 
 Who else had checked the plagues that Hera sent ? " 
 
 This is the work p.f Zeus : 
 
 And speaking of GOT, race 
 
 That sprang from Epaphos 
 As such, thou would'st not fail to hit the mark. 
 
 STROPHE V 
 
 Which of the Gods could I with right invoke 
 
 As doing juster deeds ? 
 He is our Father, author of our life, 
 The King whose right hand worketh all his will, 
 Our line's great author, in his counsels deep 
 
 Recording things of old, 
 Directing all his plans, the great work-master, Zeus. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE V 
 
 For not as subject hastening at the beck 
 
 Of strength above his own, 1 
 Reigns He subordinate to mightier powers ; 
 Nor does He pay his homage from below, 
 While One sits throned in majesty above ; 2 
 
 Act is for him as speech, 
 To hasten what his teeming mind resolves. 
 
 Re-enter DANAOS 
 
 Dan. Be of good cheer, my children. All goes well 
 With those who dwell here, and the people's voice 
 Hath passed decrees full, firm, irrevocable. 
 
 1 Perhaps 
 
 " For not as subject sitting 'neath the sway 
 Of strength above his own." 
 
 * The passage takes its place among the noblest utterances 
 of a faith passing above the popular polytheism to the thought 
 of one sovereign Will ruling ani guiding all things, as Will 
 without effort, in the calmness of a power irresistible. 
 189
 
 THE SUPPLIANTS 
 
 Ckor. Hail, aged sire, that tell'st me right good news ! 
 But say with what intent the vote hath passed, 
 And on which side the people's hands prevail. 
 
 Dan. The Argives have decreed without division, 
 So that my aged mind grew young again ; 
 For in full congress, with their right hands raised 
 Rustled the air as they decreed their vote 
 That we should sojourn in their land as free, 
 Free from arrest, and with asylum rights ; 
 And that no native here nor foreigner 
 Should lead us off; and, should he venture force, 
 That every citizen who gave not help 
 Dishonoured should be driven to exile forth. 
 Such counsel giving, the Pelasgian King 
 Gained their consent, proclaiming that great wrath 
 Of Zeus the God of suppliants ne'er would let 
 The city wax in fatness, warning them 
 That double guilt 1 upon the State would come, 
 Touching at once both guests and citizens, 
 The food and sustenance of sore disease 
 That none could heal. And then the Argive host, 
 Hearing these things, decreed by show of hands, 
 Not waiting for the herald's proclamation, 
 So it should be. They heard, indeed, the crowd 
 Of those Pelasgi, all the winning speech, 
 The well-turned phrases cunning to persuade; 
 But it was Zeus that brought the end to pass. 
 
 Ckor. Come then, come, let us speak for Argives 
 Prayers that are good for good deeds done ; * * 
 Zeus, who o'er all strangers watches, 
 May He regard with his praise and favour 
 
 l Double, as involving a sin against the laws of hospitality, 
 so far as the suppliants were strangers a sin against the laws of 
 kindred, so far as they might claim by descent the rights of 
 citizenship. 
 
 190
 
 THE SUPPLIANTS 
 
 The praise that comes from the lips of strangers, 
 *And guide in all to a faultless issue. 
 
 STROPHE I 
 
 Half-Char. A. Now, now, at last, ye Gods of Zeus 
 
 begotten, 1 
 
 Hear, as I pour my prayers upon their race, 
 That ne'er may this Pelasgic city raise 
 From out its flames the joyless cry of War, 
 
 War, that in other fields 
 
 Reapeth his human crop : 
 
 For they have mercy shown, 
 
 And passed their kind decree, a3C 
 
 Pitying this piteous flock, the suppliants of great Zeus. 
 
 ANII;TROPHK I 
 
 They did not take their stand with men 'gainst women 
 Casting dishonour on their plea for help, 
 *But looked to Him who sees and works from heaven, 
 *Full hard to war with. Yea, what house could bear 
 
 To see Him on its roof 
 
 Casting pollution there ? 2 
 
 Sore vexing there he sits. 
 
 Yes, they their kin revere, 
 
 Suppliants of holiest Zeus ; " 
 
 Therefore with altars pure shall they the Gods delight. 
 
 * If, as has been conjectured, the tragedy was written with a 
 view to the alliance between Argos and Athens, made in B.C. 461, 
 this choral ode muse have been the centre, if not of the dramatic, 
 at all events of the political interest of the play. 
 
 ' The image is that of a bird of evil omen, perched upon the 
 roof, and defiling the house, while it uttered its boding cries. 
 191
 
 THE SUPPLIANTS 
 
 STROPHE II 
 
 Therefore from faces by our boughs o'ershadowcd 1 
 Let prayers ascend in emulous eagerness : 
 
 Ne'er may dark p5tilence 
 
 This State of men bereave ; 
 
 May no fierce party strife 
 Pollute these plains with native carcases ; 
 
 And may the bloom of youth 
 
 Be with them still uncropt ; 
 And ne'er may Aphrodite's paramour, 
 
 Ares the scourge of men, 
 
 Mow down their blossoms fair ! 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II 
 
 And let the altars tended by the old 
 *Blaze with the gifts of men with hoary hairs ; 
 
 So may the State live on 
 
 In full prosperity ! 
 
 Let them great Zeus adore, 
 The strangers' God, the one Supreme on high, 
 
 By venerable law 
 
 Ordering the course of fate. 
 And next we pray that ever more and more 
 
 Earth may her tribute bear, 
 And Artemis as Hecate preside* 
 
 O'er woman's travail-pangs. "^ 
 
 STROPHE III 
 
 Let no destroying strife come on, invading 
 This city to lay waste, 
 
 1 The suppliants' boughs, so held as to shade the face from 
 view. 
 
 a The name of Hecate connected Artemis as, on the one side, 
 with the unseen world of Hades, so, on the other, with child- 
 birth, and the purifications that followed on it. 
 
 I 9 Z
 
 THE SUPPLIANTS 
 
 Setting in fierce array 
 
 War, with its fruit of tears, 
 
 Lyreless and danceless all, 
 
 And cry of people's wrath ; 
 
 And may the swarm of plagues, 
 
 Loathly and foul to see, 
 Abide far off from these our citizens, 
 And that Lykeian king, may He be found 
 ,__^_ Benignant to our youth ! l 
 
 ANTISTROPHK III 
 
 And Zeus, may He, by his supreme decree, 
 Make the earth yield her fruits 
 Through all the seasons round, 
 And grant a plenteous brood i 
 Of herds that roam the fields ! 
 May Heaven all good gifts pour, 
 And may the voice of song 
 Ascend o'er altar shrines, 
 Unmarred by sounds of ill ! 
 And let the voice that loves with lyre to blend 
 Go forth from lips of blameless holiness, 
 In accents of great joy ! 
 
 STROPHE IV 
 
 *And may the rule in which the people share 
 Keep the State's functions as in perfect peace, 
 
 l The name of Lykeian, originally, perhaps, simply represent- 
 ing Apollo as the God of Light, came afterwards to be associated 
 with the might of destruction (the Wolf-destroyer) and the darts 
 of pestilence and sudden death. The prayer is therefore that he, 
 the Destroyer, may hearken to the suppliants, and spare the 
 people for whom they pray. 
 
 i 193 H
 
 THE SUPPLIANTS 
 
 E'en that which sways the crowd, 
 
 * Which sways the commonwealth, *** 
 
 By counsels wise and good ; 
 And to the strangers and the sojourners 
 May they grant rights that rest on compacts sure, 
 
 Ere War is roused to arms, 
 
 So that no trouble come ! 
 
 ANTISTROPHE IV 
 
 And the great Gods who o'er this country watch, 
 May they adore them in the land They guard, 
 
 With rites of sacrifice, 
 
 And troops with laurel boughs, 
 
 As did our sires of old ! 
 For thus to honour those who gave us life, 
 This stands as one of three great laws on high, 1 
 
 Written as fixed and firm, 
 
 The laws of Right revered. 
 
 Dan. I praise these seemly prayers, dear children 
 mine. tK>0 
 
 But fear ye not, if I your father speak 
 Words that are new, and all unlooked-for by you ; 
 For from this station to the suppliant given 
 I see the ship ; too clear to be mistaken 
 The swelling sails, the bulwark's coverings, 
 And prow with eyes that scan the onward way,* 
 But too obedient to the steerman's helm, 
 Being, as it is, unfriendly. And the men 
 Who sail in her with swarthy limbs are seen, 
 
 1 The "three great laws " were those ascribed toTriptolcmos, 
 "to honour parents, to worship the Gods with the fruits oi the 
 earth, to hurt neither man nor beast." 
 
 2 The Egyptian ships, like those of many other Eastern 
 countries, had eyes (the eyes of Osiri*,a* they were called) painted 
 on their bows. 
 
 '94
 
 THE SUPPLIANTS 
 
 In raiment white conspicuous. And I see 
 Full clear the other ships that come to help ; 
 And this as leader, putting in to shore, 
 Furling its sails, is rowed with equal stroke. 
 'Tis yours, with mood of calm and steadfast soul, 
 To face the fact, and not to slight the Gods. 
 And I will come with friends and advocates ; 
 For herald, it may be, or embassy, 
 May come, and wish to seize and bear you off, 
 Grasping their prey. But nought of this shall be ; 
 Fear ye not them. It were well done, however, 
 If we should linger in our help, this succour 
 In no wise to forget. Take courage then ; 
 In their own time and at the appointed day, 
 Whoever slights the Gods shall pay for it. 
 
 STROPHE I 
 
 Chor. I fear, my father, since the swift-winged ships 
 Are come, and very short the time that's left. 
 A shuddering anguish makes me sore afraid, 
 Lest small the profit of my wandering flight. 
 
 I faint, my sire, for fear. 
 
 Dan. My children, since the Argives' vote is passed, 
 Take courage : they will fight for thee, I know. 71 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I 
 
 Chor. Hateful and wanton are ^Egyptos' sons, 
 Insatiable of conflict, and I speak 
 To one who knows them. They in timbered ships, 
 Dark-eyed, have sailed in wrath that hits its mark, 
 
 With great and swarthy host. 
 Dan. Yet many they shall find whose arms are tanned 
 In the full scorching of the noontide heat. 1 
 
 i A side-thrust, directed by the poet, who had fought at Ma- 
 rathon, against the growing effeminacy of the Athenian youth.
 
 THE SUPPLIANTS 
 
 STROPHE II 
 
 Chor. Leave me not here alone, I pray thee, father ! 
 Alone, a woman is as nought, and war 
 Is not for her. Of over-subtle mind, 
 And subtle counsel in their souls impure, wo 
 
 Like ravens, e'en for altars caring not, 
 
 Such, such in soul are they. 
 Dan. That would work well indeed for us, my 
 
 children, 
 Should they be foes to Gods as unto thee. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II 
 
 Chor. No reverence for these tridents or the shrines 
 Of Gods, my father, will restrain their hands : 
 Full stout of heart, of godless mood unblest, 
 Fed to the full, and petulant as dogs, 
 And for the voice of high Gods caring not, 
 
 Such, such in soul are they. 
 
 Dan. Nay, the tale runs that wolves prevail o'er 
 dogs ; 
 
 And by bios fruit excels not ear of corn. 1 
 
 Chor. But since their minds are as the minds of 
 
 brutes, 
 Restless and vain, we must beware of force. 
 
 many of whom were learning to shrink from all activity and 
 exposure that might spoil their complexions. Comp. Plato, 
 Pluedros, p. 239. 
 
 1 The saying is somewhat dark, but the meaning seems to be 
 that if the ' ' dogs " of Egypt are strong, the ' ' wolves " of Argos 
 are stronger ; that the wheat on which the Hellenes lived gave 
 greater strength to limbs and sinew than the " byblos fruit " on 
 which the Egyptian soldiers and sailors habitually lived. Some 
 writers, however, have seen in the last line, rendered 
 " The byblos fruit not always bears full ear," 
 a proverb like the English, 
 
 ' ' There's many a slip 
 'Twixt the cup and the lip." 
 196
 
 THE SUPPLIANTS 
 
 Dan. Not rapid is the getting under weigh 
 Of naval squadron, nor their anchoring, 
 Nor the safe putting into shore with cables. 
 Nor have the shepherds of swift ships quick trust 
 In anchor-fastenings, most of all, as now, 
 When coming to a country havenless ; 
 And when the sun has yielded to the night, 
 That night brings travail to a pilot wise, 
 [Though it be calm and all the waves sleep still ;] 
 So neither can this army disembark 
 Before the ship is safe in anchorage. 
 And thou beware lest in thy panic fear 
 Thou slight the Gods whom thou hast called to help. 
 The city will not blame your messenger, 
 Old though he be, being young in clear- voiced thought. 
 
 Exit 
 STROPHE I 
 
 Chor. Ah, me! thou land of jutting promontory 
 
 Which justly all revere, 
 What lies before us ? Where in Apian land 
 
 Shall we a refuge find, 
 If still there be dark hiding anywhere? 
 
 Ah ! that I were as smoke 
 
 That riseth full and black 
 
 Nigh to the clouds of Zeus, 
 Or soaring up on high invisible, 
 
 Like dust that vanishes, 
 Pass out of being with no help from wings! 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I 
 
 *E'en so the ill admits not now of flight; 
 
 My heart in dark gloom throbs ; 
 My father's work as watcher brings me low ; 
 
 I faint for very fear, 
 197
 
 THE SUPPLIANTS 
 
 And I would fain find noose that brlngeth death, 
 
 In twisted cordage hung, 
 
 Before the man I loathe 
 
 Draws near this flesh of mine : 
 Sooner than that may Hades rule o'er me 
 
 Sleeping the sleep of death ! 
 
 STROPHE II 
 
 Ah, might I find a place in yon high vault, 
 Where the rain-clouds are passing into snow, 
 Or lonely precipice 
 Whose summit none can see, 
 Rock where the vulture haunts, 
 Witness for me of my abysmal fall, 
 Before the marriage that will pierce my heart 
 Becomes my dreaded doom! 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II 
 
 I shrink not from the thought of being the prey 
 Of dogs and birds that haunt the country round ; 
 
 For death shall make me free 
 
 From ills all lamentable : 
 
 Yea, let death rather come 
 Than the worse doom of hated marriage-bed. 
 What other refuge now remains for me 
 
 That marriage to avert ? 
 
 STROPHE III 
 
 Yea, to the Gods raise thou 
 Cloud-piercing, wailing cry 
 Of songs and litanies, 
 Prevailing, working freedom out for me : 
 And thou, O Father, look, 
 Look down upon the strife, 
 198
 
 THE SUPPLIANTS 
 
 With glance of wrath against our enemies 
 
 From eyes that see the right v 
 With pity look on us thy suppliants, 
 O Lord of Earth, O Zeus omnipotent ! 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III 
 
 For lo ! vEgyptos' house, 
 
 In pride intolerable, 
 
 O'er-masculine in mood, 
 Pursuing me in many a winding course, 
 
 Poor wandering fugitive, 
 
 With loud and wild desires, 
 Seek in their frenzied violence to seize : 
 
 But thine is evermore 
 
 The force that turns the balance of the scale : 
 What comes to mortal men apart from Thee ? 
 
 Ah ! ah ! ah ! ah ! 
 *Here on the land behold the ravisher 
 
 Who comes on us by sea ! 
 *Ah, may'st thou perish, ravisher, ere thou 
 
 Hast stopped or landed here ! 
 *I utter cry of wailing loud and long, 
 *I see them work the prelude of their crimes, 
 
 Their crimes of violence. 
 Ah ! ah ! Ah me ! 
 
 Haste in your flight for help ! 
 The mighty ones are waxing fat and proud, 
 By sea and land alike intolerable. 
 Be thou, O King, our bulwark and defence ! 
 
 Enter Herald of the sons O/^GYPTOS, advancing to 
 the daughters 
 
 Her. Haste, haste with all your speed unto the 
 barque. 
 
 199
 
 THE SUPPLIANTS 
 
 Cher. Tearing of hair, yea, tearing now will come, 
 
 And print of nails in flesh, 
 
 And smiting off of heads, 
 
 With murderous stream of blood. 
 Her. Haste, haste ye, to that barque that yonder 
 lies, 
 
 Ye wretches, curse on you. 
 
 STROPHE I 
 
 Chor. Would thou had'st met thy death 
 
 Where the salt waves wildly surge, 
 
 Thou with thy lordly pride, 
 
 In nail-compacted ship : 
 *Lo ! they will smite thee, weltering in thy blood, 82 
 
 *And drive thee to thy barque. 
 Her. I bid you cease perforce, the cravings wild 
 
 Of mind to madness given. 
 
 Ho there ! what ho ! I say ; ^ 
 
 Give up those seats, and hasten to the ship : 
 I reverence not what this State honoureth. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I 
 
 Chor. Ah, I may ne'er again 
 Behold the stream where graze the goodly kine, 
 
 Nourished and fed by which l 
 The blood of cattle waxes strong and full ! 
 
 *As with a native's right, 
 
 *And one of old descent, 
 I keep, old man, my seat, my seat, I say. 
 
 i The words recall the vision of the "seven well-favoured 
 kine and fat-fleshed," which " came out f the river," as Pharaoh 
 dreamed (Gen. xli. i, a), and which were associated so closely 
 with the fertility which it ordinarily produced through the whole 
 extent of the valley of the Nile. 
 
 jog
 
 THE SUPPLIANTS 
 
 Her. Nay, in a ship, a ship thou shalt soon go, wo 
 With or without thy will, 
 By force, I say, by force : 
 Come, come, provoke not evils terrible, 
 Falling by these my hands. 
 
 STROPHE II 
 
 Chor. Ah me ! ah me ! 
 
 Would thou may'st perish with no hand to help, 
 
 Crossing the sea's wide plain, 
 
 In wanderings far and wide, 
 
 Where Sarpedonian sand-bank l spreads its length, 
 
 Driven by the sweeping blasts ! 
 Her. Sob thou, and howl, and call upon the 
 Gods : ^ 
 
 Thou shalt not 'scape that barque from ^gypt come, 
 Though thou should'st pour a bitterer strain of grief. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II 
 
 Chor. Woe ! woe ! Ah woe ! ah woe, 
 For this foul wrong ! Thou utterest fearful things ; 
 *Thou art too bold and insolent of speech. 
 *May mighty Nile that reared thee turn away 
 Thy wanton pride and lust 
 That we behold it not ! 
 
 Her. I bid you go to yon ship double-prowed, 1 
 With all your speed. Let no one lag behind ; 
 But little shall my grasp your ringlets spare. 
 
 [Seizes on the leader of the Suppliants 
 
 1 Two dangerous low headlands seem to have been known by 
 this name, one on the coast of Kilikia, the other on that of the 
 Thrakian Chersonese. 
 
 2 No traces of ships of this structure are found in Egyptian 
 art; but, if the- reading be right, it implies the existence of 
 boats of some kind, so built that they could be steered from 
 either end, 
 
 291
 
 THE SUPPLIANTS 
 
 STROPHE III 
 
 Chor. Ah me ! my father, ah ! 
 The help of holiest statues turns to woe ; 
 
 He leads me to the sea, 
 
 With motion spider-like, 
 Or like a dream, a dark and dismal dream, 
 
 Ah woe ! ah woe ! ah woe ! 
 O mother Earth ! O Earth ! O mother mine ! 
 
 Avert that cry of fear, 
 O Zeus, thou king ! O son of mother Earth ! 
 
 Her. Nay, I fear not the Gods they worship here ; 
 They did not rear nor lead me up to age. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III 
 Chor. Near me he rages now, 
 
 . . . . . t 
 
 That biped snake, 
 And like a viper bites me by the foot. 
 
 Oh, woe is me ! woe ! woe ! 
 O mother Earth ! O Earth ! O mother mine ! 
 
 Avert that cry of fear, 
 O Zeus, thou king ! O son of mother Earth ! 
 
 Her. If some one yield not, and to yon ship go, 
 The hand that tears her tunic will not pity. 
 
 STROPHE IV 
 
 Chor. Ho ! rulers of the State ! *"> 
 
 Ye princes ! I am seized. 
 
 Her. It seems, since ye are slow to hear my word?, 
 That I shall have to drag you by the hair. 
 
 ANTISTSOPHE IV 
 
 Chor. We are undone, undone ! 
 We suffer, prince, unlooked-for outrages.
 
 THE SUPPLIANTS 
 
 Her. Full many princes, heirs of great 
 Ye soon shall see. Take courage ; ye shall have 
 No cause to speak of anarchy as there. 
 
 Enter KING followed by his Bodyguard 
 
 King. Ho there ! What dost thou ? and with 
 
 what intent 
 
 Dost thou so outrage this Pelasgic land? 
 Dost think thou comest to a town of women ? 
 Too haughty thou, a stranger 'gainst Hellenes, 
 And, sinning much, hast nothing done aright. 
 
 Her. What sin against the right have I then done ? 
 King. First, thou know'st not how stranger-guest 
 
 should act. 
 Her. How so ? When I, but finding what I 
 
 lost . . . 
 
 King. Whom among us dost thou then patrons call r 
 Her. Hermes the Searcher, chiefest patron mine. 1 
 King. Thou, Gods invoking, honourest not the 
 
 Gods. 
 
 Her. The Gods of Neilos are the Gods I worship. 
 King. Ours then are nought, if I thy meaning 
 
 catch. uuo 
 
 Her. These girls I'll lead, if no one rescues them. 
 King. Lay hand on them, and soon thou'lt pay the 
 
 cost. 
 
 Her. I hear a word in no wise hospitable. 
 King. Who rob the Gods I welcome not as guests. 
 
 i Hermes, the guardian deity of heralds, is here described by 
 the epithet which marked him out as being also the patron of 
 detectives. Every stranger arriving in a Greek port had to 
 place himself under a praxenos or patron of some kind. The 
 herald, having no froxenos among the citizens, appeals to his 
 patron deity.
 
 THE SUPPLIANTS 
 
 Her. I then will tell ^Egyptos' children this. 
 
 King. This threat is all unheeded in my mind. 
 
 Her. But that I, knowing all, may speak it plain, 
 (For it is meet a herald should declare 
 Each matter clearly,) what am I to say ? 
 By whom have I been robbed of that fair band 
 Of women whom I claim as kindred ? Nay, 
 But it is Ares that shall try this cause, 
 And not with witnesses, nor money down, 
 Settling the matter, but there first must fall 
 Full many a soldier, and of many a life 
 The rending in convulsive agony. 
 
 King. Why should I tell my name ? In time thou'lt 
 
 know it, 
 
 Thou and thy fellow-travellers. But these maidens, 
 With their consent and free choice of their wills, 
 Thou may'st lead off, if godly speech persuade them : 
 But this decree our city's men have made 
 With one consent, that we to force yield not 
 This company of women. Here the nail 9M 
 
 Is driven tight home to keep its place full firm ; I 
 These things are written not on tablets only, 
 [Nor signed and sealed in folds of byblos-rolls ;] 
 Thou hear'st them clearly from a tongue that speaks 
 With full, free speech. Away, away, I say : 
 And with all speed from out my presence haste. 
 
 Her. It is thy will then a rash war to wage : 
 May strength and victory on our males attend ! 
 
 [Exit 
 
 1 The words refer to the custom of nailing decrees, proclama- 
 tions, treaties, and the like, engraved on metal or marble, upon 
 the walls of temples or public buildings. Traces of the same 
 idea may possibly be found in the promise to Eliakim that he 
 shall be "as a nail in a sure place " (Isa. xxii. 23), in the thanks- 
 giving of Ezra that God had given His people " a nail in his 
 holy place " (Ezra ix. 8). 
 
 204
 
 King. Nay, thou shalt find the dwellers of this 
 
 land 
 
 Are also males, and drink not draughts of ale 
 From barley brewed. 1 [To the Suppliants.] But ye, 
 
 and your attendants, 
 Take courage, go within the fenced city, 
 Shut in behind its bulwark deep of towers ; 
 Yea, many houses to the State belong, 
 And I a palace own not meanly built, 
 If ye prefer to live with many others 
 In ease and plenty : or if that suits better, 
 Ye may inhabit separate abodes. 
 Of these two offers that which pleases best 
 Choose for yourselves, and I as your protector, 
 And all our townsmen, will defend the pledge 
 Which our decree has given you. Why wait'st thou 
 For any better authorised than these ? 
 
 Chor. For these thy good deeds done may'st thou 
 
 in good, 
 All good, abound, great chief of the Pelaegi ! 
 
 But kindly send to us 
 Our father Danaos, brave and true of heart, 
 
 To counsel and direct. 
 His must the first decision be where we 
 
 Should dwell, and where to find 
 A kindly home ; for ready is each one 
 To speak his word of blame 'gainst foreigners. ** 
 
 But may all good be ours! 
 And so with fair repute and speech of men, 
 
 Free from all taint of wrath, 
 So place yourselves, dear handmaids, in the land, 
 
 1 As before, the bread of the Hellenes was praised to the dis- 
 paragement of the "byblos fruit" of Egypt, so here their wine 
 to that of the Egyptian beer, which was the ordinary drink of 
 the lower classes. 
 
 205
 
 THE SUPPLIANTS 
 
 As Danaos hath for each of us assigned 
 Dowry of handmaid slaves. 
 
 Enter DMtios followed l>y Soldiers 
 
 Dan. My children, to the Argives ye should pray, 
 And sacrifice, and full libations pour, 
 As to Olympian Gods, for they have proved, 
 With one consent, deliverers : and they heard 
 *A11 that I did towards those cousins there, 
 *Those lovers hot and bitter. And they gave 
 To me as followers these that bear the spear, 
 That I might have my meed of honour due, 
 And might not die by an assassin's hand 
 A death unlooked-for, and thus leave the land 
 A weight of guilt perpetual: and 'tis fit 
 That one who meets such kindness should return, 
 *From his heart's depths, a nobler gratitude ; 
 And add ye this to all already written, 
 Your father's many maxims of true wisdom, 
 That we, though strangers, may in time be known ; * :o 
 For as to aliens each man's tongue is apt 
 For evil, and spreads slander thoughtlessly ; 
 But ye, I charge you, see ye shame me not, 
 With this your life's bloom drawing all men's eyes. 
 The goodly vintage is full hard to watch, 
 All men and beasts make fearful havoc of it, 
 Nay, birds that fly, and creeping things of earth ; 
 And Kypris offers fruitage, dropping ripe, 
 *As prey to wandering lust, nor lets it stay ; l 
 And on the goodly comeliness of maidens 
 Each passer-by, o'ercome with hot desire, 
 
 1 The words present a striking parallelism to the erotic 
 imagery of the Song of Solomon: "Take us the foxes, the little 
 foxes that spoil our vines, for our vines have tender grapes " 
 
 (ii. IS). 
 
 206
 
 THE SUPPLIANTS 
 
 Darts forth the amorous arrows of the eye. 
 
 And therefore let us suffer nought of this, 
 
 Through which our ship has ploughed such width of sea, 
 
 Such width of trouble ; neither let us work 
 
 Shame to ourselves, and pleasure to our foes. 
 
 This two-fold choice of home is open to you : 
 
 [Pelasgos offers his, the city theirs,] 
 
 To dwell rent-free. Full easy terms are these : 
 
 Only, I charge you, keep your father's precepts, 
 
 Prizing as more than life your chastity. 
 
 Chor. May the high Gods that on Olympos dwell 
 Bless us in all things ; but for this our vintage 
 Be of good cheer, my father ; for unless 
 The counsels of the Gods work strange device, 
 I will not leave my spirit's former path. 
 
 STROPHE I 
 Semi-Chor. A. Go then and make ye glad the high 
 
 Gods, blessed for ever, 
 Those who rule our towns, and those who watch over 
 
 our city, 
 
 And they who dwell by the stream of Erasinos ancient. 1 
 Semi-Chor. B. And ye, companions true, 
 
 Take up your strain of song. 100 
 
 Let praise attend this city of Pelasgos ; 
 Let us no more, no more adore the mouths of Neilos 
 With these our hymns of praise ; 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I 
 
 Semi-Chor. A. Nay, but the rivers here that pour 
 calm streams through our country, 2 
 
 1 The Erasinos was supposed to rise in Arcadia, in Mount 
 Stymphalos, to disappear below the earth, and to come to sight 
 again in Argolis. 
 
 a In this final choral ode of the Suppliants, as in that of the 
 Seven against Thebes, we have the phenomenon of the division of 
 207
 
 THE SUPPLIANTS 
 
 Parents of many a son, making glad the soil of otir 
 
 meadows, 
 With wide flood rolling on, in full and abounding 
 
 richness. 
 Semi-Chor. B. And Artemis the chaste, 
 
 May she behold our band 
 With pity ; ne'er be marriage rites enforced 
 On us by Kythereia : those who hate us, 
 Let that ill prize be theirs. 
 
 STROPHE II 
 
 Semi-Chor. A. Not that our kindly strain does slight 
 
 to Kypris immortal ; 
 For she, together with Hera, as nearest to Zeus is 
 
 mighty, 
 
 A goddess of subtle thoughts, she is honoured in mys- 
 teries solemn. 
 
 Semi-Chor. B. Yea, as associates too with that their 
 
 mother beloved, 102 
 
 Are fair Desire and Suasion, 1 whose pleading no man 
 
 can gainsay, 
 
 Yea, to sweet Concord too Aphrodite's power is en- 
 trusted, 
 *And the whispering paths of the Loves. 
 
 the Chorus, hitherto united, into two sections of divergent 
 thought and purpose. Semi-Chorus A. remains steadfast in its 
 purpose of perpetual virginity ; Semi-Chorus B. relents, and is 
 ready to accept wedlock. 
 
 1 The two names were closely connected in the local worship 
 of Athens, the temples of Aphrodite and Peitho (Suasion) standing 
 at the south-west angle of the Acropolis. If any special purpose 
 is to be traced in the invocation, we may see it in the poet's 
 desire to bring out the nobler, more ethical side of Aphrodite's 
 attributes, in contrast with the growing tendency to look on her 
 as simply the patroness of brutal lust. 
 208
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 DRAMATIS PERSONS 
 
 Watchman CLYTVKMNESTRA AGAMEMNON 
 
 Chorus of Argive Elders Herald (TALTHYBIOS) CASSANDRA 
 
 /EGISTHOS 
 
 ARGUMENT. Ten years hud passed since Aga- 
 memnon, son of Atrens, king of Mykence, had led the 
 Hellenes to Troia to take vengeance on A lexandros (also 
 known as Paris), son of Priam. For Paris had basely 
 wronged Menelaos, king of Sparta, Agamemnon's brother, 
 in thai, being received by him as a guest, he enticed his 
 wife Helena to leave her lord and go with him to Trol'a. 
 And now the tenth year had come, and Paris was slain, 
 and the city of the Tro'ians was taken and destroyed, and 
 Agamemnon and the Hellenes were on their way home- 
 ward with the spoil and prisoners they had taken. But 
 meanwhile Clytcemnestra too, Agamemnon's queen, had 
 been unfaithful, and had taken as her paramour Mgis- 
 thos, son of that Thyestes whom Atreus, his brother, had 
 made to eat, unknowing, of the flesh of his own children. 
 A nd now, partly led by her adulterer, and partly seeking 
 to avenge the death of her daughter Iphigeneia, whom 
 Agamemnon had sacrificed to appease the wrath of 
 A rtemis, and partly also jealous because he was bringing 
 back Cassandra, the daughter of Priam, as his concubine, 
 she plotted with Mgisthos against her husband's life. 
 
 II 9 A
 
 A G A M h M JN O JN 
 
 But this was done secretly, and she stationed a guard on 
 the roof of the royal palace to give notice when he saw 
 the beacon-fires, by which Agamemnon had promised that 
 he would send tidings that Tro'ia was taken. 
 
 Note. The unfaithfulness of Clytasmnestra and the murder of 
 Agamemnon had entered into the Homeric cycle of the legends 
 of the house of Atreus. In the Odyssey, however, ^Egisthos is 
 the chief agent in this crime (Odyss. iii. 264, iv. 91, 532, xi. 409); 
 and the manner of it differs from that which ^Eschylos has 
 adopted. Clytasmnestra first appears as slaying both her 
 husband and Cassandra in Pindar (Pyth. xi. 26).
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 SCENE. Argos. The Palace of AGAMEMNON ; statues of the Gdi 
 in front. Watchman on the roof. Time, night. 
 
 Watchman. I ask the Gods a respite from these toils, 
 This keeping at my post the whole year round, 
 Wherein, upon the Atreidae's roof reclined, 
 Like dog, upon my elbow, I have learnt 
 To know night's goodly company of stars, 
 And those bright lords that deck the firmament, 
 And winter bring to men, and harvest-tide ; 
 [The rising and the setting of the stars.] 
 And now I watch for sign of beacon-torch, 
 The flash of fire that bringeth news from Troi'a, 
 And tidings of its capture. So prevails 
 *A woman's manly-purposed, hoping heart ; 
 And when I keep my bed of little ease, 
 Drenched with the dew, unvisited by dreams, 
 (For fear, instead of sleep, my comrade is, 
 So that in sound sleep ne'er I close mine eyes,) 
 And when I think to sing a tune, or hum, 
 (My medicine of song to ward off sleep,) 
 Then weep I, wailing for this house's chance, 
 No more, as erst, right well administered. 
 Well ! may I now find blest release from toils, 
 When fire from out the dark brings tidings good. 
 
 [Pauses, then springs up suddenly, seeing a 
 
 light in the distance 
 
 Hail ! thou torch-bearer of the night, that shedd'st 
 Light as of morn, and bringest full array
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Of many choral bands in Argos met, 
 Because of this success. Hurrah ! hurrah ! 
 So clearly tell I Agamemnon's queen, 
 With all speed rising from her couch to raise 
 Shrill cry of triumph o'er this beacon-fire 
 Throughout the house, since Ilion's citadel 
 Is taken, as full well that bright blaze shows. 
 I, for my part, will dance my prelude now ; 
 
 [Leafs and dances 
 
 For I shall score my lord's new turn of luck, 
 This beacon-blaze may throw of triple six. 1 
 Well, would that I with this mine hand may toucli 
 The dear hand of our king when he comes home ! 
 As to all else, the word is " Hush ! " An ox 2 
 Rests on my tongue ; had the house a voice 
 'Twould tell too clear a tale. I'm fain to speak 
 To those who know, forget with those who know not. 
 
 [ Exit 
 
 1 The form of gambling from which the phrase is taken, had 
 clearly become common in Attica among the class to which the 
 watchman was supposed to belong, and had given rise to pro- 
 verbial phrases like that in the text. The Greeks themselves 
 supposed it to have been invented by the Lydians (Herod, i. 94), 
 or Palamedes, one of the heroes of the tale of Troi'a, but it 
 enters also into Egyptian legends (Herod, ii. 122), and its preva- 
 lence from remote antiquity in the farther East, as in the Indian 
 story of Nala and Damayanti, makes it probable that it origi 
 nated there. The game was commonly played, as the phrase 
 shows, with three dice, the highest throw being that which gave 
 three sixes. ^Eschylos, it may be noted, appears in a lost drama, 
 which bore the title of Palamedes, to have brought the game 
 itself into his plot. It is referred to, as invented by that hero, 
 in a fragment of Sophocles (Fr, 380), and again in the 
 proverb, 
 
 " The dice of Zeus have ever lucky throws." (Fr. 763.) 
 
 2 Here, also, the watchman takes up another common pro- 
 verbial phrase, belonging to the same group as that of ' ' kicking 
 against the pricks " in v. 1624. He has bis reasons for silence, 
 weighty as would be the tread of an ox to close bis lips.
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Enter Chorus of twelve Argive elders, chanting as they 
 march to take up their position in the centre 
 of the stage. A precession of women bear- 
 ing torches is seen in the distance 
 Lo ! the tenth year now is passing 
 Since, of Priam great avengers, 
 Menelaos, Agamemnon, 
 Double-throned and doubled-sceptred, 
 Power from sovran Zeus deriving 
 Mighty pair of the Atreidas 
 Raised a fleet of thousand vessels 
 Of the Argives from our country, 
 Potent helpers in their warfare, 
 Shouting cry of Ares fiercely ; 
 E'en as vultures shriek who hover, 
 Wheeling, whirling o'er their eyrie, 
 In wild sorrow for their nestlings, 
 With their oars of stout wings rowing, 
 Having lost the toil that bound them 
 To their callow fledglings' couches. 
 But on high One, or Apollo, 
 Zeus, or Pan, the shrill cry hearing, 
 Cry of birds that are his clients, 1 
 
 /Sendeth forth on men transgressing,"., 
 E_rinnys, slow but sure avenger ; 
 So against young Alexandras 2 
 Atreus' sons the great King sendeth, 
 Zeus, of host and guest protector : 
 He, for bride with many a lover, 
 Will to Danai give and Tro'ians 
 Many conflicts, men's limbs straining, 
 
 1 The vultures stand, i.e., to the rulers of Heaven, in the 
 same relation as the foreign sojourners in Athens, the Metoics, 
 did to the citizens under whose protection they placed them- 
 selves. 
 
 2 Alexandros, the other name of Paris, the seducer of Helen.
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 When the knee in dust is crouching, 
 And the spear-shaft in the onset 
 Of the battle snaps asunder. 
 But as things are now, so are they, 
 So, as destined, shall the end be. 
 Nor by tears, nor yet libations 
 Shall he soothe the wrath unbending 
 Caused by sacred rites left tireless. 1 
 We, with old frame little honoured, 
 Left behind that host are staying, 
 Resting strength that equals childhood's 
 On our staff : for in the bosom 
 *Of the boy, life's young sap rushing, 
 Is of old age but the equal ; 
 Ares not as yet is found there : 
 And the man in age exceeding, 
 When the leaf is sere and withered, 
 Goes with three feet on his journey ; * 
 Not more Ares-like than boyhood, 
 Like a day-seen dream he wanders. 
 
 [Enter CLYTJEMNESTRA, followed by the procession 
 of torch-bearers 
 
 Thou, of Tyndareus the daughter, 
 
 Queen of Argos, Clytaemnestra, 
 
 What has happened ? what news cometh ? 
 
 1 The words, perhaps, refer to the grief of Menelaos, as lead- 
 ing him to neglect the wonted sacrifices to Zeus, but it seems 
 better to see in them a reference to the sin of Paris. He, at 
 least, who had carried off his host's wife, had not offered accept- 
 able sacrifices, had neglected all sacrifices to Zeus Xenios, the 
 God of host and guest. The allusion to the sacrifice of Iphi- 
 geneia, which some (Donaldson and Paley) have found here, 
 and the wrath of Clytaemnestra, which Agamemnon will fail to 
 soothe, seems more far-fetched. 
 
 2 An allusion, such as the audience would catch and delight 
 in, to the well-known enigma of the Sphinx. See Sophocles 
 (Trans.), p. i. 
 
 M
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 What perceiving, on what tidings 
 Leaning, dost thou put in motion 
 All this solemn, great procession r 
 Of the Gods who guard the city, 
 Those above and those beneath us, 
 Of the heaven, and of the market, 
 Lo ! with thy gifts blaze the altars ; 
 And through all the expanse of Heaven, 
 Here and there, the torch-fire rises, 
 With the flowing, pure persuasion 
 Of the holy unguent nourished, 
 *And the chrism rich and kingly 
 From the treasure-store's recesses. 
 Telling what of this thou canst tell, 
 What is right for thee to utter, 
 Be a healer of my trouble, 
 Trouble now my soul disturbing, 
 *While anon fond hope displaying 
 Sacrificial signs propitious, 
 Wards off care that no rest knoweth, 
 Sorrow mind and heart corroding. 
 [ The Chorus, taking their places round the central 
 thymele, begin their song a 
 
 1 The Chorus, though too old to take part in the expedition, 
 are yet able to tell botii of what passed as the expedition started, 
 and of the terrible fulfilment of the omens which they had seen. 
 The two eagles are, of course, in the symbolism of prophecy, the 
 two chieftains, Menelaos and Agamemnon. The " white 
 feathers" of the one may point to the less heroic character of 
 Menelaos : so in v. 123, they are of " diverse mood." The hare 
 whom they devour is, in the first instance, Tro'i'a, and so for the 
 omen is good, portending the success of the expedition ; but, as 
 Artemis hates the fierceness of the eagles, so there is, in the eyes 
 of the seer, a dark token of danger from her wrath against the 
 Atreidae. Either their victory will be sullied by cruelty which 
 will bring down vengeance, or els ; there is some secret sin in the 
 past which must be atoned for by a terrible sacrifice. In the 
 legend followed by Sophocles (Electr. 566), Agamemnon had 
 offended Artemis by slaying a doe sacred to her, as he was
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 STROPHE 
 Able am I to utter, setting forth 
 
 The might from omens sprung 
 *What met the heroes as they journeyed on, 
 
 (For still, by God's great gift, 
 
 My age, yet linked with strength, 
 
 *Breathes suasive power of song,) 
 How the Achaeans' twin-throned majesty, 
 Accordant rulers of the youth of Hellas, 1W 
 
 With spear and vengeful hand, 
 
 Were sent by fierce, strong bird 'gainst Teucrian shore, 
 Kings of the birds to kings of ships appearing, 
 
 One black, with white tail one, 
 Near to the palace, on the spear-hand side, 
 
 On station seen of all, 
 A pregnant hare devouring with her young, 
 
 Robbed of all runs to come : 
 Wail as for Linos, wail, wail bitterly, 
 
 And yet may good prevail! 1 
 
 hunting. In the manifold meanings of such omens there is, 
 probably, a latent suggestion of the sacrifice of Iphigeneia hy 
 the two chieftains, though this was at the time hidden from the 
 seer. The fact that they are seen on the right, not on the left 
 hand, was itself ominous of good. 
 
 1 The song of Linos, originally the dirge with which men 
 mourned for the death of Linos, the minstrel-son of Apollo and 
 Urania, brother of Orpheus, who was slain by Heracles a type, 
 like Ttiammuz and Adonis, of life prematurely closed and bright 
 hopes never to be fulfilled, had come to be the representative of 
 all songs of mourning. So Hesiod (in Eustath. on Horn. //. , 
 vii. 569) speaks of the name, as applied to all funeral dirges over 
 poets and minstrels. So Herodotos (ii. 79) compares it, as the 
 type of this kind of music among the Greeks, with what he 
 found in Egypt connected with the name of Maneros, the only 
 son of the first king of Egypt, who died in the bloom of youth. 
 The name had, therefore, as definite a connotation for a Greek 
 audience as the words Miserere or Jubilate would have for us, 
 and ought not, I believe, to disappear from the translation. 
 
 16
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 ANTISTROPHB 
 And the wise prophet of the army seeing 
 
 The brave Atreidas twain 
 Of diverse mood, knew those that tore the lure, 
 
 And those that led the host ; 
 
 And thus divining spake : 
 
 " One day this armament 
 Shall Priam's city sack, and all the herds 
 Owned by the people, countless, by the towers, 
 
 Fate shall with force lay low. 
 Only take heed lest any wrath of Gods 
 Blunt the great curb of Troi'a yet encamped, 
 
 Struck down before its time ; 
 For Artemis the chaste that house doth hate, 
 
 Her father's winged hounds, 
 Who slay the mother with her unborn young, 
 
 And loathes the eagles' feast. 
 Wail as for Linos, wail, wail bitterly ; 
 
 And yet may good prevail! 
 
 EPODE 
 
 "*For she, the fair One, though so kind of heart 
 *To fresh-dropt dew from mighty lion's womb, 1 
 
 And young that suck the teats 
 
 Of all that roam the fields, 14 
 
 *Yet prays Him bring to pass 
 
 The portents of those birds, 
 The omens good yet also full of dread. 
 
 And Paean I invoke 
 As Healer, lest she on the Danai send 
 ^ Delays that keep the ships 
 
 Long time with hostile blasts, 
 
 I The comparison of a lion's whelps to dew-drops, bold as the 
 figure is, has something in it analogous to that with which we 
 are more familiar, describing the children, or the arrny of aking, 
 as the " dew " from " the womb of the morning " (Ps. ex. 3). 
 
 II 17 B
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 So urging on a new, strange sacrifice, 
 
 Unblest, unfestivalled, 1 
 By natural growth artificer of strife, 
 Bearing far other fruit than wife's true fear, 
 
 For there abideth yet, 
 
 Fearful, recurring still, 
 Ruling the house, full subtle, unforgetting, 
 
 Vengeance for children slain." 3 
 Such things, with great good mingled, Calchas spake, 
 
 In voice that pierced the air, 
 As destined by the birds that crossed our path 
 
 To this our kingly house : 
 
 And in accord with them, 
 Wail as for Linos, wail, wail bitterly; 
 
 And yet maygood prevail. 
 
 STROPHE I 
 
 O Zeus whate'er He be, 3 
 If that Name please Him well, 
 By that on Him I call : 
 
 1 The sacrifice, i.e. , was to be such as could not, according 
 to the customary ritual, form a feast for the worshippers. 
 
 3 The dark words look at once before and a'ter, back to the 
 murder of the sons of Thyestes, forward, though of this the seer 
 knew not, to the sacrifice of Iphigeneia. Clytaemnestra is the 
 embodiment of the Vengeance of which the Chorus speaks. 
 
 3 As a part of the drama the whole passage that follows is an 
 assertion by the Chorus that in this their trouble they will turn 
 to no other God, invoke no other name, but that of the Supreme 
 Zeus. But it can hardly be doubted that they have a meaning 
 beyond this, and are the utterance by the poet of his own 
 theology. In the second part of the Promethean trilogy (all 
 that we now know of it) he had represented Zeus as ruling in 
 the might of despotic sovereignty, the representative of a Power 
 which men could not resist, but also could not love, inflicting 
 needless sufferings on the sons of men. Now he has grown 
 wiser. The sovereignty of Zeus is accepted as part of the present 
 order of the world ; trust in Him brings peace ; the pain which 
 He permits is the one only way to wisdom. The stress laid upon 
 the name of Zeus implies a wish to cleave to the religion inherited 
 18
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Weighing all other names I fail to guess 
 Aught else but Zeus, if I would cast aside, 
 
 Clearly, in every deed, 
 From off my soul this idle weight of care. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I 
 
 Nor He who erst was great, 1 
 
 Full of the might to war, 
 
 *Avails now ; He is gone ; 
 And He who next came hath departed too, 
 His victor meeting ; but if one to Zeus, 
 
 High triumph-praise should sing, 
 His shall be all the wisdom of the wise ; 
 
 STROPHE II 
 
 Yea, Zeus, who leadeth men in wisdom's way, 
 
 And fixeth fast the law, 
 
 That pain is gain ; 
 And slowly dropping on the heart in sleep 
 
 Comes woe-recording care, 
 
 And makes the unwilling yield to wiser thoughts : 
 And doubtless this too comes from grace of Gods, 
 *Seated in might upon their awful thrones. 
 
 from the older Hellenes, as contrasted with those with which 
 their intercourse with the East had made the Athenians familiar. 
 Like the voice which came to Epimenides, as he was building a 
 sanc'uary to the Muses, bidding him dedicate it not to them but 
 to Zeus (Diog. Laert. i. 10), it represents a faint approximation 
 to a truer, more monotheistic creed than that of the popular 
 mythology. 
 
 1 The two mighty ones who have passed away are Uranos 
 and Cronos, the representatives in Greek m)thology of the 
 earlier stages of the world's history, (i) mere material creation, 
 (2) an ideal period of harmony, a golden, Saturnian age, pre- 
 ceding the present order of divine government with its mingled 
 good and evil. Comp. Hesiod. Theogm,, 459.
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II 
 And then of those Achaean ships the chief, 1 
 
 The elder, blaming not 
 
 Or seer or priest ; 
 But tempered to the fate that on him smote. . . . 1M 
 
 When that Achaean host 
 
 Were vexed with adverse winds and failing stores, 
 Still kept where Chalkis in the distance lies, 
 And the vexed waves in Aulis ebb and flow ; 
 
 STROPHE III 
 
 And breezes from the Strymon sweeping down, 
 Breeding delays and hunger, driving forth 
 
 Our men in wandering course, 
 
 On seas without a port. 
 Sparing nor ships, nor rope, nor sailing gear, 
 With doubled months wore down the Argive host ; 19 
 
 And when, for that wild storm, 
 Of one more charm far harder for our chiefs 
 The prophet told, and spake of Artemis, 2 
 
 In tone so piercing shrill, 
 The Atreidae smote their staves upon the ground, 
 
 And could not stay their tears. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III 
 
 And then the old king lifted up his voice, 
 And spake, " Great woe it is to disobey ; 
 
 Great too to slay my child, wo 
 
 The pride and joy of home, 
 Polluting with the streams of maiden's blood 
 Her father's hands upon the altar steps. 
 
 What course is free from ill i 
 
 1 The Chotas re'urns, after its deeper speculative thoughts, to 
 its interrupted narrative. 
 
 2 The seer saw his augury fulfilled. When he uttered the 
 name of Artemis it was pregnant with all the woe which he had 
 foreboded at the outset. 
 
 20
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 How lose my ships and fail of mine allies ? 
 
 'Tis meet that they with strong desire should seek 
 
 A rite the winds to soothe, 
 E'en though it be with blood of maiden pure ; 
 
 May all end well at last ! " 
 
 STROPHE III 
 
 So when he himself had harnessed 
 To the yoke of Fate unbending, 
 With a blast of strange, new feeling, 
 Sweeping o'er his heart and spirit, 
 Aweless, godless, and unholy, 
 He his thoughts and purpose altered 
 To full measure of all daring, 
 (Still base counsel's fatal frenzy, 
 Wretched primal source of evils, 
 Gives to mortal hearts strange boldness,) 
 And at last his heart he hardened 
 His own child to slay as victim, 
 Help in war that they were waging, 
 To avenge a woman's frailty, 
 Victim for the good ship's safety. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III 
 
 All her prayers and eager callings, >2 
 
 On the tender name of Father, 
 All her young and maiden freshness, 
 They but set at nought, those rulers, 
 In their passion for the battle. 
 And her father gave commandment 
 To the servants of the Goddess, 
 When the prayer was o'er, to lift her, 
 Like a kid, above the altar, 
 In her garments wrapt, face downwards, T 
 
 1 So that the blood may fall upon the altar, as the knife was 
 drawn across the throat. 
 
 ai
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Yea, to seize with all their courage, 
 And that o'er her lips of beauty 
 Should be set a watch to hinder 
 Words of curse against the houses, 
 With the gag's strength silence-working. 1 
 
 STROPHE IV 
 
 And she upon the ground 
 Pouring rich folds of veil in saffron dyed, m 
 Cast at each one of those who sacrificed 
 A piteous glance that pierced, 
 Fair as a pictured form ; 2 
 And wishing, all in vain, 
 To speak ; for oftentimes 
 In those her father's hospitable halls 
 She sang, a maiden pure with chastest song, 
 
 *And her dear father's life 
 
 That poured its threefold cup of praise to God, J 
 Crowned with all choicest good, 
 She with a daughter's love 
 Was wont to celebrate. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE IV 
 
 What then ensued mine eyes 
 Caw not, nor may I tell, but Calchas' arts 84 
 
 1 The whole passage should be compared with the magnificent 
 description in Lucretius i. 84-101. 
 
 2 Beautiful as a picture, and as motionless and silent also. 
 The art, young as it was, had already reached the stage when 
 it supplied to the poet an ideal standard of perfection. Other 
 allusions to it are found in vv. 774, 1300. 
 
 3 The words point to the ritual of Greek feasts, which assigned 
 the first libation to Zeus and the Olympian Gods, the second to 
 the Heroes, the third to Zeus in his special character as Saviour 
 and Preserver ; the last was commonly accompanied by a paean, 
 hymn of praise. The life of Agamemnon is described as one 
 which had good cause to offer many such libations. Iphigene:a 
 bad sung many such pceans. 
 
 22
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Were found not fruitless. Justice turns the scale 
 
 For those to whom through pain 
 
 At last comes wisdom's gain. 
 
 *But for our future fate, 
 
 *Since help for it is none, 
 *Good-bye to it before it comes, and this 
 Has the same end as wailing premature ; 
 
 For with to-morrow's dawn 
 It will come clear ; may good luck crown our fate ! 
 
 So prays the one true guard, 
 
 Nearest and dearest found, 
 
 Of this our Apian land. 1 
 
 [TAe Chief of the Chorus turns to CLYTVEMNESTRA, ana 
 her train of handmaids, who are seen ap- 
 proaching 
 
 Chor. I come, O Clytsemnestra, honouring 
 Thy majesty : 'tis meet to pay respect 
 To a chiePs wife, the man's throne empty left : sao 
 But whether thou hast heard good news, or else 
 In hopes of tidings glad dost sacrifice, 
 I fain would hear, yet will not silence blame. 
 
 Clyttem. May Morning, as the proverb runs, appear 
 Bearing glad tidings from his mother Night ! 2 
 Joy thou shalt learn beyond thy hope to hear ; 
 For Argives now have taken Priam's city. 
 
 Chor. What f Thy words sound so strange they 
 flit by me. 
 
 1 The mythical explanation of this title for the Argive territory 
 is found in the Suppl. v. 256, and its real meaning is discussed 
 in a note to that passage. 
 
 a To speak of Morning as the child of Night was, we may well 
 believe, among the earliest parables of nature. In its mythical 
 form it appears in Hesiod (Theogon. 123), but its traces are 
 found wherever, as among Hebrews, Athenians, Germans, men 
 reckoned by nights rather than by days, and spoke of ' ' the 
 evening and the morning " rather than of " day and night." 
 23
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Clyttfm. The Achaeans hold Troi'a. Speak I clear 
 enough ? 26 
 
 Cbor Joy creeps upon me, drawing forth my tears. 
 
 Clyteem, Of loyal heart thine eyes give token true. 
 
 Cbor. What witness sure hast thou of these 
 events ? 
 
 Clyttem. Full clear (how else ?) unless the God de- 
 ceive. 1 
 
 Cher. Reliest thou on dreams or visions seen ? 
 
 Clytam. I place no trust in mind weighed down 
 with sleep. 8 
 
 Cbor. Hath then some wingless omen charmed thy 
 soul ? 3 
 
 Clyt<zm. My mind thou scorn'st, as though 'twere 
 but a girl's. 
 
 Cbor. What time has passed since they the city 
 sacked ? 
 
 Clytaem. This very night, the mother of this morn. 27 
 
 Chor. What herald could arrive with speed like this ? 
 
 Ciytcem. Hephaestos flashing forth bright flames from 
 
 Ida: 
 
 Beacon to beacon from that courier-fire 
 Sent on its tidings ; Ida to the rock 4 
 
 i The God thought of is, as in v. 272, Hephaestos, as being 
 Lord of the Fire, that had brought the tidings. 
 
 a It is not without significance that Clytiemnestra scorns the 
 channel of divine instruction of which the Chorus had spoken 
 with such reverence. The dramatist puts into her mouth the 
 language of those who scoffed at the notion that truth might 
 come to the soul in " visions of the night," when " deep sleep 
 falleth upon men." So Sophocles puts like thoughts into the 
 mouth of Jocasta ((Ed. King, vv. 709, 858). 
 
 8 Omens c-ime from the flight of birds. An omen which was 
 not trustworthy, or belonged to some lower form of divination, 
 might therefore be spoken of as " wingless." But the word may 
 possibly be intensive, not negative, "swift-winged," and then 
 refer generically to that form of divination. 
 
 4 The description that follows, over and above its general 
 interest, had, probably, for an Athenian audience, that of repre- 
 24
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Hermaean named, in Lemnos : from the isle 
 
 The height of Athos, dear to Zeus, received 
 
 A third great torch of flame, and lifted up, 
 
 So as on high to skim the broad sea's back, 
 
 The stalwart fire rejoicing went its way ; 
 
 The pine-wood, like a sun, sent forth its light 
 
 Of golden radiance to Makistos' watch ; 
 
 And he, with no delay, nor unawares 
 
 Conquered by sleep, performed his courier's part : 
 
 Far off the torch-light, to Euripos' straits 
 
 Advancing, tells it to Messapion's guards : 
 
 They, in their turn, lit up and passed it on, 
 
 Kindling a pile of dry and aged heath. 
 
 Still strong and fresh the torch, not yet grown dim, 
 
 Leaping across Asfipos' plain in guise 
 
 Like a bright moon, towards Kithasron's rock, 
 
 Roused the next station of the courier flame. 2M 
 
 And that far-travelled light the sentries there 
 
 Refused not, burning more than all yet named : 
 
 And then the light swooped o'er Gorg6pis' lake, 
 
 And passing on to ^Egiplanctos' mount, 
 
 Bade the bright fire's due order tarry not ; 
 
 And they, enkindling boundless store, send on 
 
 A mighty beard of flame, and then it passed 
 
 senting the actual succession of beacon -stations, by which they, 
 in the course of the wars, under Pericles, had actually received 
 intelligence from the coasts of Asia. A glance at the map will 
 show the fitness of the places named Ida, Lemnos, Athos, 
 Makistos (a mountain in Eubcea), Messapion (on the coast of 
 Boeotia), over the plains of the Asdpos to Kithaeron, in the south of 
 the same province, then over Gorgopis, a bay of the Corinthian 
 Gulf, to ^Egiplanctos in Megaris, then across to a headland 
 overlooking the Saronic Gulf, to the Arachnoean hill in Argolis. 
 The word "courier-fire" connects itself also with the system of 
 posts or messengers, which the Persian kings seem to have been 
 the first to organise, and which impressed the minds both of 
 Hebrews (Esth. viii. 14) and Greeks (Herod, viii. 98) by their 
 regular transmission of the king's edicts, or of special news. 
 25
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 The headland e'en that looks on Saron's gulf, 
 Still blazing. On it swept, until it came 
 To Arachnaean heights, the watch-tower near ; 
 Then here on the Atreidae's roof it swoops, 
 This light, of Ida's fire no doubtful heir. 
 Such is the order of my torch-race games ; 
 One from another taking up the course, 1 
 But here the winner is both first and last ; 
 And this sure proof and token now I tell thee, 
 Seeing that my lord hath sent it me from Troi'a. 
 
 Chor. I to the Gods, O Queen, will pray hereafter, 
 But fain would I hear all thy tale again, 
 E'en as thou tell'st, and satiate my wonder. 
 
 Clytam. This very day the Achaeans Tro'ia hold. 
 
 1 Our ignorance of the details of the Lampadephoria, or 
 " torch-race games," in honour of the fire-God, Prometheus, 
 makes the allusion to them somewhat obscure. As described 
 by Pausanias (I. xxx. 2), the runners started with lighted torches 
 from the altar of Prometheus in the Academeiaand ran towards 
 the city. The first who reached the goal with his torch still 
 burning became the winner. If all the torches were extinguished, 
 then all were losers. As so described, however, there is no suc- 
 cession, no taking the torch from one and passing it on to 
 another, like that described here and in the well known line of 
 Lucretius (ii. 78), 
 
 " Et quasi cursores vital lampada tradunt." 
 
 (And they, as runners, pass the torch of life. 1 ) 
 On the other hand, there are descriptions which show that such 
 a transfer was the chief element of the game. This is, indeed, 
 implied both in this passage and in the comparison between the 
 game and the Persian courier-system in Herod, viii. 98. The 
 two views maybe reconciled by supposing (i) that there were 
 sets of runners, vying with each other as such, rather than in- 
 dividually, or (2) that a runner whose speed failed him though 
 his torch kept burning, was allowed to hand it on to another wno 
 was more likely to win the race, but whose torch was out. The 
 next line seems meant to indicate where the comparison failed. In 
 the torch- race which Clytasmnestra describes there had been no 
 contest. One and the self-same fire (the idea of succession passing 
 into that of continuity) had started and had reached the goal, and 
 so had won the prize. An alternative rendering would be, 
 " He wins who is first in, though starting last." 
 26
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 I trow full diverse cry pervades the town : 
 
 Pour in the same vase vinegar and oil, 
 
 *And you would call them enemies, not friends ; 
 
 And so from conquerors and from captives now 
 
 The cries of varied fortune one may hear. 
 
 For these, low-fallen on the carcases 
 
 Of husbands and of brothers, children too 
 
 By aged fathers, mourn their dear ones' death, 
 
 And that with throats that are no longer free. 
 
 And those the hungry toil of sleepless guard, 
 
 After the battle, at their breakfast sets ; 
 
 Not billeted in order fixed and clear, 
 
 But just as each his own chance fortune grasps, 
 
 They in the captive houses of the TroTans 
 
 Dwell, freed at last from all the night's chili frosts, 
 
 And dews of heaven, for now, poor wretches, they 
 
 Will sleep all night without the sentry's watch ; 
 
 And if they reverence well the guardian Gods 
 
 Of that new-conquered country, and their shrines, S!0 
 
 Then they, the captors, will not captured be. 
 
 Ah ! let no evil lust attack the host 
 
 Conquered by greed, to plunder what they ought not : 
 
 For yet they need return in safety home, 
 
 Doubling the goal to run their backward race. 1 
 
 *But should the host come sinning 'gainst the God?, 
 
 Then would the curse of those that perished 
 
 Be watchful, e'en though no quick ill might fall. 
 
 Such thoughts are mine, mere woman though I be. 
 
 May good prevail beyond all doubtful chance ! 
 
 For I have got the blessing of great joy. 
 
 C/Jor. Thou, lady, kindly, like a sage, dost speak, 
 And I, on hearing thy sure evidence, 
 
 1 The complete foot-race was always to the column which 
 marked the end of the course, round it, and back again. In 
 getting to Tro'ia, therefore, but half the race was done. 
 
 27
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Prepare myself to give the Gods due thanks ; 
 
 For they have wrought full meed for all our toil. 
 
 [Exit CLYT/EM. with her train 
 O Zeus our King! O Night beloved, 
 Mighty winner of great glories, 
 Who upon the towers of Troi'a 
 Casted'st snare of closest meshes, 
 So that none full-grown or youthful 
 Could o'erleap the net of bondage, 
 Woe of universal capture ; 
 Zeus, of host and guest protector, 
 Who hath brought these things, I worship ; 
 He long since on Alexandros 
 Stretched his bow that so his arrow 
 Might not sweep at random, missing, 
 Or beyond the stars shoot idly. 
 
 STROPHE I 
 
 Yes, one may say, 'tis Zeus whose blow they feel ; 
 
 This one may clearly trace : 
 
 They fared as He decreed : 
 
 Yea, one there was who said, 
 " The Gods deign not to care for mortal men * 
 By whom the grace of things inviolable 
 
 Is trampled under foot." 
 
 No fear of God had he : 
 
 1 Dramatically the words refer to the practical impiety of 
 evildoers like Paris, with, perhaps, a half-latent allusion to that of 
 Clytsemnestra. But it can hardly be doubted that for the Athenian 
 audience it would have a more special significance, as a protest 
 against the growing scepticism, wiiat in a later age would have 
 been called the Epicureanism, of the age of Pericles. It is the 
 assertion of the belief of ^schylos in the moral government of 
 the world. The very vagueness of the singular, " One there 
 was," would lead the hearers to think of some teacher like 
 Anaxagoras, whom they suspected of Atheism. 
 28
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 *Now is it to the children manifest l 
 
 Of those who, overbold, 
 
 Breathed rebel War beyond the bounds of Right, 
 Their houses overfilled with precious store 
 
 *Above the golden mean. 
 *Ah ! let our life be free from all that hurts, 
 
 So that for one who gains 
 
 Wisdom in heart and soul, 
 
 That lot may be enough. 
 Since still there is no bulwark strong in wealth 
 
 Against destruction's doom, 
 For one who in the pride of wantonness 
 Spurns the great altar of the Right and Just. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I 
 Him woeful, subtle Impulse urges on, 
 
 Resistless in her might, 
 
 Ate's far-scheming child : 
 
 All remedy is vain. 
 It is not hidden, but is manifest, 
 That mischief with its horrid gleaming light ; 
 
 And, like to worthless bronze," 
 
 By friction tried and tests, 
 It turns to tarnished blackness in its hue : 
 
 1 The Chorus sees in the overthrow of Troi'a, an instance of 
 this righteous retribution. The audience were, perhaps, in- 
 tended to think also of the punishment which had fallen on the 
 Persians for the sacrilegious acts of their fathers. The "things 
 inviolable " are the sanctities of the ties of marriage and hospi- 
 tality, both of which Paris had set at nought. 
 
 2 Here, and again in v. 612, we have a similitude drawn from 
 the metallurgy of Greek artists. Good bronze, made of copper 
 and tin, takes the green rust which collectors prize, but when 
 rubbed, the brightness reappears. If zinc be substituted for tin, 
 as in our brass, or mixed largely with it, the surface loses its 
 polish, oxidizes and becomes black. It is, however, doubtful 
 whether this combination of metals was at the time in use, and 
 the words may simply refer to different degrees of excellence in 
 bronze properly so called.
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Since, boy-like, he pursues 
 A bird upon its flight, and so doth bring 
 Upon his city shame intolerable : 
 
 And no God hears his prayer, 
 
 But bringeth low the unjust, 
 
 Who deals with deeds like this. 
 
 Thus Paris came to the Atreidae's home, ** 
 
 And stole its queen away, 
 And so left brand of shame indelible 
 Upon the board where host and guest had sat. 
 
 STROPHE II 
 
 She, leaving to her countrymen at home 
 Wild din of spear and shield and ships of war, 
 
 And bringing, as her dower, 
 
 To Ilion doom of death, 
 Passed very swiftly through the palace gates, 
 
 Daring what none should dare ; 
 
 And many a wailing cry 
 They raised, the minstrel prophets of the house, 
 
 " Woe for that kingly home ! 
 
 Woe for that kingly home and for its chiefs ! 40 
 
 Woe for the marriage-bed and traces left 
 
 Of wife who loved her lord ! " 
 *There stands he silent ; foully wronged and yet 
 
 * Uttering no word of scorn, 1 ' 
 *In deepest woe perceiving she is gone ; 
 
 1 In a corrupt passage like this, the text of which has been 
 to variously restored and rendered, it may be well to give at 
 least one alternative version : 
 
 "There stands she silent, with no honour met, 
 
 Nor yet with words of scorn, 
 Sweetest to see of all that he has lost." 
 
 The words, as so taken, refer to the vision of Helen, descrityd 
 in the lines that follow. Another, for the line " In deepest 
 woe," &c., . . . would give, 
 
 "Believing not he sees the lost one there." 
 30
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 And in his yearning love 
 
 For one beyond the sea, 
 A ghost shall seem to queen it o'er the house ; 
 
 The grace of sculptured forms 1 
 
 Is loathed by her lord, 
 And in the penury of life's bright eyes 
 
 All Aphrodite's charm 
 
 To utter wreck has gone. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II 
 
 And phantom shades that hover round in dreams 4 " 
 Come full of sorrow, bringing vain delight ; 
 
 For vain it is, when one 
 
 Sees seeming shows of good, 
 And gliding through his hands the dream is gone, 
 
 After a moment's space, 
 
 On wings that follow still 
 Upon the path where sleep goes to and fro. 
 
 Such are the woes at home 
 Upon the altar hearth, and worse than these. 
 But on a wider scale for those who went 
 
 From Hellas' ancient shore, 
 A sore distress that causeth pain of heart 4JO 
 
 Is seen in every house. 
 Yea, many things there are that touch the quick : 
 
 For those whom each did send 
 
 He knoweth ; but, instead 
 Of living men, there come to each man's home 
 
 Funeral urns alone, 
 
 And ashes of the dead. 
 
 STROPHE III 
 
 For Ares, trafficking for golden coin 
 The lifeless shapes of men, 
 
 1 The art of Pheidias had already made it natural at Athens 
 to speak of kings as decorating their palaces with the life-size 
 busts or statues of those they loved.
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 And in the rush of battle holding scales^ 
 
 Sends now from Ilion 
 
 Dust from the funeral pyre, 
 A burden sore to loving friends at home, 
 
 And bitterly bewailed, 
 
 Filling the brazen urn 
 With well-smoothed ashes in the place of men ; 
 
 And with high praise they mourn 
 This hero skilled and valiant in the fight, 
 And that who in the battle nobly fell, 
 
 All for another's wife : 
 And other words some murmur secretly ; 
 
 And jealous discontent 
 Against the Atreidas, champions in the suit, 
 
 Creeps on all stealthily ; 
 
 And some around the wall, 
 In full and goodly form have sepulture 
 
 There upon Ilion's soil, 
 And their foes' land inters its conquerors. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III 
 
 And so the murmurs of their subjects rise 
 
 With sullen discontent, 
 And do the dread work of a people's curse ; 
 
 And now my boding fear 
 
 Awaits some news of ill, 
 As yet enwrapt in blackness of the night. 
 
 Not heedless are the Gods 
 
 Of shedders of much blood, 
 And the dark-robed Erinnyes in due time, 
 
 By adverse chance of life, 
 Place him who prospers in unrighteousness 
 In gloom obscure ; and once among the unseen, 
 
 There is no help for him : 
 Fame in excess is but a perilous thing ; 
 3*
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 For on men's quivering eyes 
 Is hurled by Zeus the blinding thunder-bolt. 
 
 I praise the good success 
 
 That rouses not God's wrath ; 
 Ne'er be it mine a city to lay waste. 1 
 
 Nor, as a prisoner, see 
 My life wear on beneath another's power ! 
 
 EPODE 
 And now at bidding of the courier flame, 
 
 The herald of good news, 
 A rumour swift spreads through the city street?, 
 But who knows clearly whether it be true, 
 Or whether God has mingled lies with it I 
 Who is so childish or so reft of sense, 
 
 As with his heart a-glow 
 At that fresh uttered message of the flame, 
 7'lei to wax sad at changing rumour's sound ? 
 It suits the mood that sways a woman's mind 
 To pour thanksgiving ere the truth is seen : 
 Quickly, with rapid steps, too credulous, 
 The limit which a woman sets to trust 
 
 Advances evermore ; 2 
 
 And with swift doom of death 47 
 
 A rumour spread by woman perishes. 
 
 [As the Chorus ends, a Herald is seen approach- 
 ing, l:is head wreathed with olive 8 
 
 1 Here again one may note a protest against the aggressive 
 policy of Pericles, an assertion of the principle that a nation 
 should be content with independence, without aiming at 
 supremacy. 
 
 2 Perhaps passively, " Soon suffers trespassers." 
 
 * As the play opens on the morning of the day on which 
 TroTa was taken, and new we have the arrivals, first, of the 
 herald, and then of Agamemnon, after the capture has been 
 completed, and the spoil divided, and the fleet escaped a storm, 
 an interval of some days must be supposed between the two 
 parts of the play, the imaginary law of the unities notwith- 
 standing. 
 
 U 33 c
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Soon we shall know the sequence of the torches 
 
 Light-giving, and of all the beacon-fires, 
 
 If they be true ; or if, as 'twere a dream, 
 
 This sweet light coming hath beguiled our minds. 
 
 I see a herald coming from the shore, 
 
 With olive boughs o'ershadowed, and the dust, 1 
 
 Dry sister-twin of mire, 2 announces this, 
 
 That neither without voice, nor kindling blaze 
 
 Of wood upon the mountains, he will signal 
 
 With smoke from fire, but either he will come, 
 
 With clear speech bidding us rejoice, or else . . . [pauses 
 
 The word opposed to this I much mislike. 
 
 Nay, may good issue good beginnings crown ! 
 
 Who for our city utters other prayers, 
 
 May he himself his soul's great error reap ! 
 
 Herald. Hail, soil of this my Argive fatherland. 
 Now in the light of the tenth year I reach thee, 
 Though many hopes are shattered, gaining one. 
 For never did I think in Argive land 
 To die, and share the tomb that most I craved. iw 
 Now hail ! thou land ; and hail ! thou light of day : 
 Zeus our great ruler, and thou Pythian king, 
 No longer darting arrows from thy bow. 1 
 Full hostile wast thou by Scamandros' banks, 
 Now be thou Saviour, yea, and Healer found, 
 O king Apollo ! and the Gods of war, 
 These I invoke ; my patron Hermes too, 
 Dear herald, whom all heralds reverence, 
 
 1 The customary adornment of heralds who brought good 
 news. Comp. Sophocles, (Ed. K. v. 83. The custom prevailed 
 for many centuries, and is recognised by Dante, Puig. ii. 70, as 
 usual in his time in Italy. 
 
 a So in the Seven against Thebes (v. 494), smoke is called 
 "the sister of fire." 
 
 s A probable reference, not only to the story, but to the actual 
 words of Homer, //. i. 45-52- 
 
 34
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Those heroes, too, that sent us, 1 graciously 
 
 To welcome back the host that war has spared. 60 
 
 Hail, O ye royal dwellings, home beloved ! 
 
 Ye solemn thrones, and Gods who face the sun ! 
 
 If e'er of old, with cheerful glances now 
 
 After long time receive our king's array. 
 
 For he is come, in darkness bringing light 
 
 To you and all, our monarch, Agamemnon. 
 
 Salute him with all grace ; for so 'tis meet, 
 
 Since he hath dug up Troi'a with the spade 
 
 Of Zeus the Avenger, and the plain laid waste ; 
 
 Fallen their altars and the shrines of Gods ; 
 
 The seed of all the land is rooted out, 
 
 This yoke of bondage casting over Troi'a, 
 
 Our chief, the elder of the Atreidae, comes, 
 
 A man full blest, and worthiest of high honour 
 
 Of all that are. For neither Paris' self, 
 
 Nor his accomplice city now can boast 
 
 Their deed exceeds its punishment. For he, 
 
 Found guilty on the charge of rape and theft, 8 
 
 Hath lost his prize and brought his father's house, 
 
 With lands and all, to waste and utter wreck ; 
 
 And Priam's sons have double forfeit paid. 4 62 
 
 1 Specially the Dioscuri, Castor and Polydeukes. 
 
 * Such a position (especially in the case of Zeus or Apollo) was 
 common in the temples both of Greece and Rome, and had a 
 very obvious signification. As the play was performed, the 
 actual hour of the day probably coincided with that required by 
 the dramatic sequence of events, and the statues of the Gods 
 were so placed on the stage as to catch the rays of the morning 
 iun when the herald entered. Hence the allusion to the bright 
 "cheerful glances" would have a visible as well as ethical 
 fitness. 
 
 3 It formed part of the guilt of Paris, that, besides his seduc- 
 tion of Helena, he had carried off part of the treasures of 
 Menelaos. 
 
 * The idea of a payment twofold the amount of the wrong 
 done, as a complete satisfaction to the sufferer, was common in 
 the early jurisprudence both of Greeks and Hebrews (Exod. xxii. 
 
 35
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Chor. Joy, joy, thou herald of the Achaean host ! 
 
 Her. All joy is mine : I shrink from death no more. 
 
 Chor. Did love for this thy fatherland so try thee? 
 
 Her. So that mine eyes weep tears for very joy, 
 
 Chor. Disease full sweet then this ye suffered from . . . 
 
 Her. How so ? When taught, I shall thy meaning 
 master. 
 
 Chor. Ye longed for us who yearned for you in turn. 
 
 Her. Say'st thou this land its yearning host yearned 
 o'er? 
 
 Chor. Yea, so that oft I groaned in gloom of heart. 
 
 Her. Whence came these bodings that an army 
 hates ? "o 
 
 Chor. Silence I've held long since a charm for ill. 
 
 Her. How, when your lords were absent, feared ye 
 any ? 
 
 Chor. To use thy words, death now would welcome 
 be. 
 
 Her. Good is the issue ; but in so long time 
 Some things, one well might say, have prospered well, 
 And some give cause for murmurs. Save the Gods, 
 Who free from sorrow lives out all his life ? 
 For should I tell of toils, and how we lodged 
 Full hardly, seldom putting in to shore, 1 
 And then with couch full hard. . . . What gave us not 
 Good cause for mourning ? What ill had we not 54U 
 As daily portion ? And what passed on land, 
 That brought yet greater hardship : for our beds 
 Were under our foes' walls, and meadow mists 
 
 4-7). In some cases it was even more, as in the four or five 'old 
 restitution of Exod. xxii. i. In the grand opening of Isaiah's 
 message of glad tidings the fact that Jerusalem has received 
 " double for all her sins " is made the ground on the strength of 
 which she may now hope for pardon. Comp. also Isa. Ixi. 7 ; 
 Zech. ix. 12. 
 1 Peihai-s 
 
 " Full hardly, and the close and crowded decks," 
 36
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 From heaven and earth still left us wringing wet, 
 
 A constant mischief to our garments, making 
 
 Our hair as shaggy as the beasts'. 1 And if 
 
 One spoke of winter frosts that killed the birds, 
 
 By Ida's snow-storms made intolerable, 2 
 
 Or heat, when Ocean in its noontide couch 
 
 Windless reclined and slept without a wave. . . . 
 
 But why lament o'er this ? Our toil is past ; 
 
 Past too is theirs who in the warfare fell, 
 
 So that no care have they to rise again. 
 
 Why should I count the number of the dead, 
 
 Or he that lives mourn o'er a past mischance ? 
 
 To change and chance I bid a long Farewell : 
 
 With us, the remnant of the Argive host, 
 
 Good fortune wins, no ills as counterpoise. 
 
 So it is meet to this bright sun we boast, 
 
 Who travel homeward over land and sea ; 
 
 *' The Argive host who now have captured Troi'a, M0 
 
 These spoils of battle 3 to the Gods of Hellas 
 
 Hang on their pegs, enduring prize and joy." 4 
 
 Hearing these things we ought to bless our country 
 
 And our commanders ; and the grace of Zeus 
 
 1 So stress is laid upon this form of hardship, as rising from 
 the climate of Troi'a, by Sophocles, Aias, 1206. 
 
 8 One may conjecture that here also, as with the passage 
 describing the succession of beacon fires (vv. 281-314), the 
 description would have for an Athenian audience the interest of 
 recalling personal reminiscences of some recent campaign in 
 Thrake, or on the coasts of Asia. 
 
 3 We may, perhaps, think of the herald, as he speaks, plaoing 
 some representative trophy upon the pegs on the pedestals of 
 the statues of the great Gods of Hellas, whom he had invoked 
 on his entrance. 
 * Or. 
 
 " So that to this bright morn our sons may boast, 
 As they o'er land and ocean take their flight, 
 4 The Argive host of old, who captured Troi'a, 
 These spoils of battle to the Gods of Hellas, 
 Hung on their pegs, a trophy of old days.' " 
 37
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 That wrought this shall be honoured. My tale's told. 
 Chor. Thy words o'ercome me, and I say not nay ; 
 To learn good keeps youth's freshness with the old. 
 'Tis meet these things should be a special care 
 To Clytaemnestra and the house, and yet 
 That they should make me sharer in their joy. 
 
 Enter CLYTJEMNESTRA 
 
 Clyttftn. I long ago for gladness raised my cry, 6ro 
 When the first fiery courier came by night, 
 Telling of Tro'ia taken and laid waste : 
 And then one girding at me spake, " Dost think, 
 Trusting in beacons, Troi'a is laid waste ? 
 This heart elate is just a woman's way." 
 In words like these they made me out distraught ; 
 Yet still I sacrificed, and with a strain 
 Shrill as a woman's, they, now here, now there, 
 Throughout the city hymns of blessing raised 
 In shrines of Gods, and lulled to gentle sleep 
 The fragrant flame that on the incense fed. 
 And now why need'st thou lengthen out thy words ? 
 I from the king himself the tale shall learn ; 
 And that I show all zeal to welcome back 
 My honoured lord on his return (for what 
 Is brighter joy for wife to see than this, 
 When God has brought her husband back from war, 
 To open wide her gates ?) tell my lord this, 
 " To come with all his speed, the city's idol ; " 
 And " may he find a faithful wife at home, 
 Such as he left her, noble watch-dog still 
 For him, and hostile to his enemies ; 
 And like in all things else, who has not broken 
 One seal of his in all this length of time." 1 
 
 1 The husband, on his departure, sealed up his special 
 treasures. It was the glory of the faithful wife or the trusty 
 Iteward to keep these seals unbroken. 
 38
 
 A G-A M E M N O N 
 
 No pleasure have I known, nor scandal ill 
 
 With any other more than . . . stains on bronze. 1 
 
 Such is my vaunt, and being full of truth, 
 
 Not shameful for a noble wife to speak. 2 [Exit 
 
 Char, [to Herald.] She hath thus spoken in thy hear- 
 ing now 
 
 A goodly word for good interpreters. 
 But tell me, herald, tell of Menelaos, ** 
 
 If, coming home again in safety he 
 Is with you, the dear strength of this our land. 
 
 Her. I cannot make report of false good news, 
 So that my friends should long rejoice in it. 
 
 Chor. Ah ! could'st thou good news speak, and also 
 
 true ! 
 These things asunder are not well concealed. 
 
 Her. The chief has vanished from the Achrean host, 
 He and his ship. I speak no falsehood here. 
 
 1 There is an ambiguity, possibly an intentional one, in the 
 comparison which Clytaemnestra uses. If there was no such art 
 as that of " staining bronze " (or copper) known at the time, the 
 words would be a natural phrase enough to describe what was 
 represented as an impossibility. Later on in the history of art, 
 however, as in the time of Plutarch, a process so desciibed 
 (peraaps analogous to enamelling) is mentioned (De Pyth. 
 Orac. a) as common. If we suppose the ait to have been a 
 mystery known to the few, but not to the many, in the time of 
 ^ischylos, then the words would have for the hearers the point 
 of a double entendre. She seems to the mass to disclaim what 
 yet, to those in the secret she acknowledges. 
 
 Another rendering refers "bronze" to the "sword," and 
 makes the stains those of blood ; as though she said, " I am as 
 guilt'ess of adul ery as of murder," while yet she knew that she 
 had committed the one, and meant to commit the other. The 
 possibility of such a meaning is certainly in the words, and with 
 a sharp-witted audience catching at aenigmas and dark sayings 
 may have added to their suggestiveness. The ambiguous com- 
 ment of the Chorus shows that they read, as between the lines, 
 the shameful secret which they knew, but of which the Herald 
 was ignorant. 
 
 a The last two lines are by some editors assigned to the 
 Herald. 
 
 39
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Chor. In sight of all when he from Ilion sailed ? 
 Or did a storm's wide evil part him from you ? 
 
 Her. Like skilful archer thou hast hit the mark, 
 And in few words has told of evil long. 
 
 Chor. And was it of him as alive or dead 
 The whisper of the other sailors ran ? 
 
 Her. None to that question answer clear can give, 
 Save the Sun-God who feeds the life of earth. 
 
 Char. How say'st thou ? Did a storm come on our 
 
 fleet, 
 And do its work through anger of the Gods ? 
 
 Her. It is not meet a day of tidings good 
 To mar with evil news. Apart for each 
 Is special worship. But when courier brings 
 With louring face the ills men pray against, 
 And tells a city that its host has fallen, 
 That for the State there is a general wound, 
 That many a man from many a home is driven, 
 As banned by double scourge that Ares loves, 
 Woe doubly-barbed, Death's two-horsed chariot this . . , 
 When with such griefs as freight a herald comes, 
 'Tis meet to chant the Erinnyes' dolorous song ; 
 But for glad messenger of good deeds wrought 
 That bring deliverance, coming to a town 
 Rejoicing in its triumph, . . . how shall I 
 Blend good with evil, telling of a storm 
 That smote the Achaeans, not without God's wrath ? 
 For they a compact swore who erst were foes, 
 Ocean and Fire, and their pledges gave, 
 Wrecking the ill-starred army of the Argives ; 
 And in the night rose ill of raging storm : 
 For Thrakian tempests shattered all the ships, 
 Each on the other. Some thus crashed and bruised, 
 By the storm stricken and the surging foam 
 Of wind-tost waves, soon vanished out of sight, 
 40
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Whirled by an evil pilot. And when rose 
 
 The sun's bright orb, behold, the ^Egaean sea 
 
 Blossomed with wrecks of ships and dead Achseans. 
 
 And as for us and our uninjured ship, 
 
 Surely 'twas some one stole or begged us off, 
 
 Some God, not man, presiding at the helm ; 
 
 And on our ship with good will Fortune sat, 
 
 Giver of safety, so that nor in haven 
 
 Felt we the breakers, nor on rough rock-beach 
 
 Ran we aground. But when we had escaped 
 
 The hell of waters, then in clear, bright day, 
 
 Not trusting in our fortune, we in thought 
 
 O'er new ills brooded of our host destroyed, 
 
 And eke most roughly handled. And if still 
 
 Breathe any of them they report of us 
 
 As having perished. How else should they speak ? 
 
 And we in our turn deem that they are so. 
 
 God send good ending ! Look you, first and chief, 
 
 For Menelaos' coming ; and indeed, 
 
 If any sunbeam know of him alive 
 
 And well, by help of Zeus who has not willed 
 
 As yet to blot out all the regal race, 
 
 Some hope there is that he'll come back again. 
 
 Know, hearing this, that thou the truth hast heard. 
 
 [Exit HtrJd 
 STKOPUK I 
 
 Ckor. Who was it named her with such wondrous 
 
 truth ? 
 
 (Could it be One unseen, 
 In strange prevision of her destined work, 
 
 Guiding the tongue through chance ?) 
 Who gave that war-wed, strife-upstirring one ^ 
 The name of Helen, ominous of ill ? * 67() 
 
 1 It need hardly be said that it is as difficult to render a paro- 
 MHnssia of this kind as it is to reproduce those, more or lets 
 4 1
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 For all too plainly she 
 
 Hath been to men, and ships, 
 
 And towers, as doom of Hell. 
 From bower of gorgeous curtains forth she sailed 
 With breeze of Zephyr Titan-born and strong ; l 
 
 And hosts of many men, 
 
 Hunters that bore the shield, 
 Went on the track of those who steered their boat 
 Unseen to leafy banks of Simois, 
 
 On her account who came, 
 Dire cause of strife with bloodshed in her train. c?0 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I 
 And so the wrath which works its vengeance out 
 
 Dear bride to Ilion brought, 
 (Ah, all too truly named !) exacting still 3 
 
 After long lapse of time 
 The penalty of foul dishonour done 
 To friendship's board and Zeus, of host and guest 
 
 The God, from those who paid 
 
 Their loud-voiced honour then 
 
 Unto that bridal strain, 
 That hymeneal chorus which to chant 
 
 analogous, which we find in the prophets of the Old Testament 
 (comp. especially Micah i.) ; bat it seems better to substitire 
 something which approaches, however imperfectly, to an 
 equivalent than to obscure the reference to the nomen et om<.n 
 by abandoning the attempt to translate it. " Hell of men, and 
 hell of ships, and hell of towers," has been the rendering adopted 
 by many previous translators. The Greek fondness for this 
 play on names is seen in Sophocles, Aias, v. 401. 
 
 1 Zephyros, Boreas, and the other great winds were repre- 
 sented in the Theogony of Hesiod (v. 134) as the offspring of 
 Astrseos and E6s, and Astraeos was a Titan. The west wind 
 was, of course, favourable to Paris as he went with Helen from 
 Greece to Tro'i'a. 
 
 a Here again the translator has to meet the difficulty of a pun. 
 As an alternative we might take 
 
 "To Ilion brought, well-named, 
 A marriage marring all." 
 4*
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Fell to the lot of all the bridegroom's kin. 1 
 
 But learning other song, 
 
 Priam's ancient city now 
 Bewaileth sore, and calls on Paris' name, 
 Wedded in fatal wedlock ; all the time 
 
 *Enduring tear-fraught life 
 *For all the blood its citizens had lost. 
 
 STROPHE II 
 
 So once a lion's cub, 
 
 A mischief in his house, 
 
 As foster child one reared, 1 
 
 While still it loved the teats ; 
 
 In life's preluding dawn 
 
 Tame, by the children loved, 
 
 And fondled by the old, 3 
 
 Oft in his arms 'twas held, 
 
 Like infant newly born, 
 
 With eyes that brightened to the hand that stroked, 
 And fawning at the hest of hunger keen. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II 
 
 But when full-grown, it showed 
 The nature of its sires ; 
 For it unbidden made 
 
 * The sons of Priam are thought of as taking part in the 
 celebration of Helen's marriage with Paris, and as, therefore, 
 involving themselves in the guilt and the penalty of his crime. 
 
 * Here, too, it may be well to give an alternative rendering 
 
 " A mischief in his house, 
 
 A man reared, not on milk." 
 
 Home-reared lions seem to have been common as pets, both 
 among Greeks and Latins (Arist., Hist. Anim. ix. 31 ; Plutarch, 
 de Cohib. ird, } 14, p. 822), sometimes, as in Martial's Epi- 
 gram, ii. 25, with fatal consequences. The text shows the 
 practice to have been common enough in the time of Pericles to 
 supply a similitude. 
 
 There may, possibly, be a half allusion here to the passage 
 in the Iliad (vv. 154-160), which describes the fascination which 
 the beauty of Helen exercised on the Troi'an elders. 
 43
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 A feast in recompense 
 
 Of all their fostering care, 
 
 *By banquet of slain sheep ; no 
 
 With blood the house was stained, 
 
 A curse no slaves could check, 
 
 Great mischief murderous : 
 By God's decree a priest of Ate thus 
 Was reared, and grew within the man's own house. 
 
 STROPHE III 
 
 So I would tell that thus to Ilion came 
 Mood as of calm when all the air is still, 
 The gentle pride and joy of kingly state, 
 
 A tender glance of eye, 
 The full-blown blossom of a passionate love, 
 
 Thrilling the very soul ; 72 
 
 And yet she turned aside, 
 And wrought a bitter end of marriage feast, 
 
 Coming to Priam's race, 
 
 111 sojourner, ill friend, 
 
 Sent by great Zeus, the God of host and guest 
 Erinnys, for whom wives weep many tears. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III 
 
 There lives an old saw, framed in ancient days, 1 
 In memories of men, that high estate 
 
 1 The poet becomes a prcphet, and asserts what it has been 
 given him to know of the righteous government of God. The 
 dominant creed of Greece at the time was, that the Gods were 
 envious of man's prosperity, that this alone, apart from moral 
 evil, was enough to draw down their wrath, and bring a curse 
 upon the prosperous house. So, e.g. , Arnasis tells Polycrates 
 (Herod, iii. 40) that the unseen Divinity that rules the world is 
 envious, that power and glory are inevitably the precursors of 
 destruction. Comp. also the speech of Artabanos (Herod, vii. 
 10, 46). Against this, in the tone of one who speaks single- 
 handed for the truth, ^Eschylos, through the Chorus, enters his 
 protest- 
 
 44
 
 Full-grown brings forth its young, nor childless dies, 
 
 But that from good success 
 Springs to the race a woe insatiable. 
 
 But I, apart from all, 
 
 Hold this my creed alone : 
 For impious act it is that offspring breeds, 
 
 Like to their parent stock : 
 
 For still in every house 
 That loves the right their fate for evermore 
 Rejoiceth in an issue fair and good. 
 
 STROPHE IV 
 
 But Recklessness of old 
 Is wont to breed another Recklessness, 
 
 Sporting its youth in human miseries, 
 Or now, or then, whene'er the fixed hour comes : 74 
 
 That in its youth, in turn, 
 
 Doth full-flushed Lust beget, 
 And that dread demon-power unconquerable, 
 
 Daring that fears not God, 
 Two curses black within the homes of men, 
 
 Like those that gendered them. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE IV 
 
 But Justice shineth bright 
 In dwellings that are dark and dim with smoke, 
 
 And honours life law-ruled, 
 
 While gold-decked homes conjoined with hands de- 
 filed 
 
 She with averted eyes 
 
 Hath left, and draweth near 
 To holier things, nor worships might of wealth, 
 
 If counterfeit its praise ; 
 But still directeth all the course of things \ 
 
 Towards its destined goal. 
 
 '
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 \ [AGAMEMNON is seen approaching in kit 
 
 chariot, followed by another chariot, in 
 which CASSANDRA // standing, carrying 
 her prophet's viand in her hand, and 
 wearing fillets round her temples, and by 
 a great train of soldiers bearing trophies. 
 As they come on the stage the Chorus 
 sings its welcome 
 
 Come then, king, them son of Atreus, 
 Waster of the towers of Troia, 
 What of greeting and of homage 
 Shall I give, nor overshooting, 
 Nor due need of honour missing ? 
 Men there are who, right transgressing, 
 Honour semblance more than being. 
 
 O'er the sufferer all are ready 
 Wail of bitter grief to utter, 
 Though the biting pang of sorrow 
 Never to their heart approaches ; 
 So with counterfeit rejoicing 
 ( Men strain faces that are smileless ;") 
 But when one his own sheep knoweth, 
 Then men's eyes cannot deceive him, 
 When thev deem with kindly purpose, 
 And with fondness weak to flatter. 
 Thou, when thou did'st lead thine army 
 For Helen's sake (I will not hide it) 
 Wast to me as one whose features 
 Have been limned by unskilled artist, 
 Guiding ill the helm of reason, 
 Giving men to death's doom sentenced 
 *Courage which their will rejected. 1 
 1 Sf., Agamemnon, by the sacrifice pflphigeneia, had induced 
 his troops to persevere in an expedition from which, in their 
 inmost hearts, they shrank back with strong dislike. A con- 
 jectural reading gives, 
 
 46
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Now nor from the spirit's surface, 
 
 Nor with touch of thought unfriendly, 
 
 All the toil, I say, is welcome, 
 
 If men bring it to good issue. 
 
 And thou soon shalt know, enquiring, 
 
 Him who rightly, him who wrongly 
 
 Of thy citizens fulfilled! 
 
 Task of office for the city. 1 
 
 Agam. First Argos, and the Gods who guard the land, 
 "Tis right to greet ; to them in part I owe 
 This my return, and vengeance that I took 
 On Priam's city. Not on hearsay proof 
 Judging the cause, with one consent the Gods 
 Cast in their votes into the urn of blood 
 For Ilion's ruin and her people's death ; 
 *!' the other urn Hope touched the rim alone, 
 Still far from being filled full. 2 And even yet 
 The captured city by its -moke is seen, 
 *The incense clouds of Ate live on still ; 
 And, in the act of dying with its prey, 
 From richest store the dust sends savours sweet. 
 For these things it is meet to give the Gods 
 Thank-offerings long-enduring ; for our nets 
 Of vengeance we set close, and for a woman 
 Our Argive monster laid the city low, 3 
 
 " By the sacrifice he offered 
 
 Giving death- doomed men fake boldness." 
 1 The tone of ambiguous irony mingles, it will be seen, even 
 here, with the praises of the Chorus. 
 
 8 Possibly an allusion to Pandora's box. Here, too, Hope 
 alone was left, but it only came up to where the curve of the 
 rim began, not to its top. The imagery is drawn from the 
 older method of voting, in which (as in Eumenides, v. 678) the 
 votes for condemnation and acquittal were cast into separate 
 urns. 
 
 s The lion, as the symbol of the house of Atreus, still seen in 
 tho sculptures of Mykenae ; the horse, in allusion to the stratagem 
 by which Tioi'a had been taken. 
 47
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Foaled by the mare, a people bearing shield, 
 Taking its leap when set the Pleiades ; l 
 And, bounding o'er the tower, that ravenous lion ** 
 Lapped up its fill of blood of kingly race. 
 This prelude to the Gods I lengthen out ; 
 And as concerns thy feeling (this I well 
 Remember hearing) I with thee agree, 
 And thou in me may'st find an advocate. 
 /With but few men is it their natural bent 
 \ To honour without grudging prosperous friend : , 
 For ill-souled envy that the heart besets, 
 Doubles his woe who suffers that disease : 
 He by his own griefs first is overwhelmed, \ 
 And groans at sight of others' happier lot. ? MSi 
 
 *And I with good cause say, (for well I know, 1 ) 
 They are but friendship's mirror, phantom shade, 
 Who seemed to be my most devoted friends. 
 Odysseus only, who against his will 2 
 Sailed with us, still was found true trace-fellow : 
 And this I say of him or dead or living. 
 But as for all that touches on the State, 
 Or on the Gods, in full assembly we, 
 Calling our council, will deliberate : 
 For what goes well we should with care provide 
 How longest it may last ; and where there needs 
 A healing charm, there we with all good-will, 
 By surgery or cautery will try 
 To turn away the mischief of disease. 
 And now will I to home and household hearth 
 Move on, and first give thanks unto the Gods 
 
 1 At the end of autumn, and therefore at a season when a 
 storm like that described by the herald would be a probable 
 incident enough. 
 
 8 So in Sophocles, Philoctetes (v. 1025) taunts Odysseus : 
 "And yet thou sailedst with them by constraint, 
 By tricks fast bound." 
 
 48
 
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Who led me forth, and brought me back again. 
 Since Victory follows, long may she remain ! 
 
 Enter CLYTVEMNESTRA, followed by female attend. .;.:* 
 carrying purple tapestry 
 
 Cfyttfm. Ye citizens, ye Argive senators, 
 I will not shrink from telling you the tale 
 Of wife's true love. As time wears on one drops Mu 
 All over-shyness. Not learning it from others, 
 I will narrate my own unhappy life, 
 The whole long time my lord at Ilion stayed. 
 For first, that wife should sit at home alone 
 Without her husband is a monstrous grief, 
 Hearing full many an ill report of him, 
 Now one and now another coming still, 
 Bringing news home, worse trouble upon bad. 
 Yea, if my lord had met as many wounds 
 As rumour told of, floating to our house, wo 
 
 He had been riddled more than any net ; 
 And had he died, as tidings still poured in, 
 Then he, a second Geryon * with three lives, 
 Had boasted of a threefold coverlet 
 Of earth above, (I will not say below him,) 2 
 Dying one death for each of those his forms ; 
 And so, because of all these ill reports, 
 Full many a noose around my neck have others 
 
 1 Geryon appears in the myth of Hercules as a monster with 
 three heads and three bodies, ruling over the island Erytheia, 
 in the far West, beyond Hesperia. To destroy him and seize 
 his cattle was one of the " twelve labours," with which Hesiod 
 ( Theogon. vv. 287-294) had already made men familiar. 
 
 3 When a man is buried, there is earth above and earth below 
 him. Clytaemnestra having used the words "coverlet," pauses to 
 make her language accurate to the very letter. She is speaking 
 only of the earth which would have been laid over her husband's 
 corpse, had he died as often as he was reported to have done. 
 She will not utter anything so ominous as an allusion to the 
 depths below him stretching down to Hades. 
 
 ii 49 o
 
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Loosed by main force, when I had hung myself. 
 
 And for this cause no son is with me now, ** 
 
 Holding in trust the pledges of our love, 
 
 As he should be, Orestes. Wonder not ; 
 
 For now a kind ally doth nurture him, 
 
 Strophios the Phokian, telling me of woes 
 
 Of twofold aspect, danger on thy side 
 
 At Ilion, and lest loud-voiced anarchy 
 
 Should overthrow thy council, since 'tis still 
 
 The wont of men to kick at those who fall. 
 
 No trace of guile bears this excuse of mine ; 
 
 As for myself, the fountains of my tears 
 
 Have flowed till they are dry, no drop remain', WJ 
 
 And mine eyes suffer from o'er-late repose, 
 
 Watching with tears the beacons set for thee, 1 
 
 Left still unheeded. And in dreams full oft 
 
 I from my sleep was startled by the gnat 
 
 With thin wings buzzing, seeing in the night 
 
 Ills that stretched far beyond the time of sleep.1 
 
 Now, having borne all this, with mind at ease, 
 
 I hail my lord as watch-dog of the fold, 
 
 The stay that saves the ship, of lofty roof 
 
 Main column-prop, a father's only child, 
 
 Land that beyond all hope the sailor sees, 
 
 Morn of great brightness following after storm, 
 
 Clear-flowing fount to thirsty traveller. 8 
 
 i Or 
 
 " Weeping because the torches in thy house 
 No more were lighted as they were of yore." 
 
 * The words touch upon the psychological fact that in dreams, 
 as in other abnormal states of the mind, the usual measures of 
 time disappear, and we seem to pass through the experiences of 
 many years in the slumber of a few minutes. 
 
 3 The rhetoric of the passage, with all its multiplied simili- 
 tudes, fine as it is in itself, receives its dramatic significance by 
 bdng put into the lips of Clytaemnestra. She "doth protest 
 too much." A true wife would have been content with fewer 
 words.
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Yes, it is pleasant to escape all straits : 
 
 With words of welcome such as these I greet thee ; 
 
 May jealous Heaven forgive them ! for we bore 
 
 Full many an evil in the past ; and now, 
 
 Dear husband, leave thy car, nor on the ground, 
 
 King, set thou the foot that Ilion trampled. ^ 
 Why linger ye, [turning to her attendants,] ye maids, 
 
 whose task it was 
 
 To strew the pathway with your tapestries ? 
 Let the whole road be straightway purple-strown, 
 That Justice lead to home he looked not for. 
 I All else my care, by slumber not subdued, 
 Will with God's help work out what fate decrees. 1 
 
 (The handmaids advance, and are about to lay the 
 purple carpets on the ground] 
 
 Agam, O child of Leda, guardian of my home, 
 Thy speech hath with my absence well agreed 
 For long indeed thou mad'st it but fit praise 
 Is boon that I must seek at other hands. 
 
 1 pray thee, do not in thy woman's fashion 
 Pamper my pride, nor in barbaric guise 
 
 IProstrate on earth raise full-mouthed cries to me ; 
 Make not my path offensive to the Gods 
 By spreading it with carpets. 2 They alone 
 
 1 The last three lines of the speech are of course intentionally 
 ambiguous, carrying one meaning to the ear of Agamemnon, 
 and another to that of the audience. 
 
 2 There is obviously a side-thrust, such as an Athenian 
 audience would catch at, at the token of homage which the 
 Persian kings required of their subjects, the prostration at their 
 feet, the earth spread over with costly robes. Of the latter 
 custom we have examples in the history of Jehu (2 Kings ix. 13), 
 in our Lord's entry into Jerusalem (Mark xi. 8), in the usages 
 of modern Persian kings (Malcolm's Persia, i. 580); perhaps 
 also. in the true rendering of Ps. xlv. 14, "She shall be brought 
 unto the king on raiment of needle- work." In the march of 
 Xerxes across the Hellespont myrtle-boughs strown on the 
 bridge of boats took the place of robes (Herod, vii. 54). To 
 
 5 1
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 May claim that honour ; but for mortal men 
 To walk on fair embroidery, to me 
 Seems nowise without peril. So I bid yon 
 To honour me as man, and not as God. 
 Apart from all foot-mats and tapestry 
 My fame speaks loudly ; and God's greatest gift ** 
 Is not to err from wisdom. We must bless 
 Him only who ends life in fair estate. 1 
 Should I thus act throughout, good hope were mine. 
 Clyttem. Nay, say not this my purposes to thwart. 
 Agam. Know I change not for the worse my pur- 
 pose. 
 CIyt<em. In fear, perchance, thou vowed'st thus to 
 
 act. 
 
 Agam. If any, I, with good ground spoke my will. 1 
 Clyteern. What think'st thou Priam, had he wrought 
 
 such deeds . . . ? 
 
 Agam. Full gladly he, I trow, had trod on carpets. 
 Clytam. Then shrink not thou through fear of 
 men's dispraise. " 10 
 
 Agam. And yet a people's whisper hath great 
 
 might.* \ 
 Clytam. Who is not envied is not enviable. 
 
 
 
 the Greek character, with its strong love of independence, such 
 customs were hateful. The case of Pausanias, who offend d 
 the national feeling by assuming the outward state of the 
 Persian kings, must have been recalled to the minds of the 
 Athenians, intentionally or otherwise, by such a passage as 
 this. 
 
 1 The "old saying, famed of many men," which we find in 
 the Trachiniee of Sophocles (v. i), and in the counsel of Solon 
 to Croesos ( Herod, i. 32). 
 
 2 He who had suffered so much from the wrath of Artemis at 
 Aulis knew what it was to rouse the wrath and jealousy of the 
 Gods. 
 
 * An echo of a line in Hesiod ( Works and JDayt, 763) 
 " No whispered rumours which the many spread 
 Can ever wholly perish."
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 '. Agam. 'Tis not a woman's part to crave for strife. 
 
 Clyttcm. True, yet the prosperous e'en should 
 sometimes yield. 
 
 Agam. Dost thou then prize that victory in the 
 strife ? 
 
 Clyt<em. Nay, list ; with all good-will yield me this 
 boon. 
 
 Agam. Well, then, if thou wilt have it so, with 
 
 speed 
 
 Let some one loose my buskins 1 (servants they 
 Doing the foot's true work), and as I tread 
 Upon these robes sea-purpled, may no wrath 
 From glance of Gods smite on me from afar ! >zo 
 
 Great shame I feel to trample with my foot 
 This wealth of carpets, costliest work of looms ; 
 So far for this. This stranger \fointing to CASSANDRA] 
 
 lead thou in 
 
 With kindliness. On him who gently wields 
 His power God's eye looks kindly from afar. 
 None of their own will choose a bondslave's life ; 
 And she, the chosen flower of many spoils, 
 Has followed with me as the army's gift. 
 But since I turn, obeying thee in this, 
 I'll to my palace go, on purple treading. M0 
 
 Cfyttem. There is a sea, and who shall drain it dry ? 
 Producing still new store of purple juice, 
 Precious as silver, staining many a robe. 
 
 1 Here, too, we may trace a reference to the Oriental custom 
 of recognising the sanctity of a consecrated place by taking the 
 shoes from off the feet, as in Exod. iii. 5, in the services of the 
 Tabernacle and Temple, through all their history (Juven., 
 Sat. vi. 159), in all mosques to the present day. Agamemnon, 
 yielding to the temptress, seeks to make a compromise with his 
 conscience. He will walk upon the tapestry, but will treat it as 
 if it, of right, belonged to the Gods, and were a consecrated 
 thing. It is probably in connection with th-s incident that 
 jfcschylos was said to have been the first to bring actors on the 
 stage in these boots or buskins (Suidas, s. v, o/>/3u.\i)), 
 S3
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 And in our house, with God's help, O my king, 
 
 'Tis ours to boast our palace knows no stint. 
 
 Trampling of many robes would I have vowed, 
 
 Had that been ordered me in oracles, 
 
 When for my lord's return I then did plan 
 
 My votive gifts. { For while the root lives on, 
 
 The foliage stretches even to the house, 
 
 And spreads its shade against the dog-star's rage ;1 9l 
 
 So when thou comest to thy hearth and home, ' 
 
 Thou show'st that warmth hath come in winter time ; 
 
 And when from unripe clusters Zeus matures 
 
 The wine, 1 then is there coolness in the house, 
 
 If the true master dwelleth in his home. 
 
 Ah, Zeus ! the All-worker, Zeus, work out for me 
 
 All that I pray for ; let it be thy care 
 
 To look to what Thou purposes! to work. 2 
 
 [Exeunt AGAMEMNON, walking on the //v^- 
 , and her attendants 
 
 STROPHE I 
 
 Chor. Why thus continually 
 Do haunting phantoms hover at the gate 
 
 Of my foreboding heart ? 8SO 
 
 Why floats prophetic song, unbought, unbidden ? 
 
 Why doth no steadfast trust 
 Sit on my mind's dear throne, 
 To fling it from me as a vision dim ? 
 Long time hath passed since stern-ropes of our ships 
 Were fastened on the sand, when our great host 
 Of those that sailed in ships 
 Had come to Ilion's towers : * 
 
 1 The words of Isaiah (xviii. 5), "when the sour grape is 
 ripening in the flower," present an almost verbal parallel. 
 
 * The ever-recurring ambiguity of Clytaemnestra's language 
 is again traceable, as is also her fondness for rhetorical similitudes. 
 
 * The Chorus sptaks in perplexity. In cannot get rid of its 
 
 54
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 I 
 
 And now from these mine eyes 
 I learn, myself reporting to myself, 
 
 Their safe return ; and yet 
 My mind within itself, taught by itself, 
 Chanteth Erinnys' dirge, 
 The lyreless melody, 
 
 And hath no strength of wonted confidence. 
 Not vain these inner pulses, as my heart 
 Whirls eddying in breast oracular. 
 
 I, against hope, will pray 
 It prove false oracle. 
 STROPHE II 
 
 Of high, o'erflowing health 
 There is no bound that stays the wish for mere, 
 For evermore disease, as neighbour close 
 
 Whom but a wall divides, 
 Upon it presses ; and man's prosperous state 
 *Moves on its course, and strikes 
 Upon an unseen rock ; 
 But if his fear for safety of his freight, 
 A part, from well-poised sling, shall sacrifice, 
 Then the whole house sinks not, 
 O'erfilled with wretchedness, 
 Nor does he swamp his boat : 
 So, too, abundant gift 
 From Zeus in bounteous fulness, and the fruit 
 
 Of glebe at harvest tide 
 Have caused to cease sore hunger's pestilence ; 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II 
 
 But blood that once hath flowed 
 In purple stains of death upon the ground 
 
 forebodings, and yet it would seem as if the time for the fulfil- 
 ment of the dark words of Calchas must have parsed long since. 
 It actually sees the safe return of the leader of the host, yet still 
 its tears haunt it. 
 
 55
 
 AGAMEMNON - * 
 
 At a man's feet, wlio then can bid it back ' 
 
 By any charm of song ? 
 Else him who knew to call the dead to life 1 
 
 *Zeus had not sternly checked, "* 
 
 *As warning unto all ; 
 
 But unless Fate, firm-fixed, had barred our fate 
 From any chance of succour from the Gods, 
 
 Then had my heart poured forth 
 
 Its thoughts, outstripping speech. 2 
 
 But now in gloom it wails 
 
 Sore vexed, with little hope 
 At any time hereafter fitting end 
 
 To find, unravelling, 
 My soul within me burning with hot thoughts. 
 
 Re-enter CLYT^EMNESTRA 
 Cljtam. [to CASSANDRA, who has remained in the 
 
 chariot during the choral ode\ 
 Thou too I mean Cassandra go within ; 
 Since Zeus hath made it thine, and not in wrath, 
 To share the lustral waters in our house, 
 Standing with many a slave the altar nigh 
 Of Zeus, who guards our goods.* Now get thee down 
 From out this car, nor look so over proud. 
 They say that e'en Alcmena's son endured 4 
 
 1 Asclepios, whom Zeus smote with his thunderbolt for having 
 restored Hippolytos to life. 
 
 2 The Chorus, in spite of their suspicions and forebodings, 
 have given the king no warning. They excuse themselves by 
 the plea of necessity, the sovereign decree of Zeus overruling ail 
 man's attempts to withstand it. 
 
 3 Cassandra is summoned to an act of worship. The house- 
 hold is gathered, the altar to Zeus Ktesios (the God of the family 
 property, slaves included), standing in the servants' hall, is 
 rt-ady. The new slave must come in and take her place with 
 the others. 
 
 * As in the story which forms the groundwork of the Tra- 
 chiniee of Sophocles, vv. 250-280, that Heracles had been suld 
 to Omphale as a slave, in penally for the murder of Iphitos,
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Being sold a slave, constrained to bear the yoke : 
 And if the doom of this ill chance should come, 
 Great boon it is to meet with lords who own 
 Ancestral wealth. But whoso reap full crops 
 They never dared to hope for, these in all, 
 And beyond measure, to their slaves are harsh : l 
 From us thou hast what usage doth prescribe. 
 
 Chor. So ends she, speaking words full clear to thee : 
 And seeing thou art in the toils of fate, 
 If thou obey, thou wilt obey ; and yet, 
 Perchance, obey thou wilt not. 
 
 Cfyttfffi. Nay, but unless she, like a swallow, speaks 
 A barbarous tongue unknown, I speaking now 
 Within her apprehension, bid obey. 
 
 Chor. [to CASSANDRA, still standing motionless'] Go 
 with her. What she bids is now the best ; 
 Obey her : leave thy seat upon this car. 
 
 Clyttfm. I have no leisure here to stay without : 
 For as regards our central altar, there 
 The sheep stand by as victims for the fire ; 
 For never had we hoped such thanks to give : 
 If thou wilt do this, make no more delay ; 
 But if thou understandest not my words, 
 Then wave thy foreign hand in lieu of speech. 
 
 [CASSANDRA shudders as in horror, but 
 makes no sign 
 
 Chor. The stranger seems a clear interpreter 
 To need. Her look is like a captured deer's. 
 
 Clytam. Nay, she is mad, and follows evil 
 thoughts, 
 
 1 Political as well as dramatic. The Eupatrid poet appeals 
 to public opinion against the ncuveaux riches, the tanners and 
 lamp-makers, who were already beginning to push themsehes 
 forward towards prominence and power. The way was thus 
 prepared in the first play of the Trilogy for what is known to 
 bave been the main object of the last. Comp. Arist., fthet. ii. 32, 
 57
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Since, leaving now her city, newly-captured, 
 
 She comes, and knows not how to take the curb, 
 
 Ere she foam out her passion in her blood. 
 
 I will not bear the shame of uttering more. [Exit 
 
 Chor. And I I pity her, and will not rage : 
 Come, thou poor sufferer, empty leave thy car ; 
 Yield to thy doom, and handsel now the yoke. 
 
 [CASSANDRA leaves the chariot, and bunts 
 into a cry cf wailing 
 
 STROPHE I 
 Cass. Woe ! woe, and well-a-day ! 
 
 Apollo ! O Apollo ! 10i 
 
 Char. Why criest thou so loud on Loxias ? 
 The wailing cry of mourner suits not him. 
 
 ANTISTSOPHE I 
 Cass. Woe ! woe, and well-a-day ! 
 
 Apollo ! O Apollo ! 
 
 Chor. Again with boding words she calls the God, 
 Though all unmeet as helper to men's groans. 
 
 STROPHE II 
 
 Cass. Apollo ! O Apollo ! 
 
 God of all paths, Apollo true to me ; 
 For still thou dost appal me and destroy. 1 
 
 Chor. She seems her own ills like to prophesy : 10BO 
 The God's great gift is in the slave's mind yet. 
 
 1 Here again the translator has the task of finding an English 
 paronomasia which approximates to that of the Greek, between 
 Apollo and an-oAAwv the destroyer. To Apollo, as the God of 
 paths (Agitieus], an altar stood, column-fashion, before the 
 street-door of every house, and to such an altar, placed by th^ 
 dnor of Agamemnon's palace, Cn.?sandra tirns, with the two- 
 fold play upon the nam-%
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 ANTISTROPHK II 
 
 Can. Apollo ! O Apollo ! 
 
 God of all paths, Apollo true to me ; 
 What path hast led me ? To what roof hast brought ? 
 
 Cher. To that of the Atreida:. This I tell, 
 If thou know'st not. Thou wilt not find it fake. 
 
 STROPHE III 
 
 Cast. Ah ! Ah ! Ah me ! 
 
 Say rather to a house God hates that knows 
 
 Murder, self-slaughter, ropes, 1 
 *A human shamble, staining earth with blood. 
 
 Cbor. Keen scented seems this stranger, like a houncl, 
 And sniffs to see whose murder she may find. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III 
 
 Cass. Ah ! Ah ! Ah me ! 
 
 Lo ! \looking wildly, and pointing to the house^\ there 
 
 the witnesses whose word I trust, 
 Those babes who wail their death, 
 The roasted flesh that made a father's meal. 
 
 Chor. We of a truth had heard thy seeress fame, 
 But prophets now are not the race we seek.* 
 
 STROPHE IV 
 Can. Ah me ! O horror ! What ill schemes she 
 
 now ? 
 What is this new great woe ? 
 
 * This refers, probably, to the death of Hippodame'a, the wife 
 of Pelops, who killed herself, in remorse for the death of Chry- 
 sippos, or fear of her husband's anger. The horrors of the 
 royal house of Argos pass, one by one, before the vision of the 
 prophetess, and this leads the procession, followed by the spectres 
 of the murdered children of Tnyestes. 
 
 a The Chorus, as in their last ode, had made up their minds, 
 though foreboding ill, to let destiny take its course. They do 
 not wish that policy of non-inteifeience to be changed by any too 
 clear vision of the future. 
 
 59
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Great evil plots she in this very house, 
 Hard for its friends to bear, immedicable ; 
 
 And help stands far aloof. 
 Cher. These oracles of thine surpass my ken ; 
 Those I know well. The whole town rings with 
 them. 1 
 
 ANTISTROPHE IV 
 Cass. Ah me ! O daring one ! what work'st thou 
 
 here, 
 
 Who having in his bath 
 Tended thy spouse, thy lord, then . . . Ho\v tell the 
 
 rest ? 
 For quick it comes, and hand is following hand, 
 
 Stretched out to strike the blow. 108 
 
 Cbor. Still I discern not ; after words so dark 
 I am perplexed with thy dim oracles. 
 
 STROPHE V 
 Cass. Ah, horror, horror ! What is this I see i 
 
 Is it a snare of Hell ? 
 Nay, the true net is she who shares his bed, 
 
 Who shares in working death. 
 I la ! let the Band insatiable in hate 2 
 Howl for the race its wild exulting cry 
 O'er sacrifice that calls 
 For death by storm of stones. 
 
 1 The Chorus understands the vision of the clairvoyante as 
 regards the past tragedy of the house of Atreus, but not that 
 which seems to portend another actually imminent. 
 
 2 Fresh visions come before the eyes of the seeress. She 
 beholds the company of Erinnyes hovering over the accursed 
 house, and calls on them to continue their work till the new 
 crime has met with its due punishment. The murder which she 
 tees as if already wrought, demands death by stoning. 
 
 60
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 STROPHE VI 
 Ckor, What dire Erinnys bidd'st thou oVr our 
 
 house 
 
 To raiie shrill cry ? Thy speech but little cheers ; 
 And to my heart there rush 
 Blood-drops of saffron hue, 1 liw> 
 
 * Which, when from deadly wound 
 They fall, together with life's setting rays 
 End, as it fails, their own appointed course : 
 And mischief comes apace. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE V 
 Cais. See, see, I say, from that fell heifer there 
 
 Keep thou the bull : 2 in robes 
 Entangling him, she with her weapon gores 
 
 Him with the swarthy horns ; 3 
 Lo ! in that bath with water filled he falls, 
 Smitten to death, and I to thee set forth 
 Crime of a bath of blood, 
 By murderous guile devised. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE VI 
 
 Ckor, I may not boast that I keen insight have 
 In words oracular ; yet bode I ill. 
 
 What tidings good are brought 
 
 By any oracles 
 
 To mortal men ? These arts, 
 
 In days of evil sore, with many words, 
 
 1 The " yellow " look of fear is thought of as being caused by 
 an actual change in the colour of the blood as it flows through 
 the \ eins to the heart. 
 
 a Here there is prevision as well as clairvoyance. The deed 
 is not yet done. The sacrifice and the feast are still going on, 
 yet she sees the crime in all its circumstances. 
 
 3 As before (v. 115) the black eagle had been the symbol of 
 the warrior-chief, so here the black-homed bull, that being one 
 of the notes of the best breed of cattle. A v.iric us reading gives 
 ' with htr swarthy horn." 
 
 61
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Do still but bring a vague, portentous fear 
 For men to learn and know. 
 
 STROPHE VII 
 
 Cass, Woe, woe ! for all sore ills that fall on me ! 
 It is my grief thou speak'st of, blending it 
 
 With his. 1 [Pausing, and then trying out] 
 
 Ah ! wherefore then 
 Hast thou j thus brought me here, 
 Only to die with thee ? 
 What other doom is mine ? 
 
 STROPHE VIII 
 
 Chor. Frenzied art thou, and by some God's might 
 swayed, U1 
 
 And utterest for thyself 
 A melody which is no melody, 
 Like to that tawny one, 
 Insatiate in her wail, 
 The nightingale, who still with sorrowing soul, 
 
 And " Itys, Itys," cry, s 
 Bemoans a 'life o'erflourishing in ills. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE VII 
 
 Cass, Ah, for the doom of clear-voiced nightingale ! 
 The Gods gave her a body bearing wings, 
 
 1 What the Chorus had just said as to the fruitlessness of 
 prophetic insight tallied A\\ too well with her own bitter experience. 
 
 a The ecstasy of horror interrupts the tenor of her speech, 
 and the second " thou" is addressed not to the Chorus, but to 
 Agamemnon, whose death Cassandra has just witnessed in her 
 vision. 
 
 3 The song of the nightingale, represen*ed by these sounds, 
 was connected with a long legend, specially Attic in its origin. 
 Philomela, daughter of Pandion, king of Attica, suffered outrage 
 at the hands of Tereus. who was married to her sister Procne, 
 and was then changed into a nightingale, destined ever to lament 
 over the fate of Itys her sister's son. The earliest form of the 
 story appears in the Odyssey (xir. 518). Comp, Sophocles, 
 Slectr. v. 148.
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 And life of pleasant days 
 With no fre-h cause to weep: 
 But for me waiteth still 
 Stroke from the two-edged sword. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE VIII 
 
 Chor. From what source hast thou these dread agonies 
 
 Sent on thee by thy God, 
 Yet vague and little meaning ; and thy cries 
 
 Dire with ill-omened shrieks 
 
 Dost utter as a chant, 
 And blendest with them strains of shrillest grief? 
 
 Whence treadest thou this track 
 Of evil-boding path of prophecy ? 
 
 STROPHE IX 
 
 Cass. Woe for the marriage-ties, the marriage-ties 
 Of Paris that brought ruin on his friends ! 
 
 Woe for my native stream, 
 
 Scamandros, that I loved! 
 Once on thy banks my maiden youth was reared, 
 
 (Ah, miserable me!) 
 
 Now by Cokytos and by Acheron's shores 
 I seem too likely soon to utter song 
 
 Of wild, prophetic speech. 
 
 STROPHE X 
 
 Chor, What hast thou spoken now 
 With utterance all too clear? 
 *Even a boy its gist might understand ; 
 I to the quick am pierced 
 With throe of deadly pain, 
 Whilst thou thy moaning cries art uttering 
 Over thy sore mischance, 
 Wondrous for me to hear. 
 63
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 ANTISTROPHE IX 
 
 Can. Woe for the toil and trouble, toil and trouble 
 Oi city that is utterly destroyed ! 
 
 Woe for the victims slain 
 
 Of herds that roamed the fields, mo 
 
 My father's sacrifice to save his towers! 
 
 No healing charm they brought 
 To save the city from its present doom : 
 And I with hot thoughts wild myself shall cast 
 
 Full soon upon the ground. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE X 
 Chor. This that thou utterest now 
 
 With all before agrees. 
 Some Power above dooms thee with purpose ill, 
 
 Down-swooping heavily, 
 
 To utter with thy voice 
 Sorrows of deepest woe, and bringing death. 
 
 And what the end shall be 
 
 Perplexes in the extreme. 
 
 Cass. Nay, now no more from out of maiden veils 
 My oracle shall glance, like bride fresh wed ; x 
 But seems as though 'twould rush with speedy gales 
 In full, clear brightness to the morning dawn ; 
 So that a greater war than this shall surge 
 Like wave against the sunlight. 1 Now I'll teach 
 No more in parables. Bear witness ye, 
 As running with me, that I scent the track 
 Of evil deeds that long ago were wrought : 
 For never are they absent from this house, 
 
 1 In the marriage-rites of the Greeks of the time of ^Es 
 
 the bride for three days after the wedding wore her veil ; then, 
 ;is now no longer shrinking from her matron life, she laid it aside 
 and looked on her husband wiih unveiled face. 
 
 2 The picture might be drawn by any artist of power, but we 
 may, perhaps, trace a reproduction of one of the grandest 
 passages in the Iliad (iv. 422-426). 
 
 64
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 That choral band which chants in full accord, 
 
 Yet no good music ; good is not their theme. 
 
 And now, as having drunk men's blood, 1 and so 
 
 Grown wilder, bolder, see, the revelling band, 11M 
 
 Erinnyes of the race, still haunt the halls, 
 
 Not easy to dismiss. And so they sing, 
 
 Close cleaving to the house, its primal woe, 2 
 
 And vent their loathing in alternate strains 
 
 On marriage-bed of brother ruthless found 
 
 To that defiler. *Miss I now, or hit, 
 
 Like archer skilled ? or am I seeress false, 
 
 A babbler vain that knocks at every door ? 
 
 Yea, swear beforehand, ere I die, I know 
 
 (And not by rumour only) all the sins 
 
 Of ancient days that haunt and vex this house. 
 
 Chor. How could an oath, how firm soe'er confirmed, 
 Bring aught of healing ? Lo, I marvel at thee, 117 
 That thou, though born far off beyond the sea, 
 Should'st tell an alien city's tale as clear 
 As though thyself had stood by all the while. 
 
 Cass. The seer Apollo set me to this task. 
 
 Chor. Was he a God, so smitten with desire ? 
 
 Cass. There was a time when shame restrained my 
 speech. 
 
 Chor. True ; they who prosper still are shy and coy. 
 
 Cass. He wrestled hard, breathing hot love on me. 
 
 Chor. And were ye one in act whence children spring ? 
 
 Cass. I promised Loxias, then I broke my vow. 
 
 Chor. Wast thou e'en then possessed with arts 
 divine ? 118 
 
 1 So in the Eumcnides (v. 293). the Erinnyes appear as vam- 
 pires, drinking the blood of their victims. 
 
 a The dtathof Myrtilos as the first crime in the long history 
 of the house of Pelops. Comp. Soph. Electr. v. 470. The 
 "defiler" is Thyestes, who seduced Aerope, the wife of 
 Atreus. 
 
 u 65 x
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Cass. E'en then my country's woes I prophesied. 
 
 Chor. How wast thou then unscathed by Loxias* 
 wrath ? 
 
 Cass. I for that fault with no man gained belief. 
 
 Char. To us, at least, thou seem'st to speak the truth. 
 
 Cass. [Again speaking wildly, as in an ecstasy.] Ah, 
 woe is me ! Woe's me ! Oh, ills on ills ! 
 Again the dread pang of true prophet's gift 
 With preludes of great evil dizzies me. 
 See ye those children sitting on the house 
 In fashion like to phantom forms of dreams? 
 Infants who perished at their own kin's hands, 
 Their palms filled full with meat of their own flesh, 
 Loom on my sight, the heart and entrails bearing, 
 (A sorry burden that !) on which of old 
 Their father fed. 1 And in revenge for this, 
 I say a lion, dwelling in his lair, 
 With not a spark of courage, stay-at-home, 
 Plots 'gainst my master, now he's home returned, 
 (Yes mine for still I must the slave's yoke bear ;) 
 And the ship's ruler, Ilion's conqueror, 
 Knows not what things the tongue of that lewd bitch 
 Has spoken and spun out in welcome smooth, 
 And, like a secret Ate, will work out 
 With dire success : thus 'tis she plans : the man 
 Is murdered by the woman. By what name 
 Shall I that loathed monster rightly call ? 
 An Amphisbaena ? or a Skylla dwelling 3 
 
 1 The horror of the Thyestes banquet again haunts her as the 
 source of all the evils that followed, of the deaths both of 
 Iphigeneia and Agamemnon. The " stay-at-home " is 
 
 2 Both words point to the Sindbad-like stories ot distant 
 marvels brought back by Greek sailors. The Amphisbaena 
 (double-goer), wriggling itself backward and forward, believed 
 to have a head at each extremity, was looked upon as at once 
 the most subtle and the most venomous of serpents. Skylla, 
 66
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Among the rocks, the sailors' enemy ? 
 Hades' fierce raging mother, breathing out 
 Against her friends a curse implacable ? 
 Ah, how she raised her cry, (oh, daring one !) 
 As for the rout of battle, and she feigns 
 To hail with joy her husband's safe return ! 
 And if thou dost not credit this, what then ? 
 What will be will. Soon, present, pitying me 
 Thou'lt own I am too true a prophetess. 
 
 Chor. Thyestes' banquet on his children's flesh 
 I know and shudder at, and fear o'ercomes me, 
 Hearing not counterfeits of fact, but truths ; 
 Yet in the rest I hear and miss my path. 
 
 Cast. I say thou'lt witness Agamemnon's death. 
 
 Chor. Hush, wretched woman, close those lips of 
 thine ! 
 
 Cass. For this my speech no healing God's at hand. 
 
 Chor. True, if it must be ; but may God avert it ! 1S2 
 
 Cass. Thou utterest prayers, but others murder plot. 
 
 Chor. And by what man is this dire evil wrought ? 
 
 Cass. Sure, thou hast seen my bodings all amiss. 
 
 Chor. I see not his device who works the deed. 
 
 Cass. And yet I speak the Hellenic tongue right well. 
 
 Chor. So does the Pythian, yet her words are hard. 
 
 Cass. [In another access of frenzy. ~\ Ah me, this fire ! 
 
 It comes upon me now ! 
 Ah me, Apollo, wolf-slayer ! woe is me ! 
 This biped lioness who takes to bed 
 A wolf in absence of the noble lion, J2X> 
 
 Will slay me, wretched me. And, as one 
 Mixing a poisoned draught, she boasts that she 
 Will put my price into her cup of wrath, 
 Sharpening her sword to smite her spouse with death, 
 already famous in its mythical form from the story in the 
 Odyssey (xii. 85-100), was probably a "development" of the 
 monstrous cuttle-fish of the it.aits of Messina. 
 67
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 So paying him for bringing me. Oh, why 
 Do I still wear what all men flout and scorn, 
 My wand and seeress wreaths around my neck ?* 
 Thee, ere myself I die I will destroy : \breaks her w./W] 
 Perish ye thus: \casting off her tvreatks] I soon shall 
 
 follow you : 
 
 Make rich another Ate 1 in my place; 
 Behold Apollo's self is stripping me 
 Of my divining garments, and that too, 
 When he has seen me even in this garb 
 Scorned without cause among my friends and kin, 
 *By foes, with no diversity of mood. 
 Reviled as vagrant, wandering prophetess, 
 Poor, wretched, famished, I endured to live : 
 And now the Seer who me a seeress made 
 Hath brought me to this lot of deadly doom. 
 Now for my father's altar there awaits me 
 A butcher's block, where I am smitten down 
 By slaughtering stroke, and with hot gush of blood. 
 But the Gods will not slight us when we're dead ; 125 
 Another yet shall come as champion for us, 
 A son who slays his mother, to avenge 
 His father ; and the exiled wanderer 
 Far from his home, shall one day come again, 
 Upon these woes to set the coping-stone : 
 For the high Gods have sworn a mighty oath, 
 His father's fall, laid low, shall bring him back. 
 
 1 As in Homer (//. i. 14) so here, the servant of Apollo bears 
 the wand of augury, and fillets or wreaths round head and 
 arms. The divining garments, in like manner, were of white 
 linen. 
 
 3 If we adopt this reading, we must think of Cassandra ^s 
 identifying herself with the woe (Ate) which makes up her li'c, 
 just as afterwards Clytaemnestra speaks of herself as one \vi-h 
 the avenging Demon (Alastor) of the house of Atreus (1473)- 
 The alternative reading gives. 
 
 " Make rich in woe another in my place." 
 68
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Why then do I thus groan in this new home, 1 
 
 When, to begin with, Ilion's town I saw 
 
 Faring as it did fare, and they who held 
 
 That town are gone by judgment of the Gods ? 1WO 
 
 I too will fare as they, and venture death : 
 
 So I these gates of Hades now address, 
 
 And pray for blow that bringeth death at once, 
 
 That sc with no fierce spasm, while the blood 
 
 Flows in calm death, I then may close mine eyes. 
 
 [Goes towards the door of the palace 
 
 Chor. O thou most wretched, yet again most wise : 
 Long hast thou spoken, lady, but if well 
 Thou know'st thy doom, why to the altar go'st thou, 
 Like heifer driven of God, so confidently ? a 
 
 Cass. For me, my friends, there is no time to 'scape/ 
 
 Chor. Yea ; but he gains in time who comes the last. 
 
 Cass. The day is come : small gain for me in flight. 
 
 Chor. Know then thou sufFerest with a heart full 
 brave. 
 
 Cass. Such words as these the happy never hear. 
 
 Chor. Yet mortal man may welcome noble death. 
 
 Cass. \Shrinking back from opening the door.~\ Woe's 
 me for thee and thy brave sons, my father ! 4 
 
 Chor. Whatcometh now ? What fear oppresseth thee ? 
 
 Cass. \^Again going to the door and then shuddering in 
 another burst of frenzy. ~] Fie on't, fie! 
 
 1 Perhaps, " in home not mine." 
 
 2 When the victim, instead of shrinking and stnirgling, went, 
 si s with good courage, to the altar, it was noted as a sign of 
 divine impulse. Such a strange, new courage the Chorus notices 
 in Cassandra. 
 
 * Possibly, 
 
 " My one escape, my friends, is but delay." 
 
 4 The implied thoughts of the words is that Priam and his 
 sons, though they had died nobly, were yet mise able, and not 
 happy. 
 
 69
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Chor. Whence comes this "Fie?" unless from mind 
 that loathes ? [ 13W 
 
 Cass. The house is tainted with the scent of death. 
 
 Chor. How so ? This smells of victims on the hearth. 
 
 Cass. Nay, it is like the blast from out a grave. 
 
 Chor. No Syrian ritual tell'st thou for our house. 1 
 
 Cass. Well then I go, and e'en within will wail 
 My fate and Agamemnon's. And for me, 
 Enough of life. Ah, friends ! Ah ! not for nought 
 I shrink in fear, as bird shrinks from the brake.* 
 When I am dead do ye this witness bear, 
 When in revenge for me, a woman, Death 
 A woman smites, and man shall fall for man 
 In evil wedlock wed. This friendly office, 
 As one about to die, I pray you do me. 
 
 Chor. Thy doom foretold, poor sufferer, moves my pity. 
 
 Cass. I fain would speak once more, yet not to wail 
 Mine own death-song ; but to the Sun I pray, 
 To his last rays, that my avengers wreak 
 Upon my hated murderers judgment due 
 For me, who die a slave's death, easy prey. 
 Ah, life of man ! when most it prospereth, 
 *It is but limned in outline ; s and when brought 
 To low estate, then doth the sponge, full soaked, uco 
 Wipe out the picture with its frequent touch : . 
 And this I count more piteous e'en than that. 4 
 
 \Passes through the door into the pamce 
 
 1 The Syrian ritual had, it would seem, become proverbial for 
 its lavish use of frankincense and other spices. 
 
 2 The close parallel of Shakespeare's Henry VI. , Act. v. sc. 6, 
 is worth quoting- - 
 
 " The bird that hath been limed in a bush, 
 
 With trembling eyes misdoubteth every bush 
 * The older reading gives 
 
 " A shadow might o'erturn it." 
 
 4 Her own doom, hard as it was, touches her less than the 
 common lot of human suffering and mutability. 
 7
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Chor. 'Tis true of all men that they never set 
 A limit to good fortune ; none doth say, 
 
 As bidding it depart, 
 *And warding it from palaces of pride, 
 " Enter thou here no more." 
 To this our lord the Blest Ones gave to take 
 
 Priam's city ; and he comes 
 Safe to his home and honoured by the Gods ; 
 
 But if he now shall pay 
 The forfeit of blood-guiltiness of old, 
 And, dying, so work out for those who died, 
 By his own death another penalty, 
 Who then of mortal men, 
 Hearing such things as this, 
 Can boast that he was born 
 With fate from evil free ? 
 Agam. [from within.~\ Ah, me ! I am struck down 
 
 with deadly stroke. 
 Chor. Hush ! who cries out with deadly stroke sore 
 
 smitten ? 
 
 Agam. Ah me, again ! struck down a second time ! 
 
 [Dies 
 
 Chor. By the king's groans I judge the deed is done ; 
 But let us now confer for counsels safe. 1 
 
 Chor. a. I give you my advice to summon here, 
 Here to the palace, all the citizens. 13JO 
 
 Chor. b. I think it best to rush at once on them, 
 And take them in the act with sword yet wet. 
 
 Chor. f. And I too give like counsel, and I vote 
 For deed of some kind. 'Tis no time to pause. 
 
 Chor. d. Who will see, may. They but the prelude 
 
 work 
 Of tyranny usurped o'er all the State. 
 
 1 So far the dialogue has been sustained by the Coryphseos, 
 or leader of the Chorus. Now each member of it speaks and 
 gives his counsel.
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Char. e. Yes, we are slow, but they who trample down 
 The thought of hesitation slumber not. 
 
 Chor.f. I know not what advice to find or speak : 
 He who can act knows how to counsel too. 
 
 Chor. g. I too think with thee ; for I have no hope 
 With words to raise the dead again to life. 
 
 Chor. h. What ! Shall we drag our life on and submit 
 To these usurpers that defile the house ? 
 
 Chor. i. Nay, that we cannot bear : To die were 
 
 better ; 
 For death is gentler far than tyranny. 
 
 Chor. k. Shall we upon this evidence of groans 
 Guess, as divining that our lord is dead? 
 
 Chor. I. When we know clearly, then should we 
 
 discuss : 
 To guess is one thing, and to know another. 
 
 Chor. 1 So vote I too, and on the winning side, 
 Taking the votes all round that we should learn 
 How he, the son of Atreus, fareth now. 
 
 Enter CLYTJMNESTRA_/r0;w the palace, in robes with 
 stains of blood, followed by soldiers and attendants. 
 The open doors show the corpses ^f AGAMEMNON 
 ana, CASSANDRA, the former lying in a silvered 
 bath 
 
 Though many words before to suit the 
 
 time 
 
 Were spoken, now I shall not be ashamed 
 The contrary to utter : How could one 
 By open show of enmity to foes 
 Who seemed as friends, fence in the snares of death 
 Too high to be o'erleapt ? But as for me, 
 Not without forethought for this long time past, 
 
 1 The Coryphseos again takes up his part, sums up, and pro- 
 nounces his decision. 
 
 7
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 This conflict comes to me from triumph old 1 
 
 Of his, though slowly wrought. I stand where I 15i 
 
 Did smite him down, with all my task well done. 
 
 So did I it, (the deed deny I not,) 
 
 That he could nor avert his doom nor flee : 
 
 I cast around him drag-net as for fish, 
 
 With not one outlet, evil wealth of robe : 
 
 And twice I smote him, and with two deep groans 
 
 He dropped his limbs : And when he thus fell down 
 
 I gave him yet a third, thank-offering true 2 
 
 To Hades of the dark, who guards the dead. 
 
 So fallen, he gasps out his struggling soul, 
 
 And breathing forth a sharp, quick gush of blood, 
 
 He showers dark drops of gory rain on me, 
 
 Who no less joy felt in them than the corn, 
 
 When the blade bears, in glad shower given of God. 
 
 Since this is so, ye Argive elders here, 
 
 Ye, as ye will, may hail the deed, but I 
 
 Boast of it. And were't fitting now to pour 
 
 Libation o'er the dead, 3 'twere justly done, 
 
 Yea more than justly ; such a goblet full 
 
 Of ills hath he filled up with curses dire 
 
 At home, and now has come to drain it off. 
 
 Chor. We marvel at the boldness of thy tongue 1S7 
 Who o'er thy husband's corpse speak'st vaunt like this. 
 
 1 i.e., He had had his triumph over her when, forgetful of her 
 mo:her's feelings, he had sacrificed Iphigeneia. She has now 
 rcpa d him to the full. 
 
 2 The third libation at all feasts was to Zeus, as the Preserver 
 or Guardian Deity. Clytsemnestra boasts that her third blow 
 was as an offering to a God of other kind, to Him who had in 
 his keeping not the living, but the dead. 
 
 3 So in the Choephori (vv. 351, 476), the custom of pouring 
 libations on the burial-place of the dead is recognised as an 
 element of their blessedness or shame in Hades, and Agamemnon 
 is represented as lacking the honour which comes from them 
 till he receives it at the hand of OresKs. 
 
 73
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 . Ye test me as a woman weak of mind ; 
 But I with dauntless heart to you that know 
 Say this, and whether thou dost praise or blame, 
 Is all alike : here Agamemnon lies, 
 My husband, now a corpse, of this right hand, 
 As artist just, the handiwork : so stands it. 
 
 STROPHE 
 Chor. What evil thing, O Queen, or reared on earth, 
 
 Or draught from salt sea-wave 
 
 Hast thou fed on, to bring 
 
 Such incense on thyself, 1 
 
 A people's loud-voiced curse ? 
 
 Twas thou did'st sentence him, 
 
 'Twas thou did'st strike him down ; 
 
 But thou shah exiled be, 
 Hated with strong hate of the citizens. 
 Clyteem. Ha! now on me thou lay'st the exile's doom, 
 My subjects' hate, and people's loud-voiced curse, 
 Though ne'er did'st thou oppose my husband there, 
 Who, with no more regard than had been due 
 To a brute's death, although he called his own 
 Full many a fleecy sheep in pastures bred, 
 Yet sacrificed his child, the dear-loved fruit 
 Of all my travail-pangs, to be a charm 
 Against the winds of Thrakia. Shouldst thou not 
 Have banished him from out this land of ours, 
 As meed for all his crimes ? Yet hearing now 
 My deeds, thou art a judge full stern. But I 
 Tell thee to speak thy threats, as knowing well 
 I am prepared that thou on equal terms 
 Should'st rule, if thou dost conquer. But if God 
 
 i Incense was placed on the head of the victim. The Chorus 
 tell Clytaemnestra that she has brought upon her own head the 
 incense, not of praise and admiration, but of hatred and wraih, 
 as though some poison had driven her mad. 
 74
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Should otherwise decree, then thou shalt learn, 
 Late though it be, the lesson to be wise. 
 
 ANTISTROPHK 
 
 Cher. Yea, thou art stout of heart, and speak'st big 
 words ; IM 
 
 .And maddened is thy soul 
 As by a murderous hate ; 
 And still upon thy brow 
 Is seen, not yet avenged, 
 The stain of blood-spot foul ; 
 And yet it needs must be, 
 One day thou, reft of friends, 
 Shalt pay the penalty of blow for blow. 
 C/yttem. Now hear thou too my oaths of solemn dread : 
 By my accomplished vengeance for my child, 
 By Ate and Erinnys, unto whom 
 I slew him as a victim, I look not 
 That fear should come beneath this roof of mine, 
 So long as on my hearth ^Egisthos kindles Ui 
 
 The flaming fire, as well disposed to me 
 As he hath been aforetime. He to us 
 Is no slight shield of stoutest confidence. 
 There lies he, [pointing to the corpse ^AGAMEMNON,] one 
 
 who foully wronged his wife, 
 The darling of the Chrysei'ds at Troi'a ; 
 And there [pointing to CASSANDRA] this captive slave, 
 
 this auguress, 
 
 His concubine, this seeress trustworthy, 
 *Who shared his bed, and yet was as well known 
 To the sailors as their benches ! . . . They have fared 
 Not otherwise than they deserved : for he 
 Lies as you see. And she who, like a swan, 1 
 
 1 The species of swan referred to is said to be the Cygnus 
 Afuricus. Aristotle (Hist. Anim. ix. 12) describes swans of 
 some kind as having been heard by sailors near the coast of 
 75
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Has chanted out her last and dying song, 1<5 
 
 Lies close to him she loved, and so has brought 
 The zest of a new pleasure to my bed. 
 
 STROPHE H 
 
 Chor. Ah me, would death might come 
 Quickly, with no sharp throe of agony, 
 Nor long bed-ridden pain, 
 Bringing the endless sleep ; 
 Since he, the watchman most benign of all, 
 
 Hath now been smitten low, 
 And by a woman's means hath much endured, 
 And at a woman's hand hath lost his life ! 
 
 STROPHE II 
 Alas ! alas ! O Helen, evil-souled, 1CJ 
 
 Who, though but one, hast slain 
 Many, yea, very many lives at Tro'ia. 1 
 
 
 
 STROPHE III 
 *But now for blood that may not be washed out 
 
 *Thou hast to full bloom brought 
 *A deed of guilt for ever memorable, 
 For strife was in the house, 
 Wrought out in fullest strength, 
 Woe for a husband's life. 
 
 Libya, " singing with a lamentable cry." Mrs. SomeroTa 
 {fftys. Grog., c. xxxiii. 3) describes their note as " like that of a 
 violin." The same fact is reported of the swans of Iceland and 
 other regions of the far North. The strange, tender beauty of 
 the passage in the P/uedo of Plato (p. 85, a), which speaks of 
 them as singing when at the point of death, has done more than 
 anything else to make the illustration one of the commonplaces 
 of rhetoric and poetry. 
 
 1 The structure of the lyrical dialogue that follows is rather 
 complicated, and different editors have adopted different arrange- 
 ments. I have followed Paley's. 
 
 * Several lines seem to have dropped out by some accident of 
 transcription. 
 
 76
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 STROPHE IV 
 Cfytefm. Nay, pray not thou for destiny of death, 
 
 Oppressed with what thou see'st ; 
 Nor turn thou against Helena thy wrath, 
 
 As though she murderess were, 
 And, though but one, had many Dana'i's souls 
 Brought low in death, and wrought o'erwhelming woe. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I 
 
 Ckor. O Power that dost attack 
 Our palace and the two Tantalidas, 1 
 
 *And dost through women wield 
 *A might that grieves my heart! 2 
 And o'er the body, like a raven foul, 
 
 Against all laws of right, 
 *Standing, she boasteth in her pride of heart 3 
 That she can chant her paean hymn of praise. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE IV 
 Clyteem. Now thou dost guide aright thy speech 
 
 and thought, 
 
 Invoking that dread Power, 
 *The thrice-gorged evil genius of this house ; 
 
 For he it is who feeds 
 
 In the heart's depth the raging lust of blood : 
 Ere the old wound is healed, new bloodshed comes. 
 
 STROPHE V 
 
 Ckor. Yes, of a Power thou tell'st 
 *Mighty and very wrathful to this house ; 
 
 1 Agamemnon and Menelaos, as descended from Tantalos, 
 the father of Pelops. 
 
 - In each case women, Helen and Clytsemnestra, had been 
 the unconscious instruments of the divine Nemesis, to which 
 the Chorus traces the ruin of the house of Atreus. 
 
 8 Or, with another reading, 
 
 " He (sc. the avenging Demon) boasteth in his pride of heart." 
 77
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Ah me ! ah me ! an evil tale enough I4CO 
 
 Of baleful chance of doom, 
 
 Insatiable of ill : 
 
 Yet, ah ! it is through Zeus, 
 The all-appointing and all-working One ; 
 
 For what with mortal men 
 
 Is wrought apart from Zeus ? 
 What of all this is not by God decreed F 1 
 
 STROPHE VI 
 
 Ah me ! ah me ! 
 
 My king, my king, how shall I weep for thee ? 
 What shall I speak from heart that truly loves ? 
 And now thou liest there, breathing out thy life, 1<ro 
 
 In impious deed of death, 
 
 In this fell spider's web, 
 
 STROPHE VII 
 
 (Yes, woe is me ! woe, woe ! 
 Woe for this couch of thine dishonourable !) 
 
 Slain by a subtle death, 1 
 With sword two-edged which her right hand did wield. 
 
 STROPHE VIII 
 
 Clytam. Thou speak'st big words, as if the deed 
 
 were mine ; 
 
 Yet think thou not of me, 
 As Agamemnon's spouse ; 
 But in the semblance of this dead man's wife, 
 The old and keen Avenger of the house 
 Of Atreus, that cruel banqueter of old, 
 
 1 It is characteristic of the teaching of wEschylos that the 
 Chorus passes from the thought of the agency of any lower 
 Power to the supreme will of Zeus. 
 
 2 Or, " Dying, as dies a slave." 
 
 78
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Hath wrought out vengeance full 
 
 On him who lieth here, lao 
 
 And full-grown victim slain 
 
 Over the younger victims of the past. l 
 
 ANTISTROPHK V 
 
 Chor. That thou art guiltless found 
 Of this foul murder who will witness bear ? 
 How can it be so, how ? And yet, perchance, 
 
 As helper to the deed, 
 
 Might come the avenging Fiend 
 
 Of that ancestral time ; 
 And in this rush of murders of near kin 
 
 Dark Ares presses on, 
 
 Where he will vengeance work 
 For clotted gore of children slain as food. 14M 
 
 ANTISTROPHE VI 
 
 Ah me ! ah me ! 
 
 My king, my king, how shall I weep for thee ? 
 What shall I speak from heart that truly loves ? 
 And now thou liest there, breathing out thy life, 
 
 In impious deed of death, 
 
 In this fell spider's web, 
 
 ANTISTROPHE VII 
 
 (Yes, woe is me ! woe, woe ! 
 Woe for this couch of thine dishonourable !) 
 
 Slain by a subtle death, 
 With sword two-edged which her right hand did wield. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE VIII 
 
 C'yttfm. Nay, not dishonourable 
 
 His death doth seem to me : 
 
 1 Clytaemnestra still harps (though in ambiguous words. 
 which may refer also to the murder of the children of Thyeste*} 
 upon the death of Iphigeneia as the crime which it had been her 
 work to avenge, 
 
 79
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Did he not work a doom, 
 
 In this our house with guile . ?1 **' 9 
 
 Mine own dear child, begotten of this man, 
 Iphigeneia, wept with many a tear, 
 He slew ; now slain himself in recompense, 
 
 Let him not boast in Hell, 
 
 Since he the forfeit pays, 
 
 Pierced by the sword in death, 
 For all the evil that his hand began. 
 
 STROPHE IX 
 
 Cbor. I stand perplexed in soul, deprived of power 
 Of quick and ready thought, 
 Where now to turn, since thus 
 Our home is falling low. 
 I shrink in fear from the fierce pelting storm 
 Of blood that shakes the basement of the house : 
 
 No more it rains in drops : 
 And for another deed of mischief dire, 
 Fate whets the righteous doom 
 On other whetstones still. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II 
 O Earth! O Earth! Oh, would thou had'st received me, 
 
 Ere I saw him on couch 
 
 Of bath with silvered walls thus stretched in death ! 
 Who now will bury him, who wail ? Wilt thou, 
 When thou hast slain thy husband, have the heart 1HI 
 To mourn his death, and for thy monstrous deeds 
 Do graceless grace ? And who will chant the dirge 
 With tears in truth of heart, 
 Over our godlike chief? 
 STROPHE X 
 Clytttn. It is not thine to speak ; 
 
 Twas at our hands he fell, 
 i Perhaps, " And that, too, not a slate's. * 
 
 8*
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Yea, he fell low in death, 
 
 And we will bury him, uso 
 
 Not with the bitter tears of those who weep 
 
 As inmates of the house ; 
 But she, his child, Iphigeneia, there 
 Shall meet her father, and with greeting kind, 
 E'en as is fit, by that swift-flowing ford, 
 
 Dark stream of bitter woes, 
 
 Shall clasp him in her arms, 
 
 And give a daughter's kiss. 
 
 ANTJSTROPHE IX 
 
 Chor. Lo ! still reproach upon reproach doth come ; 
 
 Hard are these things to judge : 
 
 The spoiler still is spoiled, 
 
 The slayer pays his debt ; 
 
 Yea, while Zeus liveth through the ages, this 154 
 
 Lives also, that the doer dree his weird ; 
 
 For this is law fast fixed. 
 Who now can drive from out the kingly house 
 
 The brood of curses dark ? 
 
 The race to At6 cleaves. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE X 
 
 Clytttm. Yes, thou hast touched with truth 
 
 That word oracular ; 
 
 But I for my part wish, 
 
 (Binding with strongest oath 
 The evil daemon of the Pleisthenids,) 1 
 
 Though hard it be to bear, 
 To rest content with this our present lot ; 
 And, for the future, that he go to vex 
 Another race with homicidal deaths. 15fl 
 
 1 Here the genealogy is carried one step further to Pleisthenes, 
 the father of Tantalos. 
 
 a 81 r
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Lo ! 'tis enough for me, 
 Though small my share of wealth, 
 At last to have freed my house 
 From madness that sets each man's hand 'gainst each. 
 
 Enter ^GISTHOS 
 
 jgis. Hail, kindly light of day that vengeance 
 
 brings ! 
 
 Now I can say the Gods on high look down, 
 Avenging men, upon the woes of earth, 
 Since lying in the robes the Erinnyes wove 
 I see this man, right welcome sight to me, 
 Paying for deeds his father's hand had wrought. u03 
 Atreus, our country's ruler, this man's father, 
 Drove out my sire Thyestes, his own brother, 
 (To tell the whole truth,) quarrelling for rule, 
 An exile from his country and his home. 
 And coming back a suppliant on the hearth, 
 The poor Thyestes found a lot secure, 
 Nor did he, dying, stain the soil with blood, 
 There in his home. But this man's godless sire, 1 
 Atreus, more prompt than kindly in his deeds, 
 On plea of keeping festal day with cheer, 
 To my sire banquet gave of children's flesh, 
 His own. The feet and finger-tips of hands 
 *He, sitting at the top, apart concealed ; 
 And straight the other, in his blindness taking 
 The parts that could not be discerned, did eat 
 A meal which, as thou see'st, perdition works 
 For all his kin. And learning afterwards 
 The deed of dread, he groaned and backward fell, 
 Vomits the feast of blood, and imprecates 
 
 1 ^Egisthos, in his version of the story, suppresses the adultery 
 of Thyestes with the wife of Atreus, which led the latter to his 
 horrible revenge. 
 
 Sa
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 On Pelops' sons a doom intolerable, 
 
 And makes the o'erturning of the festive board, 
 
 With fullest justice, as a general curse, 
 
 That so might fall the race of Pleisthenes. 15SO 
 
 And now thou see'st how here accordingly 
 
 This man lies fallen ; I, of fullest right, 
 
 The weaver of the plot of murderous doom. 
 
 For me, a babe in swaddling-clothes, he banished 
 
 With my poor father, me, his thirteenth child ; 
 
 And Vengeance brought me back, of full age grown : 
 
 And e'en far off I wrought against this man, 
 
 And planned the whole scheme of this dark device. 
 
 And so e'en death were now right good for me, 
 
 Seeing him into the nets of Vengeance fallen. 
 
 Chor. 1 honour not this arrogance in guilt, 154 
 yEgisthos. Thou confessest thou hast slain 
 Of thy free will our chieftain here, that thou 
 Alone did'st plot this murder lamentable ; 
 Be sure, I say, thy head shall not escape 
 The righteous curse a people hurls with stones. 
 
 JEgistk. Dost thou say this, though seated on the 
 
 bench 
 
 Of lowest oarsmen, while the upper row 
 Commands the ship ?* But thou shalt find, though old, 
 How hard it is at such an age to learn, 
 When the word is, " keep temper." But a prison 
 And fasting pains are admirably apt, 
 As prophet-healers even for old age. 
 Dost see, and not see this ? Against the pricks 
 Kick not, 3 lest thou perchance should'st smart for it. 
 
 1 The image is taken from the trireme with its three benches 
 full of rowers. The Chorus is compared to the men on the lowest, 
 ^Egisthos and Qytsemnestra to those on the uppermost bench. 
 
 a The earliest occurrence of the proverb with which we are 
 familiar through the history of St. Paul's conversion, Acts ix 5, 
 xxvi. 14.
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Cher. Thou, thou, O Queen, when thy lord came 
 
 from war, 
 
 While keeping house, thy husband's bed defiling, 
 Did'st scheme this death for this our hero-chief. 
 
 JEgisth. These words of thine shall parents prove 
 
 of tears : 
 
 But this thy tongue is Orpheus' opposite ; 
 He with his voice led all things on for joy, 
 But thou, provoking with thy childish cries, 
 Shalt now be led ; and then, being kept in check, 
 Thou shall appear in somewhat gentler mood. 
 
 Chor. As though thou should'st o'er Argives ruler be, 
 Who even when thou plotted'st this man's death 
 Did'st lack good heart to do the deed thyself ? 
 
 jEgisth. E'en so ; to work this fraud was clearly part 
 Fit for a woman. I was foe, of old 
 Suspected. But now will I with his wealth 
 See whether I his subjects may command, 
 And him who will not hearken I will yoke 
 In heavy harness as a full-fed colt, 
 Nowise as trace-horse ;* but sharp hunger joined 
 With darksome dungeon shall behold him tamed. 1CM 
 
 Chor. Why did'st not thou then, coward as thou art, 
 Thyself destroy him ? but a woman with thee, 
 Pollution to our land and our land's Gods, 
 She slew him. Does Orestes see the light, 
 Perchance, that he, brought back by Fortune's grace, 
 May for both these prove slayer strong to smite ? 
 
 JEgjiitlk Well, since thou think'st to act, not 
 
 merely talk, 
 Thou shalt know clearly .... 
 
 [Calling his Guards from the palace 
 On then, my troops, the time for deeds is come. 
 
 1 The trace-horse, as not under the pressure of the collar, was 
 taken as the type of free, those that wore the yoke, of enforced 
 submission. 
 
 4
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 Chor. On then, let each man grasp his sword in hand. 
 
 JEgiith. With sword in hand, I too shrink not 
 from death. 1MO 
 
 Chor. Thou talkest of thy death ; we hail the word ; 
 And make our own the fortune it implies. 
 
 Clyteem. Nay, let us not do other evil deeds, 
 Thou dearest of all friends. An ill-starred harvest 
 It is to have reaped so many. Enough of woe : 
 Let no more blood be shed : Go thou [to the 
 
 Chorus] go ye, 
 
 Ye aged sires, to your allotted homes, 
 Ere ye do aught amiss and dree your weird : 
 *This that we have done ought to have sufficed ; 
 But should it prove we've had enough of ills, 
 We will accept it gladly, stricken low 
 In evil doom by heavy hand of God. 
 This is a woman's counsel, if there be 
 That deigns to hear it. 
 
 JEgisth. But that these should fling 
 
 The blossoms of their idle speech at me, 1<MO 
 
 And utter words like these, so tempting Fate, 
 And fail of counsel wise, and flout their master . . . . ! 
 
 Chor. It suits not Argives on the vile to fawn. 
 / dEgiith. Be sure, hereafter I will hunt thee down. 
 \ Chor. Not so, if God should guide Orestes back. 
 
 JEgisth. Right well I know how exiles feed on 
 hopes. 
 
 Ckor. Prosper, wax fat, do foul wrong 'tis thy day. 
 
 JEgisth. Know thou shalt pay full price for this 
 thy folly. 
 
 Ckor. Be bold, and boast, like cock beside his mate. 
 
 Clytam. Nay, care not thou for these vain howl- 
 ings ; I 
 
 And thou together, ruling o'er the house, 
 Will settle all things rightly. [Exeunt 
 
 5
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 DRAMATIS PERSONS 
 
 ORESTES CLYT^MNESTRA PVLADES 
 ELECTRA .GISTHOS Nurse 
 
 Servant Chorus of Captive Women 
 
 ARGUMENT. It came to pass, after Agamemnon had 
 been slain, that Clytcemnestra and ^Egisthos ruled in 
 Argos, and all things seemed to go well with them. 
 Orestes, who was heir to Agamemnon, they had sent 
 away to the care of Strophios of Phokis, and there he 
 abode. Electra, his sister, mourned in secret over her 
 father's death, and prayed for vengeance, but no avenger 
 came. And when Orestes grew up to man's estate, he 
 went to ask counsel of the God at Delphi, and the Gods 
 straitly charged him to take vengeance on his father's 
 murderers ; and so he started on his journey with his 
 trusty friend Pylades, and arrived at Argos. And it 
 chanced that a little while before he came, the Gods sent 
 Clytamnestra a fearful dream, that troubled her soul 
 greatly ; and in her terror she bade Electra go with her 
 handmaids to pour libations on the tomb of Agamemnon, 
 that so she might appease his soul, and propitiate the 
 Powers that rule over the dark world of the dead.
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 SCXNX. Argos, in front of tie palace of the Atreidir. The tomb of 
 AGAMEMNON (a raised mound of earth} is teen in the background. 
 
 Enter ORESTES and PYLADES from the left; ORESTES 
 advances to the mound, and, as he speaks, lays on it 
 a loch of his hair. 
 
 Orest. O Hermes of the darkness 'neath the earth, 
 Who hast the charge of all thy Father's 1 sway, 
 To me who pray deliverer, helper be ; 
 For I to this land come, from exile come, 
 And on the raised mound of this monument 
 I bid my father hear and list. One tress, 
 Thank-offering for the gifts that fed my youth, 
 To Inachos I consecrate, and this 
 The second as the token of my grief; 2 
 
 1 Hermes is invoked, (i) as the watcher over the souls of the 
 dead in Hades, and therefore the natural patron of the murdered 
 Agamemnon ; (2) as exercising an authority delegated by Zeus, 
 and therefore capable of being, like Zeus himself, the deliverer 
 and helper of suppliants. So Electra, further on, invokes 
 Hermes in the same character. The line may, however, be 
 rendered, 
 
 "Who stand's! as guardian of my father's house." 
 The three opening lines are noticeable, as having been chosen 
 by Aristophanes as the special object for his satirical criticism 
 (Frogs, 1126-1176), abounding in a good score of ambiguities 
 and tautologies. 
 
 2 The words point to the two symbolic aspects of one and the 
 same practice. In both there are some points of analogy with 
 the earlier and later forms of the Nazarite vow among the Jews. 
 (i) As being part of the body, and yet separable from it without 
 mutilation, it became the representative of the whole man, and 
 
 89
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 For mine it was not, father, being by, 
 Over thy death to groan, nor yet to stretch 
 My hand forth for the burial of thy corpse. 
 
 [As he speaks, ELECTRA, followed by a train of 
 captive women in black garments, bearing liba- 
 tions, wailing and tearing their clothes, comet 
 forth from tf.e palace 
 
 What see I now ? What company of women 
 Is this that comes in mourning garb attired? 
 What chance shall I conjecture as its cause ? w 
 
 Does a new sorrow fall upon this house ? 
 Or am I right in guessing that they bring 
 Libations to my father, soothing gifts 
 To those beneath? It cannot but be so. 
 I think Electra, mine own sister, comes, 
 By wailing grief conspicuous. Thou, O Zeus, 
 Grant me full vengeance for my father's death, 
 And of thine own good will my helper be ! 
 Come, Pylades, and let us stand aside, 
 That I may clearly learn what means this train 
 Of women offering prayers. w 
 
 as such was the sign of a votive dedication. As early as Homer, 
 it was the custom of youths to keep one long, flowing lock as 
 consecrated, and when they reached manhood, they cut it off, 
 and offered it to the river-god of their country, throwing it into 
 the stream, as that to which, directly and indirectly, they owed 
 their nurture. Here the offering is made to Inachos, as the 
 hero-founder of Argos, identified with the river that bore his 
 name. (2) They shaved their head, wholly or in part, as a token 
 of grief, and then, because true grief for the dead was an 
 acceptable and propitiatory offering, this became the natural 
 offering for suppliants who offered their prayers at the tombs of 
 the departed. So in the Aias of Sophocles (v. 1174) Teucros 
 calls on Eurysakes to approach the corpse of his father, holding 
 in his hand locks of his own hair, his mother's, and that of 
 Teucros. In the offering which Achilles makes over the grave 
 of Patroclos of the hair which he had cherished for the river-god 
 of his fatherland, Spercheios, we have the union of the two 
 customs. Homer, //. xxiii. 141-151. 
 90
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 STROPHE I 
 
 Chor. Sent from the house I come, 
 With quick, sharp beatings of the hands in grief, 
 
 To pour libations here ; 
 
 *And see, my cheeks with bloody marks are tracked, 1 
 The new-cut furrows which my nails have made, 
 And evermore my heart is fed with groans ; 
 
 And folds of mantles tied 
 
 Across the breast are rent 
 
 To shreds and rags in grief, 
 *Marring the grace of linen vestments fair, 
 *Since we by woes that shut out smiles are smitten. ** 
 
 ANTISTROPHK I 
 
 *Full clear a spectre came 
 That made each single hair to stand on end, 
 
 Dream-prophet of this house, 
 That e'en in sleep breathes out avenging wrath ; 
 And from the secret chamber cried in fear 
 A cry that broke the silence of the night, 
 
 There, where the women dwell, 
 
 Falling with heaviest weight ; 
 
 And those who judge such dreams 
 Told, calling God to witness, that the souls 
 Below were wroth and vexed with those that slewthem. 40 
 
 STROPHE II 
 
 On such a graceless deed of grace, as charm 
 To ward off ill, (O Earth ! O mother kind !) 
 
 A godless woman now 
 
 Sends me with eager heart ; 
 
 1 After the widespread fashion of the East, the handmaids of 
 Clytaemnestra (originally Troi'an captives) had to rend their 
 clothes, beat their breasts, and lacerate their faces till the blood 
 came. The higher civilisation of Solon's laws had forbidden 
 these wild, barbarous forms of grief at Athens. Plutarch, 
 Solon, p. 164. 
 
 9*
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 And yet I dread to utter that same prayer ; 
 
 What ransom has been found 
 
 For blood on earth once poured ? 
 
 Oh ! hearth all miserable ! 
 Oh ! utter overthrow of house and home ! 
 Yea, mists of darkness, sunless, loathed of men, 
 
 Cover both home and house 
 
 With its lords' bloody deaths. 
 
 ANTISTROPHK II 
 
 Yea, all the majesty that awed of old, 
 Unchecked, unconquered, irresistible, 
 
 Thrilling the people's heart 
 
 As well as ears, is gone ; 
 There are, may be, that fear ;* but now Success 
 
 Is man's sole God and more ; 
 
 Yet stroke of Vengeance swift 
 
 Smites some in life's clear day, 
 For some who tarry long their sorrows wait 
 In twilight dim, on darkness' borderland, 
 
 *And some an endless night 
 
 Of nothingness holds fast. 
 
 STROPHE III 
 
 Because of blood that mother earth has drunk, 
 The guilt of slaughter that will vengeance work 
 
 Is fixed indelibly ; 
 
 And Ate, working grief, 
 Permits awhile the guilty one to wait, 
 That so he may be full and overflow 
 
 *With all-devouring ill. 
 
 1 Purposely, perhaps, obscure. They seem to say that the 
 old reverence for Agamemnon has passed away, and instead of 
 it there is only a slavish fear for ^Egisthos. For the more acute, 
 however, they imply that those who have cause to fear arc 
 /Egisthos and Clytsemnestra themselves. 
 9*
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III 
 
 For him whose foul touch stains the marriage bed ! 
 No remedy avails ; and water-streams, 
 
 Though all as from one source 
 
 Should pour to cleanse the guilt 
 *Of murder that the sin-stained hand defiles, 
 
 *Would yet flow all in vain 
 
 That guilt to purify. 
 
 EPODE 
 
 But now to me, since the high Gods have sent 
 A doom of bondage round my city's walls, 
 
 (For from my father's home 
 They have brought on me fate of slavery,) 
 
 Deeds right and wrong alike 
 Have been as things 'twas meet I should accept, 7e 
 
 Since this slave-life began, 
 Where deeds are done by violence and force, 
 
 And I must needs suppress 
 *The bitter loathing of my inmost heart, 
 *And now beneath my cloak I weep and wail 
 *For all the frustrate fortunes of my lords, 2 
 
 Chilled through with secret grief. 
 Elect. Ye handmaids, ye who deftly tend this house, 
 Since ye are here companions in my task 
 As suppliants, give me your advice in this, 
 What shall I say as these funereal gifts 
 I pour ? How shall I speak acceptably ? M 
 
 How to my father pray ? What ? Shall I say 
 
 1 The words, in their generalising sententiousness, refer 
 specially to the twofold crime of ^Egisthos as an adulterer and 
 murderer. Then, in the Epode, the Chorus justify themselves 
 for their seeming inconsistency in thus abhorring the guilt, and 
 yet acting as instruments of the guilty in their attempts to escape 
 punishment. 
 
 2 The mourners speak, of course, of Agamemnon and Orestes, 
 not of ^Ggisthos and Clytaemnestra. 
 
 93
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 " I bring from loving wife to husband loved 
 Gifts" from my mother? No, I am not bold 
 Enough for that, nor know I what to speak, 
 Pouring this chrism on my father's tomb, 1 
 Or shall I say this prayer, as men are wont, 
 "Good recompense make thou to those who bring 
 These garlands," yea, a gift full well deserved 
 By deeds of ill ? Or dumb, with ignominy 
 Like that with which he perished, shall I pour 
 Libations on the earth, and like a man 
 That flings away the lustral filth, shall I 
 Throw down the urn and walk with eyes not 
 
 turned?* * 
 
 Be sharers in my counsels, O my friends ; 
 A common hate we cherish in the house ; 
 Hide nothing in your heart through fear of man. 
 Fate's doom firm-fixed awaits alike the free, 
 And those in bondage to another's hand. 
 Speak, if thou can'st a better counsel give. 
 
 Ghor. [laying their hands on Agamemnon's tomb.'] Thy 
 
 father's tomb as altar honouring, 
 I, as thou bidd'st, will speak my heart-thoughts out ! 
 Elect. Speak, then, as thou my father's tomb dost 
 
 honour, 
 
 1 A mixture of meal, honey, and oil formed the half-liquid 
 substance commonly used for these funereal libations. The 
 "garlands" maybe wreaths of flowers or fillets, or the word 
 may be used figuratively for the libation itself, as crowning the 
 mound in which Agamemnon lay. 
 
 2 The words point to a strange Athenian custom. When a. 
 house was cleansed of that which defiled it, morally or physically, 
 the filth was carried in an earthen vessel to a place where three 
 ways met, and the worshipper flung the vessel behind him, and 
 walked away without turning to look at it. To Electra's mind, 
 the libation which her mother sends is equally unclean, and 
 should be treated in the same way. So in Horn. //. i. 314, the 
 Argives purify themselves, and then cast the lustral water they 
 have used into the sea. Lev. vi. n, gives us an analogous usage. 
 Coinp. also Theocritos, Idyll xxiv., vv. 22-97. 
 
 94
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 Chor. Say, as thou pour'st, good words for those 
 
 that love, 
 
 Elect. Which of my friends shall I address as such ! 
 Chor. First then thyself, and whoso hates ^Egisthos. 
 Elect. Shall I for thee, as for myself, pray thus ? 
 Chor. Now that thou'rt learning, judge of that 
 
 thyself. 
 
 Elect. Whom shall I add then to this company ? 
 Chor. Far though Orestes be, forget him not. 
 Elect. Right well is this : thou teachest admirably. 
 Chor. Then, for the blood-stained ones remembering 
 
 say 
 
 Elect. What then ? Explain, and teach my igno- 
 rance. 1 11 " 
 Chor. That there may come to them some God or 
 
 man . . . 
 
 Elect. Shall I "as judge" or as "avenger" say? 
 Chor. Say it out plain ! " to give them death for 
 
 death." .... 
 
 Elect. May prayers like these consist with piety ? 
 Chor. Why not, a foe with evils to requite ? 
 Elect, \moving to the toml>, and pouring libations as s/f 
 speaks.'] *O mightiest herald of the Gods on high 
 And those below, O Hermes of the dark, 
 Call thou the Powers beneath, and bid them hear 
 The prayers that look towards my father's house ; 
 And Earth herself, who all things bringeth forth, m 
 And rears them and again receives their fruit. 
 And I to human souls libations pouring, 
 Say, calling on my father, " Pity me ; 
 How shall we bring our dear Orestes home ? " 
 For now as sold to ill by her who bore us, 
 
 1 Partly it is the youth of Electra that seeks counsel from 
 those who had mere experience ; partly she shrinks from the 
 responsibility of being the first to utter the formula of execra- 
 tion. 
 
 95
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 We poor ones wander. She as husband gained 
 
 yEgisthos, who was partner in thy death ; 
 
 And I am as a slave, and from his wealth 
 
 Orestes now is banished, and they wax 
 
 Full haughty in the wealth thy toil had gained. 13 
 
 And that Orestes hither with good luck 
 
 May come, I pray. Hear thou that prayer, my father ! 
 
 And to myself grant thou that I may be 
 
 Than that my mother wiser far of heart, 
 
 Holier in act. For us this prayer I pour ; 
 
 And for our foes, my father, this I pray, 
 
 That Justice may as thine avenger come, 
 
 And that thy murderers perish. Thus I place 
 
 Midway in prayer for good that now I speak, 
 
 My prayer 'gainst them for evil. Be thou then 
 
 The escort 1 of these good things that I ask, 
 
 With help of Gods, and Earth, and conquering Justice. 
 
 With prayers like these my votive gifts I pour ; 
 
 And as for you \turning to the Chorus\ 'tis meet with 
 
 cries to crown 
 The paean ye utter, wailing for the dead. 
 
 STROPHE 
 Chor. *Pour ye the pattering tear, 
 
 *Falling for fallen lord, 
 
 *Here by the tomb that shuts out good and ill, 
 Here, where the full libations have been poured 
 That turn aside the curse men deprecate, 
 Hear me, O Thou my Dread, 
 Hear thou, O Sire, the words my dark mind speaks ! 
 
 i The word "escort" has a special reference to the function 
 of Hermes in the unseen world. As he was wont to act as guide 
 to the souls of the dead in their downward journey, so now 
 Electra prays that he may lead the blessings she asks for upward 
 from the dark depths of Earth. 
 
 96
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 ANTISTROPHE 
 
 Oh, woe is me, woe, woe ! 
 Woe, woe, and woe is me f 
 *What warrior strong of spear 
 Shall come the house to free, 
 Or Ares with his Skythian bow 1 in hand, 
 Shaking its pliant strength in deeds of war, 
 *Or guiding in encounter closer yet 
 
 The weapons made with hilts ? 
 [During the choral ode ELECTRA, after going to the 
 mound, and pouring the libations on it, returns 
 holding in her hands the lock of hair which 
 ORESTES had left there 
 Elect. The gifts the earth hath drunk, my father 
 
 hath them : 
 
 Now this new wonder come and share with me. 
 Chor. Speak on, my heart goes pit-a-pat with fear. 
 Elect. There on the tomb I see this lock cut off. 16 
 Chor. What man or maid low-girdled can it claim ? 
 Elect. Full easy this for any one to guess. 
 Chor. Old as I am, may I from younger learn ? 
 Elect. None but myself could cut off lock like this. 
 Chor. Yea, foes are they that should with grief-locks 
 
 mourn. 
 
 Elect. Yes, surely, 'tis indeed the self-same hair . . . 
 Chor. But as what tresses ? This I seek to know. 
 Elect. And of a truth 'tis very like to ours. . . . 
 Chor. Did then Orestes send this secret gift? 2 
 
 1 The Skythian bow, long and elastic, bending either way, 
 like those of the Arabians (Herod, vii. 6g). The connection of 
 Ares with the wild, fierce tribes of Thrakia and Skythia meets 
 us again and again in the literature of Greece. He was the 
 only God to whom they built temples (ibid. iv. 59). They 
 sacrificed human victims to an iron sword as his more appro- 
 priate symbol (iv. 62). The use of iron for weapons of war 
 came to the Greeks from them (Seven ag. Th. 729 ; Prom. 714). 
 
 2 It may be worth while to compare the method adopted by 
 II 97 G
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 Elect. It is most like those flowing locks of his. K0 
 
 Cbor. Yet how had he adventured to come hither ? 
 
 Elect. He to his father sent the lock as gift. 
 
 Chor. Not less regretful than before, thy words, 
 If on this soil his foot shall never tread. 
 
 Elect. Yea, on me too there rushed heart-surge of 
 
 gall 
 
 And I was smitten as with dart that pierced ; 
 And from mine eyes there fell the thirsty drops 
 That pour unchecked, of this full bitter flood, 
 As I this lock beheld. How can I think 
 That any other townsman owns this hair ? 
 Nay, she who slew .... she did not cut it off, 
 My mother .... who towards her children shows 
 A godless mood that little suits the name ; 
 And yet that I should this assert outright, 
 The precious gift is his whom most of men 
 
 I love, Orestes Nay, hope flatters me. 
 
 Alas ! alas ! 
 
 Would, herald-like, it had a kindly voice ! 
 
 the three dramatists of Greece in bringing about the recognition 
 of the brother by the sister, (i) Here the lock of hair, in its peculiar 
 colour and texture resembling her own, followed by the likeness 
 of his footsteps to hers, prepares the way first for vague anticipa- 
 tions, and then the robe she had made for him, leads to her 
 acceptance of Orestes on his own discovery of himself. To this it 
 has been objected, by Euripides in the first instance (Electra, vv. 
 462-500), that the evidence of the colour of the hair is weak, 
 that a young man's foot must have been larger than a maiden's, 
 and that he could not have worn as a man the garment she had 
 made for him as a child. It might be replied, perhaps, that 
 there are such things as hereditary resemblances extending to 
 the colour of the hair and the arch of the instep, and that the 
 robe may either have been shown instead of worn, or, being 
 worn, have been adapted for the larger growth. (2) In the 
 Electra of Sophocles the lock of hair alone convinces Chryso- 
 themis that her brother is near at hand (v. 900), while Electra 
 herself requires the further evidence of Agamemnon's seal 
 (v. 1223). In Euripides (v. 527), all proof fails till Orestes 
 shows a scar 0:1 his brow, which his sister remembers. 
 98
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 So should I not turn to and fro in doubt ; 
 But either it had told me with all clearness 
 To loathe this tress, if cut from hated head ; 
 Or, being of kin, had sought to share my grief, 
 To deck the tomb and do my father honour. 
 
 Ckor, Well, on the Gods we call, on those who 
 
 know 
 
 In what storms we, like sailors, now are tossed : 
 But if deliverance may indeed be ours, 
 From a small seed a mighty trunk may grow. 1 
 
 Elect. Here too are foot-prints as a second proof, 
 Just like . . . yea, close resembling those of mine. 
 For here are outlines of two separate feet, ) 
 His own and those of fellow-traveller, 
 And all the heels and impress of the feet, 
 When measured, fit well with my footsteps here .... 
 Pangs come on me, and sore bewilderment. 
 
 [As she ceases speaking ORESTES comes forward 
 
 from his concealment 
 Orest. Pray, uttering to the Gods no fruitless 
 
 prayer, 
 For good success in what is yet to come. 
 
 Elect. What profits now to me the Gods' good will ? 
 Orest. Thou see'st those here whom most thou 
 
 did'st desire. 
 
 Elect. Whom called I on, that thou hast know- 
 ledge of? 
 
 Orest. Right well I know how thou dost prize 
 Orestes. 
 
 1 The saying is probably one of the widespread proverbs 
 which imply parables. The idea is obviously that wi'h which 
 we are familiar in the Gospel " grain of mustard seed." Here, 
 as in the " kicking against the pricks" of Acts ix. 5, xxvi. 14, 
 and Agam. v. 1604, we are carried back to a period which lies 
 beyond the range of history as that in which men took note of 
 the analogies and embodied them in forms like this. 
 
 99
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 Elect. In what then find I now my prayers ful- 
 filled ? 31 
 
 Orest. Behold me ! Seek no dearer friend than I ! 
 
 Elect. Nay, stranger, dost thou weave a snare for 
 me ? 
 
 Oresf. Then do I plot my schemes against myself. 
 
 Ekct. Thou seekest to make merry with my grief. 
 
 Orest. With mine then also, if at all with thine. 
 
 Elect. Art thou indeed Orestes that I speak to ? 
 
 Orest. Though thou see'st him, thou'rt slow to 
 
 learn 'tis I ; 
 
 Yet when thou saw'st this lock of mourner's hair, 
 And did'st the foot-prints track my feet had made, 
 Agreeing with thine own, as brother's true, 
 Then did'st thou deem in hope thou looked'st on me. " 
 Fit then this lock where it was cut, and see ; 
 See too this woven robe, thine own hands' work, 
 The shuttle's stroke, and forms of beasts 1 of chase. 
 
 [ELECTRA starts, as if about to cry aloud for jcy 
 Restrain thyself, nor lose thy head for joy : 
 Our nearest kin, I know, are foes to us. 
 
 Elect, \embracing ORESTES] Thou whom thy father's 
 
 house most loves, most prays for, 
 Our one sole hope, bewept with many a tear, 
 Of issue that shall work deliverance ! 
 Thine own might trusting, thou thy father's house 
 Shalt soon win back. O pleasant fourfold name ! ao 
 I needs must speak to thee as father dear ; 2 
 The love I owe my mother turns to thee, 
 (She with full right to me is hateful now,) 
 My sister's too, who ruthlessly was slain ; 
 
 1 So in the Odyssey (xix. 228), Odysseus appears as wearing 
 a woollen cloak, on which are embroidered the figures of a fawn 
 and a dog. 
 
 2 An obvious reproduction of the words of Andromache 
 (//. vi. 429). 
 
 100
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 And thou wast ever faithful brother found, 
 
 And one whom I revered. May Might and Right, 
 
 And sovran Zeus as third, my helpers be ! 
 
 Orest. Zeus ! Zeus ! be Thou a witness of our troubles, 
 See the lorn brood that calls an eagle sire, 
 Eagle that perished in the coils and folds 9to 
 
 Of a fell viper. Now on them bereaved 
 Presses gaunt famine. Not as yet full-grown 
 Are they to bring their father's booty home. 
 Thus it is thine to see in me and her, 
 (I mean Electra) children fatherless, 
 Both suffering the same exile from our home. 
 
 Elect. And should'st Thou havoc make of brood ofsire 
 Who at thine altar greatly honoured Thee, 
 Whence wilt Thou get a festive offering 
 From hand as free r Nor, should'st Thou bring to nought 
 The eagle's nestlings, would'st thou have at hand *** 
 A messenger to bear thy will to man 
 In signs persuasive ; nor when withered up 
 This royal stock shall be, will it again 
 Wait on thine altars at high festivals : 
 Oh, bring it back, and then Thou too wilt raise 
 From low estate a lofty house, which now 
 Seems to have fallen, fallen utterly. 
 
 Chor. Ah, children ! saviours of your father's house, 
 Hush, hush, lest some one hear you, children dear, 
 And for mere talking's sake report all this 
 To those that rule. Ah, would I might behold them 
 Lie dead 'midst oozing fir-pyre blazing high ! * 
 
 Or at. Nay, nay, I tell you, Loxias' oracle, 
 
 1 The words seem to imply that burning alive was known 
 among the Greeks as a punishment for the most atrocious 
 crimes. The "oozing pitch," if we adopt that rendering, 
 apparently describes something like the ' ' tunica molesta " of 
 Juvenal. (Sat. viii. 235.) Hesychios (s. v. Kuvfjo-oi) mentions 
 the practice as alluded to in a lost play of .^Eschylos.
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 In strength excelling, will not fail us now, 
 
 That bade me on this enterprise to start, 
 
 And with clear voice spake often, warning me 
 
 Of chilling pain-throes at the fevered heart, 
 
 Unless my father's murderers I should chase, 
 
 Bidding me kill them in the self-same fashion, 
 
 Stirred by the wrongs that pauperise my life, 
 
 And said that I with many a mischief ill 
 
 Should pay for that fault with mine own dear life. 
 
 For making known to men the charms earth-born ro 
 
 *That soothe the wrathful powers, 1 he spake for us 
 
 Of ills as follows, leprous sores that creep 
 
 All o'er the flesh, and as with cruel jaws 
 
 Eat out its ancient nature, and white hairs* 
 
 On that foul ill to supervene : and still 
 
 He spake of other onsets of the Erinnyes, 
 
 As brought to issue from a father's blood ; 
 
 For the dark weapon of the Gods below 
 
 Winged by our kindred that lie low in death, 
 
 And beg for vengeance, yea, and madness too, 
 
 And vague, dim fears at night disturb and haunt me, 
 
 *Seeing full clearly, though I move my brow 5 
 
 1 The words are both doubtful and obscure. Taking th^ 
 reading which I have adopted, they seem to mean that while 
 men in general had means of propitiating the Erinnyes and 
 other Powers for the guilt of unavenged bloodshed, Orestes and 
 Electra had no such way of escape open to them. If they, the 
 next of kin, failed to do their work, they would be exposed to 
 the full storm of wrath. But a conjectural emendation of one 
 word gives us, 
 
 " For making known to men the earth-born ills 
 That come from wrathful Powers." 
 
 a Either that old age would come prematurely, or that the 
 hair itself would share the leprous whiteness of the flesh. 
 
 8 The words, as taken in the text, refer to Orestes seeing 
 even in sleep the spectral forms of the Erinnyes. By some 
 editors the verse is placed after v. 276, and the lines then reaU 
 thus:
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 In the thick darkness . . . and that then my frame. 
 
 Thus tortured, should be driven from the city 
 
 With brass-knobbed scourge : and that for such as I 
 
 It was not given to share the wine-cup's taste, 
 
 Nor votive stream in pure libation poured ; 
 
 And that my father's wrath invisible 
 
 Would drive me from all altars, and that none 
 
 Should take me in, or lodge with me ; at last, 
 
 That, loathed of all and friendless, I should die, 
 
 A wretched mummy, all my strength consumed. 
 
 Must I not trust such oracles as these ? 
 
 Yea, though I trust not, must the deed be done ; 2eo 
 
 For many motives now in one converge, 
 
 The God's command, great sorrow for my father ; 
 
 My lack of fortune, this, too, urges me 
 
 Never to leave our noble citizens, 
 
 With noblest courage Troi'a's conquerors, 
 
 To be the subjects to two women thus ; 
 
 Yea, his soul is as woman's: 1 an' it be not, 
 
 He soon shall know the issue. 
 
 Chor. Grant ye from Zeus, O mighty Destinies ! 
 
 That so our work may end 
 As Justice wills, who takes our side at last ; 
 Now for the tongue of bitter hate let tongue 
 Of bitter hate be given. Loud and long 
 The voice of Vengeance claiming now her debt ; 
 
 And for the murderous blow 
 Let him who slew with murderous blow repay. 
 
 "And that he calls fresh onsets of the Erinnyes 
 As brought to issue from a father's blood, 
 Seeing clearly, though he move his brow in darkness." 
 So taken, the last line refers to Agamemnon, who, though m 
 the darkness of Hades, sees the penalties which \vill fall upon 
 his son should he neglect to take vengeance on his father's 
 murderers. 
 
 1 Stress is laid here, as in Agam. 1224, on the effeminacy of 
 the adulterer. 
 
 103
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 "That the wrong-doer bear the wrong he did," 
 Thrice-ancient saying of a far-off time, 1 
 This speaketh as we speak, 
 
 STROPHE I 
 
 Orest. O father, sire ill-starred, 
 
 What deed or word could I 
 
 Waft from afar to thee, 
 
 Where thy couch holds thee now, * 10 
 
 *To be a light with dark commensurate ? 
 
 Alike, in either case, 
 
 The wail that tells their praise is welcome gift 
 To those Atreidae, guardians of our house. 
 
 STROPHE II 
 
 Chor. My child, my child, the mighty jaws of fire 2 
 Bind not the mood and spirit of the dead ! 
 But e'en when that is past he shows his wrath. 
 
 When he that dies is wailed, 
 
 The murderer stands revealed : I2 
 
 The righteous cry for parents that begat, 
 
 To fullest utterance roused, 
 
 Searches the whole truth out. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I 
 
 Elect. Hear then, O father, now 
 Our tearful griefs in turn ; 
 
 1 The great law of retribution is repeated from Agam. 1564. 
 As one of the earliest utterances of man's moral sense, it was 
 referred popularly among the Greeks to Rhadamanthos, who 
 with Minos judged the souls of the dead in Hades. Comp. 
 Aristot. Ethic. Nicom,, v. 8. 
 
 a The funeral pyre, which consumes the body, leaves the life 
 and power of the man untouched. The spirit survives, and 
 calls on the Gods that dwell in darkness to avenge him. The 
 very cry of wailing tends, as a prayer to them, to the exposure 
 ef the murderer. 
 
 104
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 From us thy children twain 
 
 The funeral wail ascends ; 
 And we, as suppliants and as exiles too, 
 
 Find shelter at thy tomb. 
 What of all this is good, what void of ills ? 
 Is not this now a woe invincible ? 
 
 Chor. Yet, even yet, from evils such as these, 
 God, if He will, may bring more pleasant strains : 
 And for the dirge we utter by the tomb, 
 A paean in the royal house may raise 
 
 Welcome to new-found friend. 
 
 STROPHE III 
 
 Orest. Had'st thou beneath the walls 
 Of Ilion, O my sire, 
 Been slain by Lykian foe, 1 
 Pierced through and through with spear, 
 Leaving high fame at home, " 
 
 And laying strong and sure 
 *Thy children's paths in life, 
 Then had'st thou had as thine 
 Far off across the sea 
 A mound of earth heaped high, 
 To all thy kith and kin endurable. 
 
 ANTISTROPHK II 
 
 Chor, Yea, and as friend witli friends 
 That nobly died, he then 
 Had dwelt in high estate 
 A sovereign ruler, held 
 Of all in reverence, 
 High in their train who rule 
 Supreme in that dark world ; 
 
 1 The Lykians, of whom Glaucos and Sarpedon are the 
 representative heroes in the Iliad, are named as the chief allies 
 of the Troi'ans.
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 For he, too, while he lived, 
 As monarch ruled o'er those 
 Whose hands the sceptre held 
 That mortal men obey. 1 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III 
 Elect. Not even 'neath the walls 
 
 Of Troi'a, O my sire, 
 
 With those the spear hath slain, 
 
 Would I have had thee lie 
 
 By fair Scamandros' stream : 
 
 No, this my prayer shall be 
 
 That those who slew thee fall, 
 
 *By their own kin struck down, * a 
 
 That one might hear far off, 
 
 Untried by woes like this, 
 The fate that brings inevitable death. 
 
 Chor. Of blessings more than golden, O my child, 
 Greater than greatest fortune, or the bliss 
 Of those beyond the North 2 thou speakest now ; 
 
 For this is in thy grasp ; 
 But hold ; e'en now this thud of double scourge 3 
 
 Finds its way on to him ; 
 
 1 The words embody the widespread feeling that the absence 
 of funereal honours affected the spirit of the dead, and that the 
 souls with whom he dwelt held him in high or low esteem 
 according as they had been given or withheld. 
 
 8 Pindar (Pyth. x. 47), the contemporary of /Eschvlos, had 
 made the name of these Hyperborei well known to all Greeks. 
 The vague dreams of men, before the earth had been searched 
 out, pictured a happy land as lying beyond their reach. There 
 were Islands of the Blest in the far West ; ^Ethiopians, peace- 
 ful and long-lived, in the South ; and far away, beyond the cold 
 North, a people exempt from the common evils of humanity. 
 The latter have been connected with the old Aryan belief in the 
 paradise of Mount Meru. Comp. also Herod, iv. 421 ; Prom. 
 812. 
 
 3 Sc., the beating of both hands upon the breast, as the 
 Chorus uttered their lamentations. 
 106
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 Already these find helpers 'neath the earth, 
 But of those rulers whom we loathe and hate 
 
 Unholy are the hands : 37 
 
 And children gain the day. 
 
 STROPHE IV 
 
 Elect, Ah ! this, like arrow, pierces through the ear! 
 O Zeus ! O Zeus ! who sendest from below 
 
 A woe of tardy doom 
 
 Upon the bold and subtle hands of men ... 
 Nay, though they parents be, 
 Yet all shall be fulfilled. 
 
 STROPHE V 
 
 Chor. May it be mine to chant o'er funeral pyre 
 *Cry well accordant with the pine-fed blaze, 1 
 When first the man is slain, 
 And his wife perisheth ! 
 
 Why should I hide what flutters round my heart ? 
 On my heart's prow a blast blows mightily, 
 Keen wrath and loathing fierce. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE IV 
 Qrest. And when shall Zeus, the orphan's guardian 
 
 true, 
 Lay to his hand and smite the guilty heads ? 
 
 So may our land learn faith ! 
 
 Vengeance I claim from those who did the wrong. 3u 
 Hear me, O Earth, and ye, 
 *Powers held in awe below ! 
 
 Chor. Yea, the law saith that gory drops once shed 
 Upon the ground for yet more blood should crave ; 
 *For lo ! fell slaughter on Erinnys calls, 
 
 1 Perhaps, simply "the sharp and bitter cry." But the 
 rendering in the text seems justified as repeating the wish already 
 expressed (v. 260), that the murderers may die by this form of 
 dctuh. 
 
 107
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 To come from those that perished long ago, 
 And on one sorrow other sorrow bring. 
 
 STROPHE VI 
 
 Elect. *Ah, ah, O Earth, and Lords of those below! 
 Pehold, ye mighty Curses of the slain, 
 Behold the remnant of the Atreidae's house 
 
 Brought to extremes! strait, * 
 
 Bereaved of house and home ! 
 Whither, O Zeus, can any turn for help ? 
 
 ANTISTROPHE V 
 
 Ckor. Ah, my fond heart is quivering in dismay, 
 'Hearing this loud lament most lamentable : 
 Now have I little cheer, 
 And blackened is my heart, 
 
 *Hearing that speech ; but then again when hope 
 *On strength uplifts me, far it drives my grief, 
 *Propitious seen at last. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE VI 
 Orfst. What could we speak more fitly than the 
 
 woes 
 
 We suffer, yea, and from a parent's hands ? 
 Well, she may fawn ; our mood remains unsoothed ; 
 For like a wolf untamed, 
 We from our mother take 
 A wrathful soul that to no fawning yields. "*X 
 
 STROPHE VII 
 Chor. *I strike an Arian stroke, and in the strain 
 
 Of Kissian mourner skilled, 1 
 Ye might have seen the stretching forth of hands, 
 
 1 The Chorus at this point renew their words and cries ol 
 lamentation, smiting on their breasts. By some critics this 
 speech and Antistrophe VII. are assigned to Electra, Anti- 
 Strophe VIII. to the Chorus, with a corresponding change in the 
 icS
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 With readings of the hair, and random blows, 
 
 In quick succession given, 
 Dealt from above with arm at fullest length, 
 And with the beating still my head is stunned, 
 
 Battered and full of woe. 
 Elect. O mother, hostile found, and daring all ! 
 
 With burial as of foe 
 Thou had'st the heart a ruler to inter, 
 
 His citizens not there, 
 As pouse unwept, with no lamentings loud. 
 
 STROPHE VIII 
 Orest. Ah ! thou hast told the whole full tale of 
 
 shame ; 
 
 Shall she not pay then for that outrage dire 
 
 Unto my father done, 
 
 So far as Gods prevail, 
 
 So far as my hands work ? 
 
 May it be mine to smite her and then die ! 
 
 ANTISTROPHE VII 
 Chor. Yea, he was maimed ! * (that thou the tale 
 
 may'st know) 
 And as she slaughtered, so she buried him, 
 
 Seeking to work a doom 
 For thy young life all unendurable. 
 
 pronouns "my" and "thy." The Chorus, as consisting of 
 Troi'an captives, is represented as adopting the more vehement 
 Asiatic forms of wailing. Among these the Arians, Kissians, 
 and Mariandynians (Pers. 920) seem to have been most con- 
 spicuous for their skill in lamentation, and, as such, were in 
 request where hired mourners were wanted. Compare the 
 opening chorus, v. 22. 
 
 1 The practice of mutilating the corpse of a murdered man by 
 cutting off his hands and feet and fastening them round his 
 waist, seems to have been looked on as rendering him powerless 
 to seek for vengeance. Comp. Soph. Elect, v. 437. This kind 
 of mutilation, and not mere wanton outrage, is what the Chorus 
 refer to. 
 
 109
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 Now thou dost hear the woes 
 Thy father suffered, stained with foulest shame. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE VIII 
 Elect. Thou tellest of my father's death, but I 
 
 Stood afar off, contemned, 
 Counted as nought, and like a cursed hound 
 Shut up within, I poured the tide of tears 
 
 (More ready they than smiles) 
 
 Uttering in secret wail of weeping full. <4 
 
 Hear thou these things, and write them in my mind. 
 
 Chor. Let the tale pierce thine ears, 
 While thy soul onward moves with tranquil step: 
 
 So much, thou know'st, stands thus ; 
 Seek thou with all desire to know the rest ; 
 
 'Tis meet to enter now 
 Within the lists with mind inflexible. 
 
 STROPHE IX 
 
 OrfJt. I bid thee, O my father, help thy friends. 
 Elect. Bitterly weeping, these my tears I add. 
 Chor. With full accord so cries our company. 
 
 Come then to light, and hear ; 4M 
 
 Be with us 'gainst our foes. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE IX 
 
 Orest. My Might their Might, my Right their 
 
 Right must meet. 
 
 Elect. *Ye Gods, give righteous issue in our cause. 
 Chor. Fear creeps upon me as I hear your prayers. 
 
 /Long tarries destiny, 
 But comes to those who pray. 
 
 STROPHE X 
 
 Semi-Chor. A. Oh, woe that haunts the race, 
 And harsh, shrill stroke of Ate's bloody scourge ! 
 no
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 Woes sad and hard to bear, <fl 
 
 Calling for wailing loud, 
 Ah, woe is me, a grief immedicable. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE X 
 
 Semi-Chor. B. Yea, but as cure for this, 
 And healing salve, 'tis yours with your own hands, 
 With no help from without, 
 *To press your suit of blood ; 
 So runs our hymn to those great Gods below. 
 
 Chor. Yea, hearing now, ye blest Ones 'neath the 
 
 earth, 
 This prayer, send ye your children timely help 
 
 That worketh victory. 
 
 Orest. O sire, who in no kingly fashion died'st, 47 
 Hear thou my prayer ; grant victory o'er this house. 
 
 Elect. I, father, ask this prayer, that I may work 
 *J2gisthos' death, and then acquittal gain. 
 
 Orest. Yea, thus the banquets that men give the dead 
 Would for thee too be held, but otherwise 
 *Dishonoured wilt thou lie 'mid those that feast, 1 
 Robbed of thy country's rich burnt-ofterings. 
 
 Elect. I too from out my father's house will bring 
 Libations from mine own inheritance, 
 As marriage offerings. Chief and first of all, 
 Will I do honour to this sepulchre. [ <3 
 
 Orest. Set free my sire, O Earth, to watch the battle. 
 
 1 As in v. 351 the loss of honour among the dead was repre- 
 sented as one consequence of the absence of funereal rites from 
 those who loved the dead, so here the restoration of the chilcireu 
 to their rights appears as the condition without which that dis- 
 honour must continue. If they succeed, then, and then only, 
 can they offer funereal banquets, year by year, as was the 
 custom. There may be a special reference to an Argive custom 
 mentioned by Plutarch (Qucest. Greec., c. 24) of sacrificing im- 
 mediately afier the death of a relative to Apollo, and thirty days 
 Jater to Herme, 
 
 III
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 Elect. O Persephassa, goodly victory grant ! 
 
 Orest. Remember, sire, the bath in which they slew 
 thee! 
 
 Elect. *Remember thou the net they handselled so ! 
 
 Orest. In fetters not of brass wast thou snared, father. 
 
 Elect. Yea, basely with that mantle they devised. 
 
 Ore it. Art thou not roused by these reproaches, father ? 
 
 Elect. Dost thou not lift thine head for those thou 
 lov'st ? 
 
 Orest. Or send thou Vengeance to assist thy friends ; 
 Or let them get like grasp of those thy foes, 
 If thou, o'ercome, dost wish to conquer them. 
 
 Elect. And hear thou this last prayer of mine, my 
 
 father, 
 
 Seeing us thy nestlings sitting at thy tomb, 
 Have mercy on thy boy and on thy girl ; 
 Nor blot thou out the seed of Pelopids : 
 So thou, though thou hast died, art yet not dead ; 
 For children are the voices that preserve 
 Man's memory when he dies : so bear the net 
 The corks that float the flax-mesh from the deep. 
 Hear thou : This is our wailing cry for thee, 
 And thou, our prayer regarding, sav'st thyself. 
 
 Cl.or. Unblamed have ye your utterance lengthened 
 
 out, 
 
 Amends for that his tomb's unwept-for lot. 
 But as to what remains, since thou'rt resolved 
 To act, act now ; make trial of thy Fate. 
 
 Orest. So shall it be. Yet 'tis not out of course 
 To ask why she libations sent, why thus 
 Too late she cares for ill she cannot cure ? 
 Yea, to a dead man heeding not 'twas sent, 
 A sorry offering. Why, I fail to guess : 
 The gifts are far too little for the fault ; 
 For should a man pour all he has to pay 
 uz
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 For one small drop of blood, the toil were vain : 
 So runs the saying. But if thou dost know, 
 Tell this to me as wishing much to learn. 
 
 Chor. I know, my child, for I was by. Stirred on 
 By dreams and wandering terrors of the night, 
 That godless woman these libations sent. 
 
 Oresf. And have ye learnt the dream, to tell it right ? 
 
 Chor, As she doth say, she thought she bare a snake. 
 
 Orest. How ends the tale, and what its outcome then ? 
 
 Chor. She nursed it, like a child, in swaddling 
 clothes. M0 
 
 Orest. What food did that young monster crave for 
 then? 
 
 Chor. She in her dream her bosom gave to it. 
 
 Orest. How 'scaped her breast by that dread beast 
 unhurt ? 
 
 Chor. Nay, with the milk it sucked out clots of blood. 
 
 Orest. Ah, not in vain comes this dream from her lord. 
 
 Chor. She, roused from sleep, cries out all terrified, 
 And many torches that were quenched in gloom 
 Blazed for our mistress' sake within the house. 
 Then these libations for the dead she sends, 
 Hoping they'll prove good medicine of ills. 
 
 Oresf. Now to Earth here and my sire's tomb I pray 
 They leave not this strange vision unfulfilled. 
 So I expound it that it all coheres ; 
 For if, the self-same spot that I left leaving, 
 *The snake was then wrapt in my swaddling clothes, 
 And sucked the very breast that nourished me, 
 And mixed the sweet milk with a clot of blood, 
 And she in terror wailed the strange event, 
 So must she, as that monster dread she nourished, 
 Die cruel death : and 1, thus serpentised, 
 Am here to slay her, as this dream portends ; 
 I take thee as my dream-interpreter. 
 u 113 *
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 Chor. So be it ; but in all else guide thy friends ; 
 *Bid some do this, some that, some nought at all. 
 
 Orest. Simple my orders, that shc[pointing to ELECTRA] 
 
 go within ; 
 
 And you, I charge you, hide these plans of mine, 
 That they who slew a noble soul by guile, 
 By guile may die and in the self-same snare 
 Be caught, as Loxias gave his oracle, 
 The king Apollo, seer that never lied : 
 For like a stranger in full harness clad 
 Will I draw near with this man, Pylades, 
 To the great gates, a stranger I, and he, 
 Ally in arms. And then we both will speak 
 Parnassian speech, and imitate the tone 
 Of Phokian tongue. And should no porter there 
 Give us good welcome, on the ground that now 
 The house with ills is haunted, there we'll stay, 
 So that a man who passeth by the house 
 Will guess, and thus will speak, " Why drives ^Egisthos 
 The suppliant from his gate, if he's at home f 580 
 
 And knows it ? " But if I should pass the threshold 
 Of the great gate, and find him seated there 
 Upon my father's throne, or if he comes 
 And meets me, face to face, and lifts his eyes, 
 And drops them, then be sure, before he says, 
 " Whence is this stranger ? " I will lay him dead, 
 With my swift-footed brazen weapon pierced ; 
 And then Erinnys, stinted not in slaughter, 
 Shall drink her third draught of unmingled blood. 1 
 Thou, then, [to ELECTRA] watch well what passes in 
 
 the house, 
 So that these things may dovetail close and well : 
 
 1 Another reference to the third cup of undiluted wine which 
 men drank to the honour of Zeus the Preserver. Comp. Agam. 
 v- 245- 
 
 "4
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 And you [to the Chorus] I bid to keep a tongue discreet, 
 
 Silent, if need be, or the right word speaking, 
 
 And Him 1 [pointing to the statue of Apollo\ I call to 
 
 look upon me here, 
 Since he has set me on this strife of swords. 
 
 [Exeunt ORESTES, PYLADES, and ELECTRA 
 
 STROPHE I 
 
 Chor. Many dread forms of evils terrible 
 Earth bears, and Ocean's bays 
 With monsters wild and fierce 
 *O'erflow, and through mid-air the meteor lights 68 
 
 Sweep by ; and winged birds 
 And creeping things can tell the vehement rage 
 Of whirling storms of winds. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I 
 
 But who man's temper overbold may tell, 
 
 Or daring passionate loves 
 
 Of women bold in heart, 
 Passions close bound with men's calamities ? 
 
 Love that true love disowns, 
 That sways the weaker sex in brutes and men, 
 
 Usurps o'er wedlock's ties. 
 
 STROPHE II 
 
 Whoso is not bird-witted, let him think 
 
 What scheme she learnt to plan, 
 Of subtle craft that wrought its will by fire, 
 That wretched child of Thestios, who to slay 
 
 Her son did set a-blaze 
 
 The brand that glowed blood-red, 
 Which had its birth when first from out the wornb 
 
 He came with infant's wail, 
 
 1 Possibly the pronoun refers to Pylades.
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 And spanned the measure of its life with his, 80 
 
 On to the destined day. 1 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II 
 Another, too, must we with loathing name, 
 
 Skylla, with blood defiled. 1 
 Who for the sake of foes a dear one slew, 
 Won by the gold-chased bracelets brought from Crete, 
 
 The gifts that Minos gave, 
 
 And knowing not the end, 
 Robbed Nisos of his lock of deathless life, 
 
 She with her dog-like heart 
 Surprising him deep-breathing in his sleep ; 
 
 But Hermes comes on her. 1 
 
 1 The story of Althaea has perhaps been made most familiar 
 to English readers by Mr. Swinburne's Atalanta in Calydon. 
 More briefly told, the legend ran that she, being the wife of 
 CEneus, bare a son, who was believed to be the child of Ares 
 that the Fates came to her when the boy, who was named 
 Meleagros, was seven days old, and told her that his life should 
 last until the firebrand then burning on the earth should be con- 
 sumed. She took the firebrand and quenched it, and laid it by 
 in a chest ; but when Meleagros grew up, he joined in the chase 
 of the great boar of Calydon, and when he had slain it, gave the 
 skin as a trophy to Atalanta, and when his mother's brothers, 
 the sons of Thestios, claimed it as their right, he waxed wroth 
 with them and slew them. And then Althaea, in her grief, caring 
 more for her brothers than her son, took the brand from the 
 chest, and threw it into the fire, and so Meleagros died. Phryni- 
 chos is said to have made the myth the subject of a drama. In 
 Homer (//. x. 566), Althaea brings about her son's death by her 
 curses. 
 
 2 Skylla (not to be confounded with the sea-monster of 
 Messina) was the daughter of Nisos, king of Megaris, who had 
 on his head a lock of purple hair, which was a charm that pre- 
 served his life from all danger. And the Cretans under Minos 
 attacked Nisos, and besieged him in his city ; and Minos won 
 the love of Skylla, and tempted her with gifts, and she cut off 
 her father's lock of hair, and so he perished. But Minos, scorn- 
 ing her for her deed, bound her by the feet to the stern of his 
 ship and drowned her. 
 
 3 Hermes, i.e., in his office as the escort of the souls of the 
 d-.:ad to Hades. 
 
 II*
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 STROPHE III 
 
 And since I tell the tale of ruthless woes. . . . l 
 
 Yet now 'tis not the time 
 *To tell of evil marriage which this house 
 
 Doth loathe and execrate, 
 And of a woman's schemes and stratagems 
 
 Against a warrior chief, 
 
 *Chief whom his people honoured as was meet, 
 I give my praise to hearth from hot broils free, 
 
 And praise that woman's mood 
 
 That dares no deed of ill. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III 
 
 But of all crimes the Lemnian foremost stands 2 C2 
 
 *And the Earth mourns that woe 
 As worthy of all loathing. Yes, this guilt 
 
 One might have well compared 
 With Lemnian ills ; and now that race is gone, 
 
 To lowest shame brought down 
 By the foul guilt the Gods abominate : 
 For no man honours what the Gods condemn, 
 
 Which instance of all these 
 
 Do I not rightly urge r 3 
 
 1 The Chorus apparently is represented as on the point of 
 completing its catalogue of crimes committed by women with 
 the story of Clytaemnestra's guilt. Something leads them to 
 check themselves, and they are contented with a dark and vague 
 allusion. 
 
 a The story of the Lemnian women is told by Herodotos (vi. 
 138). They rose up against their husbands and put them all to 
 death ; and the deed passed into a proverb, so that all great 
 crimes were spoken of as Lemnian. This guilt is that alluded 
 to in Strophe III. 
 
 9 In every case of which the Chorus had spoken guilt had 
 been followed by retribution. So, it is implied, it will be in 
 that which is present to their thoughts.
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 STROPHE IV 
 
 And now the sword already at the heart, 
 Sharp-pointed, strikes a blow that pierces through, 
 
 While Vengeance guides the hand ; 63 
 
 For lo ! the lawlessness 
 Of one who doth transgress all lawlessly 
 The might and majesty of Zeus, lies not 
 
 As trampled under foot. 1 
 
 ANTISTROPHE IV 
 
 The anvil-block of Vengeance firm is set, 
 And Fate, the sword-smith, hammers on the bronze 
 
 Beforehand ; and the child 
 
 Is brought unto his home, 
 And in due time the debt of guilt is paid 
 By the dark-souled Erinnys, famed of old, 
 
 For blood of former days. 
 
 ORESTES and PYLADES enter, disguised as Phokian travel- 
 lers, go to the door of the palace, and knock loudly 
 
 Orest. What ho, boy ! hear us knocking at the 
 gate. 6W 
 
 Who is within, boy ? who, boy ? hear, again ; 
 A third time now I give my summons here, 
 If good ^Egisthos' house be hospitable. 
 
 \_A SLAVE opens the door 
 Slave. Hold, hold ; I hear. What stranger comes, 
 
 and whence ? 
 
 Orest. Tell thou thy lords who over this house rule, 
 To whom I come and tidings new report ; 
 And make good speed, for now the dusky car 
 Of night comes on apace, and it is time 
 For travellers in hospitable homes 
 
 1 Sc. , is not forgotten or overlooked, but will assuredly meet 
 with its due punishment. 
 
 118
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 To cast their anchor ; and let some one come 
 From out the house who hath authority ; 
 The lady, if so be one ruleth here, 
 But, seemlier far, her lord ; for then no shame 
 In converse makes our words obscure and dim ; 
 But man with man gains courage to speak out, 
 And makes his mission manifest as day. 
 
 Enter CLYTVEMNESTRA 
 
 Cfyttsm. If ye need aught, O strangers, speak; for here 
 Is all that's fitting for a house like ours ; 
 Warm baths, 1 and bed that giveth rest from toil, 
 And presence of right honest faces too ; 
 If there be aught that needeth counsel more, 
 That is men's business, and to them we'll tell it. 6CC 
 
 Orest. A Daulian traveller, from Phokis come, 
 Am I, and as I went on business bound, 
 My baggage with me, unto Argos, I 
 (Just as I set forth,) met a man I knew not, 
 Who knew not me, and he then, having asked 
 My way and told me his, the Phokian Strophios 
 (For so I learnt in talking) said to me, 
 " Since thou dost go, my friend, for Argos bound, 
 In any case, tell those who gave him birth, 
 Remembering it right well, Orestes' death ; 
 See thou forget it not, and whether plans 
 Prevail to fetch him home, or bury him 
 There where he is, a stranger evermore, 
 Bear back the message as thy freight for us ; 
 For now the ribbed sides of an urn of bronze 
 The ashes hide of one whom men have wept." 
 So much I heard and now have told ; and if 
 
 1 So in Homer (//. xxii. 444), the warm bath is prepared by 
 Andromache for Hector on his return from the battle in which 
 he fell. 
 
 119
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 I speak to kin that have a right in him 
 
 I know not, but his father sure should know it. 
 
 Clytam. Ah, thou hast told how utterly our ruin 
 Is now complete ! O Curse of this our house, 
 Full hard to wrestle with ! How many things, 68 
 Though lying out of reach, thou aimest at, 
 And with well-darted arrows from afar 
 Dost bring them low ! And now thou strip- 
 pest me, 
 
 Most wretched one, of all that most I loved. 
 A lucky throw Orestes now was making, 
 Getting his feet from out destruction's slough ; 
 But now the hope of high, exulting joy, 
 *Which this house had as healer, he scores down 
 As present in this fashion that we see. 
 
 Orest. I could have wished to come to prosperous 
 
 hosts, 
 
 As known and welcomed for my tidings good ; 
 For who to hosts is friendlier than a guest ? 
 But 'twould have been as impious in my thoughts 
 Not to complete this matter for my friends, 
 By promise bound and pledged as guest to host. 
 
 Clytam. Thou shalt not meet with less than thou 
 
 deserv'st ; 
 
 Nor wilt thou be to this house less a friend ; 
 Another would have brought news all the same : 
 But since 'tis time that strangers who have made 
 A long day's journey find the things they need, 
 Lead him [to her Slave, pointing to ORESTES] to these 
 
 our hospitable halls, 
 
 And these his fellow-travellers and servants : 
 There let them meet with what befits our house. 
 I bid thee act as one who gives account ; 
 And we unto the masters of our house 
 
 i ao
 
 THE LIBAT1ON-POURERS 
 
 Will tell this news, and with no lack of friends 
 Deliberate of this calamity. 1 
 
 [Exeunt CLYT^MNESTRA, ORESTES, PYLADES, 
 
 and Attendants 
 
 Chor. Come then, handmaids of the palace, 
 When shall we with full-pitched voices 
 Show our feeling for Orestes ? 
 O earth revered ! thou height revered, too, 
 Of the mound piled o'er the body 
 Of our navy's kingly captain, 
 Oh, hear us now ; oh, come and help us ; 
 For 'tis time for subtle Suasion 2 
 To go with them to the conflict, 
 And that Hermes act as escort, 
 He who dwells in earth's deep darkness, 
 In the strife where swords work mischief. 
 
 Enter KILISSA 
 
 Chor. The stranger seems about to work some ill ; 
 And here I see Orestes' nurse in tears. 
 Where then, Kilissa, art thou bound, that thus 
 Thou tread'st the palace-gates, and with thee comes 
 Grief as a fellow-traveller unbidden ? 
 
 Kilts. Our mistress bids me with all speed to call 
 ./Egisthos to the strangers, that he come 
 And hear more clearly, as a man from man, 
 This newly-brought report. Before her slaves, 
 Under set eyes of melancholy cast, 
 She hid her inner chuckle at the events 
 
 1 As in her speeches in the Agamemnon (w. 595, 884), 
 Clytaemnestra's words here also are full of significant ambiguity. 
 The " things that befit the house," the proposed conference with 
 uEgisthos, her separation of Orestes from his companions, are 
 all indications of suspicion already half aroused. The last three 
 lines were probably spoken as an " aside." 
 
 2 Suasion is personified, and invoked to come and win 
 Gytsemnestra to trust herself in the power of the two avengers. 
 
 121
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 That have been brought to pass too well for her, 
 
 But for this house and hearth most miserably, 
 
 As in the tale the strangers clearly told. 
 
 He, when he hears and learns the story's gist, 
 
 Will joy, I trow, in heart. Ah, wretched me ! J3 
 
 How those old troubles, of all sorts made up, 
 
 Most hard to bear, in Atreus' palace-halls 
 
 Have made my heart full heavy in my breast ! 
 
 But never have I known a woe like this. 
 
 For other ills I bore full patiently, 
 
 But as for dear Orestes, my sweet charge, 
 
 Whom from his mother I received and nursed .... 
 
 And then the shrill cries rousing me o' nights. 
 
 And many and unprofitable toils 
 
 For me who bore them. For one needs must rear 
 
 The heedless infant like an animal, 
 
 (How can it else be ?) as his humour serves. 
 
 For while a child is yet in swaddling clothes, 
 
 *It speaketh not, if either hunger comes, 
 
 Or passing thirst, or lower calls of need ; 
 
 And children's stomach works its own content. 
 
 And I, though I foresaw this, call to mind 
 
 How I was cheated, washing swaddling clothes, 
 
 And nurse and laundress did the self-same work. 
 
 I then with these my double handicrafts, 
 
 Brought up Orestes for his father dear ; 
 
 And now, woe's me ! I learn that he is dead, 
 
 And go to fetch the man that mars this house : 
 
 And gladly will he hear these words of mine. 
 
 Chor. And how equipped then doth she bid him 
 come ? 
 
 Nurse. * How ? ' Speak again that I may better learn. 
 
 Chor. By spearmen followed, or himself alone ? 
 
 Nurse. She bids him bring his guards with lances 
 armed.
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 Chor. Nay, say not that to him thy lord doth hate. 1 
 But bid him * come alone,'(that so he hear 
 Without alarm,) ' full speed, with joyous mind,' 
 Since * secret speech with messengers goes best.' 
 
 Nurse. And art thou of good cheer at this my tale ? 
 
 Chor. But what if Zeus will turn the tide of ill ? 
 
 Nurse. How so ? Orestes, our one hope is gone. 
 
 Chor. Not yet ; a sorry seer might know thus much. 
 
 Nurse. What say'st thou ? Know'st _thou aught 
 besides my tale ? 
 
 Chor. Go tell thy message ; do thine errand well: 
 The Gods for what they care for, care enough. 
 
 Nurse. I then will go, complying with thy words: 
 May all, by God's gift, end most happily ! 
 
 STROPHE I 
 Chor. Now to my prayer, O Father of the Gods 7ro 
 
 Of high Olympos, Zeus, 
 Grant that their fortune may be blest indeed 
 *Who long to look on goodness prospering well, 
 
 Yea, with full right and truth 
 I speak the word O Zeus, preserve thou him ! 
 
 STROPHE II 
 Yea, Zeus, set him whom now the palace holds, 
 
 Set him above his foes ; 
 
 For if thou raise him high, 
 
 Then shalt thou have, to thy heart's full content, 
 Payment of two-fold, three-fold recompense. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I 
 Know that the son of one who loved thee well 
 
 *Like colt of sire bereaved, 
 *Is to the chariot of great evils yoked, 
 
 1 An alternative rendering is, 
 
 " Nay, say not that to him with show of hate;" 
 "3
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 *And set thy limit to his weary path. 
 
 *Ah, would that one might see 
 *His panting footsteps, as he treads his course, 
 *Keeping due measure through this plain of ours I 
 
 STROPHE III 
 
 And ye within the gate, 
 Ye Gods, in purpose one, 
 Who dwell in shrines enriched 
 With all good things, come ye, 
 And now with vengeance fresh 
 Atone for murder foul 
 Of those that fell long since : 
 *And let that blood of old, 
 *When these are justly slain, 
 Breed no more in our house. 
 
 MESODE 
 O Thou 1 that dwellest in the cavern vast, 
 
 Adorned with goodly gifts, 
 Grant our lord's house to look up yet once more, 
 
 And that it now may glance, 
 
 In free and glorious guise 
 
 With loving kindly eyes, 
 
 From out its veil of gloom. 
 
 Let Maia's son 2 too give 
 
 His righteous help, and waft 
 
 Good end with prosperous gale. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III 
 
 *And things that now are hid, 
 He, if he will, will bring 
 As to the daylight clear ; 
 
 l Apollo in the shrine at Delphi. 
 
 s Hermes invoked once more, as at once the pa'ron of craft 
 and the escort of the dead. 
 
 124
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 But when it pleases him 
 Dark, hidden words to speak, 
 As in thick night he bears 
 Black gloom before his face ; * 
 Nor is he in the day 
 One whit more manifest. 
 
 STROPHE IV 
 
 *And then our treasured store, 3 
 *The price as ransom paid 
 To free the house from ill, 
 A woman's gift on breath 
 Of favouring breeze onborne, 
 We then with clamorous cry, 
 To sound of cithern sweet, 
 Will in the city pour ; 
 And if this prospers well, 
 *My gains, yea mine, 'twill swell, and At6 then 
 
 From those I love stands far. 81 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II 
 But thou, take courage, when the time is come 
 
 For action, and cry out, 
 
 Shouting thy father's name, 
 When she shall cry aloud the name of "son," 
 And work thou out a woe that none will blame. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE IV 
 And have thou in thy breast 
 The heart that Perseus had, 3 
 
 1 Or " before our eyes." 
 
 2 The "treasured store" is explained by the words that follow 
 to mean the cry of exultation which the Chorus will ra'se when 
 the deed of vengeance is accomplished ; or, possibly (as Mr. 
 Paley suggests), the funereal wail over the bodies of ^Egisthos 
 and Clytasmnestra, which the Chorus would raise to avert the 
 guilt of the murder from Orestes. 
 
 * As Perseus could only overcome the Gorgon, Medusa, by 
 "5
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 And for thy friends beneath, 
 And those on earth who dwell, 
 Go thou and work the deed 
 Acceptable to them, 
 Of bitter, wrathful mood, 
 And consummate within 
 *The loathly work of blood ; 
 [And bidding Vengeance come as thine ally,] 
 Destroy the murderer. 
 
 Enter ^EcisrHos 
 
 Mgii. Not without summons came I, but by word 
 Of courier fetched, and learn that travellers bring 
 Their tale of tidings new, in no wise welcome. 
 As for Orestes' death, with it to charge 
 The house would be a burden dropping fear 
 To one by that old bloodshed sorely stung. 1 
 How shall I count these things ? As clear and true ? 
 Or are they vague reports of woman's fears, 
 That leap up high and die away to nought ? 
 What can'st thou say that will my mind inform ? 
 
 Chor. We heard, 'tis true ; but go thou in and ask 
 Of these same strangers. Nought is found in words 
 Of messengers like asking, man from man. 
 
 &gis. I wish to see and probe the messenger, 
 If he himself were present at the death, 
 Or tells it hearing of a vague report : 
 They shall not cheat a mind with eyes wide open. 
 
 [Exit 
 
 turning away his eyes, lest looking on her he should turn to 
 stone, so Orestes was to avoid meeting his mother's glance, lest 
 that should unman him and blunt his purpose. 
 
 1 /Egisthos had suffered enough, he says, for his share in 
 Agamemnon's death. He has no wish that fresh odium should 
 fall on him, as being implicated also in the death of Orestes, of 
 which he has just heard. 
 
 1x6
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 Chor. Zeus ! Zeus ! what words shall I wa 
 
 Now speak, whence start in prayer, 
 
 *Invoking help of Gods ? 
 
 How with all wish for good 
 
 Shall I speak fitting words ? 
 
 For now the sharp sword-points, 
 
 Red with the blood of man, 
 
 Will either work for aye 
 
 The utter overthrow 
 
 Of Agamemnon's house, 
 
 Or, kindling fire and torch 
 
 For freedom thus achieved, 
 
 Will he the sceptre wield 
 
 Of duly-ordered sway, 
 
 His father's pride and state: * w 
 
 Such is the contest he, 
 
 Orestes, godlike one, 
 
 Now wages all alone, 
 
 The one sole combatant, 1 
 
 In place of him who fell, 
 Against those twain. May victory be his ! 
 
 JEgisth. [groaning within] Ah ! ah ! Woe's me ! 
 Chor. Hark ! hark ! How goes it now ? 
 
 What issue has been wrought within the house ? 
 Let us hold back while they the deed are doing, 
 That we may seem as guiltless of these ills : 
 For surely now the fight has reached its end. 
 
 Enter Servant from the chief door 
 
 Strv. Alas ! alas ! my master perishes ! 
 Alas ! alas ! a third time yet I call. 
 ^Egisthos is no more ; but open now 
 
 * The word (ephtdros) was applied technically to one who sat 
 by during a conflict between two athletes, prepared to challenge 
 the victor to a fresh encounter. Orestes is such a combatant, 
 taking the place of Agamemnon.
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 With all your speed, and loosen ye the bolts 
 That bar the women's gates. A man's full strength 
 Is needed ; not indeed that that would help 
 A man already slain. 
 
 [Rushes to the gate of the woman's half of the 
 palace 
 
 Ho there ! I say : 
 
 I speak to the deaf; to those that sleep I utter 
 In vain my useless cries. And where is she ? 
 Where's Clytsemnestra ? What doth she do now ? 
 Her neck upon the razor's edge doth seem 
 To fall, down-stricken by a vengeance just. 
 
 Enter CLYTJEMXESTRA. from the side door 
 
 Cfyt&m. What means all this ? What cry is this thou 
 mak'st ? 
 
 Serv. I say the dead are killing one who lives. 
 
 Clyttem. Ah, me ! I see the drift of thy dark speech; 
 By guile we perish, as of old we slew : 
 Let some one hand at once axe strong to slay ; 
 Let's see if we are conquered or can conquer, 
 For to that point of evil am I come. 
 
 Enter ORESTES ana PYLADES_/T<W the other door 
 
 Orest. 'Tis thou I seek : he there has had enough. 
 Clyteem. Ah me ! my loved ^Egisthos ! Art thou 
 
 dead? 
 
 Orest. Lov'st thou the man ? Then in the self- 
 same tomb 
 
 Shalt thou now lie, nor in his death desert him. 
 Clytam. \baring her bosom] Hold, boy ! Respect 
 this breast of mine, my son, 1 
 
 i So, in Homer (//. xxii. 79), Hecuba, when the entreaties of 
 Priam had been in vain, makes this last appeal 
 128
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 Whence thou full oft, asleep, with toothless gums, 
 Hast sucked the milk that sweetly fed thy life. 
 
 Orest. What shall I do, my Pylades ? Shall I 
 Through this respect forbear to slay my mother ? 
 
 Pyl. 1 Where, then, are Loxias' other oracles, 
 The Pythian counsels, and the fast-sworn vows ? 
 Have all men hostile rather than the Gods. 
 
 Orest. My judgment goes with thine ; thou speak- 
 
 est well : 
 [To CLYTVEMNESTRA] Follow: I mean to slay thee 
 
 where he lies, 
 
 For while he lived thou held'st him far above 
 My father. Sleep thou with him in thy death, 
 Since thou lov'st him, and whom thou should'st love 
 
 hatest. 
 Clytam. I reared thee, and would fain grow aid 
 
 with thee. 
 Orest, What ! Thou live with me, who did'st 
 
 slay my father ? 
 Clyt#m. Fate, O my son, must share the blame of 
 
 that. 
 
 Orest. This fatal doom, then, it is Fate that sends. 
 Clyttem. Dost thou not fear a parent's curse, my 
 
 son? 
 Orest. Thou, though my mother, did'st to ill chance 
 
 cast me. 
 
 Ciyt<em. No outcast thou, so sent to house allied. 90 
 Orest. I was sold doubly, though of free sire born. 
 Clyteem. Where is the price, then, that I got for 
 
 thee ? 
 
 " Then to the front his mother rushed, in tears, 
 Her bosom bare, with either hand her breast 
 Sustaining, and with tears addressed him thus, 
 ' Hector, my sbn, thy mother's breast revere.'" 
 * The reader will note this as the only speech put into the lips 
 of Pylades, though he is present as accompanying Oreste* 
 throughout great part of the drama. 
 ii 129 i
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 Orest. I shrink for shame from pressing that charge 
 
 home. 
 
 Clytam. Nay, tell thy father's wantonness as well. 
 Orest. Blame not the man who toils when thou'rt 
 
 at ease. 1 
 Clyttem. 'Tis hard, my son, for wives to miss their 
 
 husband. 
 Orest. The husband's toil keeps her that sits at 
 
 home. 1 
 Clytnem. Thou seem'st, my son, about to slay thy 
 
 mother. 
 
 Orest. It is not I that slay thee, but thyself. 
 C/yttem. Take heed, beware a mother's vengeful 
 
 hounds. 4 " 
 
 Orest. How, slighting this, shall I escape my father's ? 
 Cljteem. I seem in life to wail as to a tomb. 3 
 Orest. My father's fate ordains this doom tor thee. 
 Clytam. Ah me! the snake is here I bare and nursed. 4 
 Orest. An o'er-true prophet was that dread dream- 
 born ; 
 
 Thou slewest one thou never should'st have slain, 
 Now suffer fate should never have been thine. 
 
 [Exit ORESTES, leading CLYTVEMNESTRA into tke 
 palace, and followed by PYLADES 
 
 Chor. E'en of these two I wail the twin mischance ; 
 But since long line of murder culminates 
 
 1 The different ethical standard applied to the guilt of th? 
 husband and the w.fe was, we may well believe, that which pre- 
 vailed among the Athenians generally. It has only too close a 
 parallel in the ballads and romances of our own early literature. 
 
 a The line is memorable as prophetic of the whole plot of the 
 Eumenides. 
 
 3 The phrase " wail as to a tomb" seems to have been a by- 
 word for fruitless entreaty and lamentation. 
 
 CMsemnestra sees now the import of the dream referred to 
 in vv. 518-522. 
 
 130
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 In poor Orestes, this we yet accept, 
 That he, our one light, fall not utterly. 
 
 STROPHE I 
 Late came due vengeance on the sons of Priam, 
 
 Just forfeit of sore woe ; 
 Late came there too to Agamemnon's house, 
 
 Twin lions, two-fold Death. 1 
 The exile who obeyed the Pythian hest 
 
 Hath gained his full desire, 
 Sped on his way by counsel from the Gods. 
 
 STROPHE II 
 Shout ye, loud shout for the escape from ills 
 
 Our master's house has seen, 
 And from the wasting of his ancient wealth 
 
 By that defiled pair, ** 
 
 111 fate intolerable. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I 
 And so on one who loves the war of guile 
 
 Revenge came subtle-souled ; 
 And in the strife of hands the child of Zeus 
 
 In very deed gave help, 
 (We mortals call her Vengeance, hitting well 
 
 The meetest name for her,) 
 Breathing destroying wrath against her foes. 
 
 STROPHE III 
 
 She, she it is whom Loxias summons now, "* 
 
 Who dwelleth in Parnassia's cavern vast, 
 *Calling on her who still 
 *Is guileful without guile, 
 
 1 The words must be left in their obscurity. Commentators 
 have conjectured Orestes and Pylades, or the deaths of Agamem- 
 non and Iphigeneia, or those of ^Egisthos and Clytaemnestra, 
 as i he " two lions " spoken of. The first seems most in harmony 
 with the context. 
 
 131
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 "Halting of foot and tarrying over-long : 
 The will of Gods is strangely overruled ; 
 
 It may not help the vile ; l 
 'Tis meet to adore the Power that rules in Heaven : 
 
 At last we see the light. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II 
 *Now is the bit that curbed the slaves ta'en off: 1 
 
 Arise, arise, O house : 
 Too long, too long, all prostrate on the ground * 
 
 Ye have been used to lie. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III 
 
 Quickly all-working Time will bring a change 
 Across the threshold of the palace old, 
 When from the altar-hearth 
 It shall drive all the guilt, 
 
 With cleansing rites that chase away our woes ; 
 And Fortune's throws shall fall with gladsome cast, 
 
 *Once more benign to see, 3 
 For new-come strangers settled in the house : 
 At last we see the light. 
 
 Enter ORESTES, PYLADES, and followers from the palace. 
 His attendants bear the robe in which AGAMEMNON 
 had been murdered 
 
 Orest. See ye this country's tyrant rulers twain, 96 
 My father's murderers, wasters of his house ; 
 
 1 The Eternal Justice which orders all things is mightier than 
 any arbitrary will, such as men attribute to the Gods. That 
 will, even if we dare to think of it as changeable or evil, is 
 held in restraint. It cannot, even if it would, protect the evil- 
 doers. 
 
 2 The Chorus feel that they have been too long silent ; now, 
 at last, they can speak. As slaves dreading punishment they 
 had been gagged before ; now the gag is removed. 
 
 3 Or, " Once more for those who wail."
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 Stately were they, seen sitting on their thrones, 
 
 Friends too e'en now, to argue from their fate, 
 
 Whose oaths are kept to every pledge they gave. 
 
 Firmly they swore that they would slay my father, 
 
 And die together. Well those oaths are kept : 
 
 And ye who hear these ills, behold ye now 
 
 Their foul device, as bonds for my poor father, 
 
 Handcuffs, and fetters both his feet to bind. 
 
 Come, stretch it out, and standing all around, 87 
 
 Show ye the snare that wrapt him o'er, that He 
 
 May see, our Father, not of mine I speak, 
 
 But the great Sun that looks on all we do, 
 
 My mother's deeds, defiled and impure, 
 
 That He may be a witness in my cause, 
 
 That I did justly bring this doom to pass 
 
 Upon my mother. . . . Of ^Egisthos' fate 
 
 No word I speak. He bears the penalty, 
 
 As runs the law, of an adulterer's guilt ; 
 
 But she who planned this crime against a man 
 
 By whom she knew the weight of children borne 
 
 Beneath her girdle, once a burden loved, 
 
 But now, as it is proved, a grievous ill, 98 
 
 What seems she to you ? Had she viper been, 
 
 Or fell myraena, 1 she with touch alone, 
 
 * Rather than bite, had made a festering sore 
 
 With that bold daring of unrighteous mood. 
 
 What shall I call it, using mildest speech ? 
 
 A wild beast's trap ? a pall that wraps a bier, 
 
 And hides a dead man's feet ? A net, I trow, 
 
 A snare, a robe entangling, one might call it. 
 
 Such might be owned by one to plunder trained, 
 
 Practised in duping travellers, and the life 
 
 1 It is not clear with what form of animal life the myrcena is 
 to be identified. The idea implied is that of some sea- monster 
 whose touch was poisonous, but this does not hold good of th 
 "lamprey." 
 
 '33
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 That robs men of their money ; with this trap Ma 
 Destroying many, many deeds of ill 
 His fevered brain might hatch. May such as she 
 Ne'er share my dwelling ! May the hand of God 
 Far rather smite me that I childless die ! 
 
 Chor. \looking on AGAMEMNON'S robeJ] Ah me ! ah 
 
 me ! these deeds most miserable ! 
 By hateful murder thou wast done to death. 
 
 Woe, woe is me ! 
 And evil buds and blooms for him that's left. 
 
 Orest. Was the deed hers or no ? Lo ! this same role 
 Bears witness how she dyed ^Egisthos' sword, 
 And the blood-stain helps Time's destroying work, 100 
 Marring full many a tint of pattern fair : 
 *Now name I it, now as eye-witness wail ; l 
 And calling on this robe that slew my father, 
 Moan for all done and suffered, wail my race, 
 Bearing the foul stains of this victory. 
 
 Chor. No mortal man shall live a life unharmed, 
 *Stout-hearted and rejoicing evermore. 
 
 Woe, woe is me ! 
 One trouble vexes now, another comes. 
 
 Orest. (wildly, as one distraught.) Nay, know ye 
 for I know not how 'twill end ; lo:o 
 
 Like chariot-driver with his steeds I'm dragged 
 Out of my course ; for passion's moods uncurbed 
 Bear me their victim headlong. At my heart 
 Stands terror ready or to sing or dance 
 In burst of frenzy. While my reason stays, 
 I tell my friends here that I slew my mother, 
 Not without right, my father's murderess, 
 Accursed, and hated of the Gods. And I 
 
 1 As the text stands, Orestes says that at last he can speak o< 
 
 the murder over which he had long brooded in silence. Another 
 
 reading makes him speak of the oscillations in his own mind 
 
 " Now do I praise myself, now wail and blame." 
 
 *34
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 As chiefest spell that made me dare this deed 
 Count Loxias, Pythian prophet, warning me 
 That doing this I should be free from blame, 102 
 But slighting ... I pass o'er the penalty 1 . . . 
 For none, aim as he will, such woes will hit. 
 And now ye see me, in what guise equipped, 
 
 [Patting on the suppliant's wreaths of wool, and 
 
 taking an olive branch in his hand 
 With this my bough and chaplet I will gain 
 Earth's central shrine, the home where Loxias dwells, 
 And the bright fire that is as deathless known,* 
 Seeking to 'scape this guilt of kindred blood ; 
 And on no other hearth, so Loxias bade, 
 May I seek shelter. And I charge you all, 
 Ye Argives, bear ye witness in due time 10SO 
 
 How these dark deeds of wretched ill were wrought : 
 But I, a wanderer, exiled from my land, 
 Shall live, and leaving these my prayers in death, . . . 
 Chor. Nay, thou hast prospered : burden not thy lips 
 With evil speech, nor speak ill-boding words, 
 When thou hast freed the Argive commonwealth, 
 By good chance lopping those two serpents' heads. 
 
 [ The Erinnyes are seen in the background, visible 
 to ORESTES only, in black robes, and with 
 snakes in their hair 
 Orest. Ah ! ah ! ye handmaids : see, like Gorgons 
 
 these, 
 
 Dark-robed, and all their tresses hang entwined 
 With many serpents. I can bear no more. 
 
 1 Comp. w. 270-288. 
 
 a Delphi was to the Greek (as Jerusalem was to mediaeval 
 Christendom) the centre at once of his religious life and of the 
 material earth. Its rock was the omphalos of the world. Conse- 
 crated widows watched over the sacred and perpetual fire. Once 
 only up to the time of ^Eschylos, when the Temple itself was 
 desecrated by the Persians, had it ceased to burn.
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 Chor. What phantoms vex thee, best beloved of 
 sons 1MO 
 
 By thy dear sire ? Hold, fear not, victory's thine. 
 
 Orest. These are no phantom terrors that I see : 
 Full clear they are my mother's vengeful hounds. 
 
 Chor. The blood fresh-shed is yet upon thy hands, 
 And thence it is these troubles haunt thy soul. 
 
 Orest. O King Apollo! See, they swarm, they swarm, 
 And from their eyes is dropping loathsome blood. 
 
 Chor. One way of cleansing is there ; Loxias' form 
 Clasp thou, and he will free thee from these ills. 
 
 Orest. These forms ye see not, but I see them there : 
 They drive me on, and I can bear no more. } [Exit 
 
 Chor. Well, may'st thou prosper ; may the gracious 
 
 God 105 
 
 Watch o'er and guard thee with a chance well timed ! 
 
 Here, then, upon this palace of our kings 
 
 A third storm blows again ; 
 The blast that haunts the race has run its course. 
 First came the wretched meal of children's flesh ; 
 
 Next what befell our king : 
 Slain in the bath was he who ruled our host, 
 
 Of all the Achaeans lord ; 
 And now a third has come, we know not whence, 1 
 
 To save ... or shall I say, 
 
 To work a doom of death ? 
 Where will it end ? Where will it cease at last, 
 
 The mighty Ate dread, 
 
 Lulled into slumber deep ? 
 
 1 Once again we have the thought of the third cup offered as 
 a libation to Zeus as saviour and deliverer. The Chorus asks 
 whether this third deed of blood will be true to that idea and 
 work out deliverance.
 
 EUMENIDES 
 
 DRAMATIS PERSONA 
 
 PYTHIAN PRIESTESS APOLI.O ATHENA 
 
 Ghost of Clyt&mnestra ORESTES HERMES 
 
 Chorus of the Erinnyes Athenian Citizens, Women, and Girls 
 
 ARGUMENT. The Erinnyes who appeared to Orestes 
 after the murder of Clytccmneztra made his life miserable, 
 and drove him without rest from land to land. And he, 
 seeking to escape them, had recourse to the Oracle of 
 Apollo at Delphi, believing that he who had sent him to 
 do the work of vengeance would also help to free him from 
 this wretchedness. But the Erinnyes followed him there 
 also, and took their places even within the holy shrine of 
 the Oracle, and while Orestes knelt on the central hearth 
 as a suppliant, they sat upon the seats there, and for very 
 weariness fell asleep. 
 
 / 
 
 ^
 
 EUMENIDES 
 
 SCENX. The Outer Court of the Oracle at Delphi. Inner thrine in 
 the background, "with doort leading into it 
 
 Enter the PYTHIAN PRIESTESS 
 
 Pytb. First, with this prayer, of all the Gods I 
 
 honour 
 
 The primal seeress Earth, and Themis next, 1 
 Who in due order filled her mother's place, 
 (So runs the tale,) and in the third lot named, 
 With her goodwill and doing wrong to none, 
 Another of the Titans' offspring sat, 
 Earth's daughter Phoebe, and as birthday gift 
 She gives it up to Phcebos, 2 and he takes 
 His name from Phoebe. And he, leaving then 
 The pool 3 and rocks of Dclos, having steered 
 
 1 The succession is, in part, accordant with that in the 
 Theogonia of Hesiod (vv. 116-136), but the special characteristic 
 of the ^Eschylean form of the legend is that each change is a. 
 step in a due, rightful succession, as by free gift, not accomplished 
 (as in other narratives of the same transition) by violence and 
 wrong. 
 
 a Phoebe, in the Theogonia, marries Coios, and becomes the 
 mother of Leto, or Latona, and so the grandmother of Apollo. 
 The "birthday gift" was commonly presented on the eighth 
 day alter birth, when the child was named. The oracle is 
 spoken of as such a gift to Apollo, as bearing the name of 
 Phcebos. 
 
 3 The sacred circular pool of Delos is the crater of an extinct 
 volcano. There Apollo was born, and thence he passed through 
 Attica to Parnassos, to take possession of the oracle, according 
 to one form of the myth, depriving Themis of it and slaying the 
 dragon Python that kept guard over it. 
 
 139
 
 EUMENIDES 
 
 To the ship-traversed shores that Pallas owns, M 
 
 Came to this land and to Parnassos' seat : 
 
 And with great reverence they escort him on, 
 
 Hephaestos' sons, road-makers, 1 turning thus 
 
 The wilderness to land no longer wild ; 
 
 And when he comes the people honour him, 
 
 And Delphos too, 2 chief pilot of this land. 
 
 And him Zeus sets, his mind with skill inspired, 
 
 As the fourth seer upon these sacred seats ; 
 
 And Loxias is his father Zeus's prophet. 
 
 These Gods in prologue of my prayer I worship ; m 
 
 Pallas Pronaia 3 too claims highest praise ; 
 
 The Nymphs adore I too where stands the rock 
 
 Korykian, 4 hollow, loved of birds and haunt 
 
 Of Gods. [And Bromios 5 also claims this place, 
 
 Nor can I now forget it, since the time 
 
 When he, a God, with help of Bacchants warred, 
 
 And planned a death for Pentheus, like a hare's. 6 ] 
 
 1 The people of Attica are thus named either as being 
 mythically descended from Erichthonios the son of Hephaestos, 
 or as artificers, who own him as their father. The words refer to 
 the supposed origin of the Sacred Road from Athens to Delphi, 
 passing through Boeotia and Phokis. When the Athenians 
 sent envoys to consult the oracle they were preceded by men 
 bearing axes, in remembrance of the original pioneering work 
 which had been done for Apollo. The first work of active 
 civilisation was thus connected with the worship of the giver of 
 Light and Wisdom. 
 
 a Delphos, the hero Rponymos (name-giving) of Delphi, was 
 honoured as the son of Poseidon. Hence the Priestess invokes 
 the latter as one of the guardian deities of the shrine. 
 
 * Pronaia, as having her shrine or statue in front of the temple 
 of Apollo. 
 
 4 The Korykian rock in Parnassos, as in Soph., Antiq., 
 v. 1128 ; known also as the "Nymphs' cavern." 
 
 5 Bromios, a name of Dionysos, embodying the special 
 attributes of loud, half-frenzied revelry. 
 
 8 In the legend which Euripides follows, Kithseron, not Par- 
 nassos, is the scene of the death of Pentheus. He, it was said, 
 opposed the wild or frantic worship of the Pelasgic Bacchos, 
 concealed himself that he might behold the mysteries of the 
 140
 
 EUMENIDES 
 
 Invoking Pleistos' 1 founts, Poseidon's might, 
 And Zeus most High, supreme Accomplisher, 
 I in due order sit upon this seat 
 As seeress, and I pray them that *.hey grant 
 To find than all my former divinations 
 One better still. If Hellas pilgrims sends, 
 Let them approach by lot, as is our law ; 
 For as the God guides I give oracles. 2 
 
 [She passes through the door to the adytum, 
 and after a pause returns trembling and 
 crouching with fear, supporting herself 
 with her hands against the walls and 
 columns. The door remains open, and 
 Orestes and the Erinnyes are seen in the 
 inner sanctuary 
 
 Dread things to tell, and dread for eyes to see, 
 Have sent me back again from Loxias' shrine, 
 *So that strength fails, nor can I nimbly move, 
 But run with help of hands, not speed of foot ; 
 A woman old and terrified is nought, 
 A very child. Lo ! into yon recess 
 With garlands hung I go, and there I see 
 Upon the central stone 3 a God-loathed man, 40 
 
 Moenads, and was torn to pieces by his mother and two others, 
 on whose eyes the God had cast such glamour that they took 
 him for a wild beast. English readers may be referred to Dean 
 Milman's translation of the Bacchanals of Euripides. 
 
 1 Pleistos, topographically, a river flowing through the vale of 
 Delphi, mythically the father of the nymphs of Korykos. 
 
 2 At one time the Oracle had been open to questioners once 
 in the year only, afterwards once a month. The pilgrims, afier 
 they had made their offerings, cast lots, and the doors were opened 
 to him to whom the lot had fallen. Plutarch, Qu. Grcec., p. 292. 
 
 8 The altar of the adytum, on the very centre, as men deemed, 
 of the whole earth. Zeus, it was said, had sent forth two eagles 
 at the same moment ; one from the East and the other from the 
 West, and here it was that they had met. The stone was of 
 white marble, and the two eagles were sculptured on it. Strabo, 
 ix. 3. 
 
 141
 
 EUMENIDES 
 
 Sitting as suppliant, and with hands that dripped 
 
 Blood-drops, and holding sword but newly drawn, 
 
 And branch of olive from the topmost growth, 
 
 With amplest tufts of white wool meetly wreathed; 
 
 For this I will say clearly. 1 And a troop 
 
 Of women strange to look at sleepeth there, 
 
 Before this wanderer, seated on their stools ; 
 
 Not women they, but Gorgons 2 I must call them ; 
 
 Nor yet can I to Gorgon forms compare them: 
 
 I have seen printed shapes that bear away 
 
 The feast of Phineus. 3 Wingless, though, are these, 
 
 And swarth, and every way abominable. 
 
 *They snort with breath that none may dare approach, 
 
 And from their eyes a loathsome humour pours, 
 
 And such their garb as neither to the shrine 
 
 1 The priestess dwells upon the outward tokens, which showed 
 that the suppliant came as one whose need was specially urgent. 
 On the ritual of suppl cation generally comp. Suppl., vv. 22, 
 348, 641, Soph., (Ed. King, v. 3 ; (Ed. Col., vv. 469-489. 
 
 3 ^Eschylos apparently follows the Theogonia of Ilesiod, 
 (1. 278), who describes the Gorgons as three in number, 
 daughters of Phorkys and Keto, and bearing the names of 
 Stheno, Euryale, *nd Medusa. The last enters into the Perseus 
 cycle of myths, as one of the monsters whom he conquered, 
 with a face once beautiful, but with her hair turned to serpents 
 by the wrath of Athena, and so dreadful to look upon that those 
 who gazed on her were turned to stone. When Perseus ha>! 
 slain her, Athena placed her head in her aegis, and thus became 
 the terror of all who were foes to herself or her people. A wild 
 legendary account of them meets us in the Prom. Bound, v. 812. 
 As works of art, the Gorgon images are traceable to the earliest 
 or Kyclopian period. 
 
 3 Here also we have a reference to a familiar subject of early 
 Greek art, probably to some painting familiar to an Athenian 
 audience. The name of Phineus indicates that the monstrous 
 forms spoken of are those of the Harpies, birds with women's 
 faces, or women with birds' wings, who were sent to vex the 
 blind seer for his cruelty to the children of his first marriage. 
 Comp. Soph. Antig., v. 973. In the sEneid they anpear 
 (iii. 225) as dwelling in the Strophades, and harassing /Eneas 
 and his companions. 
 
 14*
 
 EUMENIDES 
 
 Of Gods is meet to bring, nor mortal roof. 
 Ne'er have I seen a race that owns this tribe, 
 Nor is there land can boast it rears such brood, 
 Unhurt and free from sorrow for its pains. 
 Henceforth be it the lot of Loxias, 
 Our mighty lord, himself to deal with them: 
 True prophet-healer he, and portent-seer, 
 And for all others cleanser of their homes. 
 
 Enter APOLLO from the inner adytum, attended 
 
 6y HERMES 
 Apol. [To ORESTES.] Nay, I'll not fail thee, but as 
 
 close at hand 
 
 Will guard thee to the end, or though far off, 
 Will not prove yielding to thine adversaries ; 
 And now thou see'st these fierce ones captive ta'en, 
 These loathly maidens fallen fast in sleep. 
 Hoary and ancient virgins they, with whom 
 Nor God, nor man, nor beast, holds intercourse. w 
 They owe their birth to evils ; for they dwell 
 In evil darkness, yea in Tartaros 
 Beneath the earth, and are the hate and dread 
 Of all mankind, and of Olympian Gods. 
 Yet fly thou, fly, and be not faint of heart ; 
 For they will chase thee over mainland wide, 
 As thou dost tread the soil by wanderers tracked, 
 And o'er the ocean, and by sea-girt towns ; 
 And fail thou not before the time, as brooding 
 O'er this great toil. But go to Pallas' city, 
 And sit, and clasp her ancient image 1 there ; M 
 
 And there with judges of these things, and words 
 Strong to appease, will we a means devise 
 To free thee from these ills for evermore ; 
 For I urged thee to take thy mother's life. 
 
 1 The old image of Pallas, carved in olive-wood, as distin- 
 guished from later sculpture. 
 
 143
 
 EUMENIDES 
 
 Orest. Thou know'st, O king Apollo, not to wrong ; 
 And since thou know'st, learn also not to slight : 
 Thy strength gives full security for act. 
 
 Apol. Remember, let no fear o'ercome thy soul ; 
 And [To HERMES] thou, my brother, of one father 
 
 born, 
 
 My Hermes, guard him ; true to that thy name, 
 Be thou his Guide, true shepherd of this man, 
 Who comes to me as suppliant : Zeus himself 80 
 
 *Reveres this reverence e'en to outcasts due, 
 When it to mortals comes with guidance good. 1 
 
 [ Exit ORESTES led by HERMES. APOLLO retires 
 within the adytum. The Ghost of CLY- 
 TJEMNESTRA rises from the ground 
 Clyttem, What ho ! Sleep on ! What need of 
 
 sleepers now ? 
 
 And I am put by you to foul disgrace 
 Among the other dead, nor fails reproach 
 Among the shades that I a murderess am ; 
 And so in shame I wander, and I tell you 
 That at their hands I bear worst form of blame. 
 And much as I have borne from nearest kin, 
 Yet not one God is stirred to wrath for me, 
 Though done to death by matricidal hands. 
 See ye these heart-wounds, whence and how they came? 
 Yea, when it sleeps, the mind is bright with eyes ; 2 
 
 1 The early code of hospitality bound the host, who as such 
 had once received a guest under the shelter of his roof, not to 
 desert him, even though he might discover afterwards that he 
 had been guilty of great crimes, but to escort him saMy to the 
 boundary of his territory. Thus Apollo, as the host with whom 
 Orestes had taken refjge, sends Hermes, the escort God, to 
 guide and defend him on his way to Athens. 
 
 a The thought that the highest wisdom came to men rather in 
 " visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men," than 
 through the waking senses, which we have already met with in 
 Agam., v. 173, is traceable to the mysticism of Pythagoras, 
 more distinctly perhaps to that of Epimenides. 
 144
 
 EUMENIDES 
 
 But in the day it is man's lot to lack 
 
 All true discernment. Many a gift of mine 
 
 Have ye lapped up, libations pure from wine, 1 
 
 And soothing rites that shut out drunken mirth ; 
 
 And I dread banquets of the night would offer 
 
 On altar-hearth, at hour no God might share. 
 
 And lo ! all this is trampled under foot. 
 
 He is escaped, and flees, like fawn, away ; 
 
 And even from the midst of all your toils 
 
 Has nimbly slipped, and draws wide mouth at you. 
 
 Hear ye ; for I have spoken for my life : 
 
 Give heed, ye dark, earth-dwelling Goddesses, 
 
 I, Clytaemnestra's phantom, call on you. 
 
 [The Erinnyes moan in their sleep 
 Moan on, the man is gone, and flees far off: 
 My kindred find protectors ; I find none. 
 
 [Moan as before 
 
 Too sleep-oppressed art thou, nor pitiest me : 
 Orestes, murderer of his mother, 'scapes. 1W 
 
 [Noises repeated 
 
 Dost snort? Dost drowse? Wilt thou not rise and speed? 
 What have ye ever done but work out ill ? 
 
 [Noises as before 
 
 Yea, sleep and toil, supreme conspirators, 
 Have withered up the dreaded dragon's strength. 
 Chor. [starting up suddenly with a yell.~\ Seize him, 
 
 seize, seize, yea, seize : look well to it. 
 Clyteem. Thou, phantom-like, 2 dost hunt thy prey, 
 and criest, 
 
 1 Wine, as in Soph. (Ed. Col., w. 100, 481, was rigidly ex- 
 cluded from the cultus of the Eumenides, and to them only as 
 daughters of Night were midnight sacrifices offered. We must 
 not lose sight of the thought thus implied, that Clytaemnestra 
 had herself lived, after her deed of guilt, in perpetual terror of 
 the Erinnyes, seeking to soothe them by her sacrifices. 
 
 2 The common rendering " in a dream " gives a sufficient 
 meaning, and is, of course, tenable enough. But there is a 
 
 ii 145 K
 
 EUMENIDES 
 
 Like hound that never rests from care of toil. 
 
 What dost thou ? (to one Erinnys.) Rise and let not 
 toil overcome thee, 
 
 Nor, lulled to sleep, lose all thy sense of loss. 
 
 Let thy soul (to another] feel the pain of just re- 
 proach : 
 
 The wise of heart find that their goad and spur. 
 
 And thou (to a third], breathe on him with thy blood- 
 flecked breath, 
 
 And with thy vapour, thy maw's fire, consume him ; 
 
 Chase him, and wither with a fresh pursuit. 
 
 Leader of the Chor. Wake, wake, I say; wake her, as 
 I wake thee. 
 
 Dost slumber ? Rise, I say, and shake off sleep. 
 
 Let's see if this our prelude be in vain. 
 
 STROPHE 1 
 
 Pah ! pah ! Oh me ! we suffered, O my friends. . . . 
 Yea, many mine own sufferings undeserved. . . . 
 We suffered a great sorrow, full of woe, 
 
 An evil hard to bear. 
 
 Out of the nets he's slipped, our prey is gone : 
 O'ercome by sleep I have my quarry lost. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I 
 
 Ah, son of Zeus, a very robber thou, 
 Though young, thou didst old Goddesses ride down, 1 
 Honouring thy suppliant, godless though he be, 
 One whom his parents loathe : 
 
 force in the repetition of the same word, as in v. 116, which is 
 thus lost, and which I have endeavoured to preserve. The 
 Erinnyes, thus impotent in their rage, are as much mere dream- 
 like spectres as is the ghost of Clytsemnestra. 
 
 1 Here, as throughout /Eschylos, the Olympian divinities are 
 thought of as new comers, thrusting from their thrones the 
 whole Chthonian and Titanic dynasty, Gods of the conquering 
 Hellenes superseding those of the PelasgL 
 146
 
 EUMENIDES 
 
 Thou, though a God, a matricide hast freed : 
 Of which of these acts can one speak as just ? 
 
 STROPHE II 
 Yea, this reproach that came to me in dreams 1SO 
 
 Smote me, as charioteer 
 Smites with a goad he in the middle grasps, 
 
 Beneath my breast, my heart ; 
 'Tis ours to feel the keen, the o'er keen smart, 
 As by the public scourger fiercely lashed. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II 
 Such are the doings of these younger Gods, 
 
 Beyond all bounds of right 
 Stretching their power. . . . A clot of blood besmeared 
 
 Upon the base, the head, . . . 
 Earth's central shrine itself we now may see 
 Take to itself pollution terrible. 
 
 STROPHE III 
 
 And thou, a seer, with guilt that stains thy hearth 
 Hast fouled thy shrine, self-prompted, self-impelled, 
 Against God's laws a mortal honouring, 
 
 And bringing low the Fates 
 
 Born in the hoary past. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III 
 
 Me he may vex, but shall not rescue him ; 
 Though 'neath the earth he flee, he is not freed 
 For he, blood-stained, shall find upon his head 
 Another after me, 
 Destroyer foul and dread. 
 [APOLLO advances from the adytum and confronts 
 
 them 
 
 ApoL Out, out, I bid you, quickly from this temple; 
 Go forth, and leave this shrine oracular, "
 
 EUMENIDES 
 
 Lest, smitten with a serpent winged and bright, 
 Forth darted from my bow-string golden-wrought, 
 Thou in sore pain bring up dark foam, and vomit 
 The clots of blood thou suck'dst from human veins. 
 This is no house where ye may meetly come, 
 But there where heads upon the scaffold lie, 1 
 And eyes are gouged, and throats of men are cut, 
 *And mutilation mars the bloom of youth, 
 Where men are maimed and stoned to death, and groan 
 With bitter wailing, 'neath the spine impaled ; 
 Hear ye what feast ye love, and so become 
 Loathed of the Gods ? Yes, all your figure's fashion 
 Points clearly to it. Such as ye should dwell 
 In cave of lion battening upon blood, 
 Nor tarry in these sacred precincts here, 
 Working defilement. Go, and roam afield 
 Without a shepherd, for to flock like this 
 Not one of all the Gods is friendly found. 
 
 Chor. O king Apollo, hear us in our turn : 
 No mere accomplice art thou of these things, 19 
 
 But guilty art in full as principal. 
 
 Apol. How then ? Prolong thy speech to tell me this. 
 
 Chor, Thou bad'st this stranger be a matricide. 
 
 Apol. I bade him to avenge his sire. Why not ? 
 
 Chor. Then thou did'st welcome here the blood just 
 shed. 
 
 Apol. I bade him seek this shrine as suppliant. 
 
 Chor. Yet us who were his escort thou revilest. 
 
 Apol. It is not meet that ye come nigh this house. 
 
 Chor. Yet is this self-same task appointed us. 
 
 1 The accumulation of horrid forms of cruelty had, probably, 
 a special significance for the Athenians. These punishments 
 belonged to their enemies, the Persians, not to the Hellenic race, 
 and the poet's purpose was to rekindle patriotic feeling by 
 dwelling on their barbarity, as in Agam., v. 894, he points in 
 like manner to their haughtiness and luxury. 
 148
 
 EUMENIDES 
 
 Apol, What function's this ? Boast thou of nobler 
 task ? 20 
 
 Chor. We drive from home the murderers of their 
 mothers. 
 
 Apol, What ? Those who kill a wife that slays her 
 spouse ? 
 
 Chor, That deed brings not the guilt of blood of 
 kin. 1 
 
 Apol. *Truly thou mak'st dishonoured, and as nought, 
 The marriage-vows of Zeus and Hera great ; 
 And by this reasoning Kypris too is shamed, 
 From whom men gain the ties of closest love. 
 For still to man and woman marriage bed, 
 Assigned by Fate and guided by the Right, 
 Is more than any oath. If thou then deal 
 So gently, when the one the other slays, ai 
 
 And dost not even look on them with wrath, 
 I say thou dost not justly chase Orestes ; 
 For thou, in the one case, I know, dost rage ; 
 I* the other, clearly tak'st it easily : 
 The Goddess Pallas shall our quarrel judge. 
 
 Chor, That man I ne'er will leave for evermore. 
 
 ApoL Chase him then, chase, and gain yet more of toil. 
 
 Chor, Curtail thou not my functions by thy speech. 
 
 Apol, Ne'er by my choice would I thy functions own. 
 
 Chor, True ; great thy name among the thrones of 
 Zeus : 3W 
 
 * The argument of the Erinnyes is, to some extent, like that 
 of the Antigone of Sophocles (Antig., 909-913), and the wife of 
 Intaphernes (Herod, iii. 119). The tie which binds the hus- 
 band to the wife is less sacred than that between the mother and 
 the son. This, therefore, brings on the slayer the guilt of blood 
 of kin, while murder in the other case is reduced to simple 
 homicide. Orestes therefore wa not justified in perpetrating 
 th greater crime as a retribution for the less. Apollo, in meet- 
 ing this plea, asserts the sacredness of the marriage bond as 
 standing on the same level as that of consanguinity. 
 
 '49
 
 EUMENIDES 
 
 But I, his mother's blood constraining me, 
 
 Will this man chase, and track him like a hound. 
 
 Apol. And I will help him and my suppliant free ; 
 For dreadful among Gods and mortals too 
 The suppliant's curse, should I abandon him. 
 
 [Exeunt 
 
 Scene changes to Athens, in front of the Temple oj 
 Athena P alias, on the Acropolis l 
 
 Enter ORESTES 
 
 Ortst. [clasping the statue of the Goddess .] O Queen 
 
 Athena, I at Loxias' hest 
 Am come : do thou receive me graciously, 
 Sin-stained though I have been : no guilt of blood 
 Is on my soul, nor is my hand unclean, 
 But now with stain toned down and worn away, 
 In other homes and journeyings among men, 2 
 O'er land and water travelling alike, 
 Keeping great Loxias' charge oracular, 
 I come, O Goddess, to thy shrine and statue : 
 Here will I stay and wait the trial's issue. 
 
 Enter the Erinnyes in pursuit 
 Chor. Lo ! here are clearest traces of the man: 
 
 1 The ideal interval of time between the two parts of the 
 drama is left undefined, but it would seem from vv. 230, 274-6, 
 and 429, to have been long enough to have allowed of many 
 wanderings to sacred places, Orestes does not go straight from 
 Delphi to Athens. He appears now, not as before dripping and 
 besmeared with blood, but with hands and garments purified. 
 
 2 The story of Adrastos and Crosses in Herod, i. 35, illus- 
 trates the gradual purification of which Orestes speaks. The 
 penitent who has the stain of blood-guiltiness upon him comes 
 to the king, and the king, as his host, performs the lustral rites 
 for him. Here Orestes urges that he has been received at many 
 homes, and gone through many such lustrations. He has been 
 cleansed from the pollution of sin : what he now seeks, to use 
 the terminology of a later system, is a forensic justification. 
 
 150
 
 EUMENIDES 
 
 Follow thou up that dumb informer's 1 hints; 
 For as the hound pursues a wounded fawn, 
 So by red blood and oozing gore track we. 
 My lungs are panting with full many a toil, 
 Wearing man's strength down. Every spot of 
 earth 2W 
 
 Have I now searched, and o'er the sea in flight 
 Wingless I came pursuing, swift as ship ; 
 And now full sure he's crouching somewhere here : 
 The smell of human blood wafts joy to me. 
 See, see again, look round ye every way, 
 Lest he, the murderer, slip away unscathed. 
 He, it is true, in full security, 
 Clasping the statue of the deathless goddess, 
 Would fain now take his trial at our hands. S5n 
 
 This may not be; a mother's blood out-poured 
 (Pah ! pah !) can never be raised up again, 
 The life-blood shed is poured out and gone, 
 But thou must give to us to suck the blood 
 Red from thy living members ; yea, from thee, 
 May I gain meal of drink undrinkable ! 
 And, having dried thee up, I'll drag thee down 
 Alive to bear the doom of matricide. 
 There thou shalt see if any other man 
 Has sinned in not revering God or guest, 
 Or parents dear, that each receiveth there 
 The recompense of sin that Vengeance claims. 
 For Hades is a mighty arbiter 
 Of those that dwell below, and with a mind 
 That writes true record all man's deeds surveys. 
 
 Orest. I, taught by troubles, know full many a form 
 Of cleansing rites, to speak, when that is meet, 
 
 1 Sc., the scent of blood, which, though no longer visible to 
 the eyes of men, still lingers round him and is perceptible to his 
 pursued.
 
 EUMENIDES 
 
 And when 'tis not, keep silence, and in this 
 
 I by wise teacher was enjoined to speak ; 
 
 For the blood fails and fades from off my hands ; 
 
 The guilt of matricide is washed away. 
 
 For when 'twas fresh, it then was all dispelled, 
 
 At Phcebos' shrine, by spells of slaughtered swine. 
 
 Long would the story be, if told complete, 
 
 Of all I joined in harmless fellowship. 
 
 Time waxing old, too, cleanses all alike : 
 
 And now with pure lips, I in words devout, 
 
 Call Athenasa, whom this land owns queen, 
 
 To come and help me : So without a war 
 
 Shall she gain me, my land, my Argive people, 
 
 Full faithful friends, allies for evermore ; l 
 
 But whether in the climes of Libyan land, 
 
 Hard by her birth-stream's foam, Tritonian named, 8 
 
 She stands upright, or sits with feet enwrapt, 
 
 Helping her friends, or o'er Phlegraean plains, 
 
 Like a bold chieftain, she keeps watchful guard, 8 
 
 Oh, may she come ! (far off a God can hear,) 
 
 And work for me redemption from these ills ! 
 
 1 Here, too, we trace the political bearing of the play. In the 
 year when it was produced (B.C. 458) an alliance with Argos was 
 the favourite measure of the more conservative party at Athens. 
 
 2 The names Triton and Tritonis, wherever found in classical 
 geography (Libya, Crete, Thessaly, Bceotia), are always con- 
 nected with the legend that Athena was born there. Probably 
 both name and legend were carried from Greece to Libya, and 
 then amalgamated with the indigenous local worship of a war- 
 like goddess. Hesiod (iv. 180, 188) connects the Libyan lake 
 with the legend of Jason and Argonauts. 
 
 3 In the war with the giants fought in the Phlegraean plains 
 (the volcanic district of Campania) Athena had helped her lather 
 Zeus by her wise counsel, and was honoured there as keeping in 
 check the destructive Titanic forces which had been so subdued, 
 burying Enkelados, t.g. , in Sicily. The "friends" are her 
 Libyan worshippers. The passage is interesting, as showing 
 the extent of ^ischylos's acquaintance with the African and 
 Italian coasts of the Mediterranean.
 
 EUMENIDES 
 
 Chor. Nay, nor Apollo, nor Athena's might 
 Can save thee from the doom of perishing, 
 Outcast, not knowing where to look for joy, 
 The bloodless food of demons, a mere shade. 
 Wilt thou not answer? Scornest thou my words, 
 A victim reared and consecrate to me ? 
 Alive thou'lt feed me, not at altar slain ; 
 And thou shalt hear our hymn as spell to bind thee. 
 
 The Erinnyes, as they sing the ode that follows, move round 
 and round in solemn and weird measure 
 
 Come, then, let us form our chorus; 
 
 Since 'tis now our will to utter 
 
 Melody or song most hateful, 
 
 Telling how our band assigneth 
 
 All the lots that fall to mortals ; 80 
 
 And we boast that we are righteous: 
 
 Not on one who pure hands lifteth 
 
 Falleth from us any anger, 
 
 But his life he passeth scatheless ; 
 
 But to him who sins like this man, 
 
 And his blood-stained hands concealeth, 
 
 Witnesses of those who perish, 
 
 Coming to exact blood-forfeit, 
 
 We appear to work completeness. l10 
 
 STROPHE I 
 
 O mother who did'st bear me, mother Night, 
 A terror of the living and the dead, 
 
 Hear me, oh hear ! 
 The son of Leto puts me to disgrace 
 
 And robs me of my spoil, 
 This crouching victim for a mother's blood: 
 
 And over him as slain, 
 
 S3
 
 EUMENIDES 
 
 We raise this chant of madness, frenzy-working, 1 
 
 The hymn the Erinnyes love, 
 A spell upon the soul, a lyreless strain 
 
 That withers up men's strength. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I 
 
 This lot the all-pervading Destiny 
 Hath spun to hold its ground for evermore, 
 
 That we should still attend 
 On him on whom there rests the guilt of blood 
 
 Of kin shed causelessly, 
 Till earth lie o'er him ; nor shall death set free. 
 
 And over him as slain, 
 We raise this chant of madness, frenzy-working, 
 
 The hymn the Erinnyes love, 
 A spell upon the soul, a lyreless strain 
 
 That withers up men's strength. 
 
 STROPHE II 
 
 Such lot was then assigned us at our birth : 
 From us the Undying Ones must hold aloof: 
 
 Nor is there one who shares 
 
 The banquet-meal with us ; 
 In garments white I have nor part nor lot ;* 
 My choice was made for overthrow of homes, 
 Where home-bred slaughter works a loved one's death : 
 
 Ha ! hunting after him, 
 
 Strong though he be, 'tis ours 
 *To wear the newness of his young blood down. 5 
 
 1 The Choral ode here is brought in as an incantation. This 
 weapon is to succeed where others have failed, and this too, the 
 frenzy which seizes the soul in the remembrance of its past 
 transgression, is soothed and banished by Athena. 
 
 2 White, as the special colour of festal joy, was not used in 
 the worship of the Erinnyes. 
 
 8 Another rendering gives 
 
 "To djm the bright hue of the fresh-shed blood."
 
 EUMENIDES 
 
 A:mSTROPHE II 
 
 *Since 'tis our work another's task to take, 1 
 "The Gods indeed may bar the force of prayers 
 
 Men offer unto me, 
 
 But may not clash in strife ; 
 For Zeus doth cast us from his fellowship, 
 " Blood-dropping, worthy of his utmost hate." . . . 
 For leaping down as from the topmost height, 
 
 I on my victim bring 
 
 The crushing force of feet, 
 Limbs that o'erthrow e'en those that swiftly run, 
 
 An Ate hard to bear. 
 
 STROPHE III 
 And fame of men, though very lofty now 
 
 Beneath the clear, bright sky, 
 Below the earth grows dim and fades away 
 Before the attack of us, the black-robed ones, 
 And these our dancings wild, 
 Which all men loathe and hate. 
 
 ANTISTROPHK III 
 Falling in frenzied guilt, he knows it not ; 
 
 So thick the blinding cloud 
 
 *That o'er him floats ; and Rumour widely spread 
 With many a sigh reports the dreary doom, 
 
 1 The thought which underlies the obscurity of a corrupt 
 passage seems to be that, as they relieve the Gods from the task 
 of being avengers of blood, all that the Gods on their side can 
 legitimately do against them is to render powerless the prayers 
 for vengeance offered by the kindred of the slain. Their very 
 isolation, as Chthonian deities, from the Gods of Olympos should 
 protect them from open conflict. But an alternative rendering 
 of the second line gives, perhaps, a better meaning 
 "And by the prayers men offer unto me 
 
 Work freedom for the Gods ; " 
 
 i.e., by being the appointed receivers of such prayers for ven- 
 geance, they leave the Gods free for a higher and serener life.
 
 EUMENIDES 
 
 A mist that o'er the house 
 In gathering darkness broods. 
 
 STROPHE IV 
 Fixed is the law, no lack of means find we; 
 
 We work out all our will, 
 We, the dread Powers, the registrars of crime, 
 
 Whom mortals fail to soothe, 
 Fulfilling tasks dishonoured, unrevered, 
 
 Apart from all the Gods, 
 
 *In foul and sunless gloom, 1 
 Driving o'er rough steep road both those that sec, 
 
 And those whose eyes are dark. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE IV 
 What mortal man then doth not bow in awe 
 
 And fear before all this, 
 Hearing from me the destined ordinance 
 
 Assigned me by the Gods ? 
 This task of mine is one of ancient days ; 
 
 Nor meet I here with scorn, 
 
 Though 'neath the earth I dwell, 
 And live there in the darkness thick and dense, 
 
 Where never sunbeam falls. 
 
 Enter ATHENA, appearing in her chariot, and then alights 
 
 Athena. I heard far off the cry of thine entreaty 
 E'en from Scamandros, 1 claiming there mine own, 
 
 1 Perhaps, " With torch of sunless gloom." 
 
 2 The words contain an allusion to the dispute between Athens 
 and Mitylene in the time of Peisistratos, as to the possession of 
 Sigeion. Athena asserts that it had been given to her by the 
 whole body of Achaeans at the time when they had taken Troi'a. 
 Comp. Herod, vv. 94, 95. It probably entered into the political 
 purposes of the play to excite the Athenians to a war in this 
 direction, so as to draw them off from the constitutional changes 
 proposed by Pericles and Ephialtes. 
 
 156
 
 EUMENIDES 
 
 The land which all Achaia's foremost leaders, 
 As portion chief from out the spoils of war, 
 Gave to me, trees and all, for evermore, 
 A special gift for Theseus' progeny. 
 Thence came I plying foot that never tires, 
 Flapping my aegis-folds, no need of wings, 
 My chariot drawn by young and vigorous steeds : 
 And seeing this new presence in the land, 
 I have no fear, though wonder fills mine eyes ; 
 Who, pray, are ye ? To all of you I speak, 
 And to this stranger at my statue suppliant. 
 And as for you, like none of Nature's births, 
 Nor seen by Gods among the Goddess-forms, 
 Nor yet in likeness of a mortal shape .... 
 But to speak ill of neighbours blameless found 
 Is far from just, and Right holds back from it. 
 
 Chor. Daughter of Zeus, thou shalt learn all in brief; 
 Children are we of everlasting Night ; 
 [At home, beneath the earth, they call us Curses.] 
 
 Athena. Your race I know, and whence ye take 
 your name. 
 
 Chor. Thou shalt soon know then what mine 
 office is. 
 
 Athena. Then could I know, if ye clear speech 
 would speak. 
 
 Chor. We from their home drive forth all murderers. 
 
 Athena. Where doth the slayer find the goal of 
 flight? * 
 
 Chor. Where to find joy in nought is still his wont. 
 
 Athena. And whirrest thou such flight on this man 
 here? 
 
 Chor. Yea, for he thought it meet to slay his 
 mother. 
 
 Athena. Was there no other power whose wrath he 
 feared ?
 
 EUMENIDES 
 
 Chor. What impulse, then, should prick to matri- 
 cide ? 
 
 Athena. Two sides are here, and I but half have 
 heard. 
 
 Chor. But he nor takes nor tenders us an oath. 1 
 
 Athena. Thou lov'st the show of Justice more than 
 act. 
 
 Chor. How so ? Inform me. Skill thou dost not 
 lack! 
 
 Athena. 'Tis not by oaths a cause unjust shall 
 win.* 41 
 
 Chor. Search out the cause, then, and right judg- 
 ment judge. 
 
 1 Here, and throughout the trial, we have to bear in mind the 
 technicalities of Athenian judicial procedure. The prosecutor, 
 in the first instance, tendered to the accused an oath that he was 
 not guilty. This he might accept or refuse. In the latter case, 
 the course of the trial was at least stopped, and judgment might 
 be recorded against him. If he could bring h'mself to accept 
 it, he was acquitted of the special charge of which he was 
 accused, but he was liable to a prosecution afterwards for that 
 perjury. If, on the other hand, he tendered an oath affirming 
 his guilt to the prosecutor, he placed himself in his hands. 
 Orestes, not being able to deny the fact, will not declare on 
 oath that he is " not guilty," but neither will he place himself in 
 the power of his accusers. The peculiarities of this use of 
 oaths were : (i) That they were taken by the parties to the suit, 
 not by the witnesses. (2) That if both parties agreed to that 
 mode of decision, the oath was either way decisive. An allusion 
 to the latter practice is found in Heb. vi. 16, and traces of it are 
 found in the law-proceedings of Scotland. If either party refused, 
 the cause had to be tried in the usual way, and witnesses were 
 called. 
 
 3 jEschylos seems here to attach himself to the principles of 
 those who were seeking to reform the practice described in the 
 previous note as being at once cumbrous and unjust, throwing 
 its weight into the scale of the least scrupulous conscience, and 
 to urge a simpler, more straightforward trial. The same objec- 
 tion is noticed by Aristotle in his discussion of the subject 
 (Rhtt. i. 15.) 
 
 I 5 8
 
 EUMENIDES 
 
 Athena. And would ye trust to me to end the 
 cause P 1 
 
 Chor. How else ? Thy worth, and worthy stock 
 we honour. 
 
 Athena. What dost thou wish, O stranger, to reply? 
 Tell thou thy land, thy race, thy life's strange chance, 
 And then ward off this censure aimed at thee, 
 Since thou sitt'st trusting in thy right, and hold'st 
 This mine own image, near mine altar hearth, 
 A suppliant, like Ixion, 2 honourable. 
 Answer all this in speech intelligible. 
 
 Orest. O Queen Athena, from thy last words 
 
 starting, 
 
 I first will free thee from a weighty care : 
 I am not now defiled : no curse abides 
 Upon the hand that on thy statue rests ; 
 And I will give thee proof full strong of this. 
 The law is fixed the murderer shall be dumb, 
 Till at the hand of one who frees from blood, 
 The purple stream from yeanling swine run o'er him;* 
 Long since at other houses these dread rites 4 
 
 1 Athena offers herself, not as arbitrator or sovereign judge, 
 but as presiding over the court of jurors whom she proceeds to 
 appoint. 
 
 2 Ixion appeared in the mythical historv of Greece as the pro- 
 totype of all suppliants for purification. When he bad murdered 
 Deioneus, Zeus had had compassion to him, received him as a 
 gnest, cleansed him from his gui't. His ingratitude for this 
 service was the special gui't of his attempted outrage upon Hera. 
 The case is mentioned again in v. 687. 
 
 * In heathen, as in Jewish sacrifices, the blood was the very 
 instrument of purification. It was sprinkled or poured upon 
 men, and they became clean. But this could not be done by 
 the criminal himself, nor by any chance person. The service 
 had to be rendered by a friend, who of very love gave himself 
 to this mediatorial work. 
 
 4 In the legend related by Patisanias (Corinth, c. 3), Troezen 
 was the first place where Orestes was thus received, and in his 
 time the descendants of those who had thus helped held periodical 
 feasts in commemoration of it. 
 
 '59
 
 EUMENIDES 
 
 We have gone through, slam victims, flowing streams : 
 
 This care, then, I can speak of now as gone. 4W 
 
 And how my lineage stands thou soon shalt know : 
 
 An Argive 1, my sire well known to thee, 
 
 Chief ruler of the seamen, Agamemnon, 
 
 With whom thou madest Troi'a, Ilion's city, 
 
 To be no city. He, when he came home, 
 
 Died without honour ; and my dark-souled mother 
 
 Enwrapt and slew him with her broidered toils, 
 
 Which bore their witness of the murder wrought 
 
 There in the bath : and I, on my return, 
 
 (Till then an exile,) did my mother kill, 
 
 (That deed I'll not deny,) in forfeit due 
 
 Of blood for blood of father best beloved ; 
 
 And Loxias, too, is found accomplice here, 
 
 Foretelling woes that pricked my heart to act, 
 
 If I did nought to those accomplices 
 
 In that same crime. But thou, judge thou my cause, 
 
 If what I did were right or wrong, and I, 
 
 Whate'er the issue, will be well content. 
 
 Athena. Too great this matter, if a mortal man 
 Think to decide it. Nor is't meet for me 
 To judge a cause of murder stirred by wrath ; 
 *And all the more since thou with contrite soul 
 Hast come to this my house a suppliant, 
 Harmless and pure. I now, in spite of all, 
 Take thee as one my city need not blame ;* 
 But these hold office that forbids dismissal, 
 And should they fail of victory in this cause, 
 
 1 The course which Athena takes is : (i) to receive Orestes as 
 a settler with the rights which attached to such persons on 
 Athenian soil, not a criminal fugitive to be simply surrendered ; 
 (2) to offer to the Erinnyes, as being too important to be put 
 out of court, a fair and open trial; (3) to acknowledge that he 
 and they are equally "blameless," as far as she is concerned. 
 She has no complaint to make of them. 
 160
 
 EUMENIDES 
 
 Hereafter from their passionate mood will poison 1 
 
 Fall on the land, disease intolerable, 
 
 And lasting for all time. E'en thus it stands ; 
 
 And both alike, their staying or dismissal, 
 
 Are unto me perplexing and disastrous. 
 
 But since the matter thus hath come on me, 
 
 I will appoint as judges of this murder 
 
 Men bound by oath, a law for evermore ; s 
 
 And ye, call ye your proofs and witnesses, 
 
 Sworn pledges given to help the cause of right. 
 
 And I, selecting of my citizens 
 
 Those who are best, will come again that they 
 
 May judge this matter truly, taking oaths 
 
 To utter nought against the law of right. [Exit 
 
 STROPHE I 
 Char. Now will there be an outbreak of new laws : 
 
 If victory shall rest 
 Upon the wrong right of this matricide, 
 
 This deed will prompt forthwith 
 All mortal men to callous recklessness. 
 
 And many deaths, I trow, 
 At children's hands their parents now await 
 Through all the time to come. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I 
 For since no wrath on evil deeds will creep 
 
 Henceforth from those who watch 
 With wild, fierce souls the evil deeds of men, 
 
 I will let loose all crime ; 
 *And each from each shall seek in eager quest, 
 
 *Speaking of neighbour's ills, 
 
 * The red blight of vines and wheat was looked on as caused 
 by drops of blood which the Erinnyes had let fall. 
 
 3 Stress is laid on the fact that the judges of the Areopagos, 
 in contrast with those of the inferior tribunes of Athens, dis- 
 charged their duty under the sanction of an oath. 
 
 ii 161 L
 
 EUMENIDES 
 
 *For pause and lull of woes ;* yet wretched man, 
 He speaks of cures that fail. 
 
 STROPHE II 
 
 Henceforth let none call us, 
 
 When smitten by mischance, 
 
 Uttering this cry of prayer, 
 " O Justice, and O ye, Erinnyes' thrones ! " 
 Such wail, perchance, a father then shall utter, 
 
 Or mother newly slain, 
 Since, fallen low, the shrine of Justice now 
 
 Lies prostrate in the dust. 
 
 ANTISTROPHK II 
 
 There are with whom 'tis well 
 
 That awe should still abide, 
 
 As watchman o'er their souls. 
 Calm wisdom gained by sorrow profits much : 
 For who that in the gladness of his heart, 
 
 Or man or commonwealth, 
 Has nought of this, would bow before the Right 
 
 Humbly as heretofore I * 
 
 STROPHE III 
 
 Praise not the lawless life, ^ 
 
 Nor that which owns a despot's sovereignty ; 
 To the true mean in all God gives success, 1 
 
 1 Perhaps 
 
 " And each from each shall learn, as he predicts 
 
 His neighbour's ills, that he 
 
 Shares in the same and harbours them, and speaks, 
 Poor wretch, of cures that fail." 
 
 2 At a more advanced period of human thought, Cicero (Orat. 
 fro Roscio, c. 24) could point to the " thoughts that accuse each 
 other," the horror and remorse of the criminal, as the true 
 Erinnyes, the "assiduae domesticasque Furise." ^Eschylos 
 clings to the mythical symbolism as indispensable for the pre- 
 servation of the truth which it shadowed forth. 
 
 8 Once again we have the poet of constitutional conversatism 
 keeping the via media between Peisistrafos and Pericles. 
 162
 
 EUMENIDES 
 
 And with far other mood, 
 
 On other course looks on ; 
 And I will say, with this in harmony, 
 That Pride is truly child of Godlessness ; 
 
 While from the soul's true health 
 Comes the fair fortune, loved of all mankind, 
 
 And aim of many a prayer. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III 
 
 And now, I say, in sum, 
 Revere the altar reared to Justice high, 
 Nor, thine eye set on gain, with godless foot 
 
 Treat it contemptuously : 
 
 For wrath shall surely come ; 
 The appointed end abideth still for all. 
 Therefore let each be found full honour giving 
 
 To parents, and to those, 
 The honoured guests that gather in his house, 
 
 Let him due reverence show. 
 
 STROPHE IV 
 And one who of his own free will is just, 
 
 Not by enforced constraint, 
 
 He shall not be unblest, 
 Nor can he e'er be utterly o'erthrown ; 
 But he that dareth, and transgresseth all, 
 
 In wild, confused deeds, 
 
 Where Justice is not seen, 
 I say that he perforce, as time wears on, 
 
 Will have to take in sail, 
 When trouble makes him hers, and each yard-arm 
 
 Is shivered by the blast. _jS 
 
 ANTISTROPHE IV 
 
 And then he calls on those who hear him not, 
 And struggles all in vain, 
 163
 
 E U M E N I D E S r 
 
 In the fierce waves' mid-whirl ; 
 
 And God still mocks the man of fevered mood, uo 
 When he sees him who bragged it ne'er would come, 
 
 With woes inextricable 
 
 Worn out, and failing still 
 To weather round the perilous promontory ; 
 
 And for all time to come, 
 Wrecking on reefs of Vengeance bliss once high, 
 
 He dies unwept, unseen. 
 
 The scene changes to the Areopagos. Enter ATHENA, 
 folloived by Herald and twelve Athenian citizens 
 
 Athena. Cry out, O herald ; the great host hold back ; 
 Then let Tyrrhenian trumpet, 1 piercing heaven, 
 Filled with man's breath, to all that host send forth 
 The full-toned notes, for while this council-hall s * 
 Is filling, it is meet men hold their peace. 
 
 [Herald blows his trumpet 
 And let the city for all time to come 
 Learn these my laws, and this accused one too, 
 That so the trial may be rightly judged. 2 
 
 [As ATHENA speaks, APOLLO enters 
 
 Chor. O King Apollo, rule thou o'er thine own ; 
 But what hast thou to do with this our cause ? 
 
 Apcl. I am come both as witness, for this man 
 Is here as suppliant, that on my hearth sat, 
 And I his cleanser am from guilt of blood, 
 And to plead for him as his advocate : 
 I bear the blame of that his mother's death. 
 
 1 The Tyrrhenian trumpet, with its bent and twisted tube, 
 retained its proverbial pre-eminence from the days of ^.schylos 
 and Sophocles (Aias, 17) to those of Virgil (^fe"., viii. 526). 
 
 2 The fondness of the Athenians for litigation, and the large 
 share whkh every citizen took in the administration of justice, 
 would probably make the scene which follows, with all its 
 technicalities, the part of the play into which they would most 
 enter. 
 
 164
 
 EUMENIDES 
 
 But thou, whoe'er dost act as president, 
 Open the suit in way well known to thee. 1 
 
 Athena, [to the Erinnyes.'] 'Tis- yours to speak ; I thus 
 
 the pleadings open, 
 
 For so the accuser, speaking first, shall have, 
 Of right, the task to state the case to us. 
 
 Chor. Many are we, but briefly will we speak ; 
 And answer thou [to ORESTES], in thy turn, word for 
 
 word ; 
 
 First tell us this, did'st thou thy mother slay ? 
 Orest. I slew her : of that fact is no denial. 
 Chor. Here, then, is one of our three bouts 2 decided. 
 Orest. Thou boastest this o'er one not yet thrown 
 down. " 
 
 Chor. This thou at least must tell, how thou did'st 
 
 slay her. 
 
 Orest. E'en so ; her throat I cut with hand sword- 
 armed. 
 
 Chor. By whom persuaded, and with whose advice ? 
 Orest. [Pointing to APOLLO.] By His divine command : 
 
 He bears me witness. 
 
 Chor. The prophet-God prompt thee to matricide ! 
 Orest. Yea, and till now I do not blame my lot. 
 Chor. Nay, when found guilty, soon thou'lt change 
 
 thy tone. 
 
 Orest. I trust my sire will send help from the tomb. 
 Chor. Trust in the dead, thou murderer of thy 
 mother ! \ 
 
 * It was necessary that some one, sitting as President 01 
 the Court, should formally open the pleadings, by calling on 
 this (side or that to begin. Here Athena takes that office on 
 herself, and calls on the Erinnyes. 
 
 a The technicalities of the Areopagos are still kept up. The 
 three points on which the Erinnyes, as prosecutors, lay stress 
 are : (i) the fact of the murder ; (2) the mode ; (3) the motive. 
 "Three bouts," as referring to the rule of the arena, that three 
 struggles for the mastery should be decisive. 
 165
 
 EUMENIDES 
 
 Orest. Yes ; for in her two great pollutions met. 57 
 
 Chor. How so, I pray ? Inform the court of this. 
 
 Orest. She both her husband and my father slew. 
 
 Chor. Nay then, thou liv'st, and she gets quit by 
 death. 
 
 Orest. Why, while she lived, did'st thou to chase her 
 fail I 
 
 Ckor. The man sheslew was not oneof blood with her. 1 
 
 Oreit. And does my mother's blood then flow in me ? 
 
 Chor. E'en so ; how else, O murderer, reared she thee 
 Within her womb ? Disown'st thou mother's blood ? 
 
 Orest. [Turning to APOLLO.] Now bear thou witness, 
 
 and declare to me, 
 Apollo, if I slew her righteously ; 
 For I the deed, as fact, will not deny. 
 But whether right or wrong this deed of blood 
 Seem in thine eyes, judge thou that these may hear. 
 
 Apol. I will to you, Athena's solemn council, 
 Speak truly, and as prophet will not lie. 
 Ne'er have I spoken on prophetic throne, 
 Of man, or woman, or of commonwealth, 
 But as great Zeus, Olympian Father, bade ; 
 And that ye learn how much this plea avails, 
 I bid you [turning to the court of jurymen] follow out 
 
 my Father's will ; 
 No oath can be of greater might than Zeus. 1 
 
 1 The pleas put in by the Erinnyesas prosecutors are : (i) That 
 Clytaemnestra had been adequately punished by her death, 
 while Orestes was still alive ; and (2) when asked why they had 
 not intervened to bring about that punishment, that the relation- 
 ship between husband and wife was less close than that between 
 mother and son. They drew, in other words, a distinction 
 between consanguinity and affinity, and upon this the rest of the 
 discussion turns. Orestes, and Apollo as his counsel, on the 
 other hand, meet this with the rejoinder, that there is no blood- 
 relationship between the mother and her offspring. 
 
 a Sc. Their oath to give a verdict according to the evidence 
 
 166
 
 EUMENIDES 
 
 Chor. Zeus, then, thou say'st, did prompt the oracle 
 That this Orestes here, his father's blood 
 Avenging, should his mother's rights o'erthrow \ 
 
 Apol. 'Tis a quite other thing for hero-chief, 
 Bearing the honour of Zeus-given sceptre, 
 To die, and at a woman's hands, not e'en 
 By swift, strong dart, from Amazonian bow, 1 
 But as thou, Pallas, now shalt hear, and those 
 Who sit to give their judgment in this cause ; 
 For when he came successful from the trade 
 Of war with largest gains, receiving him 
 With kindly words of praise, she spread a robe 
 Over the bath, yes, even o'er its edge, 
 As he was bathing, and entangling him 
 In endless folds of cloak of cunning work, 
 She strikes her lord down. Thus the tale is told 
 Of her lord's murder, chief whom all did honour, 
 The ships' great captain. So I tell it out, 
 E'en as it was, to thrill the people's hearts, 
 Who now are set to give their verdict here. 
 
 Chor. Zeus then a father's death, as thou dost say, 61 
 Of highest moment holds, yet He himself 
 Bound fast in chains his aged father, Cronos ; J 
 
 must yield to the higher obligation of following the Divine will 
 rather than the letter of the law. 
 
 1 To have died in health by the arrows of a woman- warrior 
 might have been borne. To be slain by a wife treacherously in 
 his bath was to endure a far worse outrage. 
 
 a In this new argument, and the answer to it, we may trace, 
 as in the Prometheus and the Agamemnon, the struggles of the 
 questioning intellect against the more startling elements of tha 
 popular religious belief. Zeus is worshipped as the supreme 
 Lord, yet His dominion seems founded on might as opposed to 
 goodness, on the unrighteous expulsion of another. Here, in 
 Apollo's answer, there is a glimmer of a possible reconciliation. 
 The old and the new, the sovereignty of Cronos and that of 
 Zeus may be reconciled, and one supreme God be "all in all."
 
 EUMENIDES 
 
 Are not thy words at variance with the facts ? 
 
 I call on you [to the Court\ to witness what he says. 
 
 ApoL O hateful creatures, loathed of the Gods, 
 Those chains may be undone, that wrong be cured, 
 And many a means of rescue may be found : 
 But when the dust has drunk the blood of men, 
 No resurrection comes for one that's dead : 
 No charm for these things hath my sire devised ; 
 But all things else he turneth up or down, 
 And orders without toil or weariness. 1 
 
 Chor. Take heed how thou help this man to escape ; 
 Shall he who stained earth with his mother's blood 
 Then dwell in Argos in his father's house I 
 What public altars can he visit now I 
 What lustral rite of clan or tribe admit him ? 2 
 
 Apol. This too I'll say ; judge thou if I speak right : 
 The mother is not parent of the child 
 That is called hers, but nurse of embryo sown. 
 He that begets is parent : s she, as stranger, 
 For stranger rears the scion, if God mar not ; 
 And of this fact I'll give thce proof full sure. 
 A father there may be without a mother : 
 Here nigh at hand, as witness, is the child 
 Of high Olympian Zeus, for she not e'en 
 Was nurtured in the darkness of the womb/ 
 
 1 Comp. the thought and language of the Suppliants, v. 93. 
 
 2 The last argument is, that the acquittal can be, at the best, 
 partial only, not complete ; formal, not real. There would 
 remain for ever the pollution which would exclude Orestes from 
 the Phratria, the clan-brotherhood, by which, as by a sacra- 
 mental bond, all the members were held together. 
 
 * The question seems to have been one of those which occupied 
 men's minds in their first gropings towards the mysteries of 
 man's physical life, and both popular metaphors and primary 
 impressions were in favour of the hypothesis here maintained. 
 Euripides (Orest., v. 534) puts the same argument into the mouth 
 of Orestes. 
 
 * The story of Athena's birth, full-grown, from the head of 
 
 168
 
 EUMENIDES 
 
 Yet such a scion may no God beget. 
 I, both in all else, Pallas, as I know, 
 Will make thy city and thy people great, 
 And now this man have sent as suppliant 
 Upon thy hearth, that he may faithful prove 
 Now and for ever, and that thou, O Goddess, 
 May'st gain him as ally, and all his race, 
 And that it last as law for evermore, 
 That these men's progeny our treaties own. 
 
 Athena. [To jurors. ,] I bid you give, according to your 
 
 conscience, 
 A verdict just ; enough has now been said. 
 
 Char. We have shot forth our every weapon now : 
 I wait to hear what way the strife is judged. 
 
 Athena. [To CAorus.~\ How shall I order this, unblamed 
 by you ? 
 
 Chor. [To jurors. ,] Ye heard what things ye heard, 
 
 and in your hearts 
 Reverence your oaths, and give your votes, O friends. 65 
 
 Athena. Hear ye my order, O ye Attic people, 
 In act to judge your first great murder-cause. 
 And henceforth shall the host of ^Egeus' race 1 
 For ever own this council-hall of judges : 
 And for this Ares' hill, the Amazons' seat 
 And camp when they, enraged with Theseus, came 1 
 
 Zeus, is next referred to as the leading case hearing on the point 
 at issue. 
 
 1 Here, of course, the political interest of the whole drama 
 reached its highest point. What seems comparatively flat to us 
 must, to the thousands who sat as spectators, have been fraught 
 with the most intense excitement, showing itself in shouts ot 
 applause, or audible tokens of clamorous dissent. The rivalry 
 of Whigs and Tories over Addison's Cato , the sensation pro- 
 duced in times of Papal aggression by the king's answer to 
 Pandulph in King John, presents analogies which are worth 
 remembering. 
 
 a The story ran that the tribe of women warriors from the 
 Caucasos, or the Thermodon, known by this name, had invaded 
 169
 
 EUMENIDES 
 
 In hostile march, and built as counterwork 
 
 This citadel high-reared, a city new, 
 
 And sacrificed to Ares, whence 'tis named 
 
 As Ares' hill and fortress : in this, I say, M0 
 
 The reverent awe its citizens shall own, 
 
 And fear,, awe's kindred, shall restrain from wrong 
 
 By day, nor less by night, so long as they, 
 
 The burghers, alter not themselves their laws : 
 
 But if with drain of filth and tainted soil 
 
 Clear river thou pollute, no drink thou'lt find. 1 
 
 I give my counsel to you, citizens, 
 
 To reverence and guard well that form of state 
 
 Which is not lawless, nor tyrannical, 
 
 And not to cast all fear from out the city ;* 
 
 For what man lives devoid of fear and just I 
 
 But rightly shrinking, owning awe like this, 
 
 Ye then would have a bulwark of your land, 
 
 A safeguard for your city, such as none 
 
 Boast or in Skythia's 3 or in Pelops' clime. 
 
 Attica under Oreithyia, when Theseus was king, to revenge the 
 wrongs he had done them, and to recover her sister Hippalya, 
 Ares, the God of Thrakians, Skythians, and nearly all the 
 wilder barbaric tribes, was their special deity ; and when they 
 occupied the hill which rose over against the Acropolis, they 
 sacrificed to him, and so it gained the name of the Areopagos, or 
 " hill of Ares." 
 
 1 As in the Agamemnon (v. 1010), so kere we find the aristo- 
 cratic conservative poet showing his colours, protesting against 
 the admission to the Archonship, andltherefore to the Areopagos, 
 of men of low birth or in undignified employments. 
 
 8 The words, like all political clap-trap, are somewhat vag^e ; 
 but, as understood at the time, the " lawless " policy alluded to 
 was that of Pericles and Ephialtes, who sought to deface and to 
 diminish the jurisdiction of the Areopagos, and the " tyrannical," 
 that which had crushed the independence of Athens under 
 Peisistratos. Between the two was the conservative party, of 
 which Kimon had been the leader. 
 
 * The Skythians may be named simply as representing all 
 
 barbarous, non-Hellenic races ; but they appear, about this 
 
 time, wild and nomadic as their life was, to have impressed the 
 
 minds of the Greeks somewhat in the same way as the Germans 
 
 170
 
 EUMENIDES 
 
 This council I establish pure from bribe, 
 
 Reverend, and keen to act, for those that sleep l 
 
 An ever-watchful sentry of the land. 
 
 This charge of mine I thus have lengthened out 
 
 For you, my people, for all time to come. 
 
 And now 'tis meet ye rise, and take your ballots, 2 
 
 And so decide the cause, maintaining still 
 
 Your reverence for your oath. My speech is said. taa 
 
 Chor. And I advise you not to treat with scorn 
 A troop that can sit heavy on your land. 
 
 Apol. And I do bid you dread my oracles, 
 And those of Zeus, nor rob them of their fruit. 
 
 Chor. Uncalled thou com'st to take a murderer's part; 
 No longer pure the oracles thou'lt speak. 
 
 Apol. And did my father then in purpose err, 
 Then the first murderer he received, Ixion ? 3 
 
 Chor. Thou talk'st, but should I fail in this my 
 
 cause, 
 I will again dwell here and vex this land. 
 
 Apol. Alike among the new Gods and the old euo 
 Art thou dishonoured : I shall win the day. 
 
 did the minds of the Romans in the time of Tacitus. Tales 
 floated from travellers' lips of their wisdom and their happiness 
 of sages like Zamolxis and Aristarchos, who rivalled those of 
 Hellas of the Hyperborei, in the far north, who enjoyed a 
 perpetual and unequalled blessedness. Comp. Libation-Pouren, 
 v. 366. 
 
 1 Two topics of praise are briefly touched on : (i) the lower, 
 popular courts of justice at Athens might be open to the suspi- 
 cion of corruption, but no breath of slander had ever tainted the 
 fame of the Areopagos; (2) it met by night, keeping its watch, 
 that the citizens might sleep in peace. 
 
 2 The first of the twelve jurymen rises and drops his voting- 
 ballot into one of the urns, and is followed by another at the 
 end of each of the short two-line speeches in the dialogue that 
 follows. The two urns of acquittal and condemnation stand in 
 front of them. The plan of voting with different coloured balls 
 (black and white) in the same urn, was a later usage. 
 
 8 Compare note on v. 419.
 
 EUMENIDES 
 
 Chor. This did'st thou also in the house of Phercs, 1 
 Winning the Fates to make a man immortal. 
 
 Apol. Was it not just a worshipper to bless 
 In any case, then most, when he's in want ? 
 
 Chor. Thou did'st o'erthrow, yea, thou, laws hoar 
 
 with age, 
 And drug with wine the ancient Goddesses. 7 
 
 Apol. Nay, thou, non-suited in this cause of thine, 
 Shalt venom spit that nothing hurts thy foes. 
 
 Chor. Since thou, though young, dost ride me down, 
 
 though old, 
 
 I wait to hear the issue of the cause, 
 Still wavering in my wrath against this city. 
 
 Athena. 'Tis now my task to close proceedings 
 
 here; 
 
 And this my vote I to Orestes add ; 
 For I no mother own that brought me forth, 
 And saving that I wed not, I prefer 
 The male with all my heart, and make mine own 
 The father's cause, nor will above it place 
 A woman's death, who slew her own true lord, 
 The guardian of her house. Orestes wins, 
 E'en though the votes be equal. Cast ye forth 
 With all your speed the lots from out the urns, 
 Ye jurors unto whom that office falls. 
 
 Orest. Phcebos Apollo ! what will be the judg- 
 ment ? 
 
 1 In the legend of Admetos son of Pheres, and king of Pheras 
 in Thessalia, Apollo is represented as having first given wine to 
 the Destinies, and then persuaded them to allow Admetos, 
 whenever the hour of death should come, to be redeemed from 
 Hades, if father, or mother, or wife were willing to die for him. 
 The self-surrender of his wife, Alkestis, for this purpose, forms 
 the subject of the noblest of the tragedies of Euripides. 
 
 2 Partly as setting at nought the power of Erinnyes and the 
 Destinies, partly as giving wine to those whose libations were 
 wineless. Comp. Sophoclei, (Ed. Col. v. 100. 
 
 i 7 a
 
 EUMENIDES 
 
 Chor. Dark Night, my mother ! dost thou look on 
 
 this ? 
 
 Orest. My goal is now the noose, or full, clear day. 
 Chor. Ours too to come to nought, or work on 
 
 still. 
 
 [A pause. The jurors take out the voting tablets 
 from the two urns (one of bronze, the other of 
 wood) for acquittal or condemnation 
 Apol. Now count ye up the votes thrown out, O 
 
 friends, 
 
 And be ye honest, as ye reckon them ; 
 One sentence lacking, sorrow great may come, 
 And one vote given hath ofttimes saved a house. 
 
 [A pause, during which the urns are emptied and 
 
 the votes are counted 
 Athena. The accused is found "not guilty" of the 
 
 murder : 
 For lo ! the numbers of the votes are equal. 1 
 
 Orest. O Pallas, thou who hast redeemed my 
 
 house, 
 
 Thou, thou hast brought me back when I had been 
 Bereaved of fatherland, and Hellenes now 
 Will say, " The man's an Argive once again, 
 And dwells upon his father's heritage, 
 Because of Pallas and of Loxias, 
 And Zeus, the true third Saviour, all o'erruling, 
 Who, touched with pity for my father's fate, 
 Saves me, beholding these my mother's pleaders." 
 And I will now wend homeward, giving pledge 
 To this thy country and its valiant host, 
 To stand as firm for henceforth and for ever, 
 
 1 The practice of the Areopagos is accurately reproduced. 
 When the votes of the judges were equal a casting vote was 
 given in favour of the accused, and was known as that of 
 Athena. 
 
 173
 
 EUMENIDES 
 
 That no man henceforth, chief of Argive land, 
 
 Shall bring against it spearmen well equipped : 
 
 For we ourselves, though in our sepulchres, 
 
 On those who shall transgress these oaths of ours, 
 
 Will with inextricable evils work, 
 
 Making their paths disheartening, and their ways M0 
 
 Ill-omened, that they may their toil repent. 
 
 But if these oaths be kept, to those who honour 
 
 This city of great Pallas, our ally, 
 
 Then we to them are more propitious yet. 
 
 Farewell then, Thou, and these who guard thy city. 
 
 Mayst thou so wrestle that thy foes escape not, 
 
 And so win victory and deliverance ! 
 
 STROPHE 
 
 Chor. Ah ! ah ! ye younger God ! 
 Ye have ridden down the laws of ancient day?, 
 
 And robbed me of my prey. 
 But I, dishonoured, wretched, full of wrath, 
 
 Upon this land, ha ! ha ! 
 Will venom, venom from my heart let fall, 
 
 In vengeance for my grief, 
 
 A dropping which shall smite 
 
 The earth with barrenness ! 
 
 And thence shall come, (O Vengeance !) on the plain 
 Down swooping, blight of leaves and murrain dire 
 That o'er the land flings taint of pestilence. 
 
 Shall I then wail and groan ? 
 
 Or what else shall I do ? 
 Shall I become a woe intolerable 
 Unto these men for wrongs I have endured ? 
 
 Great, very great are they, 
 Ye virgin daughters of dim Night, ill-doomed, 
 
 Born both to shame and woe ! 
 Atkena. Nay, list to me, and be not over-grieved ; 
 174
 
 E U M E N I D E'S 
 
 Ye have not been defeated, but the cause 
 
 Came fairly to a tie, no shame to thee. 
 
 But the clear evidence of Zeus was given, 
 
 And he who spake it bare his witness too 
 
 That, doing this, Orestes should not suffer. 
 
 Hurl ye not then fierce rage on this my land ; 
 
 Nor be ye wroth, nor work ye barrenness, 
 
 *By letting fall the drops of evil Powers, 1 
 
 The baleful influence that consumes all seed. 77C 
 
 For lo ! I promise, promise faithfully, 
 
 That, seated on your hearths with shining thrones, 
 
 Ye shall find cavern homes in righteous land, 
 
 Honoured and worshipped by these citizens. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE 
 
 Chor. Ah ah ! ye younger Gods ! 
 Ye have ridden down the laws of ancient days, 
 
 And robbed me of my prey. 
 And I, dishonoured, wretched, full of wrath, 
 
 Upon this land, ha ! ha ! 
 Will venom, venom from my heart let fall, 
 In vengeance for my grief, 
 A dropping which shall smite 
 The earth with barrenness ! 
 
 And thence shall come, (O Vengeance !) on the plain 
 Down-swooping, blight of leaves and murrain dire 
 That o'er the land flings taint of pestilence. 
 Shall I then wail and groan ? 
 Or what else shall I do I 
 Shall I become a woe intolerable 
 Unto these men for wrongs I have endured? 
 
 Great, very great are they, 
 Ye virgin daughters of dim Night, ill-doomed, 
 
 Born both to shame and woe ! 
 * Another reading gives 
 
 " By spurting from your throats those venom drops." 
 17$
 
 EUMENIDES 
 
 Athena. Ye are not left unhonoured ; be not hot 
 In wrath, ye Goddesses, to mar man's land, 
 I too, yes I, trust Zeus. Need I say more \ 
 I only of the high Gods know the keys 
 Of chambers where the sealed-up thunder lies ; 
 But that I have no need of. List to me, 
 Nor cast upon the earth thy rash tongue's fruit, 
 That brings to all things failure and distress ; 
 Lull thou the bitter storm of that dark surge, 
 As dwelling with me, honoured and revered ; 
 And thou with first-fruits of this wide champaign, 
 Offerings for children's birth and wedlock-rites, 
 Shalt praise these words of mine for evermore. 
 
 Ckor. That I should suffer this, fie on it ! fie ! 
 That I, with thoughts of hoar antiquity, 1 
 Should now in this land dwell, 
 Dishonoured, deemed a plague ! 
 I breathe out rage, and every form of wrath. 
 
 Oh, Earth ! fie on it ! fie ! 
 
 What pang is this that thrills through all my breast ? 
 Hear thou, O mother Night, 
 Hear thou my vehement wrath ! 
 For lo ! deceits that none can wrestle with 
 Have thrust me out from honours old of Gods, 
 
 And made a thing of nought. 
 
 Athena. Thy wrath I'll bear, for thou theelder art, 81 
 [And wiser too in that respect than I ;] 
 Yet to me too Zeus gave no wisdom poor ; 
 And ye, if ye an alien country seek, 
 Shall yearn in love for this land. This I tell you ; 
 For to this people Time, as it runs on, 
 Shall come with fuller honours, and if thou 
 
 1 The conservative pcet enters his protest through the Erinnyes 
 against the innovating spirit that looked with contempt upon the 
 principles of a past age. 
 
 176
 
 EUMENIDES 
 
 Hast honoured seat hard by Erechtheus' home, 
 Thou shalt from men and women reap such gifts 
 As thou would'st never gain from other mortals ; 
 But in these fields of mine be slow to cast 
 Whetstones of murder's knife, to young hearts bale, 
 Frenzied with maddened passion, not of wine ; 
 Nor, as transplanting hearts of fighting-cocks, 1 
 Make Ares inmate with my citizens, 
 In evil discord, and intestine broils ; 
 Let them have war without, not scantily, 
 For him who feels the passionate thirst of fame : 
 Battle of home-bred birds ... I name it not; 
 This it i thine to choose as gift from me ; 
 Well-doing, well-entreated, and well-honoured, aso 
 To share the land best loved of all the Gods. 
 
 Chor. That I should suffer this, fie on it ! fie ! 
 That I, with thoughts of hoar antiquity, 
 Should now in this land dwell, 
 Dishonoured, deemed a plague, 
 I breathe out rage, and every form of wrath ; 
 
 Ah, Earth ! fie on it ! fie ! 
 
 What pang is this that thrills through all my breast ? 
 Hear thou, O mother Night, 
 Hear thou my vehement wrath ! 
 For lo ! deceits that none can wrestle with 
 Have thrust me out from honours old of Gods, 
 
 And made a thing of nought. 
 Athena. I will not weary, telling thee of good, 
 That thou may'st never say that thou, being old, 
 Wert at the hands of me, a younger Goddess, 
 And those of men who in my city dwell, 
 Driven in dishonour, exiled from this plain. 
 
 I Cock-fighting took its place among the recognised sports of 
 the Athenians. Once a year there was a public performance in 
 the theatre. 
 
 II 177 M
 
 EUMENIDES 
 
 But if the might of Suasion thou count holy, 
 
 And my tongue's blandishments have power to soothe, 
 
 Then thou wilt stay ; but if thou wilt not stay, 
 
 Not justly would'st thou bring upon this city, 
 
 Or wrath, or grudge, or mischief for its host. 
 
 It rests with thee, as dweller in this spot, 1 wo 
 
 To meet with all due honour evermore. 
 
 Chor. Athena, Queen, what seat assign's! thou me ? 
 
 Athena. One void of touch of evil ; take thou it. 
 
 Chor. Say I accept. What honour then is mine ? 
 
 Athena. That no one house apart from thee shall 
 prosper. 
 
 Chor. And wilt thou work that I such might may have ? 
 
 Athena. His lot who worships thee we'll guide aright. 
 
 Chor. And wilt thou give thy warrant for all time ? 
 
 Athena?N\&\. I work not I might refrain from speaking. 
 
 Chor. It seems thou sooth'st me : I relax my wrath. 80 
 
 Athena. In this land dwelling thou new friends shalt 
 gain. 
 
 Chor. What hymn then for this land dost bid me raise ? 
 
 Athena. Such as is meet for no ill-victory. 8 
 
 And pray that blessings upon men be sent. 
 And that, too, both from earth, and ocean's spray f 
 And out of heaven ; and that the breezy winds, 
 In sunshine blowing, sweep upon the land, 
 And that o'erflowing fruit of field and flock 
 May never fail my citizens to bless, 
 Nor safe deliverance for the seed of men. 
 But for the godless, rather root them out : 
 For I, like gardener shepherding his plants, 
 This race of just men freed from sorrow love. 
 
 1 The Temple of the Eumenides or Semnae (" venerable 
 ones") stood near the Areopagos. 
 9 Some two or three lines have probably been lost here. 
 178
 
 EUMENID^S 
 
 So much for thee : and I will never fail 
 To give this city honour among men, 
 Victorious in the noble games of war. 
 
 STROPHE I 
 
 Chor. I will accept this offered home with Pallas, 
 Nor will the city scorn, 
 Which e'en All-ruling Zeus 
 And Ares give as fortress of the Gods, 
 The altar-guarding pride of Gods of Hellas ; 
 And I upon her call, 
 With kindly auguries, 
 That so the glorious splendour of the sun 
 May cause life's fairest portion in thick growth 
 
 *To burgeon from the earth. 
 Athena. Yea, I work with kindliest feeling 
 For these my townsmen, having settled 
 Powers great, and hard to soothe among them : 
 Unto them the lot is given, 
 All things human still to order ; 8 * 
 
 He who hath not felt their pressure 
 Knows not whence life's scourges smite him : 
 For the sin of generations 
 Past and gone ; a dumb destroyer, 
 Leads him on into their presence, 
 And with mood of foe low bringeth 
 Him whose lips are speaking proudly. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I 
 
 Chor. Let no tree-blighting canker breathe on them, 
 (I tell of boon I give,) 
 Nor blaze of scorching heat, 
 
 That mars the budding eyes of nursling plants, goa 
 And checks their spreading o'er their narrow bounds ; 
 And may no dark, drear plague 
 Smite it with barrenness. 
 '79
 
 EUMENIDES 
 
 But may Earth feed fair flock in season due, 
 Blest with twin births, and earth's rich produce pay 
 To the high heavenly Powers, 
 Its gift for treasure found. 1 
 Athena. Hear ye then, ye city's guardians, 
 
 What she offers ? Dread and mighty fl 
 
 With the Undying is Erinnys ; 
 
 And with Those beneath the earth too, 
 
 And full clearly and completely 
 
 Work they all things out for mortals, 
 
 Giving these the songs of gladness, 
 
 Those a life bedimmed with weeping. 
 
 STROPHE II 
 
 Ckor. Avaunt, all evil chance 
 That brings men low in death before their time ! 
 And for the maidens lovely and beloved, 
 Give, ye whose work it is, 
 Life with a husband true, 
 And ye, O Powers of self-same mother born, 
 Ye Fates who rule aright, 
 Partners in every house, 
 Awe-striking through all time, 
 With presence full of righteousness and truth, 
 Through all the universe 
 Most honoured of the Gods ! 
 Athena. Much I joy that thus ye promise 
 These boons to my land in kindness ; 
 And I love the glance of Suasion, 
 That she guides my speech and accent 
 Unto these who gainsaid stoutly. 
 But the victory is won by 
 Zeus, the agora's protector ; 
 
 1 Probably an allusion to the silver-mine at Laureion, which 
 about the time formed a large element of the revenues of Athens, 
 and of which a tithe was consecrated to Athena. 
 jSo
 
 EUMENIDES 
 
 And our rivalry in blessings 
 Is the conqueror evermore. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II 
 
 Chor. For this too I will pray, 
 That Discord, never satiate with ill, 
 May never ravine in this commonwealth, 
 
 Nor dust that drinks dark blood 
 
 From veins of citizens, 
 Through eager thirst for vengeance, from the Suite 
 
 Snatch woes as penalty 
 
 For deeds of murderous guilt. 
 
 But may they give instead 
 With friendly purpose acts of kind intent, M0 
 
 And if need be, may hate 
 
 With minds of one accord ; 
 For this is healing found to mortal men 
 
 Of many a grievous woe. 
 Athena. Are they not then waxing wiser, 
 
 And at last the path discerning 
 
 Of a speech more good and gentle? 
 
 Now from these strange forms and fearful, 
 
 See I to my townsmen coming, 
 
 E'en to these, great meed of profit j 
 
 For if ye, with kindly welcome, 
 
 Honour these as kind protectors, 
 
 Then shall ye be famed as keeping, 
 
 Just and upright in all dealings, 
 
 Land and city evermore. 
 
 STROPHE III 
 
 Chor. Rejoice, rejoice ye in abounding wealth, 
 Rejoice, ye citizens, 
 
 Dwelling near Zeus himself, 1 9SO 
 
 1 Reference is made to another local sanctuary, the temple on 
 the Areopagos dedicated to the Olympian Zeus. 
 181
 
 EUMENIDES 
 
 Loved of the virgin Goddess whom ye loved, 
 In due time wise of heart, 
 
 You, 'neath the wings of Pallas ever staying, 1 
 
 The Father honoureth. 
 Athena. Rejoice ye also, but before you 
 I must march to show your chambers, 
 By your escorts' torches holy ; 
 Go, and with these dread oblations 
 Passing to the crypt cavernous, 
 Keep all harm from this our country, 
 Send all gain upon our city, 
 Cause it o'er its foes to triumph. 
 Lead ye on, ye sons of Cranaos, 2 
 Lead, ye dwellers in the city, 
 Those who come to sojourn with you, 
 And may good gifts work good purpose 
 In my townsmen evermore ! 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III 
 
 Cher. Rejoice, rejoice once more, ye habitants ! * 70 
 I say it yet again, 
 Ye Gods, and mortals too, 
 Who dwell in Pallas' city. Should ye treat 
 
 With reverence us who dwell 
 As sojourners among you, ye shall find 
 No cause to blame your lot. 
 Athena. I praise these words of yours, the prayers 
 
 ye offer, 
 
 And with the light of torches flashing fire, 
 Will I escort you to your dark abode,* 
 
 1 The figure of Athena, as identical with Victory, and so the 
 tutelary Goddess of Athens, was sculptured with outspread 
 wings. 
 
 a Cranaos, the son of Kecrops, the mythical founder of 
 Athens. 
 
 * The sanctuaries of the Eumenides were crypt-like chapels, 
 where they were worshipped by the light of lamps or torches. 
 182
 
 EUMENIDES 
 
 Low down beneath the earth, with my attendants, 
 
 Who with due honour guard my statue here, 
 
 For now shall issue forth the goodly eye 
 
 Of all the land of Theseus; fair-famed troop * 80 
 
 Of girls and women, band of matrons too, 
 
 In upper vestments purple-dyed arrayed : 
 
 *Now then advance ye ; and the blaze of fire, 
 
 Let it go forth, that so this company 
 
 Stand forth propitious, henceforth and for aye, 
 
 In rearing race of noblest citizens, 
 
 Enter an array of women, young and old, in processicn, 
 leading the Erinnyes now, as propitiated, the 
 Eumenides or Gentle Ones to their shrines 
 Chorus of Athenian women 
 
 STROPHE I 
 
 Go to your home, ye great and jealous Ones, 
 Children of Night, and yet no children ye ;' 
 With escort of good-will, 
 Shout, shout, ye townsmen, shout. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I 
 
 There in the dark and gloomy caves of earth, 
 With worthy gifts and many a sacrifice 
 
 Consumed in the fire 
 
 Shout, shout ye, one and all. 
 
 STROPHE II 
 
 Come, come, with thought benign 
 
 Propitious to our land, 
 
 Ye dreaded Ones, yea, come, 
 While on your progress onward ye rejoice, 
 In the bright light of fire-devoured torch ; 
 
 Shout, shout ye to our songs. 
 
 i Perhaps, "Children of Night, yourselves all childless left." 
 183
 
 EUMENIDES 
 
 ARTISTROPHE II 
 
 Let the drink-offerings come, 
 
 In order meet behind, 
 
 While torches fling their light ; 
 *Zeus the All-seeing thus hath joined in league 
 *With Destiny for Pallas' citizens ; 
 
 Shout, shout ye to our songs. 
 
 [The profession winds its way, ATHENA at its head, t/:en 
 the Eumenides, then the women, round the Areopagus 
 towards the ravine in which the dread Goddesses were 
 to find their sanctuary.] 
 
 1*4
 
 FRAGMENTS 
 
 38 
 
 APHRODITE loquitur 
 
 The pure, bright heaven still yearns to blend with earth, 
 And earth is filled with love for marriage- rites, 
 And from the kindly sky the rain-shower falls 
 And fertilises earth, and earth for men 
 Yields grass for sheep, and corn, Demeter's gift ; 
 And from its wedlock with the South the fruit 
 Is ripened in its season ; and of this, 
 All this, I am the cause accessory. 
 
 123 
 
 So, in the Libyan fables, it is told 
 That once an eagle, stricken with a dart, 
 Said, when he saw the fashion of the shaft, 
 "With our own feathers, not by others' hands, 
 Are we now smitten." 
 
 H7 
 
 Of all the Gods, Death only craves not gifts : 
 Nor sacrifice, nor yet drink-offering poured 
 Avails ; no altars hath he, nor is soothed 
 By hymns of praise. From him alone of all 
 The powers of Heaven Persuasion holds aloof. 
 
 When 'tis God's will to bring an utter doom 
 Upon a house, He first in mortal men 
 Implants what works it out.
 
 FRAGMENTS 
 
 162 
 The words of Truth are ever simplest found. 
 
 163 
 What good is found in life that still brings pain ? 
 
 174 
 To many mortals silence great gain brings. 
 
 229 
 
 O Death the Healer, scorn thou not, I pray, 
 To come to me : of cureless ills thou art 
 The one physician. Pain lays not its touch 
 Upon a corpse. 
 
 230 
 
 When the wind 
 Nor suffers us to leave the port, nor stay. 
 
 H3 
 
 And if thou wish to benefit the dead, 
 'Tis all as one as if thou injured'st them, 
 And they nor sorrow nor delight can feel : 
 Yet higher than we are is Nemesis, 
 And Justice taketh vengeance for the dead. 
 
 266 
 THETIS en the death of Achilks 
 
 Life free from sickness, and of many years, 
 And in a word a fortune like to theirs 
 Whom the Gods love, all this He spake to me 
 As paean-hymn, and made my heart full glad : 
 And I full fondly trusted Phcebos' lips 
 As holy and from falsehood free, of art 
 Oracular an ever-flowing spring,
 
 FRAGMENTS 
 
 And He who sang this, He who at the feast 
 Being present, spake these things, yea, He it is 
 That slew my son. 
 
 267 
 
 The man who does ill, ill must suffer too. 
 
 268 
 
 Evil on mortals comes full swift of foot, 
 
 And guilt on him who doth the right transgress. 
 
 y 269 
 
 Thou see'st a vengeance voiceless and unseen 
 For one who sleeps or walks or sits at ease : 
 It takes its course obliquely, here to-day, 
 And there to-morrow. Nor does night conceal 
 Men's deeds of ill, but whatsoe'er thou dost, 
 Think that some God beholds it. \ 
 
 270 
 "All have their chance :" good proverb for the rich. 
 
 271 
 
 Wise is the man who knows what profiteth, 
 Not he who knoweth much. 
 
 272 
 Full grievous burden is a prosperous fool. 
 
 272A 
 
 From a just fraud God turneth not away. 
 
 273 
 
 There is a time when God doth falsehood prize. 
 187
 
 FRAGMENTS 
 
 274 
 
 The polished brass is mirror of the form, 
 Wine of the soul. 
 
 275 
 
 Words are the parents of a causeless wrath. , 
 
 276 
 Men credit gain for oaths, not oaths for them. 
 
 277 
 God ever works with those that work with will. 
 
 *78 
 Wisdom to learn is e'en for old men good. 
 
 281 
 
 The base who prosper are intolerable. 
 282 
 
 The seed of mortals broods o'er passing things, 
 
 And hath nought surer than the smoke-cloud's shadow. 
 
 283 
 Old age hath stronger sense of right than youth. 
 
 286 
 
 Yet though a man gets many wounds in breast, 
 He dieth not, unless the appointed time, 
 The limit of his life's span, coincide ; 
 Nor does the man who by the hearth at home 
 Sits still, escape the doom that Fate decrees. 
 
 287 
 
 How far from just the hate men bear to death, 
 Which comes as safeguard against many ills. 
 188
 
 
 FRAGMENTS 
 
 288 
 To FORTUNE 
 
 Thou did'st beget me ; thou too, as it seems, 
 Wilt now destroy me. 
 
 289 
 
 The fire-moth's silly death is that I fear. 
 
 290 
 
 I by experience know the race full well 
 
 That dwells in ^Ethiop land, where seven-mouthed Nile 
 
 Rolls o'er the land with winds that bring the rain, 
 
 What time the fiery sun upon the earth 
 
 Pours its hot rays, and melts the snow till then 
 
 Hard as the rocks ; and all the fertile soil 
 
 Of Egypt, filled with that pure-flowing stream, 
 
 Brings forth Demeter's ears that feed our life. 
 
 291 
 
 This hoopoo, witness of its own dire ills, 
 He hath in varied garb set forth, and shows 
 In full array that bold bird of the rocks 
 Which, when the spring first comes, unfurls a wing 
 Like that of white-plumed kite ; for on one breast 
 It shows two forms, its own and eke its child's, 
 And when the corn grows gold, in autumn's prime, 
 A dappled plumage all its form will clothe ; 
 And ever m its hate of these 't will go 
 Far off" to lonely thickets or bare rocks. 
 
 292 
 
 Still to the sufferer comes, as due from God, 
 A glory that to suffering owes its birth. 
 
 189
 
 FRAGMENTS 
 
 >93 
 
 The air is Zeus, Zeus earth, and Zeus the heaven, 
 Zeus all that is, and what transcends them all. 
 
 294 
 Take courage ; pain's extremity soon ends. 
 
 298 
 
 When Strength and Justice are true yoke-fellows, 
 Where can be found a mightier pair than they I 
 
 195
 
 RHYMED CHORUSES 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 VERSES 40-248 
 
 Nine weary years are gone and spent 
 
 Since Menelaos' armament 
 
 Sped forth, on work of vengeance bent, 
 
 For Priam's guilty land ; 
 And with him Agamemnon there 
 Throne, sceptre, army all did share ; 
 And so from Zeus the Atreidae bear, 
 
 Their two-fold high command. 
 They a fleet of thousand sail, 
 Strong in battle to prevail, 
 Led from out our Argive coast, 
 Shouting war-cries to the host ; 
 E'en as vultures do that utter 
 Shrillest screams as round they flutter, 
 Grieving for their nestlings lost, 
 Plying still their oary wings 
 In many lonely wanderings, 
 Robbed of all the sweet unrest 
 That bound them to their young ones' nest. 
 And One on high of solemn state, 
 Apollo, Pan, or Zeus the great, 
 When he hears that shrill wild cry 
 Of his clients in the sky, 
 On them, the godless who offend, 
 Erinnys slow and sure doth send. 
 191
 
 RHYMED CHORUSES 
 
 So 'gainst Alexandros then 
 The sons of Atreus, chiefs of men, 
 Zeus sent to work his high behest, 
 True guardian of the host and guest. 
 He, for bride of many a groom, 
 On Danai, Troians sendeth doom, 
 Many wrestlings, sinew-trying 
 Of the knee in dust down-lying, 
 Many a spear-shaft snapt asunder 
 In the prelude of war's thunder. 
 What shall be, shall, and still we see 
 Fulfilled is destiny's decree. 
 Nor by tears in secret shed, 
 Nor by offerings o'er the dead, 
 Will he soothe God's vengeful ire 
 For altar hearths despoiled of fire. 
 
 And we with age outworn and spent 
 Are left behind that armament, 
 With head upon our staff low bent. 
 Weak our strength like that of boy ; 
 Youth's life-blood, in its bounding joy, 
 For deeds of might is like to age, 
 And knows not yet war's heritage : 
 And the man whom many a year 
 Hath bowed in withered age and sere, 
 As with three feet creepeth on, 
 Like phantom form of day-dream gone 
 Not stronger than his infant son. 
 
 And now, O Queen, who tak'st thy name 
 From Tyndareus of ancient fame, 
 Our Clytaemnestra whom we own 
 As rightly sharing Argos' throne ! 
 What tidings joyous hast thou heard, 
 Token true or flattering word, 
 19*
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 That thou send'st to every shrine 
 
 Solemn pomp in stately line, 
 
 Shrines of Gods who reign in light, 
 
 Or those who dwell in central night, 
 
 Who in Heaven for aye abide, 
 
 Or o'er the Agora preside. 
 
 Lo, thy gifts on altars blaze, 
 
 And here and there through heaven's wide ways 
 
 The torches fling their fiery rays, 
 
 Fed by soft and suasive spell 
 
 Of the clear oil, flowing well 
 
 From the royal treasure-cell. 
 
 Telling what of this thou may, 
 
 All that's meet to us to say, 
 
 Do thou our haunting cares allay, 
 
 Cares which now bring sore distress, 
 
 While now bright hope, with power to bless, 
 
 From out the sacrifice appears, 
 
 And wardeth off our restless fears, 
 
 The boding sense of coming fate, 
 
 That makes the spirit desolate. 
 
 STROPHE I 
 
 Yes, it is mine to tell 
 What omens to our leaders then befell, 
 
 Giving new strength for war, 
 
 (For still though travelled far 
 In life, by God's great gift to us belong 
 
 The suasive powers of song,) 
 
 To tell how those who bear 
 O'er all Achaeans sway in equal share, 
 
 Ruling in one accord 
 The youth of Hellas that own each as lord, 
 
 Were sent with mighty host 
 By mighty birds against the Troi'an coast, 
 ii 193 N
 
 RHYMED CHORUSES 
 
 Kings of the air to kings of men appearing 
 Near to the palace, on the right hand veering ; 
 
 On spot seen far and near, 
 
 They with their talons tear 
 A pregnant hare with all her unborn young, 
 All her life's course in death's deep darkness flung. 
 Oh raise the bitter cry, the bitter wail ; 
 
 Yet pray that good prevail ! 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I 
 
 And then the host's wise seer 
 Stood gazing on the Atreidas standing near, 
 
 Of diverse mood, and knew 
 
 Those who the poor hare slew, 
 And those who led the host with shield and spear, 
 
 And spake his omens clear : 
 
 " One day this host shall go, 
 And Priam's city in the dust lay low, 
 
 And all the kine and sheep 
 Countless, which they before their high towers keep, 
 
 Fate shall with might destroy : 
 Only take heed that no curse mar your joy, 
 Nor blunt the edge of curb that Troi'a waiteth, 
 Smitten too soon, for Artemis still hateth 
 
 The winged hounds that own 
 
 Her father on his throne, 
 Who slay the mother with the young unborn, 
 And looks upon the eagle's feast with scorn. 
 Ah ! raise the bitter cry, the bitter wail ; 
 
 Yet pray that good prevail. 
 
 EPODE 
 
 For she, the Fair One, though her mercy shields 
 The lion's whelps, like dew-drops newly shed, 
 And yeanling young of beasts that roam the fields, 
 Yet prays her sire fulfil these omens dread, 
 194
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 The good, the evil too. 
 And now I call on him, our Healer true, 
 Lest she upon the Danai send delays 
 That keep our ships through many weary days, 
 
 Urging a new strange rite, 
 Unblest alike by man and God's high law, 
 Evil close clinging, working sore despite, 
 
 Marring a wife's true awe. 
 
 For still there lies in wait, 
 
 Fearful and ever new, 
 Watching the hour its eager thirst to sate, 
 Vengeance on those who helpless infants slew." 
 Such things, ill mixed with good, great Calchas spake, 
 As destined by the birds' strange auguries ; 
 And we too now our echoing answer make 
 
 In loud and woeful cries : 
 Oh raise the bitter cry, the bitter wail ; 
 
 Yet pray that good prevail. 
 
 STROPHE II 
 
 O Zeus, whoe'er Thou be, 
 
 If that name please thee well, 
 
 By that I call on Thee ; 
 For weighing all things else I fail to tell 
 
 Of any name but Zeus ; 
 
 If once for all I seek 
 Of all my haunting, troubled thoughts a truce, 
 
 That name I still must speak. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II 
 For He who once was great, 
 Full of the might to war, 
 Hath lost his high estate ; 
 And He who followed now is driven afar, 
 Meeting his Master too : 
 But if one humbly pay
 
 RHYMED CHORUSES 
 
 With 'bated breath to Zeus his honour due, 
 He walks in wisdom's way, 
 
 STROPHE III 
 To Zeus, who men in wisdom's path doth train, 
 
 Who to our mortal race 
 Hath given the fixed law that pain is gain ; 
 
 For still through his high grace 
 True counsel falleth on the heart like dew, 
 
 In deep sleep of the night, 
 
 The boding thoughts that out of ill deeds grew ; 
 This too They work who sit enthroned in their might. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III 
 And then the elder leader of great fame 
 
 Who ruled the Achseans' ships, 
 Not bold enough a holy seer to blame 
 
 With words from reckless lips, 
 But tempered to the fate that on him fell ; 
 
 And when the host was vexed 
 With tarryings long, scant stores, and surging swell, 
 Chalkis still far off seen, and baffled hopes perplexed ; 
 
 STROPHE IV 
 
 And stormy blasts that down from Strymon sweep, 
 And breed sore famine with the long delay, 
 Hurl forth our men upon the homeless deep 
 
 On many a wandering way, 
 Sparing nor ships, nor ropes, nor sailing gear, 
 Doubling the weary months, and vexing still 
 
 The Argive host with fear. 
 Then when as mightier charm for that dread ill. 
 
 Hard for our ships to bear, 
 From the seer's lips did " Artemis " resound, 
 The Atreidae smote their staves upon the ground, 
 And with no power to check, shed many a bitter tear. 
 196
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 ANTISTROPHE IV 
 
 And then the elder of the chiefs thus cried : 
 " Great woe it is the Gods to disobey ; 
 Great woe if I my child, my home's fond pride, 
 
 With my own hands must slay, 
 Polluting with the streams of maiden's blood 
 A father's hands, the holy altar near. 
 
 Which course hath least of good ? 
 How can I loss of ships and comrades bear ? 
 
 Right well may men desire, 
 With craving strong, the blood of maiden pure 
 As charm to lull the winds and calm ensure ; 
 Ah, may there come the good to which our hopes aspi re ! " 
 
 STROPHE V 
 
 Then, when he his spirit proud 
 To the yoke of doom had bowed, 
 While the blasts of altered mood 
 O'er his soul swept like a flood, 
 Reckless, godless and unblest ; 
 Thence new thoughts upon him pressed, 
 Thoughts of evil, frenzied daring, 
 (Still doth passion, base guile sharing, 
 Mother of all evil, hold 
 The power to make men bad and bold,) 
 And he brought himself to slay 
 His daughter, as on solemn day, 
 Victim slain the ship to save, 
 When for false wife fought the brave. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE V 
 
 All her cries and loud acclaim, 
 Calling on her father's name, 
 All her beauty fresh and fair, 
 They heeded not in their despair, 
 Their eager lust for conflict there. 
 197
 
 RHYMED CHORUSES 
 
 And her sire the attendants bade 
 
 To lift her, when the prayer was said, 
 
 Above the altar like a kid, 
 
 Her face and form in thick veil hid ; 
 
 Yea, with ruthless heart and bold, 
 
 O'er her gracious lips to hold 
 
 Their watch, and with the gag's dumb pain 
 
 From evil-boding words restrain. 
 
 STROPHE VI 
 
 And then upon the ground 
 Pouring the golden streams of saffron veil, 
 
 She cast a glance around 
 
 That told its piteous tale, 
 At each of those who stood prepared to slav, 
 
 Fair as the form by skilful artist drawn, 
 And wishing, all in vain, her thoughts to say ; 
 For oft of old in maiden youth's first dawn, 
 
 Within her father's hall, 
 
 Her voice to song did call, 
 To chant the praises of her sire's high state, 
 His fame, thrice blest of Heaven, to celebrate. 
 
 What then ensued mine eyes 
 Saw not, nor may I tell, but not in vain 
 
 The arts of Calchas wise ; 
 
 For justice sends again, 
 
 The lesson " pain is gain " for them to learn : 
 But for our piteous fate since help is none, 
 With voice that bids " Good-bye," we from it turn 
 Ere yet it come, and this is all as one 
 
 With weeping ere the hour, 
 
 For soon will come in power 
 To-morrow's dawn, and good luck with it come ! 
 So speaks the guardian of this Apian home. 
 
 198
 
 A.OAMEMNON 
 r * 
 
 VERSES 346-471 
 
 O great and sovran Zeus, O Night, 
 
 Great in glory, great in might, 
 
 Who round Troia's towers hast set, 
 
 Enclosing all, thy close-meshed net, 
 
 So that neither small nor great 
 
 Can o'erleap the bond-slave's fate, 
 
 Or woe that maketh desolate ; 
 
 Zeus, the God of host and guest, 
 
 Worker of all this confessed, 
 
 He by me shall still be blest. 
 
 Long since, 'gainst Alexandras He 
 
 Took aim with bow that none may flee, 
 
 That so his arrows onward driven, 
 
 Nor miss their mark, nor pierce the heaven. 
 
 STROPHE I 
 
 Yes, they lie smitten low, 
 If so one dare to speak, by stroke of Zeus ; 
 
 Well one may trace the blow ; 
 The doom that He decreed their soul subdues. 
 
 And though there be that say 
 The Gods for mortal men care not at all, 
 Though they with reckless feet tread holiest way, 
 
 These none will godly call, i 
 Now is it to the children's children clear 
 
 Of those who, overbold, 
 
 More than was meet, breathed Discord's spirit drear ; 
 While yet their houses all rich store did hold 
 
 Beyond the perfect mean. 
 Ah ! may my lot be free from all that harms, 
 
 My soul may nothing wean 
 From calm contentment with her tranquil charms ; 
 
 For nought is there in wealth 
 That serves as bulwark 'gainst the subtle stealth 
 199
 
 RHYMED CHORUSES 
 
 - 
 
 Of Destiny and Doom, 
 For one who, in the pride of wanton mood, 
 Spurns the great altar of the Right and Good. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I 
 
 Yea, a strange impulse wild 
 Urges him on, resistless in its might, 
 
 Ate's far-scheming child. 
 It knows no healing, is not hid in night, 
 
 That mischief lurid, dark; 
 
 Like bronze that will not stand the test of wear, 
 A tarnished blackness in its hue we mark ; 
 And like a boy who doth a bird pursue 
 
 Swift-floating on the wing, 
 He to his country hopeless woe doth bring ; 
 
 And no God hears their prayer, 
 But sendeth down the unrighteous to despair, 
 
 Whose hands are stained with sin. 
 
 So was it Paris came 
 His entrance to the Atreidae's home to win, 
 
 And brought its queen to shame, 
 To shame that brand indelible hath set 
 Upon the board where host and guest were met. 
 
 STROPHE II 
 
 And leaving to her countrymen to bear 
 Wild whirl of ships of war and shield and spear, 
 
 And bringing as her dower, 
 
 Death's doom to Ilion's tower, 
 She hath passed quickly through the palace gate, 
 
 Daring what none should dare ; 
 And lo ! the minstrel seers bewail the fate 
 
 That home must henceforth share ; 
 " Woe for the kingly house and for its lord ; 
 Woe for the marriage-bed and paths which still 
 
 A vanished love doth fill !
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 There stands he, wronged, yet speaking not a word 
 
 Of scorn from wrathful will, 
 Seeing with utter woe that he is left, 
 
 Of her fair form bereft ; 
 
 And in his yearning love 
 For her who now is far beyond the sea, 
 A phantom queen through all the house shall rove ; 
 
 And all the joy doth flee 
 
 The sculptured forms of beauty once did give ; 
 And in the penury of eyes that live, 
 
 All Aphrodite's grace 
 
 Is lost in empty space. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II 
 
 And spectral forms in visions of the night 
 Come, bringing sorrow with their vain delight : 
 
 For vain it is when one 
 
 Thinks that great joy is near, 
 And, passing through his hands, the dream is gone 
 
 On gliding wings, that bear 
 The vision far away on paths of sleep." 
 
 Such woes were felt at home 
 Upon the sacred altar of the hearth, 
 And worse than these remain for those who roam 
 
 From Hellas' parent earth : 
 In every house, in number measureless, 
 
 Is seen a sore distress : 
 
 Yea, sorrows pierce the heart : 
 For those who from his home he saw depart 
 
 Each knoweth all too well ; 
 And now, instead of warrior's living frame, 
 There cometh to the home where each did dwell 
 The scanty ashes, relics of the flame, 
 
 The urns of bronze that keep 
 
 The dust of those that sleep.
 
 RHYMED CHORUSES 
 
 STROPHE III 
 For Ares, who from bodies of the slain 
 
 Reapeth a golden gain, 
 And holdeth, like a trafficker, his scales, 
 E'en where the torrent rush of war prevails, 
 
 From Ilion homeward sends 
 But little dust, yet burden sore for friends, 
 O'er which, smooth-lying in the brazen urn, 
 
 They sadly weep and mourn, 
 Now for this man as foremost in the strife, 
 And now for that who in the battle fell, 
 
 Slain for another's wife. 
 And muttered curses some in secret tell, 
 
 And jealous discontent 
 Against the Atreidae who as champions led 
 
 The mighty armament ; 
 And some around the wall, the goodly dead, 
 Have there in alien land their monument, 
 
 And in the soil of foes 
 Take in the sleep of death their last repose. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III 
 
 And lo ! the murmurs which our country fill 
 
 Are as a solemn curse, 
 And boding anxious fear expecteth still 
 
 To hear of evil worse. 
 Not blind the Gods, but giving fullest heed 
 To those who cause a nation's wounds to bleed ; 
 And the dark-robed Erinnyes in due time 
 
 By adverse chance and change 
 Plunge him who prospers though denied by crime 
 In deepest gloom, and through its formless range 
 
 No gleams. of help appear. 
 O'er-vaunted glory is a perilous thing ; 
 For on it Zeus, whose glance fills all with fear, 
 202
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 His thunderbolts doth fling. 
 
 That fortune fair I praise 
 That rouseth not the Gods to jealousy. 
 May I ne'er tread the devastator's ways, 
 
 Nor as a prisoner see 
 My life wear out in drear captivity ! 
 
 EPODE 
 
 And now at bidding of the courier-flame, 
 
 Herald of great good news, 
 A murmur swift through all the city came ; 
 Bnt whether it with truth its course pursues, 
 Who knows? or whether God who dwells on high, 
 
 With it hath sent a lie? 
 Who is so childish, or of sense bereft, 
 
 As first to feel the glow 
 That message of the herald fire has left, 
 
 And then to sink down low, 
 Because the rumour changes in its sound ? 
 
 It is a woman's mood 
 
 To accept a boon before the truth is found : 
 Too quickly she believes in tidings good, 
 
 And so the line exact 
 
 That marks the truth of fact 
 Is over-passed, and with quick doom of death 
 A rumour spread by woman perisheth. 
 
 VERSES 665-782 
 
 STROPHE I 
 Who was it named her with such foresight clear f 
 
 Could it be One of might, 
 In strange prevision of her work of fear, 
 
 Guiding the tongue aright ? 
 Who gave that war-wed, strife-upstirring one 
 The name of Helen, ominous of ill I 
 203
 
 RHYMED CHORUSES 
 
 For 'twas through her that Hellas was undone, 
 
 That woes from Hell men, ships, and cities fill. 
 Out from the curtains, gorgeous in their fold, 
 Wafted by breeze of Zephyr, earth's strong child, 
 
 She her swift way doth hold ; 
 And hosts of mighty men, as hunters bold 
 
 That bear the spear and shield, 
 Wait on the track of those who steered their way 
 Unseen where Simois flows by leafy field, 
 Urged by a strife that came with power to slay. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I 
 And so the wrath which doth its work fulfil 
 
 To Ilion brought, well-named, 
 A marriage marring all, avenging still 
 
 For friendship wronged and shamed, 
 And outrage foul on Zeus, of host and guest 
 
 The guardian God, from those who then did raise 
 The bridal hymn of marriage-feast unblest 
 
 Which called the bridegroom's kin to shouts of praise. 
 
 But now by woe oppressed 
 Priam's ancient city waileth very sore, 
 And calls on Paris unto dark doom wed, 
 
 Suffering yet more and more 
 For all the blood of heroes vainly shed, 
 And bearing through the long protracted years 
 A life of wailing grief and bitter tears. 
 
 STROPHE II 
 
 One was there who did rear 
 A lion's whelp within his home to dwell, 
 
 A monster waking fear, 
 Weaned from the mother's milk it loved so well : 
 
 Then in life's dawning light, 
 Loved by the children, petted by the old, 
 Oft in his arms clasped tight, 
 204
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 As &ae an infant newly-born would hold, 
 
 With eye that gleamed beneath the fondling hand, 
 
 And fawning as at hunger's strong command. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II 
 
 But soon of age full grown, 
 It showed the inbred nature of its sire, 
 
 And wrought unasked, alone, 
 A feast to be that fostering nurture's hire ; 
 
 Gorged full with slaughtered sheep, 
 The house was stained with blood as with a curse 
 
 No slaves away could keep, 
 A murderous mischief waxing worse and worse, 
 Sent as from God a priest from Ate fell, 
 And reared within the man's own house to dwell. 
 
 STROPHE III 
 
 So I would say to Ilion then there came 
 
 Mood as of calm when every wind is still, 
 The gentle pride and joy of noble fame, 
 The eye's soft glance that all the soul doth thrill ; 
 
 Love's full-blown flower that brings 
 
 The thorn that wounds and stings ; 
 
 And yet she turned aside, 
 And of the marriage feast wrought bitter end, 
 Coming to dwell where Priam's sons abide, 
 
 111 sojourner, 511 friend, 
 
 Sent by great Zeus, the God of host and guest, 
 A true Erinnys, by all wives unblest. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III 
 
 There lives a saying framed of ancient days, 
 And in men's minds imprinted firm and fast, 
 
 That great good fortune never childless stays, 
 But brings forth issue, that on fame at last 
 205
 
 RHYMED CHORUSES 
 
 There rushes on apace 
 
 Great woe for all the race ; 
 
 But I, apart, alone, 
 
 Hold a far other and a worthier creed : 
 The impious act is by ill issue known, 
 
 Most like the parent deed ; 
 
 While still for all who love the Truth and Right, 
 Good fortune prospers, fairer and more bright. 
 
 STROPHE IV 
 But wanton Outrage done in days of old 
 
 Another wanton Outrage still doth bear, 
 And mocks at human woes with scorn o'erbold, 
 Or soon or late as they their fortune share. 
 That other in its turn 
 Begets Satiety, 
 And lawless Might that doth all hindrance spurn, 
 
 And sacred right defy, 
 Two Ates fell within their dwelling-place, 
 Like to their parent race. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE IV 
 Yet Justice still shines bright in dwellings murk 
 
 And dim with smoke, and honours calm content ; 
 But gold-bespangled homes, where guilt doth lurk, 
 She leaves with glance in horror backward bent, 
 And draws with reverent fear 
 To places holier far, 
 And little recks the praise the prosperous hear, 
 
 Whose glories tarnished are ; 
 But still towards its destined goal she brings 
 The whole wide course of things. 
 
 Say then, son of Atreus, thou 
 Who com'st as Troi'a's conqueror now, 
 206
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 What form of welcome right and meet, 
 
 What homage thy approach to greet, 
 
 Shall I now use in measure true, 
 
 Nor more nor less than that is due ? 
 
 Many men there are, I wis, 
 
 Who in seeming place their bliss, 
 
 Caring less for that which is. 
 
 If one suffers, then their wail 
 
 Loudly doth the ear assail ; 
 
 Yet have they nor lot nor part 
 
 In the grief that stirs the heart ; 
 
 So too the joyous men will greet 
 
 With smileless faces counterfeit : 
 
 But shepherd who his own sheep knows 
 
 Will scan the lips that fawn and gloze, 
 
 Ready still to praise and bless 
 
 With weak and watery kindliness. 
 
 Thou when thou the host did'st guide 
 
 For Helen truth I will not hide 
 
 In mine eyes had'st features grim, 
 
 Such as unskilled art doth limn, 
 
 Not guiding well the helm of thought, 
 
 And giving souls with grief o'erwrought 
 
 False courage from fresh victims brought, 
 
 But with nought of surface zeal, 
 
 Now full glad of heart I feel, 
 
 And hail thy acts as deeds well done: 
 
 Thou too in time shalt know each one, 
 
 And learn who wrongly, who aright 
 
 In house or city dwells in might. 
 
 VERSES 947-1001 
 
 STROPHE I 
 
 Why thus continually 
 Do ever-haunting phantoms hover nigh 
 207
 
 RHYMED CHORUSES 
 
 My hearth that bodeth ill ? 
 Why doth the prophet's strain unbidden still, * 
 
 Unbought, flow on and on ? 
 
 Why on my mind's dear throne 
 Hath faith lost all her former power to fling 
 That terror from me as an idle thing ? 
 Yet since the ropes were fastened in the sand 
 
 That moored the ships to land, 
 When the great naval host to Ilion went, 
 Time hath passed on to feeble age and spent. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I 
 
 And now as face to face, 
 Myself reporting to myself I trace 
 Their safe return ; and yet 
 My mind, taught by itself, cannot forget 
 Erinnys' dolorous cry, 
 That lyreless melody, 
 
 And hath no strength of wonted confidence. 
 Not vain these pulses of the inward sense, 
 As my heart beateth in its wild unrest, 
 
 Within true-boding breast ; 
 And hoping against hope, I yet will pray 
 My fears may all prove false and pass away. 
 
 STROPHE II 
 
 Of high, o'erflowing health 
 There is no limit found that satisfies ; 
 
 For soon by force or stealth, 
 As foe 'gainst whom but one poor wall doth rise, 
 Disease upon it presses, and the lot 
 Of fair good fortune onward moves until 
 It strikes on unseen reef where help is not. 
 But should fear move their will 
 For safety of their freight, 
 208
 
 AGAMEMNON 
 
 With measured sling a part they sacrifice, 
 
 And so avert their fate, 
 Lest the whole house should sink no more to rise, 
 
 O'erwhelmed with misery ; 
 Nor does the good ship perish utterly : 
 
 So too abundant gift, 
 
 From Zeus in double plenty, from the earth, 
 Doth the worn soul from anxious care uplift, 
 And turns the famished wail to bounding joy and mirth. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II 
 
 But blood that once is shed 
 In purple stream of death upon the ground, 
 
 Who then, when life is fled, 
 A charm to call it back again hath found ? 
 
 Else against him who raised the dead to life 
 Zeus had not sternly warred, as warning given 
 To all men ; but if Fate were not at strife 
 
 With Fate that brings from Heaven 
 
 Help from the Gods, my heart, 
 Out-stripping speech, had given thought free vent. 
 
 But now in gloom apart 
 It sits and moans in sullen discontent, 
 
 And hath no hope that e'er 
 It shall an issue seasonably fair 
 
 From out the tangled skein 
 
 Of life's strange course unravel straight and clear, 
 While in the fever of continuing pain 
 My soul doth burden sore of troublous anguish bear. 
 
 209
 
 RHYMED CHORUSES 
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 VERSES 2075 
 
 STROPHE I 
 
 Lo, from the palace door 
 We wend our way to pour 
 
 Gifts on the dead ; 
 And in our bitter woe, 
 Our hands with many a blow 
 
 Smite breast and head. 
 On each fair cheek the nail 
 Has ploughed full many a trail, 
 And all to tatters torn 
 The garments we have worn ; 
 The foldings of the vest 
 O'er maiden's swelling breast 
 
 Are roughly rent ; 
 For now on us the chance 
 That shuts out joy and dance 
 
 Our fate hath sent. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I 
 A spectral vision clear 
 Thrills every hair with fear, 
 In haunted sleep, 
 Breathing of dire distress, 
 From innermost recess 
 Its watch doth keep, 
 Breaking with cry of fright 
 The still deep hush of night :
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 All through the queenly bower 
 j Sharp cry was heard that hour, 
 And they to whom 'twas given 
 To read decrees of Heaven, 
 
 In dream o'ertrue, 
 By solemn pledges bound, 
 Declared that underground 
 The dead were wrathful found 
 'Gainst those that slew. 
 
 STROPHE II 
 
 And so the godless queen 
 In eager haste is seen, 
 Sends me with gifts like this, 
 Full graceless grace, I wis, 
 As if (O mother Earth, 
 To whom we owe our birth !) 
 
 To banish dread. 
 And I would fain delay 
 This prayer of mine to pray : 
 What ransom can men pay 
 
 For blood once shed ? 
 Oh, hearth and home of woe \ 
 Oh, utter overthrow ! 
 Foul mists brood o'er our halls : 
 No ray of sunlight falls ; 
 Thick darkness from the tomb 
 Of heroes makes the gloom 
 
 Yet more intense. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II 
 
 And awe that once we knew, 
 Strong, mighty to subdue, 
 Falling on every ear, 
 Thrilling each ^r,\ with fear,
 
 RHYMED CHORUSES 
 
 Is gone far hence. 
 There be that well may bow 
 In craven terror now, 
 For lo ! Success enthroned 
 As more than God is owned. 
 But Vengeance will not fail 
 Ere long to turn the scale. 
 On some her strokes alight, 
 While yet their day is bright ; 
 Some, as in twilight's gloom, 
 O'erflow with gathering doom ; 
 Some endless night doth hold 
 In realm of darkness old. 
 
 STROPHE III 
 
 And for the blood which Earth, 
 To whom it owed its birth, 
 Hath drunk, there still doth wait 
 A stern avenging Fate ; 
 The stain of blood doth stay, 
 And will not pass away, 
 And nerves are thrilled with pain 
 In soul that sets in train 
 The plague that works amain 
 Its evil great. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III 
 
 All help from him hath fled 
 Who with adulterous tread 
 Defiles another's bed. 
 Though many streams should pour 
 Their waters o'er and o'er, 
 Those waters evermore
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 Are poured in vain ; 
 They cannot cleanse the guilt 
 Of blood that once is spilt, 
 
 Man's hand to stain. 
 
 EPODE 
 
 But since to me by Heaven 
 The exile's life is given, 
 (Yea, far from home I know 
 The bond-slave's cup of woe,) 
 I needs must yield assent 
 To good or ill intent, 
 Accepting their commands 
 Who rule with sceptred hands, 
 Yea, I must hide my hate 
 In this my evil fate, 
 And under strong control 
 Keep my rebellious soul ; 
 And now beneath my veil 
 I weep my woes' full tale ; 
 For cares that vex and fret 
 My cheeks with tears are wet. 
 
 VERSES 576-639 
 STROPHE I 
 
 Many dread forms of woe and fear the Earth 
 
 Doth breed ; and Ocean's deep 
 Is full of foes men hate, of monstrous birth ; 
 And Air's high pathways keep 
 Their flashing meteors ; birds that wing their flight, 
 
 And things on earth that creep ; 
 And one might tell the wrath of whirlwind's might, 
 
 When tempests wildly sweep. 
 
 213
 
 RHYMED CHORUSES 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I 
 But who can tell man's purpose overbold ? 
 
 Or woman's, prompt to dare ? 
 Or the strong loves that men in bondage hold, 
 
 And bring woe everywhere ? 
 Or strange conjunctions of the hearth and home ? 
 
 But still the palm they bear, 
 The loves unloved that women overcome, 
 
 And hold dominion there. 
 
 STROPHE II 
 And one whose thoughts are not o'erswift of wing, 
 
 May learn and ponder well 
 What purpose Thestios' child to act did bring, 
 
 Purpose most dire and fell, 
 Her burning thought who did her own child slay, 
 
 Kindling the torch of death 
 That with her child's life kept its equal way, 
 Since coming from his mother's womb he cried, 
 To that predestined day on which at last he died. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II 
 And yet another must I in my song 
 
 Devote to hate and scorn, 
 The murderess Skylla, who to deeds of wrong 
 
 By Minos' gifts was borne, 
 And for her foes' sake slew a man she loved 
 
 For Cretan chains gold-wrought ; 
 She with dog's heart the deathless lock removed 
 From him, in deep sleep sunk ; yet Hermes' power 
 She too was taught at last at her appointed hour. 
 
 STROPHE III 
 
 But since I tell my tale of loathly crime, 
 And of ill-omened marriage out of time, 
 Wedlock our house abhors, 
 214
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 The schemes and plots of women steeped in guile 
 Against a warrior chief, a chief erewhile 
 
 The dread of foes in wars, 
 The foremost place I give to altar-hearth 
 Where no wrath burns and woman knows the worth 
 
 Of mood from daring free. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III 
 
 Yet of all ills the Lemnian first may stand, 
 The cry of loathing rings through all the land, 
 
 And still each crime of dread 
 A man will liken to the Lemnian ill ; 
 And now by woe that comes from God's stern will 
 
 The race is gone and fled, 
 
 Of all men scorned, for no man looks with love 
 On deeds that to the high Gods hateful prove ; 
 
 Is not this clear to see ? 
 
 STROPHE IV 
 
 And lo ! the sword sharp-pointed pierces deep, 
 
 E'en to the heart, thesword which Vengeance wields ; 
 The lawless deed will not neglected sleep, 
 
 When men tread down what fear of high heaven 
 shields ; 
 
 ANTISTROPHE IV 
 
 But still the block of Vengeance firm doth stand, 
 
 And Fate, as swordsmith, hammers blow on blow; 
 And then with thoughts that none can understand, 
 Erinnys comes far known, though working slow, 
 And to the old house brings the youthful heir, 
 That deeds of blood wrought out of olden time 
 May the due judgment bear 
 For each polluting crime.
 
 RHYMED CHORUSES - f 
 
 VERSES 769-820 
 
 STROPHE I 
 Oh, hear me, hear my prayer, thou mighty Lord ! 
 
 Sire of all Gods that on Olympos dwell, 
 Hear Thou, and grant my longing heart's desire, 
 That those who wise of heart would fain do well 
 May see each prayer for right 
 Fulfilled in holiest might ; 
 That prayer, O Zeus, I pray. 
 
 STROPHE II 
 Do Thou protect him, yea, O Zeus, and bring 
 
 Before his foes on yonder secret way ; 
 For if thou raise him high, then Thou, O king, 
 
 Shalt to thy heart's content 
 Receive a twofold, threefold recompence, 
 For that thine anger bent 
 Against each old offence. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I 
 Look on the son of one whom Thou did'st love, 
 
 Like orphan colt fast bound to car of woes ; 
 Set Thou a mark that may as limit prove ; 
 Ah, might one watch his footsteps as he goes, 
 In measured course and true, 
 This his own country through ! 
 
 STROPHE III 
 
 And ye who in our home 
 Stand in the shrine with plenteous wealth full stored, 
 
 Hear, O ye Gods, and come, 
 
 Yea, come with one accord, 
 
 Lead him on, wash away 
 With vengeance new the blood of crime of old ; 
 
 Let not the old guilt stay 
 To breed fresh offspring where our home we hold.
 
 THE LIBATION-POURERS 
 
 MESODE 
 
 But grant him good success, 
 O Thou who dost within the great cave dwell ! 
 With upward glance of joy our chiefs house bless, 
 
 And that he too, full well, 
 Freely and brightly with the dear, loved eyes, 
 May look from out the veil of cloudy skies. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III 
 
 And then may Maia's son 
 Assist him, as is meet, in this his task ! 
 
 Through Him success is won, 
 
 The boon that now we ask : 
 And many secret things will He make clear, 
 
 If that should be His will ; 
 But should He choose the truth should not appear, 
 
 Before men's eyes He still 
 Brings darkness and the blackness of the night, 
 Nor is He clearer in the day's full light. 
 
 STROPHE IV 
 
 And then will we pour forth 
 All that our house contains of costliest worth, 
 
 Past evil to redeem, 
 
 And through the city we will raise the strain 
 Shrill-voiced of women's chant yet once again. 
 
 All this as good I deem ; 
 This, this my gain increaseth more and more, 
 And far from those I love is sorrow's bitter stour. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II 
 But thou, take courage when the time is come, 
 
 The time to act indeed, 
 
 And when she calls thee " child," do thou strike home, 
 And let thy father's name for vengeance plead ; 
 Do thy dread taskwork to the uttermost. 
 217
 
 RHYMED CHORUSES 
 
 ANTISTROPHE IV 
 
 Let Perseus' heart within thy bosom dwell, 
 For thou dost work for each dear kindred ghost, 
 And those on high, a bitter boon and fell, 
 Completing there within 
 The deed of blood and sin, 
 And utterly destroying him whose hand 
 That crime of murder planned. 
 
 tit
 
 EUMENIDES 
 
 VERSES 297-374 
 
 Come then, and let us dance in solemn strain ; 
 It is our will to chant our harsh refrain, 
 
 And tell how this our band 
 Works among men the tasks we take in hand. 
 In righteous vengeance find we full delight ; 
 On him who putteth forth clean hands and pure 
 
 No wrath from us doth light ; 
 Unhurt shall he through all his life endure ; 
 But whoso, as this man, hath evil wrought, 
 
 And hides hands stained with blood, 
 On him we come, with power prevailing fraught, 
 
 True witnesses and good, 
 For those whom he has slain, and bent to win 
 Full forfeit-price for that his deed of sin. 
 
 STROPHE I 
 
 O Mother, Mother Night ! 
 Who did'st bear me a penalty and curse 
 
 To those who see and those who see not light, 
 Hear thou ; for Leto's son, in mood perverse, 
 
 Puts me to foulest shame, 
 In that he robs me of my trembling prey, 
 
 The victim whom we claim, 
 That we his mother's blood may wash away ; 
 
 And over him as slain 
 
 Sing we this dolorous, frenzied, maddening strain, 
 The song that we, the Erinnyes, love so well, 
 That binds the soul as with enchanter's spell, 
 219
 
 RHYMED CHORUSES 
 
 Without one note from out the sweet-voiced lyre, 
 Withering the strength of men as with a blast of fire. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I 
 For this our task hath Fate 
 Spun without fail to last for ever sure, 
 That we on man weighed down with deeds of hate 
 Should follow till the earth his life immure. 
 Nor when he dies can he 
 Boast of being truly free ; 
 And over him as slain 
 
 Sing we this dolorous, frenzied, maddening strain, 
 The song that we, the Erinnyes, love so well, 
 That binds the soul as with enchanter's spell, 
 Without one note from out the sweet-voiced lyre, 
 Withering the strength of men as with a blast of fire. 
 
 STROPHE II 
 
 Yea, at our birth this lot to us was given, 
 And from the immortal Ones who dwell in Heaven 
 
 We still must hold aloof; 
 None sits with us at banquets of delight, 
 
 Or shares a common roof, 
 Nor part nor lot have I in garments white ; 
 My choice was made a race to overthrow, 
 When murder, home-reared, lays a loved one low ; 
 Strong though he be, upon his track we tread, 
 And drain his blood till all his strength is fled. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II 
 Yea, 'tis our work to set another free 
 
 From tasks like this, and by my service due 
 To give the Gods their perfect liberty, 
 
 Relieved from task of meting judgment true ; 
 For this our tribe from out his fellowship 
 Zeus hath cast out as worthy of all hate, 
 220
 
 EUMENIDES 
 
 And from our limbs the purple blood-drops drip ; 
 
 So with a mighty leap and grievous weight 
 
 My foot I bring upon my quivering prey, 
 With power to make the swift and strong give way, 
 
 An evil and intolerable fate. 
 
 STROPHE III 
 
 And all the glory and the pride of men, 
 Though high exalted in the light of day, 
 Wither and fade away, 
 Of little honour then, 
 When in the darkness of the grave they stay, 
 
 By our attack brought low, 
 
 The loathed dance through which in raiment black 
 we go: 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III 
 
 And through the ill that leaves him dazed and blind, 
 He still is all unconscious that he falls, 
 
 So thick a cloud enthrals 
 
 The vision of his mind : 
 And Rumour with a voice of wailing calls, 
 
 And tells of gathering gloom 
 That doth the ancient halls in darkness thick entomb. 
 
 STROPHE IV 
 So it abideth still ; 
 Ready and prompt are we to work our will, 
 
 The dreaded Ones who bring 
 The dire remembrance of each deed of ill, 
 
 Whom mortals may not soothe with offering, 
 Working a task with little honour fraught, 
 Yea, all dishonoured, task the Gods detest, 
 In sunless midnight wrought, 
 By which alike are pressed 
 Those who yet live, and those who lie in gloom unblest.
 
 RHYMED CHORUSES 
 
 ANTISTROPHE IV 
 What mortal man then will not crouch in fear, 
 
 As he my work shall hear, 
 The task to me by destiny from Heaven 
 
 As from the high Gods given ? 
 Yea, a time-honoured lot is mine I trow, 
 
 No shame in it I see, 
 
 Though deep beneath the earth my station be, 
 In gloom that never feels the sunlight's quickening glow. 
 
 VERSES 468-537 
 
 STROPHE I 
 Now is there utter fall and overthrow, 
 
 Which new-made laws begin ; 
 If he who struck the matricidal blow, 
 
 His right not so, his utter wrong shall win, 
 This baseness will the minds of all men lead 
 
 To wanton, reckless thought, 
 And now for parents waits there woe, and deed 
 Of parricidal guilt by children wrought. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I 
 For then no more shall wrath from this our band, 
 
 The Masnad troop that watch the deeds of men, 
 Come for these crimes ; but lo ! on either hand 
 I will let slip all evil fate, and then, 
 
 Telling his neighbours' grief, 
 Shall this man seek from that, and seek in vain, 
 
 Remission and relief, 
 Nor is there any certain cure for pain. 
 And lo ! the wretched man all fruitlessly 
 For grace and help shall cry. 
 
 STROPHE II 
 
 Henceforth let no man in his anguish call, 
 When he sore-smitten by ill-chance shall fall,
 
 E U M E N I D ._S 
 
 Uttering with groan and moan, 
 "O mighty Justice, O Erinnyes' throne !" 
 So may a father or a mother wail, 
 Struck by new woe, and tell their sorrow's tale ; 
 
 For low on earth doth lie 
 The home where Justice once her dwelling had on high. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II 
 Yea, there are times when reverent Awe should stay 
 
 As guardian of the soul ; 
 It profits much to learn through suffering 
 
 The bliss of self-control. 
 Who that within the heart's full daylight bears 
 
 No touch of holy awe, 
 Be it or man or State that casts out fear, 
 Will still own reverence for the might of law ? 
 
 STROPHE III 
 
 Nor life that will no sovran rule obey, 
 Nor one down-crushed beneath a despot's sway, 
 
 Shalt thou approve ; 
 
 God still gives power and strength for victory 
 To all that in the golden mean doth lie. 
 All else, as they in diverse order move, 
 
 He scans with watchful eye. 
 With this I speak a word in harmony, 
 
 That of irreverence still 
 
 Outrage is offspring ill, 
 
 While from the soul's true health 
 Comes the much-loved, much-prayed-for joy and wealth. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III 
 Yes, this I bid thee know ; 
 Bow thou before the altar of the Right, 
 And let no wandering glance 
 That looks at gain askance 
 223
 
 RHYMED CHORUSES 
 
 Lead thee with godless foot to scori.^r slight. 
 Know well the appointed penalty shall come ; 
 The doom remaineth sure and will at last strike home. 
 Wherefore let each man pay the reverence due 
 
 To those who call him son ; 
 By each to thronging guests let honour true 
 
 In loyal faith be done. 
 
 STROPHE IV 
 
 But one who with no pressure of constraint 
 Of his free will draws back from evil taint, 
 
 He shall not be unblest, 
 Nor ever sink by utter woe oppressed. 
 
 But this I still aver, 
 
 That he whose daring leads him to transgress, 
 The chaos wild of evil deeds to stir, 
 
 In sharp and sore distress, 
 
 Against his will will slacken sail ere long, 
 When, as his timbers crash before the blast, 
 
 He feels the tempest strong. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE IV 
 
 Then in the midst of peril he at last 
 Shall call on those who then will hear him not. 
 
 Yea, God still laughs to scorn 
 The man by evil tide of passions borne, 
 
 Swayed by thoughts wild and hot, 
 When he beholdeth one whose boast was high 
 He ne'er should know it, sunk in misery, 
 And all unable round the point to steer ; 
 
 And so his former pride of prosperous days 
 He wrecks upon the reefs of Vengeance drear, 
 And dies with none to weep him or to praise.
 
 University of California 
 
 SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1388 
 
 Return this material to the library 
 
 from which it was borrowed. 
 
 APR 15 199V, 
 
 
 
 T
 
 - ?< 
 
 A 000 123 133 1 
 
 
 vfi l^^-