Page:Agamemnon (1877) Browning.djvu/34

18 Than aught before,—yea, for the storm and dearth,—

The prophet to the foremost in command

Shrieked forth, as cause of this

Adducing Artemis,

So that the Atreidai striking staves on earth

Could not withhold the tear)—

Then did the king, the elder, speak this clear.

"Heavy the fate, indeed,—to disobey!

Yet heavy if my child I slay,

The adornment of my household: with the tide

Of virgin-slaughter, at the altar-side,

A father's hands defiling: which the way

Without its evils, say?

How shall I turn fleet-fugitive,