Page:Four Plays of Aeschylus (1908) Morshead.djvu/149

Rh O gods high-thronèd in bliss, we must crouch at the shrines in your home!

Not here must we tarry and wail: shield clashes on shield as they come—

And now, even now is the hour for the robes and the chaplets of prayer!

Mine eyes feel the flash of the sword, the clang is instinct with the spear!

Is thy hand set against us, O Ares, in ruin and wrath to o'erwhelm

Thine own immemorial land, O god of the golden helm?

Look down upon us, we beseech thee, on the land that thou lovest of old,

And ye, O protecting gods, in pity your people behold!

Yea, save us, the maidenly troop, from the doom and despair of the slave,

For the crests of the foemen come onward, their rush is the rush of a wave

Rolled on by the war-god's breath! almighty one, hear us and save

From the grasp of the Argives' might! to the ramparts of Cadmus they crowd,

And, clenched in the teeth of the steeds, the bits clink horror aloud!

And seven high chieftains of war, with spear and with panoply bold,

Are set, by the law of the lot, to storm the seven gates of our hold!

Be near and befriend us, O Pallas, the Zeus-born maiden of might!

O lord of the steed and the sea, be thy trident uplifted to smite

In eager desire of the fray, Poseidon! and Ares come down,