Page:Four Plays of Aeschylus (1908) Morshead.djvu/180

150 On the last, saddest errand bound,

To chant a dirge of doleful sound,

With agony of equal pain

Above their brethren slain!

Their sister-bosoms surely swell,

Heart with rent heart according well

In grief for those who fought and fell!

Yet—ere they utter forth their woe—

We must awake the rueful strain

To vengeful powers, in realms below,

And mourn hell's triumph o'er the slain!

Alas! of all, the breast who bind,—

Yea, all the race of womankind—

O maidens, ye are most bereaved!

For you, for you the tear-drops start—

Deem that in truth, and undeceived,

Ye hear the sorrows of my heart!

(To the dead.)

Children of bitterness, and sternly brave—

One, proud of heart against persuasion's voice,

One, against exile proof! ye win your choice—

Each in your fatherland, a separate grave!

Alack, on house and heritage

They brought a baneful doom, and death for wage!

One strove through tottering walls to force his way,

One claimed, in bitter arrogance, the sway,

And both alike, even now and here,

Have closed their suit, with steel for arbiter!

And lo, the Fury-fiend of Oedipus, their sire,

Hath brought his curse to consummation dire!

Each in the left side smitten, see them laid—

The children of one womb,

Slain by a mutual doom!