Page:Four Plays of Aeschylus (1908) Morshead.djvu/69

Rh Justice and peace withal;

And to the Argive powers divine

The sacrifice of laurelled kine,

By rite ancestral, pay.

Among three words of power and awe,

Stands this, the third, the mighty law—

Your gods, your fathers deified,

Ye shall adore. Let this abide

For ever and for aye.

Dear children, well and wisely have ye prayed;

I bid you now not shudder, though ye hear

New and alarming tidings from your sire.

From this high place beside the suppliants' shrine

The bark of our pursuers I behold,

By divers tokens recognized too well.

Lo, the spread canvas and the hides that screen

The gunwale; lo, the prow, with painted eyes

That seem her onward pathway to descry,

Heeding too well the rudder at the stern

That rules her, coming for no friendly end.

And look, the seamen—all too plain their race—

Their dark limbs gleam from out their snow-white garb;

Plain too the other barks, a fleet that comes

All swift to aid the purpose of the first,

That now, with furled sail and with pulse of oars

Which smite the wave together, comes aland.

But ye, be calm, and, schooled not scared by fear,

Confront this chance, be mindful of your trust

In these protecting gods. And I will hence,

And champions who shall plead your cause aright

Will bring unto your side. There come perchance

Heralds or envoys, eager to lay hand

And drag you captive hence; yet fear them not;