Page:Four Plays of Aeschylus (Cookson).djvu/25

Rh Which Earth, by bloody deeds done long ago,

Polluted and estranged, in mood most like

A step-dame, gendered, to dispute her soil

With man, his fanned and serpent brood-fellow.

For these did Apis on this Argive ground,

To its no small relief, with shredded herbs

And wholesome charms effect a perfect cure,

His fee, to be remembered in our prayers.

But, now that I have answered you, 'twere well

If one of ye declared what birth ye boast,

With brevity and clearness: this my realm

Hath little liking for long-drawn discourse.

Briefly and clearly then: Of Argive blood

We boast to be: the mother of our race

A cow made happy in the son she bare,

And I will fix upon this frame of truth

Its proper parts until the whole cohere.

Women—strange women, ye compose a tale

Not credible. How can ye be of Argive blood,

More like to Libyans than our womankind?

Yea, such a plant might grow on Nilus' bank;

Methinks, these forms were coined in Cyprian mint

Struck to the life by your progenitors.

Stay: I have heard that nomads of your sex,

Horsed upon camels ride in cushioned selles

Along the coasts of Æthiopia:

They should resemble ye; or, on my life,

Had ye but bows I could have ta'en an oath

That ye were the unlorded Amazons