Page:Four Plays of Aeschylus (Cookson).djvu/38

26

Incontinent

We'll hang ourselves upon these holy Gods.

Thy menace lays the lash across my heart.

I see thou understand' st me: now have I

Opened thine eyes to clearer vision.

Yea,

Turn where I may, griefs ineluctable

Confront my sight: a multitude of ills

Comes on like a river: on this sea of ruin

I am embarked: the bottomless abyss

Below; around unnavigable waves;

And nowhere any harbour from distress.

If I shall fail towards you and not exact

This debt which is your right, ye threaten me

With such pollution, strain words how ye will,

Hyperbole cannot o'ershoot the mark.

And if I stand before the city wall

And try conclusions with Ægyptus' sons,

Your own blood kin, upon the field of battle,

For sake of women men must stain this earth

With blood: and were not that bitter expense

To charge myself withal? Yet there's no help

But I must hold in awe the wrath of Zeus

Who helpeth suppliants: the fear of him

Is for all flesh the highest fear. Now, therefore,

Thou venerable father of these maids,