Page:Four Plays of Aeschylus (Cookson).djvu/46

34 Art thou in labour with the pang

Of deeds whereon great issues hang,

Behold, the accomplished fact!

Or if in words goes forth thy breath,

The mind that with them travaileth

Converteth speech to act.

Take courage, children: the people of the land

With sovran voice have cast their votes right well.

Dear envoy! Best beloved of tiding-bearers,

All hail! But hide not one thing from us. What

Have they determined? The full master-hand

Of the assembled commons, to what deed

Points it?

Unwaveringly, and in such wise

As made my old heart young—for the free air,

While: all freemen made this decision law,

Rustled with multitudes of lifted hands—

The Argives have decreed that we shall hold

This soil with them, immune from all reprisals,

Havoc and harrying of the lustful male;

And of those native here or alien

No man may drive us hence; withal, if force

Be offered, what-so denizen withholds

His aid, shall suffer loss of civil rights

And, furthermore, be banished by the State.

This was the manner of the speech, whereby