Page:House of Atreus 2nd ed (1889).djvu/190

154 Deadly to the living as to those who see not

Life and light of day—

Hunt we and press onward. Who of mortals hearing

Doth not quake for awe,

Hearing all that Fate thro' hand of God hath given us

For ordinance and law?

Yea, this right to us, in dark abysm and backward

Of ages it befel:

None shall wrong mine office, tho' in nether regions

And sunless dark I dwell.

[Enter Athena from above.

Far off I heard the clamour of your cry,

As by Scamander's side I set my foot

Asserting right upon the land given o'er

To me by those who o'er Achaia's host

Held sway and leadership: no scanty part

Of all they won by spear and sword, to me

They gave it, land and all that grew thereon,

As chosen heirloom for my Theseus' clan.

Thence summoned, sped I with a tireless foot,—

Hummed on the wind, instead of wings, the fold

Of this mine ægis, by my feet propelled,

As, linked to mettled horses, speeds a car.

And now, beholding here earth's nether brood,

I fear it nought, yet are mine eyes amazed

With wonder. Who are ye? of all I ask,

And of this stranger to my statue clinging.

But ye—your shape is like no human form,

Like to no goddess whom the gods behold,

Like to no shape which mortal women wear.

Yet to stand by and chide a monstrous form

Is all unjust—from such words Right revolts.