Page:House of Atreus 2nd ed (1889).djvu/201

Rh Then o'er the laver, as he bathed himself,

She spread from head to foot a covering net,

And in the endless mesh of cunning robes

Enwound and trapped her lord, and smote him down.

Lo, ye have heard what doom this chieftain met,

The majesty of Greece, the fleet's high lord:

Such as I tell it, let it gall your ears,

Who stand as judges to decide this cause.

Zeus, as thou sayest, holds a father's death

As first of crimes,—yet he of his own act

Cast into chains his father, Cronos old,—

How suits that deed with that which now ye tell?

O ye who judge, I bid ye mark my words!

O monsters loathed of all, O scorn of gods,

He that hath bound may loose: a cure there is,

Yea, many a plan that can unbind the chain.

But when the thirsty dust sucks up man's blood

Once shed in death, he shall arise no more.

No chant nor charm for this my Sire hath wrought.

All else there is, he moulds and shifts at will,

Not scant of strength nor breath, whate'er he do.

Think yet, for what acquittal thou dost plead:

He who hath shed a mother's kindred blood,

Shall he in Argos dwell, where dwelt his sire?

How shall he stand before the city's shrines,

How share the clansmen's holy lustral bowl?