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I spake, ye heard; enough. stranger men,

Heed well your oath as ye decide the cause.

O men of Athens, ye who first do judge

The law of bloodshed, hear me now ordain,

Here to all time for Ægeus' Attic host

Shall stand this council-court of judges sworn,

Here the tribunal, set on Ares' Hill

Where camped of old the tented Amazons,

What time in hate of Theseus they assailed

Athens, and set against her citadel

A counterwork of new sky-pointing towers,

And there to Ares held their sacrifice,

Where now the rock hath name, even Ares' Hill.

And hence shall Reverence and her kinsman Fear

Pass to each free man's heart, by day and night

Enjoining, Thou shalt do no unjust thing;

So long as law stands as it stood of old

Unmarred by civic change. Look you, the spring

Is pure; but foul it once with influx vile

And muddy clay, and none can drink thereof.

Therefore, O citizens, I bid ye bow

In awe to this command, Let no man live

Uncurbed by law nor curbed by tyranny;

Nor banish ye the monarchy of Awe

Beyond the walls; untouched by fear divine,

No man doth justice in the world of men.

Therefore in purity and holy dread

Stand and revere; so shall ye have and hold

A saving bulwark of the state and land,