Page:House of Atreus 2nd ed (1889).djvu/206

170 The guardian of her home; and if the votes

Equal do fall, Orestes shall prevail.

Ye of the judges who are named thereto,

Swiftly shake forth the lots from either urn.

[Two judges come forward, one to each urn.

O bright Apollo, what shall be the end?

O Night, dark mother mine, dost mark these things?

Now shall my doom be life, or strangling cords.

And mine, lost honour or a wider sway.

O stranger judges, sum aright the count

Of votes cast forth, and, parting them, take heed

Ye err not in decision. The default

Of one vote only bringeth ruin deep,

One, cast aright, may stablish house and home.

Behold, this man is free from guilt of blood,

For half the votes condemn him, half set free!

O Pallas, light and safety of my home,

Thou, thou hast given me back to dwell once more

In that my fatherland, amerced of which

I wandered; now shall Grecian lips say this,