Page:The Dramas of Aeschylus (Swanwick).djvu/110

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Yield thee; thy will bend willingly to mine.

If thou wilt have it so, let one with speed

These buskins loosen, vassals of the foot;

Lest, if with them sea-tinctured robes I tread,

Some jealous eye of gods smite me from far.

For much it shameth me, with wanton feet

To mar this wealth of silver-purchased web.

Of this enough. This stranger damsel now

Kindly receive. Zeus, with propitious eye,

Beholds the victor's sway with mercy crowned.

For willingly none bears the captive yoke;

But she, the chosen flower of many a spoil,

Fair present from the host, hath followed me.

But since herein I yield me to thy will,

Treading on purple to my halls I go.

A sea there is (which who may drain?) that breeds

Abundant purple, fresh from many a shell,

Precious as silver, brilliant dye of robes,

Whereof, through favour of the gods, these halls

May boast, O King, a store right plentiful;

And poverty is stranger to our house

Trampling of many garments had I vowed,

Had thus the oracles our house enjoined,

Ransom devising for this precious life.

For while the root lives on, the leafage spreads,