Page:The Dramas of Aeschylus (Swanwick).djvu/136

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That thou art guiltless of this blood

Who will attest? Yet by thy side,

Haply, as thy accomplice, stood

The Fury who doth here preside.

Through streams of kindred gore

Presseth grim Ares on to claim

Requital for the deed of shame;—

The clotted blood of babes devoured of yore.

Woe! woe!

King! King! thee how shall I bewail?

How voice my heartfelt grief? Thou liest there

Entangled in the spider's guileful snare,

In impious death thy life thou dost exhale.

Ah me! ah me! to death betrayed,

Sped by the two-edged blade,

On servile couch now ignominious laid.

By no unjust decree

Perished this man, for he

Through guile hath household death enacted here:—

His proper child he slew,

Sweet bud from me that grew,

Iphigenia, wept with many a tear.

Foul quittance for foul deed;—