Page:The Dramas of Aeschylus (Swanwick).djvu/153

Rh Breathing forth rage in sleep,—at dead of night

From the recesses of these royal halls,

Rang out a cry of wild affright

That heavy on the women's chambers falls.

And dream-interpreters proclaim,

Pledged to the truth, in Heaven's name,

That unavenged 'neath earth, the slain

Against their slayers wrathfully complain.

Such graceless grace, against the threatened ill

Devising cure, (oh fostering earth!)

The godless woman sends me to fulfil.

To speak the words prescribed I dread;

For ah! when blood hath once been shed,

Falling to earth, what ransom can be paid?

Woe for the sorrow-stricken hearth

Woe for the home in ruin laid!

Sunless, of men abhorred, a murky cloud

Doth through the master's fall the dwelling shroud.

The majesty invincible of old,

Matchless, supreme, who filled the ear

Of faithful lieges, and their heart controlled,

Standeth aloof;—Fear reigneth now,

For to Prosperity men bow,

Which they as God, ay more than God, revere.

But Justice' stroke some swift doth whelm