Page:The Dramas of Aeschylus (Swanwick).djvu/165

Rh For earth-born med'cines, that to other mortals

Are poison-antidotes, shall in us twain,

So he avers, show forth these maladies;—

A leprous canker, cleaving to the flesh,

That eats with rancorous tooth the vital strength,

And through disease blanches the youthful locks;

Next of the Furies other dread assaults

He pictured, springing from my father's blood.

For the dark shafts of those beneath the earth,

(The slain who cry for vengeance to their kin,)

With frenzy wild, and groundless fear at night,

Disturb and harass his distracted soul,

Who clearly in the darkness Phœbos sees

To knit his brow.—Thus from the town they chase

The wretch all mangled with the brazen scourge.

Moreover to such caitiff is denied

Or festal cup to share, or solemn pledge,

While from the altars, him, a father's wrath

Unseen excludes;—him may no host receive

To cleanse, with purifying rite, from guilt;—

Till, friendless and dishonoured, dies the wretch,

The shrivelled prey of all-destructive doom;

Such oracles I needs must trust; and e'en

Mistrustful were I, vengeance must be wrought;

For many divers promptings mingle here;—

The god's command, heart-sorrow for my sire,

And indigence hard-pressing, these forbid

That citizens, of mortals most renowned,

Who, with heroic spirit, wasted Troy,

Be slaves of women twain. For womanish

His soul! If not, the issue soon he'll know.