Page:The Dramas of Aeschylus (Swanwick).djvu/189

Rh Hear, ye consentient Gods! Through bloody deed

Retributive, wash out the gore,

Dread heirloom from those slain of yore.

Let murder in this palace cease to breed,

When paid the bloody score!

Thou tenant of the cave,—great Spirit,

Give to the hero to inherit

His halls ancestral;—may his eyes,

Fearless and bright,

Peer freely forth from sorrow's veilèd night.

May Maia's son, well-versed in guile,

Upon the righteous cause propitious smile!

Dark words and subtle speaking, he by night

Men's eyes o'ercloudeth, nor by day

More manifest his secret way.

Yet many a deed, in darkness veiled awhile,

By him is brought to light.

The work achieved, we'll chant the glorious ode;

Our woman's strain,

Propitious, with the mourners' stringed refrain,

Shall ransom this abode.

Then shall we own the sway of righteous laws,

While Atè from our friends her curse withdraws.