Page:The Dramas of Aeschylus (Swanwick).djvu/237

Rh For, while this council-hall the jurors fill,

Silence to keep availeth, and to learn

(Yea, the whole city and this stranger too)

What laws for time eternal I ordain;

So may the cause be righteously adjudged.

Apollo lord, rule thou thine own domain;—

In this affair say, what concern hast thou?

Twofold my errand here. As witness, first:

For this man at my shrine is suppliant,

Guest of my hearth; by me from murder cleansed.

Also I come as pleader in his cause;

For of his mother's death-blow mine the blame.

[To.

Now, as thy wisdom prompteth, open thou

The trial, Pallas: legalize the suit.

[To the Chorus.

'Tis yours to speak;—thus I commence the suit.

Since that the plaintiff, taking first the word,

To state the argument may justly claim.

Though we be many, brief shall be our speech.

[To.

Do thou in turn make answer, word for word:—

And first declare,—didst thou thy mother slay?