Page:The Dramas of Aeschylus (Swanwick).djvu/246

176

O Night, dark mother, seest thou these things?

The noose awaits me, or to see the light.

Ruin for us, or firm prerogative.

Now strangers, count the pebbles with due care;

And while ye tell them o'er, let justice reign;

Lack of right judgment breedeth mighty woe,

The while one suffrage hath a house restored.

This man acquitted is from charge of blood,

For equal are the numbers of the votes.

Hail Pallas! Hail thou saviour of my house!

Me, when bereft of my paternal land,

Thou leadest home: haply some Greek will say,

"The man an Argive is once more, and dwells

On his paternal heritage, by aid

Of Pallas, and of Loxias, and Him,

Third Saviour, mighty consummator, Zeus,"—

Who, honouring my father's death, saves me,

Beholding these my mother's advocates.

Now to my native Argos I depart,

Pledged to this country and thy lieges here