Page:The Dramas of Aeschylus (Swanwick).djvu/471



AY Zeus, by Suppliants revered,

Propitious view our naval train,

From Nile's fine-sanded mouths who steered

Across the billowy main.

The heavenly region left behind

Whose fields with Syria's fields unite,

Guiltless we roam, not blood-defiled

And by the state's decree exiled,

But wedlock with abhorrent mind

Shunning; for by Ægyptos' brood,

Kin of our blood, to marriage woo'd,

We flee the unhallowed rite.

Danaos, our father and our guide,

Prime councillor of wisdom tried,

Casting for these affairs the die,

Of ills the noblest chose, to fly,

Free from constraint, the sea-wave o'er,

And anchor drop on Argos' shore,

Whence, boasting its descent, our line,

From her, the heifer hornet-stung,