Page:The Dramas of Aeschylus (Swanwick).djvu/479

Rh By messengers, to eye us hither come.

But whether harmless, or, with ruthless ire

Whetted, some leader urges on the host,—

Whate'er betide, damsels, 'tis best to take

Seats on the mound of these AgonianArgonian [sic] gods.

Stronger than tower an altar is; a shield

Inviolate; hence with all speed advance,

And holding in left hand, with reverent grasp,

Your suppliant boughs, white wreathed, ensigns of Zeus,

The god of mercy, with respectful words,

Urgent and sad, befitting aliens here,

Answer these strangers, setting plainly forth

That this your flight by blood is undefiled.

Let naught unseemly wait upon your voice;

And from your sober brow and quiet eye

Let no vain glance proceed; in your discourse

Nor voluble, nor over-tedious be;

Jealous of such this race. Be prompt to yield,

For foreign art thou, fugitive and poor;

Boldness of speech beseemeth not the weak.

Well thou advisest, sire, the well-advised.

I thy wise bests will in remembrance guard;

And may ancestral Zeus our cause behold!

May he behold it with propitious eye!

Beside thee now my seat I fain would take.