Page:The Dramas of Aeschylus (Swanwick).djvu/73



PRAY the gods deliverance from these toils,

Release from year-long watch, which, couch'd aloft

On these Atreidan roofs, dog-like, I keep,

Marking the stars which nightly congregate;

And those bright potentates who bring to mortals

Winter and summer, signal in the sky,

What time they wane I note, their risings too.

And for the beacon's token now I watch,

The blaze of fire, bearing from Troy a tale,

Tidings of capture; for so proudly hopes

A woman's heart, with manly counsel fraught.

Dew-drenched and restless is my nightly couch,

By dreams unvisited, for at my side,

Fear stands, in place of sleep, nor suffers me